A Flexible and Efficient Workflow Change Type: Selective Shift

Shingo YAMAGUCHI
Akira MISHIMA
Qi-Wei GE
Minoru TANAKA

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Sciences   Vol.E88-A    No.6    pp.1487-1496
Publication Date: 2005/06/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietfec/e88-a.6.1487
Print ISSN: 0916-8508
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Papers Selected from 2004 International Technical Conference on Circuits/Systems, Computers and Communications (ITC-CSCC 2004))
Category: 
Keyword: 
workflows,  dynamic change,  workflow nets,  Petri nets,  change time,  

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Summary: 
This paper proposes a new change type for dynamic change of workflows, named Selective Shift. Workflow technology is being introduced in many companies. Workflows are business processes that allow for computerized support. The goal of workflow technology is to process workflow instances, called cases, as efficiently as possible. Companies need to change their workflows in order to adapt them to various requirements. Dynamic change is to change workflows having running cases. The most important issue in dynamic change is how running cases should be handled. Ellis et al. and Sadiq et al. have proposed change types that prescribe how to handle running cases. Their change types handle running cases collectively. If a change type can handle running cases separately, the change type would be more flexible and efficient than the conventional change types. However, there is no any change type that can handle running cases separately. Selective Shift to be proposed can handle running cases separately. We first present the concept and definition of Selective Shift. Then we give a method to handle running cases separately. Furthermore we give methods to handle running cases so that dynamic change becomes most efficient on one evaluation measure, called change time. Finally we compare Selective Shift with the conventional change types on change time by using 270 examples of dynamic change.

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