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Adding flexibility to workflows through incremental planning

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Abstract

Workflow management systems usually interpret a workflow definition rigidly. However, there are real life situations where users should be allowed to deviate from the prescribed static workflow definition for various reasons, including lack of information, unavailability of the required resources and unanticipated situations. Furthermore, workflow complexity may grow exponentially if all possible combinations of anticipated scenarios must be compiled into the workflow definition. To flexibilize workflow execution and help reduce workflow complexity, this paper proposes a dual strategy that combines a library of predefined typical workflows with a planner mechanism capable of incrementally synthesizing new workflows, at execution time. This dual strategy is motivated by the difficulty of designing emergency plans, modeled as workflows, which account for real-life complex crisis or accident scenarios.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de S. Vicente, 225, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 22451-900, RJ, Brazil

    Abilio Fernandes, Antonio L. Furtado, Marco A. Casanova & Karin K. Breitman

  2. Department of Applied Informatics, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, UNIRIO Av. Pasteur 458, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 22.290-240, RJ, Brazil

    Angelo E. M. Ciarlini

  3. Computer Science Department, Loyola College in Maryland, 4501 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21210, USA

    Michael G. Hinchey

Authors
  1. Abilio Fernandes
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  2. Angelo E. M. Ciarlini
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  3. Antonio L. Furtado
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  4. Michael G. Hinchey
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  5. Marco A. Casanova
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  6. Karin K. Breitman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karin K. Breitman.

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Fernandes, A., Ciarlini, A.E.M., Furtado, A.L. et al. Adding flexibility to workflows through incremental planning. Innovations Syst Softw Eng 3, 291–302 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-007-0035-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-007-0035-y

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