As a variant of process algebra, π calculus can describe the interactions between evolving processes. By modeling activity as a process interacting with other processes through ports, this paper presents a new appro...As a variant of process algebra, π calculus can describe the interactions between evolving processes. By modeling activity as a process interacting with other processes through ports, this paper presents a new approach: representing workflow models using π calculus. As a result, the model can characterize the dynamic behaviors of the workflow process in terms of the LTS (Labeled Transition Semantics) semantics of π calculus. The main advantage of the workflow model's formal semantic is that it allows for verification of the model's properties, such as deadlock free and normal termination. Moreover, the equivalence of workflow models can be checked through weak bisimulation theorem in the π calculus, thus facilitating the optimization of business processes.展开更多
The goals of B2B electronic commerce and supply chain management system are to implement interoperability of independent enterprises, to smooth the information flow between them and to deploy business processes over m...The goals of B2B electronic commerce and supply chain management system are to implement interoperability of independent enterprises, to smooth the information flow between them and to deploy business processes over multiple enterprises. The inherent characteristics of workflow system make it suitable to implement the cross organization management. This paper, firstly, proposes an inter enterprises workflow model based on the agreement to support the construction of supply chain management system and B2B electronic commerce. This model has extended the standard workflow model. After that, an architecture which supports the model has been introduced, especially it details the structure and implementation of interfaces between enterprises.展开更多
In recent years, several researchers have applied workflow technologies for service automation on ubiquitous compating environments. However, most context-aware workflows do not offer a method to compose several workf...In recent years, several researchers have applied workflow technologies for service automation on ubiquitous compating environments. However, most context-aware workflows do not offer a method to compose several workflows in order to get mare large-scale or complicated workflow. They only provide a simple workflow model, not a composite workflow model. In this paper, the autorhs propose a context-aware workflow model to support composite workflows by expanding the patterns of the existing context-aware wrY：flows, which support the basic woddlow patterns. The suggested workflow model of. fers composite workflow patterns for a context-aware workflow, which consists of various flow patterns, such as simple, split, parallel flows, and subflow. With the suggested model, the model can easily reuse few of existing workflows to make a new workflow. As a result, it can save the development efforts and time of context-aware workflows and increase the workflow reusability. Therefore, the suggested model is expected to make it easy to develop applications related to context-aware workflow services on ubiquitous computing environments.展开更多
A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad rang...A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad range of business applications like ERP （enterprise resource planning） and other workflow-systems. Given a generic process or workflow model in YAWL-notation （yet another workflow language） or any other process modeling language like business process model and notation or WFMC （workflow management coalition）, it could be stated that, by using a set of reduction rules as introduced, it is possible to generate a hierarchically structured tree of sub graphs of the workflow graph-representation. According to the notation used, authors call these sub graphs facts. The tree structure of the graph-representation on one hand and the logical relation between the branches and leafs of the tree on the other can be utilized to create a set of constraints and dependencies among the single facts. Some researchers showed that the nested branches can be associated to （predefined） questions with respect to the configuration of a workflow management system, for instance an ERP-application. They presented an algorithm which dynamically sorts the questions and answers in a maximum efficient configuration path, while working through the corresponding questionnaire. By combining the different elements as facts, constraints on questions, and configuration space, it is thus possible to algorithmically generate the efficient structured and interactive questionnaire for the configuration of workflow systems and algorithmically check the consistency （dead lock free, free of synchronization structural conflict） of the underlying workflow model. The concept was tested in the prototype of the interactive questionnaire for configuration of the web-service based ERP-Application Posity.展开更多
An integrated enterprise workflow model called PPROCE is presented firstly. Then, an enterprise’s ontology established by TOVE and Process Specification Language (PSL) is studied. Combined with TOVE’s partition idea...An integrated enterprise workflow model called PPROCE is presented firstly. Then, an enterprise’s ontology established by TOVE and Process Specification Language (PSL) is studied. Combined with TOVE’s partition idea, PSL is extended and new PSL Extensions is created to define the ontology of process, organization, resource and product in the PPROCE model. As a result, PPROCE model can be defined by a set of corresponding formal language. It facilitates the future work not only in the model verification, model optimization and model simulation, but also in the model translation.展开更多
Nowadays an increasing number of workflow products and research prototypes begin to adopt XML for representing workflow models owing to its easy use and well understanding for people and machines. However, most of wor...Nowadays an increasing number of workflow products and research prototypes begin to adopt XML for representing workflow models owing to its easy use and well understanding for people and machines. However, most of workflow products and research prototypes provide the few supports for the verification of XML-based workflow model, such as free-deadlock properties, which is essential to successful application of workflow technology. In this paper, we tackle this problem by mapping the XML-based workflow model into Petri-net, a kind of well-known formalism for modeling, analyzing and verifying system. As a result, the XML-based workflow model can be automatically verified with the help of general Petri-net tools, such as DANAMICS. The presented approach not only enables end users to represent workflow model with XML-based modeling language, but also the correctness of model can be ensured, thus satisfying the needs of business processes.展开更多
A workflow authorization model based on credentials was proposesed. It can nicely satisfy the features that workflows in actual application should satisfying. This model uses access control list based on task state wh...A workflow authorization model based on credentials was proposesed. It can nicely satisfy the features that workflows in actual application should satisfying. This model uses access control list based on task state which nicely ensure synchronizing authorization flow with workflow; specifies authorization policy not only based on user identifiers but also based on user qualifications and characteristics; defines a set of constraint rules for a task and seek the eligible users to execute the task according to the type of each constraint rule which realize dynamic separation of duty; and realizes the access granularity of authorization ranging from objects to specific parts of objects which ensure the least privilege constraints much more better.展开更多
In this paper, we present a set of best practices for workflow design and implementation for numerical weather prediction models and meteorological data service, which have been in operation in China Meteorological Ad...In this paper, we present a set of best practices for workflow design and implementation for numerical weather prediction models and meteorological data service, which have been in operation in China Meteorological Administration (CMA) for years and have been proven effective in reliably managing the complexities of large-scale meteorological related workflows. Based on the previous work on the platforms, we argue that a minimum set of guidelines including workflow scheme, module design, implementation standards and maintenance consideration during the whole establishment of the platform are highly recommended, serving to reduce the need for future maintenance and adjustment. A significant gain in performance can be achieved through the workflow-based projects. We believe that a good workflow system plays an important role in the weather forecast service, providing a useful tool for monitoring the whole process, fixing the errors, repairing a workflow, or redesigning an equivalent workflow pattern with new components.展开更多
Workflow-based systems are typically said to lead to better use of staff and better management and productivity. The first phase in building a workflow-based system is capturing the real-world process in a conceptual ...Workflow-based systems are typically said to lead to better use of staff and better management and productivity. The first phase in building a workflow-based system is capturing the real-world process in a conceptual representation suitable for the following phases of formalization and implementation. The specification may be in text or diagram form or written in a formal language. This paper proposes a flow-based diagrammatic methodology as a tool for workflow specification. The expressiveness of the method is appraised though its ability to capture a workflow-based application. Here we show that the proposed conceptual diagrams are able to express situations arising in practice as an alternative to tools currently used in workflow systems. This is demonstrated by using the proposed methodology to partial build demo systems for two government agencies.展开更多
The soundness is a very important criterion for the correctness of the workflow. Specifying the soundness with Computation Tree Logic （CTL） allows us to verify the soundness with symbolic model checkers. Therefore t...The soundness is a very important criterion for the correctness of the workflow. Specifying the soundness with Computation Tree Logic （CTL） allows us to verify the soundness with symbolic model checkers. Therefore the state explosion problem in verifying soundness can be overcome efficiently. When the property is not satisfied by the system, model checking can give a counter-example, which can guide us to correct the workflow. In addition, relaxed soundness is another important criterion for the workflow. We also prove that Computation Tree Logic ＊ （CTL ＊ ） can be used to character the relaxed soundness of the workflow.展开更多
A new method of virtual ship assembly modeling which integrates ship three-dimensional design and ship construction planning was described in this paper. A workflow model of simulation modeling based on the virtual sh...A new method of virtual ship assembly modeling which integrates ship three-dimensional design and ship construction planning was described in this paper. A workflow model of simulation modeling based on the virtual ship assembly process was also established; furthermore, a method of information transformation between the ship three-dimensional design and ship construction plan was formulated. To meet the requirements of information sharing between different systems in the ship virtual assembly, a simulation database was created by using the software engineering design method and the relational data model. With the application of this database, the information of ship three-dimensional design, construction planning, and virtual assembly can be integrated into one system. Subsequently, this new method was applied as a tool to simulate the virtual assembly of a ship, and the results guarantee its rationality and reliability.展开更多
A workflow schema is an abstract description of the business processed by workflow model, and plays a critical role in analyzing, executing and reorganizing business processes. The verification issue on the correctnes...A workflow schema is an abstract description of the business processed by workflow model, and plays a critical role in analyzing, executing and reorganizing business processes. The verification issue on the correctness of complicated workflow schemas is difficult in the field of workflow. We make an intensive study of it in this paper. We present here local errors and schema logic errors （global errors） in workflow schemas in detail, and offer some constraint rules trying to avoid schema errors during modeling. In addition, we propose a verification approach based on graph reduction and graph spread, and give the algorithm. The algorithm is implemented in a workflow prototype system e-ScopeWork.展开更多
This paper attempts to solve the complexity of scheduling problems and meet the requirement of the ever-changing manufacturing environment. In this paper, a new Workflow-Based Scheduling System (WBSS) is proposed. The...This paper attempts to solve the complexity of scheduling problems and meet the requirement of the ever-changing manufacturing environment. In this paper, a new Workflow-Based Scheduling System (WBSS) is proposed. The integration of Workflow Management System (WfMS) and rule-based scheduler provides us an effective way of generating a task-sheet according to the states of system and the scheduled objects. First, the definition of workflow model for scheduling is proposed, and following are the architecture and mechanism of the proposed WBSS. At last, an application is given to show how the established system works.展开更多
Simulation technique is an efficient approach to realize the planning and scheduling of manufacturing process of products. An appropriate and efficient manufacturing process model is the basis and key of manufacturing...Simulation technique is an efficient approach to realize the planning and scheduling of manufacturing process of products. An appropriate and efficient manufacturing process model is the basis and key of manufacturing process simulation. By analyzing the features of large-sized and complex products, a method of manufacturing process modeling based on activity network is presented and a mapping algorithm of translating BOM/BOP into the manufacturing process model is designed in detail.展开更多
文摘As a variant of process algebra, π calculus can describe the interactions between evolving processes. By modeling activity as a process interacting with other processes through ports, this paper presents a new approach: representing workflow models using π calculus. As a result, the model can characterize the dynamic behaviors of the workflow process in terms of the LTS (Labeled Transition Semantics) semantics of π calculus. The main advantage of the workflow model's formal semantic is that it allows for verification of the model's properties, such as deadlock free and normal termination. Moreover, the equivalence of workflow models can be checked through weak bisimulation theorem in the π calculus, thus facilitating the optimization of business processes.
文摘The goals of B2B electronic commerce and supply chain management system are to implement interoperability of independent enterprises, to smooth the information flow between them and to deploy business processes over multiple enterprises. The inherent characteristics of workflow system make it suitable to implement the cross organization management. This paper, firstly, proposes an inter enterprises workflow model based on the agreement to support the construction of supply chain management system and B2B electronic commerce. This model has extended the standard workflow model. After that, an architecture which supports the model has been introduced, especially it details the structure and implementation of interfaces between enterprises.
基金supported by the The Ministry of Knowledge Economy,Korea,the ITRC(Information Technology Research Center)support program(ⅡTA-2009-(C1090-0902-0007))
文摘In recent years, several researchers have applied workflow technologies for service automation on ubiquitous compating environments. However, most context-aware workflows do not offer a method to compose several workflows in order to get mare large-scale or complicated workflow. They only provide a simple workflow model, not a composite workflow model. In this paper, the autorhs propose a context-aware workflow model to support composite workflows by expanding the patterns of the existing context-aware wrY：flows, which support the basic woddlow patterns. The suggested workflow model of. fers composite workflow patterns for a context-aware workflow, which consists of various flow patterns, such as simple, split, parallel flows, and subflow. With the suggested model, the model can easily reuse few of existing workflows to make a new workflow. As a result, it can save the development efforts and time of context-aware workflows and increase the workflow reusability. Therefore, the suggested model is expected to make it easy to develop applications related to context-aware workflow services on ubiquitous computing environments.
文摘A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad range of business applications like ERP （enterprise resource planning） and other workflow-systems. Given a generic process or workflow model in YAWL-notation （yet another workflow language） or any other process modeling language like business process model and notation or WFMC （workflow management coalition）, it could be stated that, by using a set of reduction rules as introduced, it is possible to generate a hierarchically structured tree of sub graphs of the workflow graph-representation. According to the notation used, authors call these sub graphs facts. The tree structure of the graph-representation on one hand and the logical relation between the branches and leafs of the tree on the other can be utilized to create a set of constraints and dependencies among the single facts. Some researchers showed that the nested branches can be associated to （predefined） questions with respect to the configuration of a workflow management system, for instance an ERP-application. They presented an algorithm which dynamically sorts the questions and answers in a maximum efficient configuration path, while working through the corresponding questionnaire. By combining the different elements as facts, constraints on questions, and configuration space, it is thus possible to algorithmically generate the efficient structured and interactive questionnaire for the configuration of workflow systems and algorithmically check the consistency （dead lock free, free of synchronization structural conflict） of the underlying workflow model. The concept was tested in the prototype of the interactive questionnaire for configuration of the web-service based ERP-Application Posity.
文摘An integrated enterprise workflow model called PPROCE is presented firstly. Then, an enterprise’s ontology established by TOVE and Process Specification Language (PSL) is studied. Combined with TOVE’s partition idea, PSL is extended and new PSL Extensions is created to define the ontology of process, organization, resource and product in the PPROCE model. As a result, PPROCE model can be defined by a set of corresponding formal language. It facilitates the future work not only in the model verification, model optimization and model simulation, but also in the model translation.
文摘Nowadays an increasing number of workflow products and research prototypes begin to adopt XML for representing workflow models owing to its easy use and well understanding for people and machines. However, most of workflow products and research prototypes provide the few supports for the verification of XML-based workflow model, such as free-deadlock properties, which is essential to successful application of workflow technology. In this paper, we tackle this problem by mapping the XML-based workflow model into Petri-net, a kind of well-known formalism for modeling, analyzing and verifying system. As a result, the XML-based workflow model can be automatically verified with the help of general Petri-net tools, such as DANAMICS. The presented approach not only enables end users to represent workflow model with XML-based modeling language, but also the correctness of model can be ensured, thus satisfying the needs of business processes.
文摘A workflow authorization model based on credentials was proposesed. It can nicely satisfy the features that workflows in actual application should satisfying. This model uses access control list based on task state which nicely ensure synchronizing authorization flow with workflow; specifies authorization policy not only based on user identifiers but also based on user qualifications and characteristics; defines a set of constraint rules for a task and seek the eligible users to execute the task according to the type of each constraint rule which realize dynamic separation of duty; and realizes the access granularity of authorization ranging from objects to specific parts of objects which ensure the least privilege constraints much more better.
文摘In this paper, we present a set of best practices for workflow design and implementation for numerical weather prediction models and meteorological data service, which have been in operation in China Meteorological Administration (CMA) for years and have been proven effective in reliably managing the complexities of large-scale meteorological related workflows. Based on the previous work on the platforms, we argue that a minimum set of guidelines including workflow scheme, module design, implementation standards and maintenance consideration during the whole establishment of the platform are highly recommended, serving to reduce the need for future maintenance and adjustment. A significant gain in performance can be achieved through the workflow-based projects. We believe that a good workflow system plays an important role in the weather forecast service, providing a useful tool for monitoring the whole process, fixing the errors, repairing a workflow, or redesigning an equivalent workflow pattern with new components.
文摘Workflow-based systems are typically said to lead to better use of staff and better management and productivity. The first phase in building a workflow-based system is capturing the real-world process in a conceptual representation suitable for the following phases of formalization and implementation. The specification may be in text or diagram form or written in a formal language. This paper proposes a flow-based diagrammatic methodology as a tool for workflow specification. The expressiveness of the method is appraised though its ability to capture a workflow-based application. Here we show that the proposed conceptual diagrams are able to express situations arising in practice as an alternative to tools currently used in workflow systems. This is demonstrated by using the proposed methodology to partial build demo systems for two government agencies.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foun-dation of China (60573046)
文摘The soundness is a very important criterion for the correctness of the workflow. Specifying the soundness with Computation Tree Logic （CTL） allows us to verify the soundness with symbolic model checkers. Therefore the state explosion problem in verifying soundness can be overcome efficiently. When the property is not satisfied by the system, model checking can give a counter-example, which can guide us to correct the workflow. In addition, relaxed soundness is another important criterion for the workflow. We also prove that Computation Tree Logic ＊ （CTL ＊ ） can be used to character the relaxed soundness of the workflow.
基金Supported by Key National Science & Technology Specific Projects under Grant No. 2008ZX05027-005-002
文摘A new method of virtual ship assembly modeling which integrates ship three-dimensional design and ship construction planning was described in this paper. A workflow model of simulation modeling based on the virtual ship assembly process was also established; furthermore, a method of information transformation between the ship three-dimensional design and ship construction plan was formulated. To meet the requirements of information sharing between different systems in the ship virtual assembly, a simulation database was created by using the software engineering design method and the relational data model. With the application of this database, the information of ship three-dimensional design, construction planning, and virtual assembly can be integrated into one system. Subsequently, this new method was applied as a tool to simulate the virtual assembly of a ship, and the results guarantee its rationality and reliability.
基金Supported by the National High-Technology Re-search and Development Program ( 2002AA1Z2308 , 2002AA118030)Liaoning Province Natural Science Foundation of China(20022027)
文摘A workflow schema is an abstract description of the business processed by workflow model, and plays a critical role in analyzing, executing and reorganizing business processes. The verification issue on the correctness of complicated workflow schemas is difficult in the field of workflow. We make an intensive study of it in this paper. We present here local errors and schema logic errors （global errors） in workflow schemas in detail, and offer some constraint rules trying to avoid schema errors during modeling. In addition, we propose a verification approach based on graph reduction and graph spread, and give the algorithm. The algorithm is implemented in a workflow prototype system e-ScopeWork.
文摘This paper attempts to solve the complexity of scheduling problems and meet the requirement of the ever-changing manufacturing environment. In this paper, a new Workflow-Based Scheduling System (WBSS) is proposed. The integration of Workflow Management System (WfMS) and rule-based scheduler provides us an effective way of generating a task-sheet according to the states of system and the scheduled objects. First, the definition of workflow model for scheduling is proposed, and following are the architecture and mechanism of the proposed WBSS. At last, an application is given to show how the established system works.
文摘Simulation technique is an efficient approach to realize the planning and scheduling of manufacturing process of products. An appropriate and efficient manufacturing process model is the basis and key of manufacturing process simulation. By analyzing the features of large-sized and complex products, a method of manufacturing process modeling based on activity network is presented and a mapping algorithm of translating BOM/BOP into the manufacturing process model is designed in detail.
