Keeping Workflow-Enabled Enterprises Flexible: WfMS Abstraction and Advanced Task Management

Nowadays, businesses need to change their operationalprocesses in a flexible and agile manner to keep thecompetitive edge. As an enabling technology,workflow management systems (WfMS) can be used tomodel and run business processes through the”orchestration“ of services that are based on buildingblocks with business value. However, they often useproprietary interfaces. This results to a tight couplingbetween the WfMS and workflow applications.In this article we will present an integrationarchitecture that decouples a workflow clientapplication from the underlying WfMS and providesaccess to the system's services. Additionally, a generic“task selection strategy” is modeled, designed andintegrated into the architecture. The task selectionstrategy enables workflow clients to flexibly filter theuser's task list according to the application's needs.The results are reviewed by a prototypicimplementation based on a reference process from theinsurance business.