Workflow Management Coalition

Excellence in Practice, 2000

1 INTRODUCTION This paper distinguishes, at a high level, the differences between the architectures of workflow management systems. Its main function is to clarify the segmentation between autonomous and embedded workflow deployments. Workflow is the automation of a business process, in whole or in part, during which documents, information, or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a software representation of the process logic, the workflow model. A workflow management system defines, creates and manages the execution of ...

Workflow management systems, a relatively recent technology , are designed to make work more efficient, integrate heterogeneous application systems, and support interorganizational processes in electronic commerce applications. In this paper, we introduce the field of workflow automation, the subject of this special issue of Information Systems Frontiers. In the first part of the paper, we provide basic definitions and frameworks to aid understanding of workflow management technologies. In the remainder of the paper, we discuss technical and management research opportunities in this field and discuss the other contributions to the special issue.

Proceedings of IEEE Region 10 International Conference on Electrical and Electronic Technology. TENCON 2001 (Cat. No.01CH37239), 2001

This paper discusses the proposed design for a workflow engine. Workflow is the automation of procedures where documents, information or work is passed between several processing entities. Work contains activities, which are done to achieve certain aims. Usually any work can be divided into smaller subworks. When the subworks have been executed, the original work is done. Each processing entity executes its own part before the work is passed onto the next processing entity. The paper focuses on the work database and two main engine modules. The modules are the work administrator and the user interface. Work administrator enables the engine to process the workflows. User interface provides two-way communication between the engine and the processing entities. Engine does the execution and the scheduIing of work by ensuring that the work is conveyed to the appropriate entity during a suitable interval. Work database stores the-work processing information. The initial results show that the prototype based on the design is capable of processing production-based workflow.

Dpd, 1995

Today's business enterprises must deal with global competition, reduce the cost of doing business, and rapidly develop new services and products. To address these requirements enterprises must constantly reconsider and optimize the way they do business and change their information systems and applications to support evolving business processes. Workflow technology facilitates these by providing methodologies and software to support (i) business process modeling to capture business processes as workflow specifications, (ii) business process reengineering to optimize specified processes, and (iii) workflow automation to generate workflow implementations from workflow specifications. This paper provides a high-level overview of the current workflow management methodologies and software products. In addition, we discuss the infrastructure technologies that can address the limitations of current commercial workflow technology and extend the scope and mission of workflow management systems to support increased workflow automation in complex real-world environments involving heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed information systems. In particular, we discuss how distributed object management and customized transaction management can support further advances in the commercial state of the art in this area.

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.

2002

ABSTRACT Workflow management systems have come a long way from the first office automation prototypes of the late 1970s. Today, workflow systems are deployed in a variety of situations, ranging from the coordination of document-centric processes in office environments to the automation of application data flow in enterprise application integration scenarios.

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.

Distributed and parallel …, 1995

Today's business enterprises must deal with global competition, reduce the cost of doing business, and rapidly develop new services and products. To address these requirements enterprises must constantly reconsider and optimize the way they do business and change their information systems and applications to support evolving business processes. Workflow technology facilitates these by providing methodologies and software to support (i) business process modeling to capture business processes as workflow specifications, (ii) business process reengineering to optimize specified processes, and (iii) workflow automation to generate workflow implementations from workflow specifications. This paper provides a high-level overview of the current workflow management methodologies and software products. In addition, we discuss the infrastructure technologies that can address the limitations of current commercial workflow technology and extend the scope and mission of workflow management systems to support increased workflow automation in complex real-world environments involving heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed information systems. In particular, we discuss how distributed object management and customized transaction management can support further advances in the commercial state of the art in this area.