Decomposition-based verification of cyclic workflows

A critical challenge in workflow analysis and design is the verification of workflow models, considering commercial workflow systems merely provide a simulation tool for validating workflow models through trial and error. As a result, the current workflow technology does not guarantee that workflow models do not fail or will behave in a manner expected by the modeler. While a couple of verification methods have been reported in the recent literature, how to verify cyclic workflow models remains an open research question. In this paper, we propose a novel integrated approach of hierarchical decomposition and verification of cyclic workflows. This result is significant since it helps close the research gap that other known workflow verification methods fail to deal with cyclic workflow models. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.