A unifying foundation to design and implement process-aware information systems This publication takes on the formidable task of establishing a unifying foundation and set of common underlying principles to effectively model, design, and implement process-aware information systems. Authored by leading authorities and pioneers in the field, Process-Aware Information Systems helps readers gain a thorough understanding of major concepts, languages, and techniques for building process-aware applications, including: * UML and EPCs: two of the most widely used notations for business process modeling * Concrete techniques for process design and analysis * Process execution standards: WfMC and BPEL * Representative commercial tools: ARIS, TIBCO Staffware, and FLOWer Each chapter begins with a description of the problem domain and then progressively unveils relevant concepts and techniques. Examples and illustrations are used extensively to clarify and simplify complex material. Each chapter ends with a set of exercises, ranging from simple questions to thought-provoking assignments. Sample solutions for many of the exercises are available on the companion Web site. Armed with a new and deeper understanding, readers are better positioned to make their own contributions to the field and evaluate various approaches to a particular task or problem. This publication is recommended as a textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in computer science and information systems, as well as for professionals involved in workflow and business process management, groupware and teamwork, enterprise application integration, and business-to-business integration. A Solution's Manual is available online. An Instructor Support FTP site is also available.

Based on the results of the study carried out in 1996 to investigate the state of the art of workflow and process technology, MCC initiated the Collaboration Management Infrastructure (CMI) research project to develop innovative agent-based process technology that can support the process requirements of dynamically changing organizations and the requirements of nomadic computing. With a research focus on the flow of interaction among people and software agents representing people, the project deliverables will include a scalable, heterogeneous, ubiquitous and nomadic infrastructure for business processes. The resulting technology is being tested in applications that stress an intensive mobile collaboration among people as part of large, evolving business processes. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology provides an overview of the problems and issues related to process and workflow technology, and in particular to definition and analysis of processes and workflows, and execution of their instances. The need for a transactional workflow model is discussed and a spectrum of related transaction models is covered in detail. A plethora of influential projects in workflow and process automation is summarized. The projects are drawn from both academia and industry. The monograph also provides a short overview of the most popular workflow management products, and the state of the workflow industry in general. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology offers a road map through the shortcomings of existing solutions of process improvement by people with daily first-hand experience, and is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses on workflow and process automation, and as a reference for practitioners in industry.

As the business environment has become more and more turbulent over the past decade, information technology has begun to run into the danger of becoming an impediment rather than a motor of progress. In order to deal with the need for rapid, continuous change, computer science is challenged to develop novel interrelated information and communication technologies, and to align them with the social needs of co-operating user groups, as well as the management requirements of formal organisations. Workflow systems are among the most advertised technologies addressing this trend, but they mean different things to different people. Computer scientists understand workflows as a way to extract control from application programs, thus making them more flexible. Bureaucratic organisations (and most commercial products) perceive them as supporting a linear or branching flow of documents from one workplace to another - the next try after the failure cf office automation. This book takes another perspective, that of the modem customer-driven and groupwork-oriented process organisation. Extending the language-action perspective from the CSCW field, its customer-oriented view of workflows enables novel kinds of business process analysis, and leads to interesting new combinations of information and co-operation technologies. Schal's empirical studies show some of the pitfalls resulting from a naive use of these technologies, and exemplify ways to get around these pitfalls.

Workflow-based Process Controlling Systems provide companies with the ability to measure the operational performance of their business processes in a timely and accurate fashion. The combination of workflow audit trails with data warehouse technology and operational business data allows for complex analyses that can support managers in their assessment of an organization's performance. The increasing maturity of business process management and data warehouse systems enables the design and development of advanced process-oriented management information systems. Michael zur Muehlen discusses the integration of workflow audit trail data with existing data warehouse structures and develops a reference architecture for process-oriented management information systems. Starting with an organizational and technical analysis of process organizations, this book provides a comprehensive documentation of business process management, workflow technology, and existing standardization efforts. The proposed reference architecture is validated in an industry context. A prototypical implementation of the reference architecture and its integration with a commercial business process management system are demonstrated as well. This book is directed at both practitioners and academics in the fields of business process management, management accounting, and information systems research.

This book describes basic concepts of workflow automation in the graphic industry. There are three main chapters: Scope of Workflows in the Printing Industry, Production Models, and Metadata Formats. The book does not describe the individual business and production steps for manufacturing a print product. Rather, it describes what kinds of data exchanges are required between management software and devices to make the automatic execution of processes possible. Primary audience is students studying graphic arts technology, practitioners at printing and manufacturing companies, and computer scientists who are interested in workflow-related matters. It is presupposed that the reader is familiar with the basic procedures in the printing industry as well with the fundamental concepts of IT technology.

"This book introduces the perspective of customer-driven and teamwork-oriented process organisation. Its aim is to design and test concepts of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, especially concepts for workflow management systems, in order to fundamentally improve business processes in enterprises. Its methodological approach to analysis and design of cooperative networks is a response to shortcomings of current support systems and misunderstandings about cooperative work and team-based organisations. Several different commercial workflow management systems are presented and distinguished in terms of their main characteristics. Novel kinds of business process analysis are proposed, leading to interesting new combinations of information and cooperation technologies. The book not only presents ways to get around the pitfalls resulting from a naive use of these technologies, but also identifies design guidelines and critical success factors."--PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE.

This book describes basic concepts of workflow automation in the graphic industry. There are three main chapters: Scope of Workflows in the Printing Industry, Production Models, and Metadata Formats. The book does not describe the individual business and production steps for manufacturing a print product. Rather, it describes what kinds of data exchanges are required between management software and devices to make the automatic execution of processes possible. Primary audience is students studying graphic arts technology, practitioners at printing and manufacturing companies, and computer scientists who are interested in workflow-related matters. It is presupposed that the reader is familiar with the basic procedures in the printing industry as well with the fundamental concepts of IT technology.