Example Approval

Alongside the library modules, several example modules and applications demonstrate the solution's main features. This includes example applications for different usage scenarios. They all share the same business process described in the next section.

Business context: Approval

Consider the process model above. Imagine that you are building a system to manage all approval requests in a company. Users can submit requests that are eventually approved or rejected. Sometimes, the approver returns a request to the originator for correction instead (the originator is the person who submitted it). The originator can then amend, resubmit, or cancel the request.

An approval request is modelled as follows. The subject describes what the request is about, and the applicant is the person it concerns (who may differ from the originator). The amount and currency denote the request cost. All requests must be stored for compliance purposes.

The request is initially created in the DRAFT state. It changes to IN PROGRESS when the process starts and eventually reaches the final ACCEPTED or REJECTED state.

For this example, two user groups are created: The Muppet Show (Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, and Fozzy) and The Avengers (Ironman, Hulk). Gonzo and Fozzy are responsible for approvals.

Process Run

The following sequence runs through the process model:

• Ironman submits an Advanced Training request on behalf of Hulk
• The request cost is provided in the wrong currency, so Gonzo returns the request to Ironman for correction (EUR instead of USD)
• Ironman changes the currency to USD and resubmits the request
• Gonzo is out of office, so Fozzy takes over and approves the request

Running Examples

To run the example, see Usage Scenarios.

Note

Because the process application includes the Camunda BPM engine, you can use the standard Camunda webapps at http://localhost:8080/camunda/app/. The default credentials are admin / admin.

Storyboard

The following storyboard explains the provided implementation:

TIP: This storyboard assumes that you started the single-node scenario and the application runs locally at http://localhost:8080. Adjust the URLs if you started it differently.

• To start the approval process for a request, open the Example Tasklist in your browser: http://localhost:8080/polyflow/. The selected user is Ironman.

• Open the Start new... menu and select Request Approval. You should see the start form for the example approval process.

• Select Advanced Training from a predefined template and click Start. The start form disappears and redirects to the empty Tasklist.

• Because you are still acting as Ironman, there is nothing to do here. Switch the user to Gonzo in the top-right corner. You should see the Approve Request user task from the Request Approval process.

• Examine the task details by clicking the Data tab in the Details column. You can see the request data correlated with the current process instance.

• Click the task name to open the Approve Request user-task form. Select Return request to originator and click Complete.

• Switch to Workpieces to see the request business object. Examine the approval request by clicking the Data, Audit, and Description tabs in the Details column.

• Change the user back to Ironman, switch to the Tasklist, and open the Amend request task. Change the currency to USD and resubmit the request.

• Change the user back to Fozzy, open the Approve Request task, and approve the request by selecting the appropriate option.

• Switch to Workpieces; the request business object remains visible after the process finishes. Examine the approval request by clicking the Data, Audit, and Description tabs in the Details column.