Process Server
The Appian Process Server drives the orchestration and all actions in the Appian environment. Instant automation of Appian Process Models can be achieved by simply saving and publishing any process model. Once published, the process is ready to execute. No compilation of code or complex scripting is required to begin automating your key processes. The Appian Process Server acts as an instruction interpreter, reading your process model, enforcing your business rules, and routing work to the appropriate person or system specified in the process definition.



Task and Process Management
A key component to any process environment is the distribution of human tasks and the management of running processes. End-users who receive tasks are presented with a simple and configurable task inbox. Tasks may be routed to individual users, groups, roles, or dynamically determined based on a rule. Individual users may configure personal inbox views to include key business data, filters, process performance metrics, or access to subordinate's tasks. In addition, Appian allows task inboxes to be viewed as graphical reports, highlighting tasks of more importance and helping task owners prioritize and gain insight into daily task load.

Appian further stores a copy of all completed tasks, allowing all users to view past activities. Appian can capture an exact snap shot of a task form, showing exactly the information that was entered at the time the task was completed.

In-flight Modification and Exception Handling
Rarely do all processes follow the same route without exceptions. All processes have an exception to the rule. Appian's interpreted architecture does not rely on compiled code, and provides maximum flexibility in the event of an exception or need to re-route the process.

Appian first adheres to the exception management capabilities defined in the BPMN standard. Exceptions may be modeled on any activity step to listen for an exception condition and take appropriate action along an exception path. Possible exceptions include a time event (if an activity is not addressed within a period of time), a message event (if a notification is received from another process), or a conditional event (if the state of the task changes or a certain value is modified). These exceptions may also be joined into a complex exception type that listens for multiple actions and states in the process. The benefit of Appian's exception handling is to allow the system to gracefully handle exception conditions, and automatically take action to correct the process.

If exceptions cannot be predicted, Appian further allows process managers to open and modify the process while in-flight. This allows process managers complete control to dynamically re-route any task and alter the flow of a process. Once the process has been modified, the process manager can choose to apply the changes to just the individual process instance or apply the change to the parent process model, enabling other processes to also adopt the change.

Scalability
Appian's Process Server provides unparalleled scalability and reliability across a process management platform covering both human and system processes. Appian's process engines utilize the latest J2EE standards to ensure fault tolerance and redundancy. Appian further pairs the J2EE environment with a unique in-memory process engine that provides high throughput and real-time visibility to all process information. All in-memory data is further persisted to transactions logs and made fully redundant across multiple servers for maximum scalability and performance.