[Zope] cmf's suitability for complex, customised workflows

[Roché Compaan]

* Raja Subramanian <rsubr at pcomm.hfi.unimelb.edu.au> [2004-08-17 23:00]:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm looking at designing a workflow management system using zope.
> 
> I've had a look at CMF and from what I can tell, it seems to be very
> useful in designing workflows for web portal sites like in Plone.
> But I fear that I'm looking for something more than web publishing.
> 
> My workflow involves -
>   1. receiving input articles (MS Word docs, text, etc) through ftp
>   2. some 14 stages of processing using various Win32/Mac apps
>   3. each processing stage done by dedicated well defined teams
>   4. extensive report generation and activity logs
>   5. hold associated meta information (emails, other tidbits) with
>      every article
> 
> The output of one stage has to flow into the next.  Task queueing,
> prioritising, etc are essential for intelligent workflow scheduling.
> I don't find these features in Openflow/DCWorkflow/etc so I think I'm
> better off developing a customised zope product to suit my requirements.
> 
> Is it easy to customise CMF to suit arbitrary workflows such as mine?
> Will I have any advantages if I build my Zope product using CMF over
> vanilla Zope?
> 
> Can someone throw any light into this issue?

You would need to build a lot of the features you want in your
application yourself. From what you describe it seems as if OpenFlow or
Reflow (it's CMF incarnation) would be a better starting point. OpenFlow
is an activity based workflow and maps better to tasks that involve
distinct entities in your application. DCWorkflow is entity based and
works better for workflows were state changes on a single entity, like a
document.  

-- 
Roché Compaan
Upfront Systems                 http://www.upfrontsystems.co.za