Web-based Workflow Management System Design And Implementation

Workflow is the automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules. Workflow management system is a system that defines, creates and manages the execution of workflows through the use of soft ware, running on one or more workflow engines, which is able to interpret the process definition, interact with workflow participants and, where required, invoke the use of IT tools and applications. A whole workflow management system consists of workflow enactment component, workflow function component and external application system. Workflow enactment component, so-called workflow engine, is the kernel of a workflow management system. All functions such as the interpretation of process definition, the instantiation of process model and the schedule of activity are all under the charge of workflow engine. A process model is a pure model of business workflow in enterprise running process. When an enterprise running process is modeled using formal language such as Petri-net, a process model comes into being.The scope of workflow technology application in enterprise involved in two categories, one is OA system with document transition as its main foundation, and another is workflow management system serves as the running platform of enterprise business systems. Different applications require different functions of workflow engine. Being a well-functional workflow engine, its kernel schedule arithmetic should be flexible. At the same time, it should be able to support three kinds of process model such as fixed process, freedom process and nested process.In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of a web-based workflow management system; give out a common workflow management system structure which is useful when you want to apply workflow technology to enterprise application; expound the application and implementation of classical Petri-net schedule arithmetic in workflow engine; analyze the support of three kinds of process model in workflow engine.