A general framework for the execution of heterogenous programs inworkflow management systems

摘要

Application programs are a substantial asset of an organization.The introduction of workflow management technology must provide meansand mechanisms to integrate existing application programs which are notaware of workflow management systems in the same seamless manner asnewly written, workflow-aware applications. The paper presents a generalapproach for integrating workflow-unaware application programs intoworkflow management systems. Their concepts enable the integration ofapplication programs which are implemented on top of heterogeneousoperating systems or base services into our prototype workflowmanagement system MOBILE. Furthermore, they support the execution ofseveral transactional application programs within a single transactioncontrolled by the workflow management system