An innovative decentralized way to define a process is used to support an organization in approvi... more An innovative decentralized way to define a process is used to support an organization in approving overseas travel. An emergent, synthetic process approach was used, instead of the traditional centralized preplanned process. Each participant in the process declares their own individual requirements that must be met before they will take action according to the role they play in the process. The system then takes on the responsibility of finding an optimal path through the organization, to achieve the goal, and at the same time satisfy all the publicized constraints. Once the standard process was provided, we demonstrate how changes to individual requirements result in an automatic change to the overall process, and how the resulting new process remains compliant with all participant requirements. This approach allows for dynamic business processes by avoiding the need for a centralized designer and by avoiding the need for review and approval of every change by every stakeholders thereby eliminating one of the main barriers to adapting the business process to organizational changes.
This paper presents a case study of the development of standards in the area of cross-organizatio... more This paper presents a case study of the development of standards in the area of cross-organizational workflows based on web services. We discuss two opposing types of standards: those based on SOAP, with tightly coupled designs similar to remote procedure calls, and those based on REST, with loosely coupled designs similar to the navigating of web links. We illustrate the standardization process, clarify the technical underpinnings of the conflict, and analyze the interests of stakeholders. The decision criteria for each group of stakeholders are discussed. Finally, we present implications for both the workflow and the wider Internet communities.
A radical approach to construct and perform business processes is being dubbed "Emergent Syn... more A radical approach to construct and perform business processes is being dubbed "Emergent Synthetic Processes" (ESP). ESP inverts the normal BPM model which requires that representatives from all roles come together to agree on a process. Once the process is agreed upon, it becomes difficult to change because reapproval is needed from all the stake holders. In a world where the process is dynamic and hyper-customized, the ESP approach will allow processes to change and reform dynamically while at the same time assuring conformance to all parties stated requirements. The initial (draft) process is decomposed into a set of service descriptions, one for each role player. At that point individuals can modify their service descriptions to match their own needs. The process is then synthesized at run-time from the service descriptions. Individuals are able to add and remove tasks from the synthesized process without needing to get approval from the other stakeholders, because the...
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recordi... more system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the authors except that reproduction, storage or transmission without permission is permitted if all copies of the publication (or portions thereof) produced thereby contain a notice that the authors are the owners of the copyright therein. This document represents a proposal for a protocol standard. This version has not been approved for adoption. Future version may change substantially from this version. A standard protocol is needed to integrate asynchronous services across the Internet or intranet and provide for their interaction. The integration and interactions consist of control and monitoring of the services. Control means creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the serv...
Abstract—This paper presents a requirements analysis and a solution approach to representing work... more Abstract—This paper presents a requirements analysis and a solution approach to representing workflow processes conforming to the Wf-XML/ASAP standard proposal in a UDDI registry. Wf-XML/ASAP is introduced as a representation of business processes focusing on loosely coupled subprocesses which involve executable and human activities. The UDDI standard as part of the web services protocol stack is designed to hold service relevant information from overall business entities down to technical fingerprints of mostly simple web services. We present a solution approach that allows to use UDDI for registering and discovering service endpoints of Wf-XML/ASAP processes involving complex and dynamic interactions of executable and human activities. We conclude that while such a representation is possible, some of UDDI’s structures and relationships need to be extended in order to get an appropriate service registry in interoperable services collaborative infrastructures. I.
Few things have recently been hyped more than Business Process Reengineering (BPR). “Reengineerin... more Few things have recently been hyped more than Business Process Reengineering (BPR). “Reengineering the Corporation ” by Hammer and Champy has by far outsold any other book on management practice. BPR is both much talked about, and much misunderstood, but nevertheless a significant trend today. Workflow is quite possibly the fastest growing software market today, having tripled in size for two years in a row. In such an expanding market there is bound to be a lot of differences between the products, as well as more misunderstandings. Both BPR and workflow deal with processes, so it is natural to assume that workflow might be the perfect tool for implementing BPR, especially if you believe much of the workflow marketing literature. While workflow has a lot to offer, it also has a lot of technical limitations. It will work well for some organizations, in some cases, but it might fail to offer any benefit in others. This session will cover the ways that workflow can be used to support a...
The relationship is examined between Business Process Reengineering (BPR), a significant new mana... more The relationship is examined between Business Process Reengineering (BPR), a significant new management trend across all industries, and Workflow Technology a new and rapidly expanding sector of the software market. Since Workflow is a market driven technology, in order to make a meaningful analysis, we start by presenting the current state of the art in workflow technology, as uncovered by our work within the Workflow Management Coalition. Some aspects of workflow are found to be well suited to support BPR, as long as the process being supported meets one of three criteria. Yet other aspects result in serious drawbacks that limit the benefit gained. Some conclusions are made about how workflow technology will have to evolve in order to more fully support the needs of BPR.
Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by busin... more Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by businesses in a variety of industries. Its primary characteristic is the automation of processes involving combinations of human and machine-based activities, particularly those involving interaction with IT applications and tools. Although its most prevalent use is within the office environment in staff intensive operations such as insurance, banking, legal and general administration, etc, it is also applicable to some classes of industrial and manufacturing applications .
Workflow is rapidly becoming a standard technology in the corporate computing environment. Workfl... more Workflow is rapidly becoming a standard technology in the corporate computing environment. Workflow automates an actual business process, and as such must have a representation of that process. This paper questions how one arrives at the process to be represented. Collaborative Planning (CP) is presented as a way to discover and implement process representations regardless of the workflow system being used. The need for involving many people in the planning process is the result of a trend which is many decades old, and which is enjoying a new level of awareness due to the Business Process Reengineering movement. CP empowers users within a workflow environment to have control over their own processes. CP is defined and four general requirements for a CP tool are given. The benefits of this new technology are discussed; Regatta Technology is offered as an example of a CP tool.
Groupware aimed at coordinating the actions of people is faced with a dilemma. In order to suppor... more Groupware aimed at coordinating the actions of people is faced with a dilemma. In order to support a group at work, the groupware must be configured into applications that accurately reflect how the group works. Yet, organizations are constantly changing both their structure and the way they work, leaving the groupware application inaccurate, or at least out of date. Implementers of groupware applications are finding that the cost of implementation comes not from the hardware or the software, but the effort needed to capture and codify their organizational processes, and then to maintain the applications to keep them up to date. This paper explores how the implementation of groupware is a collaborative activity. Methods to define processes, such as BPR, are group activities. A powerful way to solve this is to develop the groupware applications collaboratively. In a sense, this is groupware to help in the development of groupware. Four key capabilities are described that are needed t...
This WS-TXM Specification (the "Specification") is protected by copyright and the infor... more This WS-TXM Specification (the "Specification") is protected by copyright and the information described therein and technology required to implement the Specification may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending applications. The copyright owners named above ("Owners") hereby grant you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, limited license under their copyrights to: (i) download, view, reproduce, and otherwise use the Specification for internal purposes; (ii) distribute the Specification to third parties provided that the Specification is not modified by you or such third parties; (iii) implement the Specification and distribute such implementations, including the right to authorize others to do the same, provided however, that you only distribute the Specification subject to a license agreement that protects the Owners ' interests by including the proprietary legend and terms set forth in this Copyright Notice.
A standard protocol is needed to integrate process engines across the Internet or intranet and pr... more A standard protocol is needed to integrate process engines across the Internet or intranet and provide for their interaction. A process engine, a special type of asynchronous service (as defined by the Asynchronous Web Services Protocol (AWSP)), has a set of activities that represent steps in the execution of its service. Exposing those steps allows the service invoker to gain additional insight into the status of that service.
The AWSP is a proposed way to provide the basic ability to control and monitor an asynchronous web service through the use of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and by transferring structured information encoded in XML.. Controlling an asynchronous web service includes creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the service. Monitoring the web service consists of checking on the current status of the service and getting a history of the execution of the service.
The external program that invokes a process need use only AWSP for the basic starting and monitoring. Wf-XML then builds upon and extends this interface for the special case of this service being a process engine. These extensions allow one to retrieve the list of activities that the process is waiting on. The activities can provide additional information about who is assigned to the activities, and possibly the remote sub-processes that have been invoked to fulfill the activities. Thus, Wf-XML takes the protocol from a simple exchange to start and monitor a process, to a way of introspecting the chains of related processes all invoked to satisfy the original goal.
This document will: Provide an executive overview Specify the goals of WF-XML as an extension of AWSP. Explain how resource (object) model works and how URIs are used to invoke methods of those resources. Specify preliminary details of the interface methods and parameters
We present a business process development method that considers human actions and skills up front... more We present a business process development method that considers human actions and skills up front and then fills in information technology functions to support them. This approach is suitable for business processes identified as "facilitator processes", in which people inherently play parts that cannot be easily replaced by automation.
At the workshop, we see the results of some of the foremost researchers for technology that is ai... more At the workshop, we see the results of some of the foremost researchers for technology that is aimed not at replacing workers, but augmenting knowledge workers, striving to avoid the urge to automate, but instead to facilitate. The focus is more on goals that behave like objectives, not defining the work, but instead inspiring the worker to figure out the best course given that particular unique set of context conditions. Just as the Global Peter Drucker Forum, in the fall of 2013 took the subject of complexity in management, papers in this workshop try to measure complexity and to either reduce or simply cope with complexity, without yielding to complete chaos. Our challenge is to leverage the intelligence of the worker, in guiding their own course, while at the same time helping those workers avoid the risks of violating rules and regulations, using techniques for process mining and dashboards to inform workers of their status. These are taken from real world requirements, in real...
Modern approaches to organizational change are based on the idea that control and decision-making... more Modern approaches to organizational change are based on the idea that control and decision-making should be decentralized, and that workers should be autonomous and self-managed. Workflow management, a recent discipline for improving organizational performance by employing modern information technology, has strong relationships with modern management theory. This paper explores the meaning of the concept of self-management in the context of workflow management. Our concern is to what extent workflow management enables or hinders employees’ selfmanagement. It will be argued that workflow management has several distinguishing features that make it a barrier for the realization of self-management.
Workflow technology has a clear application in the domain of highly repeatable business processes... more Workflow technology has a clear application in the domain of highly repeatable business processes. There is, however, a large body of business activity that so far has proven difficult or impossible to support with production workflow systems. Information workers find that the objects of their work change form substantially from case to case, and that the procedures that they use are highly dependent upon the details of the current case. Because of its non-routine qualities, this work is often an organization’s most important and most costly. While more and more of the routine work is becoming automated, we find more people doing less routine activities; organizations are finding an increasing part of their workforce performing information work. This paper considers the needs and requirements of information workers in order to best support, if not automate, their daily activities, and how these requirements differ from those for production workflow.
Introduction to the 4th International Workshop on Adaptive Case Management and Other Non-workflow... more Introduction to the 4th International Workshop on Adaptive Case Management and Other Non-workflow Approaches to BPM (AdaptiveCM 2015)
Software realization of distributed computing systems is typically achieved through the component... more Software realization of distributed computing systems is typically achieved through the component-based software development approach. Thus, software executing on such distributed systems consists of many autonomous components which interact with each other to coordinate their activities. The need for such coordination along with requirements such as heterogeneity, scalability, security, and availability, considerably increases the complexity of code in distributed systems.
An innovative decentralized way to define a process is used to support an organization in approvi... more An innovative decentralized way to define a process is used to support an organization in approving overseas travel. An emergent, synthetic process approach was used, instead of the traditional centralized preplanned process. Each participant in the process declares their own individual requirements that must be met before they will take action according to the role they play in the process. The system then takes on the responsibility of finding an optimal path through the organization, to achieve the goal, and at the same time satisfy all the publicized constraints. Once the standard process was provided, we demonstrate how changes to individual requirements result in an automatic change to the overall process, and how the resulting new process remains compliant with all participant requirements. This approach allows for dynamic business processes by avoiding the need for a centralized designer and by avoiding the need for review and approval of every change by every stakeholders thereby eliminating one of the main barriers to adapting the business process to organizational changes.
This paper presents a case study of the development of standards in the area of cross-organizatio... more This paper presents a case study of the development of standards in the area of cross-organizational workflows based on web services. We discuss two opposing types of standards: those based on SOAP, with tightly coupled designs similar to remote procedure calls, and those based on REST, with loosely coupled designs similar to the navigating of web links. We illustrate the standardization process, clarify the technical underpinnings of the conflict, and analyze the interests of stakeholders. The decision criteria for each group of stakeholders are discussed. Finally, we present implications for both the workflow and the wider Internet communities.
A radical approach to construct and perform business processes is being dubbed "Emergent Syn... more A radical approach to construct and perform business processes is being dubbed "Emergent Synthetic Processes" (ESP). ESP inverts the normal BPM model which requires that representatives from all roles come together to agree on a process. Once the process is agreed upon, it becomes difficult to change because reapproval is needed from all the stake holders. In a world where the process is dynamic and hyper-customized, the ESP approach will allow processes to change and reform dynamically while at the same time assuring conformance to all parties stated requirements. The initial (draft) process is decomposed into a set of service descriptions, one for each role player. At that point individuals can modify their service descriptions to match their own needs. The process is then synthesized at run-time from the service descriptions. Individuals are able to add and remove tasks from the synthesized process without needing to get approval from the other stakeholders, because the...
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recordi... more system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the authors except that reproduction, storage or transmission without permission is permitted if all copies of the publication (or portions thereof) produced thereby contain a notice that the authors are the owners of the copyright therein. This document represents a proposal for a protocol standard. This version has not been approved for adoption. Future version may change substantially from this version. A standard protocol is needed to integrate asynchronous services across the Internet or intranet and provide for their interaction. The integration and interactions consist of control and monitoring of the services. Control means creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the serv...
Abstract—This paper presents a requirements analysis and a solution approach to representing work... more Abstract—This paper presents a requirements analysis and a solution approach to representing workflow processes conforming to the Wf-XML/ASAP standard proposal in a UDDI registry. Wf-XML/ASAP is introduced as a representation of business processes focusing on loosely coupled subprocesses which involve executable and human activities. The UDDI standard as part of the web services protocol stack is designed to hold service relevant information from overall business entities down to technical fingerprints of mostly simple web services. We present a solution approach that allows to use UDDI for registering and discovering service endpoints of Wf-XML/ASAP processes involving complex and dynamic interactions of executable and human activities. We conclude that while such a representation is possible, some of UDDI’s structures and relationships need to be extended in order to get an appropriate service registry in interoperable services collaborative infrastructures. I.
Few things have recently been hyped more than Business Process Reengineering (BPR). “Reengineerin... more Few things have recently been hyped more than Business Process Reengineering (BPR). “Reengineering the Corporation ” by Hammer and Champy has by far outsold any other book on management practice. BPR is both much talked about, and much misunderstood, but nevertheless a significant trend today. Workflow is quite possibly the fastest growing software market today, having tripled in size for two years in a row. In such an expanding market there is bound to be a lot of differences between the products, as well as more misunderstandings. Both BPR and workflow deal with processes, so it is natural to assume that workflow might be the perfect tool for implementing BPR, especially if you believe much of the workflow marketing literature. While workflow has a lot to offer, it also has a lot of technical limitations. It will work well for some organizations, in some cases, but it might fail to offer any benefit in others. This session will cover the ways that workflow can be used to support a...
The relationship is examined between Business Process Reengineering (BPR), a significant new mana... more The relationship is examined between Business Process Reengineering (BPR), a significant new management trend across all industries, and Workflow Technology a new and rapidly expanding sector of the software market. Since Workflow is a market driven technology, in order to make a meaningful analysis, we start by presenting the current state of the art in workflow technology, as uncovered by our work within the Workflow Management Coalition. Some aspects of workflow are found to be well suited to support BPR, as long as the process being supported meets one of three criteria. Yet other aspects result in serious drawbacks that limit the benefit gained. Some conclusions are made about how workflow technology will have to evolve in order to more fully support the needs of BPR.
Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by busin... more Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by businesses in a variety of industries. Its primary characteristic is the automation of processes involving combinations of human and machine-based activities, particularly those involving interaction with IT applications and tools. Although its most prevalent use is within the office environment in staff intensive operations such as insurance, banking, legal and general administration, etc, it is also applicable to some classes of industrial and manufacturing applications .
Workflow is rapidly becoming a standard technology in the corporate computing environment. Workfl... more Workflow is rapidly becoming a standard technology in the corporate computing environment. Workflow automates an actual business process, and as such must have a representation of that process. This paper questions how one arrives at the process to be represented. Collaborative Planning (CP) is presented as a way to discover and implement process representations regardless of the workflow system being used. The need for involving many people in the planning process is the result of a trend which is many decades old, and which is enjoying a new level of awareness due to the Business Process Reengineering movement. CP empowers users within a workflow environment to have control over their own processes. CP is defined and four general requirements for a CP tool are given. The benefits of this new technology are discussed; Regatta Technology is offered as an example of a CP tool.
Groupware aimed at coordinating the actions of people is faced with a dilemma. In order to suppor... more Groupware aimed at coordinating the actions of people is faced with a dilemma. In order to support a group at work, the groupware must be configured into applications that accurately reflect how the group works. Yet, organizations are constantly changing both their structure and the way they work, leaving the groupware application inaccurate, or at least out of date. Implementers of groupware applications are finding that the cost of implementation comes not from the hardware or the software, but the effort needed to capture and codify their organizational processes, and then to maintain the applications to keep them up to date. This paper explores how the implementation of groupware is a collaborative activity. Methods to define processes, such as BPR, are group activities. A powerful way to solve this is to develop the groupware applications collaboratively. In a sense, this is groupware to help in the development of groupware. Four key capabilities are described that are needed t...
This WS-TXM Specification (the "Specification") is protected by copyright and the infor... more This WS-TXM Specification (the "Specification") is protected by copyright and the information described therein and technology required to implement the Specification may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending applications. The copyright owners named above ("Owners") hereby grant you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, limited license under their copyrights to: (i) download, view, reproduce, and otherwise use the Specification for internal purposes; (ii) distribute the Specification to third parties provided that the Specification is not modified by you or such third parties; (iii) implement the Specification and distribute such implementations, including the right to authorize others to do the same, provided however, that you only distribute the Specification subject to a license agreement that protects the Owners ' interests by including the proprietary legend and terms set forth in this Copyright Notice.
A standard protocol is needed to integrate process engines across the Internet or intranet and pr... more A standard protocol is needed to integrate process engines across the Internet or intranet and provide for their interaction. A process engine, a special type of asynchronous service (as defined by the Asynchronous Web Services Protocol (AWSP)), has a set of activities that represent steps in the execution of its service. Exposing those steps allows the service invoker to gain additional insight into the status of that service.
The AWSP is a proposed way to provide the basic ability to control and monitor an asynchronous web service through the use of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and by transferring structured information encoded in XML.. Controlling an asynchronous web service includes creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the service. Monitoring the web service consists of checking on the current status of the service and getting a history of the execution of the service.
The external program that invokes a process need use only AWSP for the basic starting and monitoring. Wf-XML then builds upon and extends this interface for the special case of this service being a process engine. These extensions allow one to retrieve the list of activities that the process is waiting on. The activities can provide additional information about who is assigned to the activities, and possibly the remote sub-processes that have been invoked to fulfill the activities. Thus, Wf-XML takes the protocol from a simple exchange to start and monitor a process, to a way of introspecting the chains of related processes all invoked to satisfy the original goal.
This document will: Provide an executive overview Specify the goals of WF-XML as an extension of AWSP. Explain how resource (object) model works and how URIs are used to invoke methods of those resources. Specify preliminary details of the interface methods and parameters
We present a business process development method that considers human actions and skills up front... more We present a business process development method that considers human actions and skills up front and then fills in information technology functions to support them. This approach is suitable for business processes identified as "facilitator processes", in which people inherently play parts that cannot be easily replaced by automation.
At the workshop, we see the results of some of the foremost researchers for technology that is ai... more At the workshop, we see the results of some of the foremost researchers for technology that is aimed not at replacing workers, but augmenting knowledge workers, striving to avoid the urge to automate, but instead to facilitate. The focus is more on goals that behave like objectives, not defining the work, but instead inspiring the worker to figure out the best course given that particular unique set of context conditions. Just as the Global Peter Drucker Forum, in the fall of 2013 took the subject of complexity in management, papers in this workshop try to measure complexity and to either reduce or simply cope with complexity, without yielding to complete chaos. Our challenge is to leverage the intelligence of the worker, in guiding their own course, while at the same time helping those workers avoid the risks of violating rules and regulations, using techniques for process mining and dashboards to inform workers of their status. These are taken from real world requirements, in real...
Modern approaches to organizational change are based on the idea that control and decision-making... more Modern approaches to organizational change are based on the idea that control and decision-making should be decentralized, and that workers should be autonomous and self-managed. Workflow management, a recent discipline for improving organizational performance by employing modern information technology, has strong relationships with modern management theory. This paper explores the meaning of the concept of self-management in the context of workflow management. Our concern is to what extent workflow management enables or hinders employees’ selfmanagement. It will be argued that workflow management has several distinguishing features that make it a barrier for the realization of self-management.
Workflow technology has a clear application in the domain of highly repeatable business processes... more Workflow technology has a clear application in the domain of highly repeatable business processes. There is, however, a large body of business activity that so far has proven difficult or impossible to support with production workflow systems. Information workers find that the objects of their work change form substantially from case to case, and that the procedures that they use are highly dependent upon the details of the current case. Because of its non-routine qualities, this work is often an organization’s most important and most costly. While more and more of the routine work is becoming automated, we find more people doing less routine activities; organizations are finding an increasing part of their workforce performing information work. This paper considers the needs and requirements of information workers in order to best support, if not automate, their daily activities, and how these requirements differ from those for production workflow.
Introduction to the 4th International Workshop on Adaptive Case Management and Other Non-workflow... more Introduction to the 4th International Workshop on Adaptive Case Management and Other Non-workflow Approaches to BPM (AdaptiveCM 2015)
Software realization of distributed computing systems is typically achieved through the component... more Software realization of distributed computing systems is typically achieved through the component-based software development approach. Thus, software executing on such distributed systems consists of many autonomous components which interact with each other to coordinate their activities. The need for such coordination along with requirements such as heterogeneity, scalability, security, and availability, considerably increases the complexity of code in distributed systems.
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Papers by Keith Swenson
The AWSP is a proposed way to provide the basic ability to control and monitor an asynchronous web service through the use of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and by transferring structured information encoded in XML.. Controlling an asynchronous web service includes creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the service. Monitoring the web service consists of checking on the current status of the service and getting a history of the execution of the service.
The external program that invokes a process need use only AWSP for the basic starting and monitoring. Wf-XML then builds upon and extends this interface for the special case of this service being a process engine. These extensions allow one to retrieve the list of activities that the process is waiting on. The activities can provide additional information about who is assigned to the activities, and possibly the remote sub-processes that have been invoked to fulfill the activities. Thus, Wf-XML takes the protocol from a simple exchange to start and monitor a process, to a way of introspecting the chains of related processes all invoked to satisfy the original goal.
This document will:
Provide an executive overview
Specify the goals of WF-XML as an extension of AWSP.
Explain how resource (object) model works and how URIs are used to invoke methods of those resources.
Specify preliminary details of the interface methods and parameters
The AWSP is a proposed way to provide the basic ability to control and monitor an asynchronous web service through the use of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and by transferring structured information encoded in XML.. Controlling an asynchronous web service includes creating the service, setting up the service, starting the service, stopping the service, being informed of exceptions, being informed of the completion of the service and getting the results of the service. Monitoring the web service consists of checking on the current status of the service and getting a history of the execution of the service.
The external program that invokes a process need use only AWSP for the basic starting and monitoring. Wf-XML then builds upon and extends this interface for the special case of this service being a process engine. These extensions allow one to retrieve the list of activities that the process is waiting on. The activities can provide additional information about who is assigned to the activities, and possibly the remote sub-processes that have been invoked to fulfill the activities. Thus, Wf-XML takes the protocol from a simple exchange to start and monitor a process, to a way of introspecting the chains of related processes all invoked to satisfy the original goal.
This document will:
Provide an executive overview
Specify the goals of WF-XML as an extension of AWSP.
Explain how resource (object) model works and how URIs are used to invoke methods of those resources.
Specify preliminary details of the interface methods and parameters