An object-oriented workflow metamodel

Abstract

The global competition characterizing the modern economy forces companies to periodically update their production models, in order to adapt them to rapidly changing market requirements.

In particular, a critical factor is the effective use of information technology for the management of the whole business process. After ad-hoc applications development, the Workflow management technology has been developed, reducing costs, increasing efficiency and production quality. However, in order to improve models updating and creation for a faster response to new market requirements, a more organic approach to the reuse of existing models would be essential.

In this paper we introduce an object-oriented metamodel for the creation of workflow models, aiming to act as a basis for their effective reuse. In particular, we introduce a set of basic components to define workflow models in a modular fashion. This is needed since process models are not generally reused as a whole; rather each single action making up the process, as well as the flow of execution and the flow of data are all considered separately, in order to isolate and reuse single components or group of components inside a process.