scholarly journals A precondition-based approach to workflow oriented software re-engineering

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Feng Chen ◽  
Da Tang ◽  
Hongji Yang ◽  
Mohammed Alawairdhi
Keyword(s):  
Program Analysis ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Workflow Model ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Software Reengineering ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Basic Technology ◽  
Process Perspective

Workflow management systems (WfMSs) become the basic technology for organizations to build their Information Systems. To understand the business processes already implemented in the existing software systems and then build the workflow oriented Information System is a time-consuming and error prone process. This paper proposes a unified software reengineering approach from a business process perspective. A workflow extraction method is developed to elicit the business processes from existing systems. A precondition-based workflow model is designed for this purpose, which is an activity-centred method for program analysis. The calculation of the activity?s whole condition provides powerful analysis techniques to verify the correctness of the recovered workflow model. Through the proposed approach, the workflow procedures can be recovered from the existing system and verified by the precondition analysis.

A HIERARCHICAL MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVALUATION OF AUTOMATED BUSINESS PROCESSES

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (04) ◽  
pp. 331-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSSELLA AIELLO ◽  
ANTONIO ESPOSITO ◽  
GIANCARLO NOTA
Keyword(s):  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Model ◽  
Research Issue ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Measurement Framework ◽  
Implementation Effort ◽  
Workflow Management Coalition

The problem of performance evaluation of business processes supported by Workflow Management Systems is a recent research issue. In this paper we propose a measurement framework in which several aspects concerning the timing and working of a business process, either as a whole or in terms of its components, can be precisely quantified. Our approach is based on the workflow model introduced by the Workflow Management Coalition and introduces some fundamental measures from which a number of derived measures can be hierarchically obtained. The paper describes the basic structures and the primitive operators of the framework as well as the fundamental and derived measures. Techniques for the evaluation of complex processes are also discussed. The proposed framework is quite general and can be applied to research and commercial workflow management systems with relatively little implementation effort.

THE APPLICATION OF PETRI NETS TO WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

1998 ◽  
Vol 08 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. P. VAN DER AALST
Keyword(s):  
Petri Nets ◽  
Petri Net ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Explicit Representation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Application Domain ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
The One

Workflow management promises a new solution to an age-old problem: controlling, monitoring, optimizing and supporting business processes. What is new about workflow management is the explicit representation of the business process logic which allows for computerized support. This paper discusses the use of Petri nets in the context of workflow management. Petri nets are an established tool for modeling and analyzing processes. On the one hand, Petri nets can be used as a design language for the specification of complex workflows. On the other hand, Petri net theory provides for powerful analysis techniques which can be used to verify the correctness of workflow procedures. This paper introduces workflow management as an application domain for Petri nets, presents state-of-the-art results with respect to the verification of workflows, and highlights some Petri-net-based workflow tools.

scholarly journals An Approach To E-Workflow Systems With The Use Of Patterns

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20
Author(s):  
John Ndeta ◽  
Stamatia A. Katriou ◽  
Kerstin V. Siakas
Keyword(s):  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Activity Diagram ◽  
Workflow Systems ◽  
Workflow Pattern ◽  
Uml Activity Diagram ◽  
Input Format

Abstract In today’s highly competitive and rapidly changing environment, e-businesses constantly have to modify their business processes, i.e. the flow of documents and tasks in a business also known as workflow. More flexible Workflow Management Systems are required to support these constantly changing processes. In this research a platform independent architecture for the design of e-workflow systems is illustrated. The architecture includes an information pool, namely a Workflow Pattern Repository, which contains patterns, which are repeatable solutions to reoccurring problems, in order to make the system more apt to change and assist the workflow designer/user in defining workflows faster and more accurately. The patterns in the repository are in the form of UML activity diagram templates. A straightforward input format for storing patterns in the repository is provided along with an example of its practical application.

Information flow control for workflow management systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bauereiß ◽  
Dieter Hutter
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
User Interaction ◽  
Security Requirements ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Information Flow Control

AbstractWorkflow management plays an important role in analyzing and automating business processes. Security requirements in workflow management systems are typically mapped to (role-based) access control configurations. This paper focuses on information flow control, taking into account implicit information leaks. The presented approach operates on a specification level in which no executable program is available yet. We illustrate the modeling of a workflow management system as a composition of state-event systems, each representing one of the activities of the workflow. This facilitates distributed deployment and eases verification by splitting up the verification of the overall system into verification of the individual components. Confidentiality requirements are modeled in terms of information flow predicates using the MAKS framework and verified following existing decomposition methodologies, which are adapted for open systems with ongoing user interaction. We discuss the interaction with other security requirements, notably separation of duty.

Model Checking of Constraint-Based Workflow Based on Linear Temporal Logic

2012 ◽  
Vol 601 ◽  
pp. 401-405
Author(s):  
Wen Bo Zhou ◽  
Shu Zhen Yao
Keyword(s):  
Model Checking ◽  
Temporal Logic ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Linear Temporal Logic ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Büchi Automaton ◽  
Constraint Based Models

The degree of flexibility of workflow management systems heavily influences the way business processes are executed. Constraint-based models are considered to be more flexible than traditional models because of their semantics: everything that does not violate constraints is allowed. More and more people use declarative languages to define workflow, such as linear temporal logic. But how to guarantee the correctness of the model based on the linear temporal logic is still a problem. This article proposes a way to verify the model based on Büchi automaton and gives the corresponding algorithms. Thus the verification of declarative workflow based on the linear temporal logic is solved.

scholarly journals Context-sensitive constraints for access control of business processes

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Gordana Milosavljevic ◽  
Goran Sladic ◽  
Branko Milosavljevic ◽  
Miroslav Zaric ◽  
Stevan Gostojic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Access Control ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Systems ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
The Common ◽  
Role Based

Workflow management systems (WfMS) are used to automate and facilitate business processes of an enterprise. To simplify the administration, it is a common practice in many WfMS solutions to allocate a role to perform each activity of the process and then assign one or more users to each role. Typically, access control for WfMS is role-based with a support of constraints on users and roles. However, merely using role and constraints concepts can hardly satisfy modern access control requirements of a contemporary enterprise. Permissions should not solely depend on common static and dynamic principles, but they must be influenced by the context in which the access is requested. In this paper, we focus on the definition and enforcement of the context-sensitive constraints for workflow systems. We extended the common role-based constraints listed in literature with context-sensitive information and workflow specific components. Also, we propose a mechanism for enforcing such constraints within WfMS.

A Dynamic Workflow Management Model Based on Web Services

2010 ◽  
Vol 439-440 ◽  
pp. 599-604
Author(s):  
Hong Zhen Xu ◽  
Bin Tang ◽  
Ying Gui ◽  
Huai Ping Wang
Keyword(s):  
Web Services ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Management Model ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Technology ◽  
Adaptive Workflow ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Dynamic Workflow

Workflow technology has emerged as one of those technologies designed to support modeling, designing and executing business processes. One of the major limitations of current workflow management systems is the lack of flexibility to support dynamic management of workflows. In this paper, we propose a dynamic workflow management model based on web services. We integrate web services and ontology technologies to support dynamic specifying, monitoring, analyzing, designing, configuring and executing workflows. We explain the need and functionality of the main modules and interfaces of the model, and introduce its application in a case study. An important feature of this model is to support for planning and adaptive workflow management.

A COOPERATIVE HYPERMEDIA APPROACH TO FLEXIBLE PROCESS SUPPORT FOR MANAGING DISTRIBUTED PROJECTS

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 481-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
WEIGANG WANG ◽  
KEVIN FINCH ◽  
JESSICA RUBART ◽  
JOERG M. HAAKE
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Process Support

Due to the separation of project management systems and workflow management systems, there is a gap between project plans and process support used to implement them. Often, managers could not see what was going on in their businesses until it was too late to react. In this paper, a cooperative hypermedia approach and an integration framework are developed to provide an integrated support for project planning, workflow management, information management and teamwork. The cooperative hypermedia-based process model has many desirable computational properties. The cooperative hypermedia tools built on this model can support distributed project teams to create, analyze, execute, monitor and adapt a project plan cooperatively. Case studies and user experiences of the cooperative hypermedia system demonstrate that the cooperative hypermedia approach can facilitate team members to identify emerging problems, to discuss and adapt the plan cooperatively. It is a promising approach to bridge the gap between project management and workflow management systems so as to support flexible business processes of real-time project teams.

A Goal-Oriented Active Service Model and its COE Algorithm for Migrating Workflow System

2010 ◽  
Vol 426-427 ◽  
pp. 343-347
Author(s):  
Rui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Systems ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Service Model ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Service Group ◽  
Workflow System ◽  
Active Service

Workflow management systems (WFMS) are complex distributed systems, which are geared for the orchestration of business processes across multiple organizations. In order to adapt to the heterogeneous, distributed and dynamic environment, we propose a goal-oriented active service model. The model is designed to support organizational coevolution for providing workflow services. This paper reviews the introduction and motivation for active service approach, discusses the technologies used in active service, which represents steps towards the end goal of building virtual service group and organizational coevolutionary(COE) algorithm.

scholarly journals A Workflow Criticality-Based Approach to Bypass the Workflow Satisfiability Problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Monsef Boughrous ◽  
Hanan El Bakkali
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Workflow Management ◽  
Satisfiability Problem ◽  
Workflow Management Systems ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Authorized User ◽  
Workflow Execution ◽  
Model Complex

Workflow management systems are very important for any organization to manage and model complex business processes. However, significant work is needed to keep a workflow resilient and secure. Therefore, organizations apply a strict security policy and enforce access control constraints. As a result, the number of available and authorized users for the workflow execution decreases drastically. Thus, in many cases, such a situation leads to a workflow deadlock situation, where there no available authorized user-task assignments for critical tasks to accomplish the workflow execution. In the literature, this problem has gained interest of security researchers in the recent years, and is known as the workflow satisfiability problem (WSP). In this paper, we propose a new approach to bypass the WSP and to ensure workflow resiliency and security. For this purpose, we define workflow criticality, which can be used as a metric during run-time to prevent WSP. We believe that the workflow criticality value will help workflow managers to make decisions and start a mitigation solution in case of a critical workflow. Moreover, we propose a delegation process algorithm (DP) as a mitigation solution that uses workflow instance criticality, delegation, and priority concepts to find authorized and suitable users to perform the critical task with low-security risks.

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