Camunda photo process restored to working order in the canton of Bern
The Archaeological Service is part of the cantonal administration of the canton of Bern. It is responsible for the protection, investigation, and documentation of archaeological finds throughout the canton. This also includes the long-term management of large quantities of image material that must be preserved for administrative, research, and public purposes.
Challenge
Several years ago, the Archaeological Service set up an automated process based on Camunda for handling photos taken at excavations. This process had grown over a long period of time and had been adapted to the individual needs of the organization.
However, the process came to a standstill over time. The person who had originally developed the solution had retired without carrying out a structured handover. The immediate successor is also no longer working for the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern. As a result, all knowledge about the structure and functioning of the process was lost.
It was unclear how the individual work steps were connected, which technical components were involved, and why the system no longer worked. In addition, there was a lack of up-to-date documentation, different versions existed, and processing was limited to a local computer in the department. Before image processing could be resumed, the existing system first had to be understood.
Successfully implementing Camunda
From introduction to stable operation
We support organizations in the introduction, further development, and stabilization of Camunda-based process solutions—even in existing and mature system landscapes.
Book an appointment nowSolution
Together with the team from the Archaeological Service, we analyzed the existing solution and gradually familiarized ourselves with the historically grown system landscape. The goal was to make the processes traceable and identify the causes of the standstill.
In three intensive workshops, we worked together to review the functioning of the Camunda processes step by step and explain them in an understandable way. It became apparent that several automatically running background programs played a central role. These were responsible for individual processing steps, but had not been running reliably for some time.
We provided support in activating these components, removing existing obstacles, and resuming the entire process. At the same time, we systematically recorded the knowledge we had gained in order to secure long-term operation.
Key areas of focus in the collaboration
- Analysis of existing installations: Understanding configurations and process logic without existing documentation
- Task workers & scripts: Identification, testing, and restarting of Python-based task workers
- Process understanding: Transparent review of processes together with the internal team
- Documentation: Recording the knowledge gained to ensure future maintainability
Thank you very much for your great support. Without you, we would not be where we are today! Thanks to your experience, we were able to put the existing Camunda processes back into operation and are now in a position to successfully continue our image processing procedures. The collaboration with brix took us a decisive step forward.
Results & added value
The Camunda workflow is now fully functional again. This gives the Archaeological Service the necessary basis to continue processing the approximately 80,000 documentation images as planned.
In addition, the jointly created documentation has resulted in sustainable added value. The internal team now has a clear understanding of how the system is structured and how it is operated. This will make it easier to avoid future interruptions.