Learn about our experience with our very first project using Alfresco Process Services (APS), in combination with Alfresco Content Services (ACS) and the Application Development Framework (ADF), running the platform on docker. What challenges did we encounter and how did we resolve them.

1. Process Services: Our first experience
Judith Stoef
Consultant Digital Transformation @ Incentro

2. Judith Stoef
● MSc Computing Science
● 4 years of experience in software
development
● Consultant Digital Transformation
● Incentro

3. ● IT-solutions that make you happy
● Alfresco EMEA
partner of the year
● 30+ Alfresco consultants

4. Goal

5. Learn. Connect. Collaborate.
Goal
• Share our experiences
• Explain our challenges
• So you can learn and do better
Process Services: Our first experience

6. Learn. Connect. Collaborate.
Overview
• Old project
• Our first APS project
– Renew the old project
– Solution design
• Challenges
– General challenges
– Implementation challenges
• Summary

7. Old project

8. Learn. Connect. Collaborate.
Old project
A project from 2013 - 2014

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Old project
Customer
A big library with online content in
XML format
Published on an online platform

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Old project
Customer
• Authors write new
online content
• Update existing
content
Reviewers
• Experts
• Reviewers review
the work of the
authors
Authors

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Old project
Goal
Deliver and implement a content management
solution with integrated workflow and editing
functionality

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Old project
Solution
A custom BPMN workflow application built in ACS 4.1

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Old project
Solution
• Not user friendly
• No insights
• Non-maintainable

14. New project

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New project
A project in 2018
to renew the project from 2013 - 2014

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New project
Goal
Customer wants to renew and simplify their
business processes in order to gain more insight,
make it less dependent on customizations, increase
process flexibility and user friendliness

17. Solution design

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Our first APS
project
At the end of 2014 Process Services was born and
it has matured since then

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• Any user that can log into APS can start
modeling a process
Our first APS
project

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• Not user friendly
• A lot of functionality that is not used
Our first APS
project

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Our first APS
project
Alfresco Application Development Framework (ADF)
was also released

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• The ADF dashboard shows the user directly
what work he needs to do
• Task oriented
• More user friendly
• Easier to extend to the customer’s needs
Our first APS
project

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Our first APS
project
Use the full Digital Business Platform of Alfresco
• Process services (APS)
• Content services (ACS)
• Application Development Framework (ADF)
In a dockerized environment

24. Challenges

25. Our challenges
● General challenges
● Implementation challenges

26. General challenges

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Challenges
New to APS
A team of ACS and ADF developers
Help from a Senior
Process Services
Consultant from Alfresco

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Challenges
New to APS
Lesson learned:
Make a proper work
division
• Used to working in a code editor

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Challenges
New to APS
• Used to collaborating via git repositories
• Pull requests and code reviews
Lesson learned:
Make regular back-ups

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Challenges
New to APS
• Working with variables and form fields
Lesson learned:
Work with naming
conventions

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Challenges
New to APS
• We did not know any modeling best practices
Lesson learned:
Work with subprocesses

32. Implementation challenges

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Example
process
• Authors write new
online content
• Update existing
content
Reviewers
• Reviewers review
the work of the
authors
Authors

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Example
process
The ‘Write and review’ process
Extend the process to meet the customer’s
requirements

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Challenges
Get file into APS
• Possible from the context menu
Requirement:
Start process from the document

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• The user can select the process to start
Challenges
Get file into APS

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Challenges
Get file into APS

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• ADF makes an API call to start the process
• Passes the file name and node ID
• Stored as variables in the process
Challenges
Get file into APS
How to get the file details into APS?
Start from of the process

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Challenges
Get file into APS
• The process is started
• The file details are known to the process
• The file is not stored in the process
• ACS is the owner of the document

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word
Requirement:
Edit file online in MS Word

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word
First challenge:
Transform XML into MS Word file
• Call a custom REST API
• Calls the transformation service of the customer
• Places the created MS Word file in ACS
• Returns the file information
– Node id

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word
Second challenge:
How can the author access the file

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word
Solution: Stencils
• Create a custom form field ‘edit_in_word’
• An ADF component should be built to replace this
custom form field

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word

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Challenges
Edit file online in
MS Word
• Same holds for downloading and uploading
• A stencil can be defined

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Challenges
Default reviewer
Requirement:
The author can edit the chosen reviewer, but a
default reviewer is assigned

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Challenges
Default reviewer
The default reviewer is stored as
metadata on the XML document
• The API call is updated to retrieve the reviewer
information

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Challenges
Default reviewer
• Not possible to assign a default value to the people
field

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Challenges
Default reviewer
Solution: Stencils (again)

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Challenges
Default reviewer

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Challenges
Docker
Requirement:
The application runs on docker

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Challenges
Docker
We had a lot of help from the customer
• A challenge to make a production ready
environment
• How to make sure the docker-compose file is all
properly set-up
Lesson learned:
Docker is complex - use
an expert

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Challenges
Docker
Images used:
• Custom ACS image
– Alfresco did not offer a 5.2 image
• Default APS 1.9 image from Alfresco
• Default Alfresco Search Services image
• Two MySQL databases

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• Standard APS reporting could not deliver the
wanted reports
• Because reporting was needed on custom
variables
Challenges
Reporting
Requirement:
Report on processes per chapter

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• Explained the data model to the customer
Challenges
Reporting
BI Consultant from
Incentro
BI Expert from
Customer

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Challenges
Reporting
• We created some default reports
• Use of Microsoft SQL Server Report builder
• Customer’s BI expert can now create their own
reports

57. Summary

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Summary
• Our first APS project was an experience
– Learned a lot by just doing it
• Think of nice out-of-the-box solutions
– Combining ACS-ADF and APS

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Q&A
Or get in touch:
judith.stoef@incentro.com
Questions?