Exterminating the Dynamic Change Bug: A Concrete Approach to Support Workflow Change

Adaptability has become one of the major research topics in the area of workflow management. Today's workflow management systems have problems dealing with both ad-hoc changes and evolutionary changes. As a result, the workflow management system is not used to support dynamically changing workflow processes or the workflow process is supported in a rigid manner, i.e., changes are not allowed or handled outside of the workflow management system. In this paper, we focus on a notorious problem caused by workflow change: the dynamic change bug (Ellis et al.; Proceedings of the Conference on Organizational Computing Systems, Milpitas, California, ACM SIGOIS, ACM Press, New York, 1995, pp. 10–21). The dynamic change bug refers to errors introduced by migrating a case (i.e., a process instance) from the old process definition to the new one. A transfer from the old process to the new process can lead to duplication of work, skipping of tasks, deadlocks, and livelocks. This paper describes an approach for calculating a safe change region. If a case is in such a change region, the transfer is postponed.     

基于规则库的工作流流程文件转换方法

针对工作流流程定义文件之间需要相互转换的问题,提出了一种基于规则库的流程定义文件转换方法.该方法首先通过建立映射规则库采存储不同流程定义语言间相互转换的规则,然后在转换过程中动态查找规则库,获取当前流程定义转换所需要的规则,最后用获取的规则初始化转换引擎以实现流程定义文件的转换.采用上述方法建立了从XPDL(Xml process definition language)到BPEL(business process execution language)及BPEL到XPDL之间的转换规则库,运用该规则库完成了实例的相互转换.实验结果表明了该转换方法的可行性和有效性.     

改良的Public-To-Private方法在跨企业工作流建模中的应用

现有的应用在跨企业工作流中的Public-To-Private（P2P）方法存在两大缺陷,一是仅能使用投影继承;二是工作流实例只能从超类过程定义向子类过程定义转换.为了解决这两个缺陷,论文以Petri net作为建模工具,在P2P方法中引入了协议继承关系,规定了它的适用范围,使企业在扩展跨企业工作流时可以应用全部的四种基本路由分支.论文还提出了继承的转换规则的逆操作,使工作流实例能够在子类过程定义和超类之间双向转换.最后根据一个建模实例,说明新方法的应用.     

Multi-agent collaboration for B2B workflow monitoring

Business-to-business (B2B) applications environments are exceedingly dynamic and competitive. This dynamism is manifested in the form of changing process requirements and time constraints. However, current workflow management technologies have difficulties to solve the challenges problems, such as: how to deal with the dynamic nature of B2B commerce processes, how to manage the distributed knowledge and recourses, and how to reduce the transaction risk. In this paper, a collaborative multi-agent system has been proposed. Multiple intelligent agents in our system can work together not only to identify the workflow problems, but also to solve such problems, by applying business rules, such as re-organizing the procurement and the transaction processes, and making necessary workflow process changes.     

基于工作流技术的医院办公自动化系统

为了降低复杂流程的开发难度,提高应用系统的管理效率,提出基于工作流技术的医院办公自动化系统。依据工作流参考模型,实现工作流过程定义及交换接口、工作流客户应用程序接口以及系统管理和监控接口,该系统由流程定义、流程执行控制、流程监控3部分组成,提供表单设计、流程步骤及流转定义,支持复杂流程,可满足医院业务流程多样化的需要。     

管理过程控制系统：工作流思想的一种新的应用模式

提出的管理过程控制系统将工作流思想应用于较低层次的管理支撑层。它采用面向信息流框架的机制来定义、协调、监督和控制管理过程,并使系统本身能独立于应用系统而存在,从而解放了应用系统的开发环境,摆脱了复杂、动态的流程和传统工作流管理系统中受过程定义模型约束的限制。该系统还具有运行时间步协作、信息继承和基于过程实例的动态流程控制的功能,可以作为企业信息设施的一个基础部件,支持工作流在复杂过程管理环境中的应用。     

一种模型驱动的工作流过程定义途径

传统的工作流管理系统在互操作性,可复用性,可移植性和开发效率等方面遇到了挑战,MDA是解决上述挑战和问题的一种途径。在模型驱动的工作流管理系统中,工作流模型处于核心地位,本文首先给出了扩展的工作流元模型和基于Petri网的形式化工作流模型过程网。其次,运用模型驱动的途径,依据给出的工作流模型,本文提出了一种模型驱动的,用于快速构造工作流管理系统的框架。针对工作流过程模型,着重讨论了从基于EPC的过程CIM到基于过程网的过程PIM的转换（转换过程和转换规则）,并以扩展的Petri网标注语言E-PNML规约了过程PIM。     

Automatic control of workflow processes using ECA rules

Changes in recent business environments have created the necessity for a more efficient and effective business process management. The workflow management system is software that assists in defining business processes as well as automatically controlling the execution of the processes. We propose a new approach to the automatic execution of business processes using event-condition-action (ECA) rules that can be automatically triggered by an active database. First of all, we propose the concept of blocks that can classify process flows into several patterns. A block is a minimal unit that can specify the behaviors represented in a process model. An algorithm is developed to detect blocks from a process definition network and transform it into a hierarchical tree model. The behaviors in each block type are modeled using ACTA formalism. This provides a theoretical basis from which ECA rules are identified. The proposed ECA rule-based approach shows that it is possible to execute the workflow using the active capability of database without users' intervention. The operation of the proposed methods is illustrated through an example process.     

Constraint-centric workflow change analytics

In a globalized economic environment with volatile business requirements, continuous process improvement needs to be done regularly in various organizations. However, maintaining the consistency of workflow models under frequent changes is a significant challenge in the management of corporate information services. Unfortunately, few formal approaches are found in the literature for managing workflow changes systematically. In this paper, we propose an analytical framework for workflow change management through formal modeling of workflow constraints, leading to an approach called Constraint-centric Workflow Change Analytics (CWCA). A core component of CWCA is the formal definition and analysis of workflow change anomalies. We operationalize CWCA by developing a change anomaly detection algorithm and validate it in the context of procurement management. A prototype system based on an open-source rule engine is presented to provide a proof-of-concept implementation of CWCA.     

Knowledge-based techniques to increase the flexibility of workflow management

This paper describes how knowledge-based techniques can be used to overcome problems of workflow management in engineering applications. Using explicit process and product models as a basis for a workflow interpreter allows us to alternate planning and execution steps, resulting in an increased flexibility of project coordination and enactment. To gain the full advantages of this flexibility, change processes have to be supported by the system. These require an improved traceability of decisions and have to be based on dependency management and change notification mechanisms. Our methods and techniques are illustrated by two applications: Urban land-use planning and software process modeling.     

基于本体的工作流知识管理系统设计

针对工作流系统应用在企业知识管理时面临着流程数据整合不易、文件内容词汇关系不明确与存取控制不便等问题,提出一种基于本体的工作流知识管理系统架构。该系统采用XML作为流程文件交换与存储格式,利用本体论的方法将不同知识领域包含的概念及关联特性整合进工作流程中,设计基于角色继承的授权管理机制进行精确的文件存取控制。介绍工作流系统的体系架构,并分析工作流引擎的设计及实现机制。该系统架构为工作流程中的知识管理提供一种新的管理及控制模式,利用该架构开发的工程设计检验系统运作良好。     

基于过程模型的动态工作流的研究

为了使工作流系统在执行过程中支持动态可变性,分析了工作流过程定义阶段及流程执行阶段的动态性特征,提出了基于过程模型的动态工作流,并在动态工作流元模型中定义相应的操作原语和操作规则,采用动态建模的方法实现了工作流模型的动态演变.     

A process matching approach for flexible workflow process reuse

Matching between two workflow processes is the key step of workflow process reuse. This paper presents an inexact matching approach for flexible workflow process reuse. A multi-valued process specialization relationship is defined based on the definition of activity specialization and the characteristics of workflow process. The matching degree between two workflow processes is determined by the matching degrees of their corresponding sub-processes or activities. The matching degree between two activities is determined by the activity-distance between them in the activity-ontology repository. A set of process specialization rules enables a new process matching to be derived from the existing matchings. Users are provided with an SQL-like command to retrieve the required processes in an inexact query condition from the workflow-process-ontology repository.     

Register allocation by proof transformation

This paper presents a proof-theoretical framework that accounts for the entire process of register allocation—liveness analysis is proof reconstruction (similar to type inference), and register allocation is proof transformation from a proof system with unrestricted variable accesses to a proof system with restricted variable access. In our framework, the set of registers acts as a “working set” of the live variables at each instruction step, which changes during the execution of the code. This eliminates the ad hoc notion of “spilling”. Memory–register moves are systematically incorporated in our proof transformation process. Its correctness is a direct corollary of our construction; the resulting proof is equivalent to the proof of the original code modulo treatment of structural rules. The framework serves as a basis for reasoning about formal properties of register allocation process, and it also yields a clean and systematic register allocation algorithm. The algorithm has been implemented, demonstrating the feasibility of the framework.     

项目管理系统中管理流程的研究与设计

工作流技术是计算机支持的协同工作研究领域新出现的一门学科。它是实现企业业务过程建模,过程管理与集成,最终实现业务过程自动化的核心技术。针对建立固定资产投资项目库的实际需求,项目开发小组利用编程技术实现了系统对项目的增、删、改等操作,并计划创建工作流流程管理,实现项目的流程化管理,最大程度地提高了办公效率。这不仅解决了传统管理方式所带来的问题,而且满足了投资处管理项目的需求。文章从工作流定义、研究现状和研究内容、项目库系统架枸及建模工具的角度概述与分析,使读者对工作流技术有一个系统的认识与了解。文章描述了在整个项目库中工作流技术的应用。本论文的目的在于使读者便于理解工作流的概念,并对工作流的应用有一定的了解。     

KWM: Knowledge-based Workflow Model for Agile Organization

The workflow management system (WFMS) in an agile organization should be highly adaptable to the frequent organizational changes. To increase the adaptability of contemporary WFMSs, a mechanism for managing changes within the organizational structure and changes in business rules needs to be reinforced. In this paper, a knowledge-based approach for workflow modeling is proposed, in which a workflow is defined as a set of business rules. Knowledge on the organizational structure and special workflow, such as role/actor mappings and complex routing rules, can be explicitly modeled in KWM (Knowledge-based Workflow Model). Using knowledge representation scheme and dependency management facility, a change propagation mechanism is provided to adapt to the frequent changes in the organizational structure, business rules, and procedures.     

基于SPEM2XPDL模型转换的软件过程执行

SPEM(software process engineering metamodel)是国际标准化组织制定的标准元模型,正日益成为软件过程建模领域的行业标准,但在过程执行方面,SPEM还存在不足.将软件过程看作是一种特殊的工作流,提出了一种应用工作流运行机制支持软件过程执行的方法.通过将SPEM模型转换为XPDL(XML process definition language)模型,利用XPDL引擎支持SPEM模型的执行.制定了SPEM和XPDL之间的映射规则,设计了转换算法并开发了转换引擎.该方法被应用在SoftPM项目中,成功地基于XPDL引擎Shark实现了对软件过程模型的执行支持.     

支持工作流动态变化的过程元模型

支持动态可变并具备灵活性是人们在实际应用中对工作流管理系统提出的新要求,已有的相关研究工作都集中在对工作流中发生变化的某个具体问题上.提出了支持动态特性的工作流过程元模型,可以为动态过程模型的设计提供指导.从时间和工作流组成的过程级别两个角度分析了其动态特性的表现,扩展了工作流管理联盟的工作流元模型.扩展后的过程元模型在工作流的建立阶段力求将动态特性进行描述和定义,在工作流执行阶段可以根据已定义的动态属性,处理过程的变化情况.基于该元模型,工作流管理系统既具有灵活性,又有利于变化控制操作.     

基于图形展开及图形归约的过程模型验证方法

工作流过程模型是业务过程的形式化定义，在业务过程的分析、运行和重组方面起着关键性的作用．为了实现预期的业务目标，需要正确地定义工作流过程模型，它的正确性直接影响业务目标的实现，WfMS开始调度执行之前必须对其进行分析．针对大规模复杂应用的特点和业务过程执行的实际需要，对复杂工作流过程模型的正确性验证进行了研究；基于有向有环图(DCG图)详细讨论工作流过程模型的局部错误以及过程逻辑错误；给出了过程建模中避免错误的相关约束规则；另外了提出了一种新型的图形归约和图形展开相结合的验证方法及过程模型验证算法．     

基于Web的工作流系统中表单定义与处理

描述了基于Web的工作流系统中的表单定义以及处理的规则。基于这些规则,用户可以自由定制应用在Web上的、基于HTML的表单,并灵活地控制表单的显示、数据项之间的运算以及工作流的处理逻辑。通过不同的规则组合,可以实现一系列复杂的功能,完全能够满足多分支、多路径的工作流系统对表单定义处理灵活性的要求。实践表明,文中提出的规则能够增强工作流系统的灵活性与可扩展性,可对构建功能更强大的办公自动化系统提供有力支持。