An ArgoUML metamodel extension for the workflow systems

Business Object Design and Implementation II, 1998

Unified Modeling Language (UML) defines a standard notation for object-oriented systems. Using UML enhances communication between domain experts, workflow specialists, software designers and other professionals with different backgrounds. UML can be used on a general level, which is intuitive for the users of workflow systems. In spite of this, UML symbols also have defined semantics, which means that the visual workflow description can be used as a software specification. This position paper explains how to use UML for specification of workflow management systems, how to trace the description of business processes to the objectoriented software design and how to structure the project repository with UML deliverables.

1999

Abstract Meta-Languages for the definition of processes serve several purposes. They can be employed as an integration platform for the exchange of process models that are specified in proprietary languages, their expressiveness can serve as a benchmark for the selection of a application specific modeling language and they can be used for the application-independent specification of process models that can then be transformed into the language relevant for the domain-specific context.

This work presents the methodological and technical issues for the Designer tool in the OBJECT-FLOW 1 Workflow Management System. This tool provides to the user the possibility to model and design workflow diagrams from Business Process of a corporation. This project is the result of an industry-university cooperation.

2001

Workflow management aims at modeling and executing application processes in complex technical and organizational environments. Modern information systems are often based on object-oriented design techniques, for instance, the Unified Modeling Language (UML). These systems consist of application objects which collaborate to achieve a common goal. Although application objects collaborate in the context of business processes that can be supported by workflow technology, workflow modeling is typically done with proprietary workflow languages. Hence, two separate formalisms are present for modeling application objects and workflows. In this paper we try to remedy this situation by proposing the use of Object Coordination Nets (OCoN) for workflow modeling. OCoN nets provide a seamless integration with UML structure diagrams. The OCoN formalism also helps to deal with all relevant aspects of modeling complex workflow systems in a scalable and consistent manner.

This paper exposes the transformation of UML activity diagrams into Event B for the specification and the verification of parallel and distributed workflow applications. With this transformation, UML models could be verified by verifying derived event B models. The design is initially expressed graphically with UML and translated into Event B. The resulting model is then enriched with invariants describing dynamic properties such as deadlock freeness, livelock freeness and reachability. The approach uses activity diagrams metamodel.

1996

Workflow Management (WM) is an emerging area that involves cross-disciplinary fields as Database, Software Engineering, Business Management, Human Coordination. A Workflow Management System (WMS) is a software tool to automate Business Processes (BPs) and coordinate people of an organization. BPs are a set of linked procedures concentrated on reaching a business goal, normally following a set of procedural rules. This work presents the OBJECTFLOW project, result of the cooperation between an industrial partner, the Centro de Cálculo de Sabadell (CCS, a software company located near Barcelona), and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). The main aim of OBJECTFLOW project is constructing a flexible WMS to automate BPs of the medium and big enterprise, allowing the integration to existing software systems.

Workflow Management (WM) is an emerging area that involves cross-disciplinary fields as Database, Software Engineering, Business Management, Human Coordination. A Workflow Management System (WMS) is a software tool to automate Business Processes (BPs) and coordinate people of an organization. BPs are a set of linked procedures concentrated on reaching a business goal, normally following a set of procedural rules. This work presents the OBJECTFLOW 1 project, result of the cooperation between an industrial partner, the Centro de Cálculo de Sabadell (CCS, a software company located near Barcelona), and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). The main aim of OBJECTFLOW project is constructing a flexible WMS to automate BPs of the medium and big enterprise, allowing the integration to existing software systems.

UML Activity Diagrams have been studied thoroughly regarding their usefulness for the modeling of business processes and workflows. Different extensions have been suggested that focus on either business processes or workflows. While having the advantage of supporting the respective process type optimally these approaches provide only a weak support of the automation of business processes, i.e. of the transformation of suitable parts of business processes into workflows. Here we introduce WorkFlow Diagrams as an incremental extension of Business Process Diagrams. Both diagram types are based on Activity Diagrams and each serves the specific needs of its application area. But due to the incremental extension we can also support the development of workflows based on the respective business process models.

Proceedings of the …, 1998

This paper presents a workflow specification language developed in the WIDE project. The language provides a rich organisation model, an information model including presentation details, and a sophisticated process model. Workflow application developers should find the language a useful and compact means to capture and investigate design details. Workflow system developers would discover the language a good vehicle to study the interaction between different features as well as facilitate the development of more ...

2012

In this paper, we propose an UML Activity Diagram (AD) approach based on stepwise refinement technique for modeling and describing workflow applications. Thus, we present a set of UML AD refinement patterns that support the different forms of refining process in a workflow. The workflow application is constructed in a hierarchical fashion. We show that thanks to the hierarchical workflow construction by refinement, a simple view of the workflow is maintained at each level of abstraction. In addition, we provide formal support for building process refinement graphs that are complete, proved correct.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2007

The specification of business processes is becoming a more and more critical aspect for organizations. Such processes are specified as workflow models expressing the logical precedence among the different business activities (i.e. the units of work). Up to now, workflow models have been commonly managed through specific subsystems, called workflow management systems. In this paper we advocate for the integration of the workflow specification in the system domain model. This workflow-extended domain model is automatically derived from the initial workflow specification. Then, model-driven development methods may depart from the extended domain model to automatically generate an implementation of the system enforcing the business processes in any final technology platform, thus avoiding the need of basing the implementation on a dedicated workflow engine.

Requirements Engineering, 2002

Workflow management systems are becoming a relevant support for a large class of business applications, and many workflow models as well as commercial products are currently available. While the large availability of tools facilitates the development and the fulfilment of customer requirements, workflow application development still requires methodological guidelines that drive the developers in the complex task of rapidly producing effective applications. In fact, it is necessary to identify and model the business processes, to design the interfaces towards existing cooperating systems, and to manage implementation aspects in an integrated way. This paper presents the WIRES methodology for developing workflow applications under a uniform modelling paradigm -UML modelling tools with some extensions -that covers all the life cycle of these applications: from conceptual analysis to implementation. High-level analysis is performed under different perspectives, including a business and an organisational perspective. Distribution, interoperability and cooperation with external information systems are considered in this early stage. A set of 'workflowability' criteria is provided in order to identify which candidate processes are suited to be implemented as workflows. Nonfunctional requirements receive particular emphasis in that they are among the most important criteria for deciding whether workflow technology can be actually useful for implementing the business process at hand. The design phase tackles aspects of concurrency and cooperation, distributed transactions and exception handling. Reuse of component workflows, available in a repository as workflow fragments, is a distinguishing feature of the method. Implementation aspects are presented in terms of rules that guide in the selection of a commercial workflow management system suitable for supporting the designed processes, coupled with guidelines for mapping the designed workflows onto the model offered by the selected system.

1999

In the past decade, many research efforts have gone into the object-oriented development of information systems and the design of workflow systems. Both domains however, have largely evolved independently. Nevertheless, particular advantages of object-orientedness such as reusability, scalability and portability can be useful in workflow systems. Obviously, strategic advantages that have been gained by analysing business environments with a process view are also important when considering object-oriented developments. In this paper we will describe the necessary requirements to model a business process using the object-oriented approach. Next, we will discuss two approaches to combine workflow systems with object-oriented development: the pure and the mixed approach. Both methods have their strengths and weaknesses and none can claim to be the best solution. We will conclude by giving a short overview of existing models and applications in both approaches.

UML and the Unified Process

This chapter proposes an extension to the activity graph of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to support the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) standard. The definition of a business process has been standardized by the WfMC with the purpose of satisfying the need of interaction and connectivity between process definition tools and different workflow systems. Here, the WfMC meta-model is explained. The UML activity diagrams, used for the business process modeling, support less detail than the WfMC standard. In this chapter, an extension of the UML's activity graph metamodel is proposed, and its formalization using the workflow meta-model is defined. The purpose of this chapter is to obtain an extension of UML to support the workflow process definition without changing the standard with the same expressive power as the WfMC. It increments the expressive power of the activity diagrams so that the business processes modeled with the UML notation can be executed by a workflow engine.

Lectures on Concurrency and Petri Nets, 2004

Over the last decade there has been a shift from "data-aware" information systems to "process-aware" information systems. To support business processes an enterprise information system needs to be aware of these processes and their organizational context. Business Process Management (BPM) includes methods, techniques, and tools to support the design, enactment, management, and analysis of such operational business processes. BPM can be considered as an extension of classical Workflow Management (WFM) systems and approaches. This tutorial introduces models, systems, and standards for the design, analysis, and enactment of workflow processes. Petri nets are used for the modeling and analysis of workflows. Using Petri nets as a formal basis, contemporary systems, languages, and standards for BPM and WFM are discussed. Although it is clear that Petri nets can serve as a solid foundation for BPM/WFM technology, in reality systems, languages, and standards are developed in an ad-hoc fashion. To illustrate this XPDL, the "Lingua Franca" proposed by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), is analyzed using a set of 20 basic workflow patterns. This analysis exposes some of the typical semantic problems restricting the application of BPM/WFM technology.