Service-oriented Workflow: Concepts, Architecture and Key Technologies

The advent of Grid and SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) technologies has brought new opportunities and challenges into the area of workflow. Service-Oriented Workflow (SOWF), which integrates web service and workflow technology, has become a mainstream for flexible integration among heterogeneous systems. In this paper, firstly the definition of the service is proposed with a three-dimensional model and based on a detailed analysis of the characteristics of SOWF, the architecture of SOWF including the user interface layer, the operation logic layer, and the persistent storage layer is presented. As key technologies, process modeling, process execution, workflow implementation technologies, transaction management and performance evaluation are discussed respectively. Finally, an application demonstration of SOWF is given to prove the advantages of applying service-oriented technology in the field of workflow.