Workflow Process Management
Workflow Process Management is an optional BloomReach Experience module. It adds the Projects feature to the CMS application, which allows users to manage changes to channels that require a workflow process before publication.
From a technical point of view, WPM introduces two new concepts:
HST Configuration Branching and Merging
When a CMS user creates a project and adds a channel to that project, the HST configuration for that channel is effectively branched. Any changes made to the channel within the context of the project are stored in the project branch only. The core branch is not affected and can be modified and published in parallel. Changes made in the core can be merged into a project branch by updating the project. Changes made in a project branch can be merged into the core after the project has been reviewed and approved.
As a developer, you are almost certainly familiar with this model as it closely resembles the way version control systems like Git work. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, you can safely assume that the Projects feature's branching and merging of the HST configuration is comparable to developing a feature in a feature branch.
Business Process Management Engine
Before a project can be merged back into the core, the changes made to channels in that project must be reviewed and approved.
In Bloomreach Experience Manager 14.3 and older, this project workflow is handled by the external BPM engine Camunda. Camunda is deployed as a separate WAR on the application server.
As of Bloomreach Experience Manager 14.4, the project workflow is stored in the repository and Camunda is no longer used. See Upgrade 14.3 to 14.4 and Remove Camunda for details.