Ask HN: Business Process UI Frameworks

8 points by o_enix_o 5 years ago | 6 comments

Hi HN,

We are simplifying and rationalising a set of 30-ish rather complex (finance) processes. Currently the rules and logic are all-over-the-place, specifically in ESBs, chucks of java & low-code applications and otherwise. This scattering of logic makes it expensive to change, hard to test and even more difficult to track errors. Add to that, not all steps are automated / exposed, resulting in customers calling to get updates.

The plan is to consolidate as much as possible into a set of well-designed REST APIs, and use simple cloud based flow tools (for instance AWS Step functions) to codify the rules.

However, some steps will require manual tasks; either to handle an error case, check the status or provide some input that can't (yet) be automated.

What would be your choose for toolkit/framework to build the UIs for our internal employees?

We are moving towards a JS/React set-up, so perhaps there is a nice library there or we should go full custom build, but I'm open for all - inc. SAAS or other FW / tool / builder suggestions.

Many thanks

PaulHoule 5 years ago |

You could write something that stashes human tasks in an SQS queue. I guess you could set the visibility timeout to a few hours and have the human work when the item is 'owned'.

To frameworkize it my big concern is that people may want to run many different kinds of tasks. Some of those are true/false or multiple choices that can no-coded but there is something nice about an old-school html server where you can just upload a new file to the server to make a new task that has the UI and all and I don't have to make a new release of a JS front end so users can see the new task.

runawaybottle 5 years ago |

What is the most complicated thing the UI will do? Someone already recommended something that has charts? Do you need charts?

This application sounds complicated enough from a business and backend perspective already, so why add to it by having a potentially complicated frontend?

Render out your app with jquery and barebones html/css. Then decide if it just needs to be made to look better or truly needs more functionality. Don’t let anyone use any of the JavaScript frameworks (or set up a front end architecture yet), because then you’ll have another headache to deal with.

d--b 5 years ago |

I am building a tool called Jig (https://www.jigdev.com), which lets you create reactive UIs in javascript very easily.

Sorry the product itself is pretty crude right now (the onboarding is somewhat painful). But it's focused on internal apps that need to be functional/editable/debuggable quickly.

If you're afraid this is too crude, you may still want to consider it as a way to prototype what you want to do in the long run. Happy to demo / help / answer any questions.

d--b 5 years ago | |

Technically, it can make REST queries, and display data in various ways. You can select data in tables, click buttons, etc. So it sounds like this could be enough for your use case. Not having to create a full blown react UI should save you an awful lot of time.

mstijak 5 years ago |

CxJS[1] offers a nice set of charts and widgets (disclaimer: I'm the author). Svg component could be used to represent an interactive BP diagram with coloring, tooltips, selection, etc. Seems like an interesting UI challenge.

[1]: https://cxjs.io/

segmondy 5 years ago |

If you don't know about "workflow engines BPMN" you should search and read up on it. That's pretty much what you are building with your UI + AWS Step Functions. Might be a solution that already does all of that