Workflow Management Systems (WfMS), both open source and commercial, represent workflows either in XML or in other structured languages that cause impedance mismatch with the relational database of application software. This paper presents a new modeling scheme for WfMS, where both workflow data and application data can share a common relational database. However, the main focus is to develop a Graphical Workflow Definition Language (GWDL) so that a process expert, who is often a non-IT expert, can design a workflow visually using "drag and drop" method. We have developed a prototype system, where users define workflow in GWDL, which is then automatically translated to relational tables through a series of transformations.
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