I’d like to share with you my experience of working with LiveCycle ES 8.2. This version has been released in July of 2008. The letters ES stand for Enterprise Suite. And this suite can do a lot of things.

LiveCycle ES server is deployed under a J2EE server of your choice utilizing EJB and Java servlet containers. Its metadata repository is stored in a DBMS. But all this is hidden from people developing business processes. It includes Eclipse based IDE called LiveCycle Workbench that allows them to create and configure business processes using graphic designer. For example, you can design a process of applying for a mortgage as shown below. You connect users and processes by dragging line between the boxes – these connections are called activities, i.e. Approve, Reject.

Depending on the results of execution of each of the sub-processes hidden behind these boxes, the process goes into appropriate state and performs various activities. The user interaction can be configured with minimal or no coding at all. For example, you can design a PDF form using LiveCycle Designer. A form is an interactive PDF file – the user fills out a mortgage application, and presses the button Submit on the form, which automatically sends an email to one of the approving officers based on the requested mortgage amount. Email endpoints are also configurable. By the way, a process can be automatically invoked just by sending an email.