Handling Complex Process Models Conditions Using First-Order Horn Clauses

摘要

WorkFlow Management Systems provide automatic support to learn process models or to check compliance of process enactment to correct models. The expressive power of the adopted formalism for representing process models is fundamental to determine the effectiveness or even feasibility of a correct model. In particular, a desirable feature is the possibility of expressing complex conditions on some elements of the model. The formalism used in the WoMan framework for workflow management, based on First-Order Logic, is more expressive than standard formalisms adopted in the literature. It allows tight integration between the activity flow and the conditions, and it allows one to express conditions that take into account contextual information and various kinds of relationships among the involved entities. This paper discusses such a formalism, especially concerning conditions, and provides an explicative example of how this can be applied in practice.