Advanced workflow management technologies

Process, workflow, and groupware products both in the commercial and research worlds have each approached the problem of human communication and coordination with different sets of tools and technologies implemented from different perspectives. Each manages the dependencies between activities differently in addition to making different philosophical assumptions. While most of these tools represent a promising approach to coordination, they have yet to be widely adopted, particularly in the face of increased usage of online information through the WWW and computer networks. While the trends in each respective discipline are moving towards overlap and convergence of requirements, these communities have yet to design a single system that brings together all the features needed to address the level of flexibility, scalability, and evolution over time required in a real world context. The requirements for a supporting technical infrastructure addressing cross-discipline concerns have yet to be mapped despite the fact that more and more information is coming to the individual and into the corporation electronically and increased mobility and interoperability allow people to create information regardless of their location or method of access. This paper surveys the current approaches, details the range of requirements across several related disciplines, and identifies various tradeoffs and trends which may effect the adoption, design, and evolution of an advanced technical workflow infrastructure.