A Reference Architecture for Workflow Management Systems

In the workflow management field, fast developments are taking place. A growing number of systems is currently under development, both in academic and commercial environments. Consequently, a wide variety of ad hoc architectures has come into existence. Reference models are necessary, however, to allow for the construction of cooperative systems, modular configuration of heterogeneous systems, and assessment of existing systems. Current standardization efforts offer limited help towards detailed software architectures. In this paper, we address this problem with a reference architecture for a full-fledged workflow management system, designed to comply with a broad set of aspects, such as heterogeneous environments, extensible functionality, and mobile workflow clients. The architecture goes into deeper detail and is more complete than existing proposals. It provides an elaborate software engineering framework for structuring systems under development and a functional framework for assessing existing systems. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.