文件名称：WfMC工作流参考模型
文件大小：212KB
文件格式：PDF
更新时间：2015-04-18 04:34:21
WfMC 工作流 Workflow Reference Model
1. Introduction 1.1. Background Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by businesses in a variety of industries. Its primary characteristic is the automation of processes involving combinations of human and machine-based activities, particularly those involving interaction with IT applications and tools. Although its most prevalent use is within the office environment in staff intensive operations such as insurance, banking, legal and general administration, etc, it is also applicable to some classes of industrial and manufacturing applications . Many software vendors have WFM products available today which involve WFM technology and there is a continual introduction of more products into the market. The availability of a wide range of products within the market has allowed individual product vendors to focus on particular functional capabilities and users have adopted particular products to meet specific application needs. However, there are, as yet, no standards defined to enable different WFM products to work together, which is resulting in incompatible "islands" of process automation. The WFM Coalition is a grouping of companies who have joined together to address the above situation. It has been recognised that all work flow management products have some common characteristics, enabling them potentially to achieve a level of interoperability through the use of common standards for various functions. The WFM Coalition has been established to identify these functional areas and develop appropriate specifications for implementation in workflow products. It is intended that such specifications will enable interoperability between heterogeneous workflow products and improved integration of workflow applications with other IT services such as electronic mail and document management, thereby improving the opportunities for the effective use of workflow technology within the IT market, to the benefit of both vendors and users of such technology. 1.2. Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide a framework to support the development of the various specifications described above. It provides a common "Reference Model" for workflow management systems identifying their characteristics, terminology and components, enabling the individual specifications to be developed within the context of an overall model for workflow systems. The detailed specifications will be developed as separate documents. 1.3. Scope This document covers the concepts, terminology, general structure of a workflow management system, its major functional components and the interfaces and information interchange flows between them. It identifies the areas appropriate for standardisation and illustrates the potential interoperability scenarios which may be supported through the use of common standards. It also discusses, where appropriate, the applicability of existing standards to workflow management systems and their integration with other standard IT services. It does not cover wider aspects of business process engineering which lie outside the use of information technology to support the business process. 1.4. Audience The intended audience of this document is the work flow coalition membership as well as others that are interested in the efforts of the coalition and wish to understand the top level technical architecture which underpins the work of the Coalition. The document is intended for a moderately technical audience but extensive prior knowledge of workflow systems is not assumed. 1.5. How to read this document Chapter 2 provides a general introduction to the concepts of workflow systems technology, its evolution, the business context and background on the types of systems which may incorporate this type of technology. If you are unfamiliar with workflow technology you should start here; if you are already familiar with workflow management systems, consider starting at Chapter 3. Chapter 3 discuses the internal structure of workflow systems, the major functional components and the nature of their interactions. It introduces the top level architecture and identifies the various interfaces which may be used to support interoperability between different system components and integration with other major IT infrastructure components. Chapter 4 provides a general overview of the workflow application programme interface (WAPI), comments on the necessary protocol support for open interworking and discusses the principles of conformance to the specifications. It identifies those aspects of the specifications which are required to support various classes of interoperability. The detailed WAPI specifications are published as separate specification documents (see cross references below).