PROVIDING WORKFLOW SERVICES USING A PROGRAMMABLE HYPERMEDIA ENVIRONMENT

This paper presents a methodology for designing and implementing workf low within a programmable hypermedia environment, based on a colored p etri-net model. We discuss and demonstrate that a collaborative, progr ammable hypermedia system provides a powerful environment for supporti ng workflow and document management. Nodes of the workflow manifest as nodes in the hypermedia environment. Transitions manifest as software components. Nodes and transitions are associated with workflow activi ties through hyperlinks. Hyperlinks relate nodes to transitions, trans itions to nodes, users to nodes, and documents to documents. The benef its of this approach are: an environment that integrates workflow and document management activities within a common interface; the ability to support distributed document management and collaboration; and a wo rkflow system that utilizes services within the underlying hypermedia environment, to structure documents and access information by navigati on. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.