Workflow resource patterns

Abstract

Workflow systems seek to provide an implementation vehicle for complex, recurring\nbusiness processes. Notwithstanding this common objective, there are a\nvariety of distinct features offered by commercial workflow management systems.\nThese differences result in significant variations in the ability of distinct tools to\nrepresent and implement the plethora of requirements that may arise in contemporary\nbusiness processes. Many of these requirements recur quite frequently\nduring the requirements analysis activity for workflow systems and abstractions\nof these requirements serve as a useful means of identifying the key components\nof workflow languages.\nPrevious work has identified a number of Workflow Control Patterns and\nWorkflow Data Patterns, which characterize the range of control flow and data\nconstructs that might be encountered when modelling and analysing workflows.\nIn this paper, we describe a series of Workflow Resource Patterns that aim to capture\nthe various ways in which resources are represented and utilized in workflows.\nBy delineating these Patterns in a form that is independent of specific workflow\ntechnologies and modelling languages, we are able to provide a comprehensive\ntreatment of the resource perspective and we subsequently use these Patterns\nas the basis for a detailed comparison of a number of commercially available\nworkflow management systems and business process modelling languages.