With the increased prevalence of automation, service integration and electronic data collection, it is prudent for any business to take a step back and review the design and efficiency of its business processes.

A business process is a defined set of business activities that represents the steps required to achieve a business objective. It includes the flow and use of information and resources. Business Process Management (BPM) is a systematic approach to defining, executing, managing and refining business processes. Processes typically involve both machine and human interactions, integrate with various internal and external systems, and include both static and dynamic flows that are subject to both business rules and technical constraints.

This reference architecture reviews Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite (BPMS) 6.3 and walks through the design, implementation and deployment of a sample BPM application. Various features are showcased and a thorough description is provided at each step, while citing the rationale and explaining the alternatives at each decision juncture, when applicable. Within time and scope constraints, potential challenges are discussed, along with common solutions to each problem. A BPMS repository is provided that can be cloned directly to reproduce the application assets. Other artifacts, including supporting code, are also included in the attachment.