Starting the next release of the Imixs Workflow 3.0
===================================================

The general idea behind the new 3.0 release was to make use of the new EJB 3.1 container features. Because the current Imxis EntityServiceBean is in some methodes a little bit deprecated. One reason was the early implementation in the beginning of JEE5. The JPA methods are optimized for Toplink Driver which is no longer supported. So its time to make an Update!

General requirements for the new Workfow Engine
-----------------------------------------------

• Replace the Entity Bean based on ItemCollection with a Map Interface

• Use of EJB 3.1 features (JPA Map Feature)

• Simplify the packaging (Light EJB API)

• Optimize Scheduler Feature (persist settings in a entity)

• No changes to the Workflow Service API - to make migration easy

Migration
---------

A Migration is necessary as one of the main goals is to pesist no longer the ItemCollection Object but a simple portable Map Interface.
So we need a way to migrate application from Version 2.x to 3.0. As we learned in migrations from 1.x to 2.x this is not an easy work.
The goal of the new migration strategy must be a background migration.
So a tool should migrate workitems from a old datastorage into a new one running independed of a productive workflow app. This can be done by monitoring the $modified timestamp. As we know most of the data will not be changed during migration this can be done easily .