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Choosing Between Appian’s Built-In Human Tasks vs Custom Task List Database

ahmadb803565

Hi Appian Team and Community,

We’re designing a generic, audit-compliant task module to support multiple business processes—KYC, retail and corporate loan origination, ESG, and more. Before finalizing our architecture, I’m weighing two approaches for task management:

Option 1: Appian’s Built-In Human Tasks via Process Models

  • Uses process reports and task assignment rules

  • Tasks are tied to process instances

  • UI and SLA logic driven by Appian’s native task engine

Option 2: Custom Task List Database

  • We build our own TASK_GROUP and TASK tables

  • Tasks are instantiated based on business rules and metadata

  • UI, counters, and SLA logic are fully controlled via record types and expressions

My Questions:

  1. If we rely on Appian’s built-in human tasks, what happens if the process instance is deleted or archived? – Can we still access task metadata (status, assignee, timestamps) via process reports or APIs?

  2. What are the trade-offs between using Appian’s native task engine vs a custom task registry? – Especially in terms of auditability, lifecycle control, and cross-process reuse

  3. Is it common practice in enterprise-grade implementations to build a custom task pool for traceability and reporting? – Or do most teams rely on Appian’s built-in task management?

For context: our vendor recommended the database-driven approach, citing limitations in Appian’s native task handling—particularly around long-term traceability, cross-process reuse, and lifecycle control once processes are deleted. That inspired us to explore a fully generic task registry that can support dynamic instantiation and stage-based progression across domains.

We’re aiming for a scalable, future-proof design that supports dynamic task instantiation based on business rules, stage-based progression, and full audit history. I’d love to hear how others have approached this, and what Appian recommends for long-term maintainability.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks in advance!

 

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  • Appian Employee

    There are pros and cons with both options such as (but not limited to):

    • Process Tasks
      • Con: these consume application server resources - the process that contains the task is held in memory. This isn't an issue for small numbers of tasks but if your application is task-heavy then it is a consideration
      • Pro: built-in task management (as long as you remember to configure it) in the form of escalations and exceptions. Escalations are useful and often fit neatly into the way a business is organized and you can use patterns such as 'three strikes and you're out' i.e. remind the task owner to take action, remind them again, issue a final reminder (with a note to their manager), take the task away from them and reassign. This all needs to be designed of course but the tools are readily available.
      • Con: Tasks that have been claimed will sit indefinitely with the task owner, unless you remember to handle as per the previous bullet point
    • Database Tasks
      • Con: no built-in task management: you'll have to write the equivalent of a 'daemon' to constantly monitor the status and age of tasks in the database and to take the necessary action to have the relevant outstanding tasks addressed
      • Pro: Tasks can be implemented as 'state engine' patterns i.e. use the state of the data (e.g. a status flag) and a rule using that data make visible (and/or invisible) one or more record actions. The record actions in effect are 'click here to self-serve this task' and in this way no task is ever sitting indefinitely with an individual user and nothing is sat in memory in the application server until it is requested 'on-demand' by a user
      • Con: no equivalent to process reports that make it (relatively) easy to get lists of tasks for processing purposes. Here you'd have to write your own using, say, a queryRecordType with the appropriate filters.
Reply
  • Appian Employee

    There are pros and cons with both options such as (but not limited to):

    • Process Tasks
      • Con: these consume application server resources - the process that contains the task is held in memory. This isn't an issue for small numbers of tasks but if your application is task-heavy then it is a consideration
      • Pro: built-in task management (as long as you remember to configure it) in the form of escalations and exceptions. Escalations are useful and often fit neatly into the way a business is organized and you can use patterns such as 'three strikes and you're out' i.e. remind the task owner to take action, remind them again, issue a final reminder (with a note to their manager), take the task away from them and reassign. This all needs to be designed of course but the tools are readily available.
      • Con: Tasks that have been claimed will sit indefinitely with the task owner, unless you remember to handle as per the previous bullet point
    • Database Tasks
      • Con: no built-in task management: you'll have to write the equivalent of a 'daemon' to constantly monitor the status and age of tasks in the database and to take the necessary action to have the relevant outstanding tasks addressed
      • Pro: Tasks can be implemented as 'state engine' patterns i.e. use the state of the data (e.g. a status flag) and a rule using that data make visible (and/or invisible) one or more record actions. The record actions in effect are 'click here to self-serve this task' and in this way no task is ever sitting indefinitely with an individual user and nothing is sat in memory in the application server until it is requested 'on-demand' by a user
      • Con: no equivalent to process reports that make it (relatively) easy to get lists of tasks for processing purposes. Here you'd have to write your own using, say, a queryRecordType with the appropriate filters.
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