Workflow management

Abstract

Workflow management has its origin in the office automation systems of the seventies, but it is not until fairly recently that conceptual and technological breakthroughs have led to its widespread adoption. In fact, nowadays, process-awareness has become an accepted and integral part of various types of systems. Through the use of process-aware information systems, workflows can be specified and enacted, thus providing automated support for business processes. A workflow explicitly represents control-flow dependencies between the various tasks of the business process, the information that is required and that can be produced by them, and the link between these tasks and the resources, be they human or not, which can execute them. In this way, processes can be performed more efficiently and effectively, compliance with respect to standard procedures and practices can be monitored more closely, and rapid change in response to evolving market conditions can be achieved more easily. This chapter provides an overview of the field of workflow management.