WIDE: Workflow model and architecture

1997

Workflow management system (WFMS), one of the groupware supporting asynchronous distributed interaction, becomes remarkable not only in practical business area but also in research area. WFMSs mainly support well-structured collaborative works using explicitly defined flows of works (workflows). They controls the invocation order in workflows automatically, and manages several resources of the work. As a number of workflows run concurrently using shared resources of organizations, transaction management with concurrency control is an important technology for WFMSs. In this sense database technologies are indispensable for the infrastructure of WFMSs, and many researchers have studied about transaction management in WFMSs. Data management is another important role of database technologies in WFMSs. As WFMSs must manage many data such as workflow descriptions, status of progress, activity environments, and activity products, WFMS products use DBMSs in their backends. However, the role...

1998

Although work ow management is a promising approach in business process automation, current work ow systems lack in easy de nition of work ow processes, correct execution in presence of system failures and concurrency, and handling of heterogeneous, distributed systems. In this thesis, A programming model for work ow speci cation and a work ow management system architecture are proposed.

1999

Work ows deal with the automation of business processes in which documents, data and tasks are transferred among participant roles according to a de ned set of rules to achieve a common goal. Workow management systems (WFMS) have mainly focused on implementing the control ow, paying few attention to the data ow. However, data-intensive work ow applications require advanced data handling capabilities, typical of a DBMS, in order to be e ciently supported by the WFMS. In this paper we propose a data replication model, called DOT (Dynamic Ownership Transition), to realize the integration between work ow and database technology to support data-intensive workow applications. DOT is derived from Distributed DBMS (DDBMS) replication models and allows only one role at a time to have the ownership of data. An automatic mechanism for the dynamic update of the ownership is provided, for a exible data ow management in enterprise environment. The resulting system o ers the functionalities of a W...

2014

1995

Recent recession has compelled many companies to find more effective ways to conduct their business. One remedy suggested is to model organizational dynamics as "business processes" and provide a suitable tool support for this. In this context the buzzwords business process re-engineering and workflow have been often quoted. The basic idea in this thinking is to view the functioning of an organization to consist of business processes and provide computer support for as large part of the processes as possible through "workflow systems". There are currently perhaps hundreds of products which claim to support workflows. We believe that workflow techniques are a proper way of supporting the process approach, but that the approach requires further development for several reasons. In this paper, we will discuss the development needs by presenting organizational and architectural considerations and requirements resulting from them for the workflow techniques. One centra...

1999

Work ows deal with the automation of business processes in which documents, data and tasks are transferred among participant roles according to a de ned set of rules to achieve a common goal. Workow management systems WFMS have mainly focused on implementing the control ow, paying few attention to the data ow. However, data-intensive w ork ow applications require advanced data handling capabilities, typical of a DBMS, in order to be e ciently supported by the WFMS. In this paper we propose a data replication model, called DOT Dynamic Ownership Transition, to realize the integration between work ow and database technology to support data-intensive w orkow applications. DOT is derived from Distributed DBMS DDBMS replication models and allows only one role at a time to have the ownership of data. An automatic mechanism for the dynamic update of the ownership is provided, for a exible data ow management i n e n terprise environment. The resulting system o ers the functionalities of a WFMS powered by a data handling mechanism typical of Distributed DBMSs. The proposed solution has been implemented in a prototype system integrating ActionWork ow Action Technology Inc. WFMS and Microsoft SQL Server.

OOER'95: Object-Oriented and Entity …, 1995

Abstract. Workflow management is emerging as a challenging area for databases, stressing database technology beyond its current capabilities. Workflow management systems need to be more integrated with data management technology, in particular as it concerns the ...

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.

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.

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.