A task is a step in a workflow that requires human interaction. jBPM maintains a list of tasks assigned to each participant. How users interact with the task list is up to the application embedding the jBPM engine. In Alfresco, a dashlet displays a to-do list for the currently logged in user. As users complete their tasks, the tasks are removed from the to-do list. An empty to do list is shown here:

If tasks are steps a human performs, how do tasks get associated with the people who need to perform them (actors)? One of the child elements of the "task" element is "assignment". The assignment element points to a Java class that is an instance of AssignmentHandler. The Java class uses the jBPM API to handle assigning the task to an actor. Alfresco saves us some work here. It provides an AssignmentHandler out of the box. You'll see an example of how it can be used soon.

Often, a process has the notion of a role in which multiple tasks during the process get...