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Preservation of Integrity Constraints by Workflow

  • Conference paper
On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2011 (OTM 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 7044))

Abstract

Integrity constraints on data are typically defined when workflow and business process models are developed. Keeping data consistent is vital for workflow execution. Traditionally, enforcing data integrity constraints is left for the underlying database system, while workflow system focuses primarily on performing tasks. This paper presents a new mechanism that turns a workflow into an equivalent one that will preserve integrity constraints. For a given workflow schema (or model) and a given set of data integrity constraints, an algorithm developed in this paper injects additional conditions into the workflow schema that restricts possible execution paths. The modified workflow will guarantee data consistency (i.e., satisfaction of the integrity constraints) whenever the workflow updates the database(s). In addition, we show that our injection mechanism is “conservative complete”, i.e., the conditions inserted are weakest possible. By making workflow execution self-behaving, enforcing integrity constraints over multi-databases is avoided, and constraints specific to a workflow can also be enforced effectively. Mechanisms such as this enhance independence of workflow executions from the environment—a much desired property.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology, Nanjing University, China

    Xi Liu

  2. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University, China

    Xi Liu

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA

    Xi Liu & Jianwen Su

  4. Department of Computing, Macquarie University, Australia

    Jian Yang

Authors
  1. Xi Liu
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  2. Jianwen Su
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  3. Jian Yang
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. STAR Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Bldg G/10, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussel, Belgium

    Robert Meersman

  2. DEBII, Curtin University of Technology, Technology Park, De Laeter Way, 6102, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Tharam Dillon

  3. Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo S/N, 28660, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain

    Pilar Herrero

  4. Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A.

    Akhil Kumar

  5. Institute of Databases and Information Systems, Ulm University, Germany

    Manfred Reichert

  6. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Li Qing

  7. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

    Beng-Chin Ooi

  8. Dipartemento Tecnologie dell’Informazione, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Via Bramante 65, 26013, Crema, Italy

    Ernesto Damiani

  9. VU Station B #1829, Vanderbilt University, 2015 Terrace Place, TN 37203, Nashville, USA

    Douglas C. Schmidt

  10. Virginia Tech, 24060, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Jules White

  11. Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), National University of Ireland, IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan, Galway, Ireland

    Manfred Hauswirth

  12. Kno.e.sis Center, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, USA

    Pascal Hitzler

  13. IBM India Research Lab, 4, Block C, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, 110 070, New Delhi, India

    Mukesh Mohania

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Liu, X., Su, J., Yang, J. (2011). Preservation of Integrity Constraints by Workflow. In: Meersman, R., et al. On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2011. OTM 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7044. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25109-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25109-2_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25108-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25109-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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