Web-based workflow framework with CORBA

Citation
Hv. Leong et al., Web-based workflow framework with CORBA, CONCURR ENG, 9(2), 2001, pp. 120-130
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Engineering Management /General
Journal title
CONCURRENT ENGINEERING-RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS
ISSN journal
1063293X → ACNP
Volume
9
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
120 - 130
Database
ISI
SICI code
1063-293X(200106)9:2<120:WWFWC>2.0.ZU;2-H
Abstract
Workflow is an important class of applications in the daily business. A num ber of web-based workflow systems have been developed recently as a natural extension to traditional workflow systems to exploit the growing popularit y of the Internet. However, most of them are designed based on the specific application at hand. In this paper, we distill out the fundamental element s of a workflow system into a general workflow framework. The framework pro vides appropriate application programming interfaces for programmers to fil l in the application specific requirements of a workflow system at hand. Th is is realized through two object-wrappers: the Task interface and the Reso urce interface, which support the specification of the tasks involved in th e workflow schedule and the resources accessed respectively. A major charac teristic of the framework is that the particular workflow schedule under ex ecution is fluid, in the sense that the tasks involved as well as their pre cedence relationships can be modified dynamically. Consistency constraints will be examined in this paper which determine when such modifications are allowed. To maximize flexibility, we adhere our design to the CORBA archite cture, which has been becoming highly popular in recent years, thus allowin g tasks and resources of different types to interoperate in our framework. We demonstrate the feasibility of our framework with a small prototype that allows tasks in a workflow system to be scheduled and executed.