A workflow management system (WfMS) is a software system that supports the coordinated execution of different simple activities, assigning them to human or automatic executors, to achieve a common goal defined for a business process. Temporal aspects of stored information cannot be neglected and the adoption of a temporal database management system (TDBMS) could benefit. By this paper we scratch the surface of the topic related to the use of a TDBMS in a WfMS, identifying some advantages in managing temporal aspects by a TDBMS inside some of the components of a WfMS. E.g., queries to reconstruct the schema of the business process or to assign activities to executors balancing their workload over time, or the definition of constraints among tasks can benefit from the use of a TDBMS.
展开▼
