Office Work Coordination Using a Distributed Database System

The office system ProMlnanD supports cooperative office work by electronic circulation folders. Based on both, an abstract description of office tasks in terms of work steps, and knowledge of the organizational structure, a folder navigates through an organization from one office worker in charge to the next. Deviations from predefined cooperation procedures are supported by extensive exception handling. The system uses widely information kept in databases and being distributed over the network. Data structures and the mechanisms controlling the migration are discussed. The resolving of addresses and references is supported by an extended slot mechanism. Due to the distributed transaction concept the folder migration is secure and the distributed databases are consistent. -------------------------------------------This paper is an outcome of the Project ProMInanD Extended Office Process Migration with Interactive Panel Displays. ProMinanD is supported in part by ESPRIT European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Infromation