Corba-based Workflow Management System - Visual Modeling Tools

Workflow technology, a rapidly developing technology, has the main characteristic that makes business process automated, wholly or partially, by using computer technology. In short, the function of workflow management system is to assign the right task to the right people at the right time in the right order, so it can be used to standardize the business process management and improve the work efficiency.By analyzing the existing workflow management system at present, our task group designs and develops a CORBA-based workflow management system. The contributions of this thesis are listed as follow:1. The architecture of our system is introduced briefly.2. By analyzing model elements specified in related specifications issued by Workflow Management Coalition (WFMC) in detail, a visual modeling tool is developed.3. By adopting XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) .which defined by Workflow Management Coalition, as native process model definition language, the workflow process model is standardized to enable interoperability of workflow management systems which use XPDL as their native process model definition language.4. By adopting platform-independent Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), communication between workflow modeling tool and workflow engine is implemented.