Implementing Camunda 8: From Choosing an Architecture to Process Analytics

Today, business process automation is no longer just a trend, but a practical necessity for companies striving to remain competitive. It helps reduce costs, save time, minimize errors, and generally increase operational speed. As a result, the business gains what matters most—increased efficiency. Of course, provided everything is implemented correctly.

The Integrity Vision team has been helping companies optimize their processes using the Camunda platform for many years. And we regularly see how properly designed automation delivers truly strong results—both for operational teams and for the business as a whole.

But at the same time, in practice, this path isn’t always straightforward. Many questions arise during implementation: which deployment method to choose, how to configure the system correctly, how to account for workload, what to do with data, and how to build a user-friendly interface.

That’s why we decided to break down this process as simply as possible—to explain step-by-step what the Camunda 8 implementation entails, what stages you need to go through, and what to pay attention to in order to achieve results.

So, here’s the breakdown 👇

Camunda 8 Deployment Methods: Where to Start

In general, there are several ways to deploy Camunda 8, and at the start, it’s important to choose the one that best fits your specific tasks and capabilities. This decision depends on many factors: the team’s technical maturity, security requirements, the need for customization, budget, and scaling plans.

The first step is to understand exactly how the platform will work within your infrastructure. This determines the speed of deployment, the level of control, and the complexity of maintenance.

Companies typically choose between two approaches: SaaS and Self-managed.

SaaS: A quick start without complications

If the main goal is to get started as quickly as possible without a technical burden, SaaS seems like the most logical option.

In this case, Camunda handles most of the infrastructure tasks, allowing your team to focus on the processes themselves. This means:

• minimal time spent on deployment;
• no need to maintain infrastructure;
• ready-to-use support and updates from the vendor.

This approach works well for companies that are just getting started with automation or don’t have a strong DevOps team.

Self-managed: when control and flexibility matter

Another scenario is when a company has requirements for security, data storage, or integrations. In this case, SaaS may not be sufficient, and a self-managed approach is chosen.

Its main advantage is full control over the system. Specifically:

• the ability for deep customization;
• control over data export;
• flexibility in configuring integrations.

However, this also brings with it responsibility for the infrastructure, updates, and system stability.

How Self-Managed Deployment Works

When a company chooses a self-managed approach, the next question is how to implement it technically. There are several approaches, and the choice depends on the scale and maturity of the infrastructure.

The most common options are:

• Kubernetes (via Helm) — the standard for production environments, offering scalability and stability.
• Docker — a convenient option for quick deployment, testing, or local development.
• Manual installation (JVM) — provides maximum control but requires more effort to maintain.

In most modern companies, Kubernetes is becoming the default choice, as it allows for easy scaling of the system to handle growing workloads.

What Camunda 8 consists of

Once you’ve decided on a deployment method, the next important step is to understand how the platform itself is structured. This will help you better navigate its capabilities and design the right solution for your tasks.

It’s important to understand that Camunda isn’t a single tool, but an entire ecosystem of components that together provide a full lifecycle of business process management: from modeling to execution, monitoring, and analytics.

In simplified terms, the system consists of the following components:

• Zeebe — the core, the engine that brings processes to life and orchestrates them.
• Operate — a tool for monitoring execution.
• Tasklist — an interface for working with tasks.
• Optimize — analytics and process improvement.
• Connectors — integrations with other systems.
• Identity — access management.
• Web Modeler — process creation and editing.

Together, these components form a unified ecosystem that allows you not only to launch processes but also to manage them at every stage.

How to Calculate Infrastructure Requirements: Key Parameters

Once the basic architecture is understood, the next important step is to accurately assess the resources needed for the system to operate reliably. This is where challenges often arise, as calculation errors can be costly.

If the load is underestimated, the system may operate erratically or “crash” during peak times. If, on the other hand, too much capacity is allocated, this will lead to unnecessary infrastructure costs. Therefore, it is important to find a balance and rely on actual or projected data.

There are several parameters worth paying attention to.

Throughput: a basic assessment

First, determine the total number of processes. For example: how many processes are launched per year, how many per day, and how many on average per second. This provides a basic understanding, but you can’t stop there.

Peak load: the most important factor

In real-world systems, the load is almost never uniform. Often, the majority of processes are launched within a very short period of time.

Therefore, when designing a system, it is important to consider:

• days or periods with maximum load,
• time constraints (for example, only during business hours),
• possible sudden spikes in activity.

In fact, it is the peak load that determines the system requirements.

Partitioning and Scaling

When it comes to system performance and stability, one of the key mechanisms in Camunda 8 is partitioning. It is this feature that allows the system to scale and handle large volumes of processes without losing speed.

Simply put, partitioning is the distribution of the load across different parts of the system. Instead of a single component handling all processes, they are evenly distributed across several, which significantly improves overall performance and resilience to failures.

Replication works in tandem with this—it ensures fault tolerance. That is, even if one of the components fails, the system continues to operate.

For this model to work effectively, it’s important to approach the configuration correctly. There are several basic rules to follow:

• the number of partitions should match the actual load, rather than being set “with a margin” without justification;
• the number of partitions should not exceed the number of brokers in the cluster;
• the optimal configuration is best determined through testing and load modeling, rather than intuitively.

As a result, properly configured partitioning allows you to strike a balance between performance, stability, and efficient resource utilization. And it is precisely this balance that is often the key to successful system scaling.

Risk-Free Platform Updates

Once the system is up and running, it is important not only to maintain its stability but also to update it regularly. Updates bring new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes. However, this is also one of the most sensitive aspects of working with the platform.

An incorrect or ill-considered update can lead to downtime, loss of compatibility, or even partial system unavailability. That is why this process should be approached with the utmost caution.

Before making any changes, it is recommended to:

• carefully review the release notes to understand what changes have been made;
• check the official recommendations and update guide for the specific version;
• if possible, test the update in a test environment.

The update process itself also follows a specific logic. To avoid compatibility issues, it is important to follow the correct sequence: first, update the brokers (the system’s core components), then the gateways, and only after that the client applications. This approach allows you to update the system gradually without sudden changes and reduces the risk of operational errors.

Backups: What to Save

Another critically important aspect that is often mentioned only after incidents occur is backup. In complex systems such as Camunda 8, a single backup “somewhere in the database” is not enough.

To be able to fully restore the system in the event of a failure or data loss, you need to plan in advance which specific components to back up and how often to do so.

In particular, it is important to include the following in your backups:

• Operate, Tasklist, and Optimize data, which store information about processes and their history;
• Elasticsearch or OpenSearch indices, which contain exported events and analytical data;
• Zeebe data (partitions), which represent the current state of processes.

Only a comprehensive approach to backup ensures that, in the event of problems, the system can be restored without losing critical information.

Working with Processes: From Model to Analytics

At the heart of any Camunda system are business processes. They determine how a company operates—from performing daily tasks to facilitating collaboration between teams. Camunda not only automates processes but also makes them transparent, traceable, and analyzable, enabling better business decisions.

Modeling: A Common Language for Everyone

The first step in working with processes is modeling them. This is done using the BPMN 2.0 standard, which is understandable to both technical specialists and business users. This allows for collaborative discussion of processes, avoids misunderstandings, and ensures that automation aligns with real business needs.

To ensure processes are effective, follow a few simple rules:

• give clear and intuitive names to process elements;
• avoid unnecessary complexity so that the process is easy to understand and maintain;
• clearly describe the main scenario (happy path) to understand the key steps without “forks” or additional exceptions.

This approach helps build processes that are easily scalable and maintainable in the future.

Testing: Verification Before Launch

Before putting a process into operation, it must be thoroughly tested. Testing allows you to identify potential issues early on, saving the company time and resources.

To do this, the following are used:

• execution simulations that demonstrate how processes will work in practice;
• test modes that allow you to verify various scenarios and exceptions.

This allows you to confidently launch processes, knowing that they work correctly and won’t cause problems in a real-world environment.

Monitoring: What’s Happening in Real Time

Once processes are running, it’s important to see what’s happening with them in real time. This allows you not only to respond to errors but also to continuously optimize system performance and business processes as a whole.

To achieve this, the following are used:

• Operate — a tool for monitoring the current status of processes, reviewing tasks, and identifying issues.
• Optimize — a platform for analyzing process efficiency and identifying opportunities for improvement.

These tools enable the company not only to automate processes but also to transform data into valuable insights and improve efficiency at all levels.

Monitoring, Logging, and Data Management

Once the Camunda system is up and running, it’s important not only to automate processes but also to ensure transparency and control. Monitoring, logging, and proper data management help you respond to issues in a timely manner, analyze process efficiency, and maintain the platform’s stability.

Monitoring and logging: seeing the system’s status

For the system to operate stably and efficiently, you need to be able to track its status in real time. Camunda uses the Micrometer library to export metrics to Prometheus, Dynatrace, Datadog, or OpenTelemetry, allowing you to track key system and process metrics, see the load on various components, and quickly respond to issues and unforeseen situations. You can also import a ready-made dashboard into Grafana.

It is important to remember that metrics are not stored within Camunda itself—they must be exported and processed separately to get a complete picture of the system’s status.

Data Export: How to Use Events

During operation, the system generates a large number of events and records. This data is valuable for both analytics and integration with other systems. To use it effectively, exporters are used, which allow you to:

• store historical data for further analysis;
• transfer information to external systems and storage;
• build analytical reports and improve business processes.

By default, Camunda provides exporters for Elasticsearch and OpenSearch, but if needed, you can connect other systems or even implement your own exporter via the Zeebe Exporter API.

Custom frontend and working with the Tasklist: user-friendliness

Last but not least is how users interact with the system. A user-friendly interface boosts team efficiency and minimizes errors. There are several options:

• use the standard Camunda Tasklist, which already includes basic functionality;
• create your own custom interface tailored to the company’s business processes;
• integrate a third-party solution for tasks and workflows.

When creating a custom frontend, consider the following:

• retrieving and filtering tasks for users;
• displaying forms and ensuring a user-friendly UX;
• working with business data and integrating with other systems;
• authorization and access management for different roles.

Such solutions allow you to make the system as convenient and efficient as possible for your company, ensuring a balance between functionality and user comfort.

Conclusion

Implementing Camunda 8 is not just about installing software; it is a comprehensive transformation of how a company manages its processes. Success depends not only on the choice of platform, but also on how seamlessly all its components work together:

• the architecture is designed with workload and scalability in mind;
• the infrastructure is properly assessed and configured for stability;
• processes are clearly modeled, tested, and integrated into the business logic;
• monitoring and analytics ensure transparency and control at every stage.

When all these components work together, the company gains more than just automation of routine tasks. It gains a dynamic tool for growth that enables scaling the business, improving the accuracy and speed of process execution, and creating a foundation for making informed decisions at all levels.

You can already see how deeply we understand the specifics of business processes and automation—this confirms our high level of professionalism. If your company plans to implement automation and improve operational efficiency, contact Integrity Vision — we will help make your processes transparent, manageable, and optimized for business growth.