Facilitating workflow evolution in an advanced object environment

Workflow is automation of a business process. A Workflow Management Systems (WFMS) is a system that assists in defining, managing and executing workflows. To support flexible enactment and adapive features, such as on-line workflow evolutionand exception handling, a WFMS requires advanced modeling functionality. As workflow evolution requires the modification of workflow definitions or adding ECA rules to the system during work in progress, an advanced schema evolution capability is required at run-time. It should be noted that the resolutions based on schema evolution are general-purpose ones, which can help reduce the occurrence of additional exceptions. As such, we have developed ADOME-WFMS based on Advanced Object Modeling Evnironment (ADMOE [4] - - an active OODBMS with role and synamic schema suppport), with a novel exception centric apporach. The contribution and objectives of our research with respect to workflow evolution are as follows.