A Study Of Web-Based Workflow Management Technology

This dissertation is dedicated to the workflow management techniques and is based on the author's experience gained in the research and development work of the Groupware Project in the GW Incorporation. The application object of this project is to develop an OA (Office Automation) system in the Internet environment, mainly dealing with document-flow handling.Workflow management technology , evolved in the last decade, has drawn worldwide attention from research community and industry as well. In the context of cooperation work for business processing and office automation, the Workflow Management System (WfMS) is becoming a basic platform. The workflow management in this project has been viewed as a vital technique, considering the workflow-oriented feature of the application. With regard to the programming techniques, the modern approach - "Java + XML" equals "platform and data format independency" is adopted and O-O(Object-Oriented) technique is applied in system analysis and design. The author's work presented in the thesis includes:1.A comprehensive study on workflow models and the process processing model - the EPC (Event-driven Process Chain) model.2.Definition of an organization model for the company, which provides a logic basis for system implementaion.3. Provision of an system implementation model, which enables the working environment independent of the definition environment.4. A brief introduction of the prototype system thus developed.