Universal Resource Lifecycle Management

This paper presents a model and a tool that allows Web users to define, execute, and manage lifecycles for any artifact available on the Web. In the paper we show the need for lifecycle management of Web artifacts, and we show in particular why it is important that non-programmers are also able to do this. We then discuss why current models do not allow this, and we present a model and a system implementation that achieves lifecycle management for any URI-identifiable and accessible object. The most challenging parts of the work lie in the definition of a simple but universal model and system (and in particular in allowing universality and simplicity to coexist) and in the ability to hide from the lifecycle modeler the complexity intrinsic in having to access and manage a variety of resources, which differ in nature, in the operations that are allowed on them, and in the protocols and data formats required to access them

An ontology for human-machine computation workflow specification

Lately, a focus has been given to the re-usability of workflow defini-tions and to flexible and re-usable workflow components, culminating with ap-proaches that harness the benefits of the enriched semantics provided by ontol-ogies. Following this trend and the needs of multiple application domains, such as micro-task crowdsourcing and ambient assisted living, of incorporating co-operation between the efforts of human and machine entities, this paper propos-es an ontology and process for the definition, instantiation and execution of se-mantically enriched workflows.This work is partially funded by FEDER Funds and by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) under the projects AAL4ALL (QREN13852) and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012)

Context-Based Handling of Mobile Process Activities

Process technology constitutes a crucial component of information systems. In this context, high flexibility is required as business functions must be quickly adaptable to cope with dynamic business changes. As recent developments allow for the use of mobile devices in knowledge-intensive areas, it is often demanded to enhance process-aware information systems with mobile activity support. In general, the technical integration of this activity type with existing process management technology is challenging. For example, protocols governing the communication between mobile devices and process management systems must be adapted. If a mobile context shall be additionally considered, the integration gets even more complex. However, the use of a mobile context offers advantages. For example, the mobile activity execution time may be decreased if mobile activities are only assigned to those users whose location is beneficial. This chapter proposes an approach to enable the robust handling of single process activities on mobile devices based on a mobile process model

Applying Algebraic Approaches for Modeling Workflows and their Transformations in Mobile Networks

In emergency scenarios we can obtain a more effective coordination among team members, each of them equipped with hand-held devices, through the use of workflow management software. Team members constitute a Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET), whose topology both influences and is influenced by the workflow. In this paper we propose an algebraic approach for modeling workflow progress as well as its modifications as required by topology transformations. The approach is based on Algebraic Higher-Order Nets and sees both workflows and topologies as tokens, allowing their concurrent modification

Integrating Mobile Tasks with Business Processes: A Self-Healing Approach

Process management technology constitutes a fundamental component of any service-driven computing environment. Process management facilitates both the composition of services at design time and their orchestration at run time. In particular, when applying the service paradigm to enterprise integration management, high flexibility is required. In this context, atomic as well as composite services representing the business functions should be quickly adaptable to cope with dynamic business changes. Furthermore, they should enable mobile and quick access to enterprise information. The growing maturity of smart mobile devices has fostered their prevalence in knowledge-intensive areas in the enterprise as well. As a consequence, process management technology needs to be enhanced with mobile task support. However, tasks hitherto executed stationarily, cannot be simply transferred in order to run on smart mobile devices. Many research groups focus on the partitioning of processes and the distributed execution of the resulting fragments on smart mobile devices. Opposed to this fragmentation concept, this chapter proposes an approach to enable the robust and flexible execution of single process tasks on smart mobile devices by provisioning self-healing techniques to address the smooth integration of mobile tasks with business processes

Dealing with Forward and Backward Jumps in Workflow Management Systems

Workflow management systems (WfMS) offer a promising technology for the realization of process-centered application systems. Adeficiency of existingWfMSis their inadequate support for dealing with exceptional deviations from the standard procedure. In the ADEPT project, therefore, we have developed advanced concepts for workflow modeling and execution, which aim at the increase of flexibility in WfMS. On the one hand we allow workflow designers to model exceptional execution paths already at buildtime provided that these deviations are known in advance. On the other hand authorized users may dynamically deviate from the pre-modeled workflowat runtime as well in order to deal with unforeseen events. In this paper, we focus on forward and backward jumps needed in this context. We describe sophisticated modeling concepts for capturing deviations in workflow models already at buildtime, and we show how forward and backward jumps (of different semantics) can be correctly applied in an ad-hoc manner during runtime as well. We work out basic requirements, facilities, and limitations arising in this context. Our experiences with applications from different domains have shown that the developed concepts will form a key part of process flexibility in process-centered information systems

A formal foundation for distributed workflow execution based on state charts

Abstract. This paper provides a formal foundation for distributed workfiow executions. The state chart formalism is adapted to the needs of a workflow model in order to establish a basis for both correctness rea-soning and nan-time support for complex and large-scale workflow applications. To allow for the distributed execution of a workflow across different workflow servers, which is required for scalability and organi-zational decentralization, a method for the partitioning of workflow specifications is developed. It is proven that the partitioning preserves the original state chart's behavior.