The Design And Application Of Web Service And Agent Based Workflow Framework

The conception of workflow comes of the organization of manufacture and OA fields. Workflow is a conception which aims at the activities with fixed process,and will be the core technology to implement the modeling of operation process and the automation of process execution eventually.In the 1980s,with the development of computer network technology and distributed database technology and multiplex system technology,workflow had a quickly develop and offered an advanced method to solve problems in enterprise information-based construction.But more and more limitations came out with the more and more widely use in workflow technology. Agent and Web Service technology were increasingly becoming a hot area in the field of computer research.Web Service is a set of standards,it defines how web applications to achieve interoperability;Agent technology provides a new means of calculation to solve complex,dynamic,distributed intelligent application.This paper has a brief introduction on Web Service technology and Agent technology,includes the functions,characteristics,framework,protocol stacks,improvement frame of Web Service and the definition,characteristic,communication language,architecture, system design of Agent.These technologies can be a very good solution to the current workflow management system with common problems.The introduced workflow framework in this paper is based on Workflow Reference Model proposed by WfMC,and use web service and agent technology.In this workflow framework,we designed Global Workflow Manager Agent,Site Manager Agent,Workflow Manager Agent and Role Manager Agent to achieve the functions of workflow engine.Web Service is supported in workflow modeling;they can be directly used in processed,to achieve the process automation and semi-automatic.In addition,we use visual modeling approach in process modeling;structure model, dynamic model and non-functional model are the main methods to translate the business process into workflow processes which can be identified by computer. The framework model introduced in this paper has played a guiding role in the actual projects research and development which in the field of e-government and in the use of enterprises information-based construction,this paper has a brief introduction in one of these applications.