diff --git a/modules/activiti-spring-boot/pom.xml b/modules/activiti-spring-boot/pom.xml
index 532c6e22bc5aee235698451e66fa74fb40c4bb0d..0813246ae1438876ba6fe7dfd038957b0d49dbe6 100644
--- a/modules/activiti-spring-boot/pom.xml
+++ b/modules/activiti-spring-boot/pom.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@
         <activiti.artifact>
             org.activiti.spring.boot
         </activiti.artifact>
+        
+        <!-- Note that Spring framework version needs to match the one used in Spring Boot-->
         <spring.boot.version>1.2.0.M1</spring.boot.version>
+        <spring.framework.version>4.1.0.RELEASE</spring.framework.version>
     </properties>
 
 
@@ -98,10 +101,40 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.activiti</groupId>
             <artifactId>activiti-engine</artifactId>
+            <!-- Excluding these in favour of the Spring Boot dependencies -->
+             <exclusions>
+            	<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-beans</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+        	</exclusions>
         </dependency>
          <dependency>
             <groupId>org.activiti</groupId>
             <artifactId>activiti-spring</artifactId>
+            <!-- Excluding these in favour of the Spring Boot dependencies -->
+            <exclusions>
+            	<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+            	<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+        		<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-jdbc</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+        		<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+        		<exclusion>
+          			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+          			<artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
+        		</exclusion>
+            </exclusions>
          </dependency>
       
         <dependency>
diff --git a/modules/activiti-spring-boot/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/boot/ProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java b/modules/activiti-spring-boot/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/boot/ProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java
index 08004be2699404d93048167ec9ebf2ce324025ad..07a004c9c6b08a025f5eadad600cf3cba2917ddd 100644
--- a/modules/activiti-spring-boot/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/boot/ProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/modules/activiti-spring-boot/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/boot/ProcessEngineAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * <p>
- * Auto configuration for using Activiti from a <A
- * href="http://spring.io/projects/spring-boot">Spring Boot application</a>.
+ * Auto configuration for using Activiti from a 
+ * <a href="http://spring.io/projects/spring-boot">Spring Boot application</a>.
  * Provides a configured {@link org.activiti.engine.ProcessEngine} if none other
  * is detected.
  * <p>
@@ -219,10 +219,8 @@ public class ProcessEngineAutoConfiguration {
 
 		@Override
 		public DataSource dataSource() {
-			Assert.isTrue(
-			        this.dataSources.length > 0,
-			        "you must have configured at least "
-			                + "one javax.sql.DataSource bean in your Spring application context.");
+			Assert.isTrue(this.dataSources.length > 0,
+			        "you must have configured at least one javax.sql.DataSource bean in your Spring application context.");
 			return this.dataSources[0];
 		}
 
diff --git a/modules/activiti-spring/pom.xml b/modules/activiti-spring/pom.xml
index 3a3eb56c265dde2fb46871afa3c991149f6870f5..781b478644e8ba209720d8fb6501928dc4628708 100644
--- a/modules/activiti-spring/pom.xml
+++ b/modules/activiti-spring/pom.xml
@@ -104,12 +104,10 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
-			<optional>true</optional>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-jdbc</artifactId>
-            <optional>true</optional>
         </dependency>
        <!-- <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
@@ -118,7 +116,6 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
-            <optional>true</optional>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
@@ -152,7 +149,6 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
-            <optional>true</optional>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>