A component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems

This paper presents a component-based product line for workflow management systems. The process followed to design the product line was based on the Catalysis method. Extensions were made to represent variability across the process. The domain of workflow management systems has been shown to be appropriate to the application of the product line approach as there are a standard architecture and models established by a regulatory board, the Workflow Management Coalition. In addition, there is a demand for similar workflow management systems but with some different features. The product line architecture was evaluated with Rapide simulation tools. The evaluation was based on selected scenarios, thus, avoiding implementation issues. The strategy that has been used to populate the architecture and experiment with the product line is shown. In particular, the design of the workflow execution manager component is described

TeamWorker: An agent-based support system for mobile task execution

Traditional workflow management systems are considered insufficiently flexible to support autonomous job management via close team working. This paper proposes a multi-agent system approach to enhancing existing workflow management systems to enable team-based job management in the field of telecommunications service provision and maintenance. This paper adopts a component-based approach and explains how applications can be developed by customising the generic components provided by a multi-agent systems framework

A product line for workflow management systems

This paper presents an ongoing research on the development of a component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems. The research includes a process to design the proposed product line, the population of the product with components, the product member production process, architecture evaluation mechanisms using architecture description languages and support tools, a variability management process and the development of case studies to evaluate each proposed technique

Possibilistic Information Flow Control for Workflow Management Systems

In workflows and business processes, there are often security requirements on both the data, i.e. confidentiality and integrity, and the process, e.g. separation of duty. Graphical notations exist for specifying both workflows and associated security requirements. We present an approach for formally verifying that a workflow satisfies such security requirements. For this purpose, we define the semantics of a workflow as a state-event system and formalise security properties in a trace-based way, i.e. on an abstract level without depending on details of enforcement mechanisms such as Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). This formal model then allows us to build upon well-known verification techniques for information flow control. We describe how a compositional verification methodology for possibilistic information flow can be adapted to verify that a specification of a distributed workflow management system satisfies security requirements on both data and processes.Comment: In Proceedings GraMSec 2014, arXiv:1404.163

A Taxonomy of Workflow Management Systems for Grid Computing

With the advent of Grid and application technologies, scientists and engineers are building more and more complex applications to manage and process large data sets, and execute scientific experiments on distributed resources. Such application scenarios require means for composing and executing complex workflows. Therefore, many efforts have been made towards the development of workflow management systems for Grid computing. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy that characterizes and classifies various approaches for building and executing workflows on Grids. We also survey several representative Grid workflow systems developed by various projects world-wide to demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the taxonomy. The taxonomy not only highlights the design and engineering similarities and differences of state-of-the-art in Grid workflow systems, but also identifies the areas that need further research.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

Addressing Dynamism in E-negotiations by Workflow Management Systems

Workflows (Wfs) are a major enabling technology for e-commerce. In our research, a Combined Negotiation (CN) is modeled and enacted using Wf technology. The modeling task captures the sequencing of the individual negotiations as well as the dependencies between them, and the enacting task runs the model. A CN support system (CONSENSUS) is used by the user to perform both tasks. Supporting dynamic modifications to the model during run-time should increase the benefits of our approach. In this paper, we highlight the need for such support by identifying the dynamic aspects that can occur while negotiating the different items of a package (i.e., the CN object). To address these aspects, we experimented using ADEPT, a Wf Management System supporting dynamism. This leads us to discuss the Wf Reference Model of the Wf Management Coalition, and suggest a "dynamic" extension to the current functional areas and architecture. La technologie des Workflows (Wfs) s'est avérée importante pour le commerce électronique. Dans le cadre de notre recherche, une négociation combinée (CN) est modélisée et exécutée utilisant un Wf. La phase de modélisation capture la séquence des différentes négociations ainsi que les dépendances qui existent entre elles. La phase d'exécution quant à elle, permet comme son nom l'indique, d'exécuter le modèle. Un système de support pour les CN (CONSENSUS) est utilisé pour accomplir ces deux tâches. Supporter les modifications dynamiques du modèle lors de l'exécution devrait augmenter les bénéfices de notre approche. Dans cet article, nous mettons l'emphase sur le besoin d'un tel support, ceci en identifiant les aspects dynamiques qui peuvent apparaître lors de la négociation des différents items d'un package (i.e., l'objet de la CN). Nous utilisons ADEPT - un système de gestion de Wf qui supporte le dynamisme - pour étudier ces aspects. Ceci nous mène à discuter le modèle de référence de la Wf Management Coalition, et à proposer une extension "dynamique" à l'architecture actuelle.e-Negotiations, Sourcing, Workflows, Workflow management systems, Dynamism, Négociations électroniques, Approvisionnement, Workflows, Systèmes de gestion de Workflow, Dynamisme

An Approach for Supporting Ad-hoc Modifications in Distributed Workflow Management Systems

Supporting enterprise-wide or even cross-organizational business processes is a characteristic challenge for any workflow management system (WfMS). Scalability at the presence of high loads as well as the capability to dynamically modify running workflow (WF) instances (e.g., to cope with exceptional situations) are essential requirements in this context. Should the latter one, in particular, not be met, the WfMS will not have the necessary flexibility to cover the wide range of process-oriented applications deployed in many organizations. Scalability and flexibility have, for the most part, been treated separately in the relevant literature thus far. Even though they are basic needs for a WfMS, the requirements related with them are totally different. To achieve satisfactory scalability, on the one hand, the system needs to be designed such that a workflow instance can be controlled by several WF servers that are as independent from each other as possible. Yet dynamic WF modifications, on the other hand, necessitate a (logical) central control instance which knows the current and global state of a WF instance. For the first time, this paper presents methods which allow ad-hoc modifications (e.g., to insert, delete, or shift steps) to be performed in a distributed WfMS; i.e., in a WfMS with partitioned WF execution graphs and distributed WF control. It is especially noteworthy that the system succeeds in realizing the full functionality as given in the central case while, at the same time, achieving extremely favorable behavior with respect to communication costs