Integration of workflow and agent technology for business process management

Both workflow and agent technology have recently been applied to business process management. The integration of these two technologies definitely provides solutions to problems that cannot be solved by either of them individually. This paper summarises the capabilities of these two technologies and discusses the forms and benefits of integrating them for business process management. Generally, agent-enhanced workflow management and agent-based workflow management are the main forms of application of intelligent agents to workflow systems. Some research issues in each form are discussed. A conclusion, with a discussion about future research directions, is also given.