OBJECTFLOW: a modular workflow management system

Abstract

Workflow Management (WM) is an emerging area that involves cross-disciplinary fields as Database, Software Engineering, Business Management, Human Coordination. A Workflow Management System (WMS) is a software tool to automate Business Processes (BPs) and coordinate people of an organization. BPs are a set of linked procedures concentrated on reaching a business goal, normally following a set of procedural rules. This work presents the OBJECTFLOW(2) project, result of the cooperation between an industrial partner, the Centro de Clculo de Sabadell (CCS, a software company located near Barcelona), and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). The main aim of OBJECTFLOW project is constructing a flexible WMS to automate BPs of the medium and big enterprise, allowing the integration to existing software systems. Several paradigms were used to design and develop the OBJECTFLOW WMS: from an architectural point of view, it is a Client Server application. For the analysis, design and programming of the software component, the Rumbaugh OMT methodology was used. As a WMS, it was designed to support different kinds of workflow applications, integrating legacy systems and compound documents. It is composed by four principal modules (the Designer, the Workflow Engine, the Admintool, and the Client Desktop) and others secondary components. This WMS does not incorporate the latest result in WM research but shows a successful cooperation between a research group and a Software factory, producing a commercial software tool.