An Introduction to Workflow Management Systems

Abstract

This document provides an introduction to Workflow Management Systems. The first section concentrates on a functional review of these systems: definitions, typical features, benefits, tradeoffs, process selection, and success factors for implementation. The second section provides a technical overview: a method for categorizing workflow products, the state of the market, and emerging standards. With over 70 vendors offering significant workflow products, a variety of approaches to workflow management can be expected. The ideas presented in this paper, therefore, do not apply across the board to all products but rather represent a framework for understanding workflow management concepts. Heavy reliance was placed on James Kobielus' book Workflow Strategies and on the Workflow Management Coalition's Workflow Reference Model to provide sense and structure to this broad topic.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA362925

Entities

People

  • Ann Dicaterino
  • Kai Larsen
  • Mei-huei Tang
  • Wen-li Wang

Organizations

  • State University of New York at Albany

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Commerce
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Data Management
  • Electronic Commerce
  • Electronic Mail
  • Electronic Messaging
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Information Systems
  • Internet
  • Multiple Access
  • Organizational Structure
  • Software Development
  • Standards
  • Word Processors
  • Workload

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.