Camunda Platform is a free and open

workflow A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence of ...

and decision automation platform. Camunda Platform ships with tools for creating workflow and

decision model A decision model in decision theory is the starting point for a decision method within a formal (axiomatic) system. Decision models contain at least one action axiom. An action is in the form "IF is true, THEN do ". An action axiom tests a cond ...

s, operating deployed models in production, and allowing users to execute workflow tasks assigned to them. It is developed in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and released as

source-available software Source-available software is software released through a source code distribution model that includes arrangements where the source can be viewed, and in some cases modified, but without necessarily meeting the criteria to be called open-sourc ...

; the Desktop Modeler is licensed under the

MIT License The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...

, other components under proprietary licenses. Camunda is based in Berlin with offices in San Francisco and Denver, USA. It provides a

Business Process Model and Notation Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a graphical representation for specifying business processes in a business process model. Originally developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI), BPMN has been maintained by the Ob ...

(BPMN) standard compliant

workflow engine A workflow engine is a software application that manages business processes. It is a key component in workflow technology and typically makes use of a database server. A workflow engine manages and monitors the state of activities in a workflow, su ...

and a

Decision Model and Notation In business analysis, the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) is a standard published by the Object Management Group.OMG standard "Decision Model and Notation (DMN)"current version/ref> It is a standard approach for describing and modeling repeatable ...

(DMN) standard compliant

decision engine A decision support system (DSS) is an information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations and planning levels of an organization (usually mid and higher management) and h ...

, which can be embedded in

applications and with other languages via

REST Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and entert ...

History

Camunda was founded by Jakob Freund and Bernd Rücker in 2008 as a

business process management Business process management (BPM) is the discipline in which people use various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve, optimize, and automate business processes. Any combination of methods used to manage a company's business pro ...

(BPM) consulting company. Over the next four years, Camunda built a consulting customer base of more than 250. On 18 March 2013, Camunda

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods ei ...

ed the Activiti project to launch Camunda BPM as an open-source project. In 2017 and 2018, Camunda was named in

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Awards are run and moderated by international professional services group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. They recognize the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in regions around the world. Winners include ...

EMEA. and in 2019 and 2020 was listed in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Germany. In December 2018, Camunda raised 25 million in

series A A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...

funding from Highland Europe. In March 2021, Camunda raised 82 million in a series B funding round led by Insight Partners, along with series A investors Highland Europe.

Architecture

Camunda Platform is a lightweight, Java-based framework. It can be used as a standalone process engine server or embedded inside custom Java applications. It offers non-Java developers a REST API and dedicated client libraries to build applications connecting to a remote workflow engine.

Features

The Camunda Modeler

desktop application A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

allows developers to create and edit BPMN process diagrams and DMN

decision table Decision tables are a concise visual representation for specifying which actions to perform depending on given conditions. They are algorithms whose output is a set of actions. The information expressed in decision tables could also be represented ...

s. Created files are deployed in the Camunda Engines, which use a BPMN parser to transform BPMN 2.0

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

files, and DMN XML files, into Java

Objects Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

, and implements BPMN 2.0 constructs with a set of BPMN Behavior implementations. Typical use cases for the Camunda BPMN Workflow Engine can be

microservices A microservice architecture – a variant of the service-oriented architecture structural style – is an architectural pattern that arranges an application as a collection of loosely-coupled, fine-grained services, communicating through lightw ...

orchestration and human task management. The Camunda DMN Decision Engine executes business-driven decision tables. It is pre-integrated with the Workflow Engine but can be used as a stand-alone application via REST or inside Java applications. Camunda’s additional web applications provide the following tools for developers and business users: * Cockpit: A tool for technical process operations enabling users to monitor workflows and decisions in production, to analyze and solve technical problems. * Tasklist: Allows end users to work on assigned tasks and provides additional visibility when using the Camunda Workflow Engine for human task management. * Optimize: An analytics and reporting tool to identify errors and bottlenecks in workflow processes. * Cawemo: A collaborative modeling tool allowing multiple users to create, edit and specify BPMN process diagrams. The tool was originally a standalone web app created by Camunda developers and was brought into the main product stack in May 2019. * Admin: Allows users to manage Camunda web applications or REST API users. Existing user management can be integrated via

LDAP The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP ) is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Directory servi ...

Clients

Camunda has been deployed in companies such as True Engineering,

24 Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately owned and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs (behi ...

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

Lufthansa Technik Lufthansa Technik AG ('Lufthansa Engineering', often referred to simply as “LHT”) provides worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines, and components. It is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Headquarte ...

Zalando Zalando SE is a publicly traded German online retailer of shoes, fashion and beauty. The company was founded in 2008 by David Schneider and Robert Gentz and has more than 50 million active users in 25 European markets. Zalando is active in a vari ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

AXA Insurance Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Axa ...

Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application Tu ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

, Kühne + Nagel,

Sparebank1 SpareBank 1 is a Norwegian alliance and brand name for a group of savings banks. The alliance is organised through the holding company ''SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS'' owned by the participating banks. In total the alliance is Norway's second largest ba ...

and Generali.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

Workflow applications Cross-platform free software Free software programmed in Java (programming language) Free business software 2013 software