Workflow history management in virtual enterprises using a light-weight workflow management system

Abstract

Enterprise-spanning workflows require workflow management systems that can be tailored to specific application needs, as well as enhanced support for interoperability between different workflow management systems. In virtual enterprises, the interoperability problem is not limited to workflow execution, but also requires facilities like worklist management and history management to be interoperable. We present a lightweight system architecture, consisting of a small system kernel, on top of which extensions such as history management and worklist management are themselves implemented as workflows. The functionality of the kernel, such as distributed workflow execution and interoperability interfaces, is available for all extensions. We show the feasibility of our approach by presenting the implementation of history management in our workflow specification language, based on state and activity charts, on top of our lightweight kernel, coined "Mentor-lite".