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Object Management Group
Framingham Corporate Center 492 Old Connecticut Path Framingham, MA 01701-4568 Telephone: +1-508-820 4300 Facsimile: +1-508-820 4303
Workflow Process Definition
Request For Proposal
OMG Document bom/99-10-03 Draft 1 Submissions due:
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Objective of this RFP This Request For Proposal solicits submissions for a standard to represent a Workflow Process Definition to be used by the existing OMG standard for the Workflow Management Facility.This RFP solicits proposals for the following: • A model of the Workflow Process Definition. • A exchange standard for exporting and importing a Workflow Process Definition. • A set of interfaces for the construction and administration of the Workflow Process Definition. For further details see Chapter 6 of this document.
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6.0 Specific Requirements on Proposals
6.1 Problem Statement The Workflow Management Facility standard (bom/98-06-07 and errata bom/98-07-15) describes the runtime behavior of a workflow system. Many aspects of the runtime depend upon the definition of the workflow process. However the workflow execution standard purposely avoided the Workflow Process Definition question. In part this was due to the incomplete, but on going work of the WfMC on a Workflow Process Definition specification. Another factor was limiting the scope for the first specification in the workflow area. Within the execution interfaces the WfProcessMgr interface defines the connection of the runtime to the Workflow Process Definition. There are several other places within the Workflow Management Facility that are dependent on the process definition, for example: resource selection and activity instantiation. Below is a model of the Workflow Management Facility showing the relationship of WfProcessMgr interface to the other interfaces.
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Many Workflow Systems provide the capability to define the workflow processes that it executes. A process definition could come from other sources such as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) tools. A BPR tool or a simulation tool might be the sent the process definition along with audit data to compare actual throughput with theoretical throughput. In addition the Workflow Process Definition has relationships to the WfResource types. There is a Resource Assignment Facility RFP (bom/99-10-02) to expand the resource modeling aspects. There is a relationship between the Workflow Process Definition and the resource definitions. The purpose of this RFP is to solicit submissions for a Workflow Process Definition to support the current Workflow Management Facility execution specification and the Resource Assignment Facility RFP.
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Scope of Proposals Sought The current OMG specification for the Workflow Management Facility (WMF) supports interoperability between business processes implemented in different workflow management products. It provides for accessing the process definition for starting an instance, but does not specify the details needed to control the execution. The WPD specification should complement the current workflow management specification and the RMF RFP providing interfaces for the following:
6.2.1 Process Definition It must be possible to create and modify Workflow process definitions. The definition needs to for the specification of the templates for WfActivity type(s). There are many possible types of activities: work activities done by a person, automatic activities done by a program, activities that are accomplished by a subprocess, etc. The process definition should be able to specify which events are produced and logged. The event log may be different from public notification. The public events produced and events log can differ from process definition to process definition. Proposals shall provide for the specification of the name, description, category, version, context_signature and the results_signature attributes visible in the WfProcessMgr interface. 6.2.2 WfProcessMgr interface The WfProcessMgr interface from the OMG Workflow Management Facility (WMF) is the factory for WfProcess objects. It is the link from the priocess execution environment to the process definition. A result of specifying a process must be the creation of an object with this interface. Typically this object would be registered with a naming service or a Trader service. 6.2.3 Control of WfProcess execution behavior. The process definition should contain the conditions that need to be satisfied for the start of the WfProcess. It could also contain actions that need to be accomplished upon completion of the process.
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It should contain a representation of the conditions for activation of the WfActivity. It could also contain actions that need to be accomplished upon completion of the activity. The process definition could specify the propagation scope and reaction method of state change, such as terminate. 6.2.4 Events Generation and Reaction The process definition should be able to specify which events are produced and logged. The event log may be different from public notification. The public events produced and events log can differ from process definition to process definition. The process definition could be able to specify the events to which a WfProcess or a WfActivity will react and the method of reaction. 6.2.5 Process Definition Auditing Recording changes to the process definition is desired to track process evolution. The changes might result in a new version of the process. This would be reflected in the WfProcess revsion attribute. A new version of a process ddefinition might cause an update to an existing WfProcessMgr object or the creation of a new WfProcessMgr object. It should be possible to review the changes made to a process definition. 6.2.6 Resource Specification A part of the process definition is the references to the resources required for execution. The resources will be known at process definition time with differents degrees of accuracy. The accuracy might range from a specific person, to an organizational group or a list of skills. The process definition needs to be able to represent in an abstract or concrete manner the WfResource types that can be involved in the process. This may be less than all the different types of resources that exist. This specification should be compliant with the resource administration systems available to the workflow execution objects. The specification of the resource might include process execution relative terms. For example, the second review action in a process might involve the same skills as the first review activity, but must be a different person.
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The process definition could specify the scope of use of a WfResource. Is the resource allocated for the entire process, just-in-time for the activity or other policy. 6.2.6 Access Control to Process Data and WfProcess state A process might have data or activities that require access restrictions. It should be possible to model and represent these restrictions. For example, a process to review employee salaries. 6.3 Relationship to Existing OMG Specifications
6.3.1 OMG Workflow Management Facility Original Specification : bom/98-06-07 plus Errata bom/98-07-15 RTF 1.2 report : dtc/99-07-04 and IDL dtc/99-07-06 Convenience document : dtc/99-07-05 6.3.2 Party Management Facility fianance/98-12-09 6.3.3 PDM Enablers mfg/98-02-02 (convenience document) especially PdmResponsibility 6.4 6.4.1 Related Documents and Standards Workflow Management Coalition – www.wfmc.org Workflow Reference Model : WfMC-TC-1003 Terminology & Glossary : WfMC-TC-1011 Workflow Process Definition Interchange : WfMC-TC-1016 Resource Model : WfMC-TC-1020 Process Definition Attributes List : WfMC-TC-1024
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Mandatory Requirements January , January , Actual Date
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Voter registration closes Initial submission presentations Preliminary evaluation by TF Revised submissions due Revised submission presentations Final evaluation and selection by TF Recommendation to AB and TC Approval by Architecture Board Review by TC (“Three week rule”)
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TC votes to recommend specifications BOD votes to adopt specifications
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