Research On Workflow Management System Supporting Computer Cooperative Design

The Workflow technology is a new hot research direction on the field of CSCW since 21 century, which is related to many subjects such as Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Management, etc. It plays an important role to research deeply the Workflow technology for improve the degree of enterprise information, operation efficiency and competitive ability.In this article, the workflow management technology is studied based on the application of CSCW. Computer cooperation, which combines with computer technology, network communication technology, multimedia technology etc. tightly, makes different members with different backgrounds be able to cooperate for one common task through geographies and provides a new working environment and communication method. In order be adapted to this new working method, the new information technologies, new concepts must be applied in the workflow management system to enhance the supplying capacity to this domain.A workflow management structure supporting computer cooperative design, which meet the informationized characteristics of design process in the modern manufacturing enterprises, is produced by researching the developing actuality of workflow products and comparing the advantages and drawbacks of different flow model integrated with the requirement of CSCW in this article.The OO design method packaging object and based-on B/W/D realization method are adopt in this system. This article gives details in demand analysis, general design, model partition and some key problems in system realization, and lays emphasis on designs for system object class, data objects and relations, relation database, process creation, process starting, process running theory, process conflict control and system extern interface.According to the theory and technology research, the visualization forsupporting computer cooperative design workflow is realized. A flow control and the related user interface are designed designs according to the uniformed data exchange theory and using email and intelligent proxy method, and a examples of modeling and analysis for drafting design flow in the product deign is given. At last,some prospective for future development of workflow technology are produced.