Supporting voluntary disconnection in workflow management systems

Abstract

With the network and computing environment improvement in both wireless and wired area, mobile or portable devices like palmtops and notebooks have become prevalent. They are even considered as essential ingredients of business workplace. Thus this mobile business environment should be accommodated in the business automation systems like workflow management systems(WFMSs). Researches have been focused on disconnected operation to provide continuous and safe services for the mobile devices in various fields. However, disconnected operation has not been fully addressed in the area of WFMSs at all. In this thesis, we analyze the type and scope of disconnected service in WFMSs through the in-depth analysis of workflow task models. Based on this analysis, we show and discuss four general issues that should be addressed to support disconnected operation in WFMSs. The discussions are mainly focused on voluntary disconnection in the wired environment and includes topics like task classification, task relevant data handling, application handling, and task state emulation. In addition, we describe prototype modules built around this idea, which are designed and implemented in ICU/COWS System.