A Peer to Peer (P2P) Dynamic Workflow Management System Based on Web Services

摘要

This paper presents the architecture of a novel Peer to Peer (P2P) workflow management system. The proposed P2P architecture is based on concepts such as a Web Workflow Peers Directory (WWPD) and Web Workflow Peer (WWP). Similarly to P2P implementations such as Napster and Gnutella, it allows peers to register with the system and offer their services and resources to other peers over the Internet. Furthermore, the architecture supports a novel notification mechanism to facilitate distributed workflow administration and management. Employing P2P principles can potentially simplify the workflow process and provide a more open, scalable process model that is shared by all workflow participants. Available peers can be discovered dynamically from the WWPD. The few currently existing P2P based workflow systems have many limitations, as they are not based on state of the art Web-based technologies such as Web Services. In contrast, with the described approach it is possible to expose interoperable workflow processes over the Internet in a productive, efficient way that can satisfy the current high demands of commercial applications. A medical consultation case study is used to demonstrate the proposed system.