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To help you navigate to the documents
you need, read the following:
View list of XPDL supporters.
Workflow Process Definition Interface:
Audience:
The intended audience for this document
is primarily vendor organizations who seek to implement the
XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) of the Workflow Management
Coalition (WfMC), or using it as a file format for the Business
Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) of the Business Process Management
Initiative (BPMI). It may also be of interest to those seeking
to assess conformance claims made by vendors for their products.
Comments should be addressed to the Workflow Management Coalition.
Purpose:
XPDL version 2.0 is back-compatible
with XPDL version 1.0, and is intended to be used as a file
format for BPMN. The original purpose of XPDL is maintained
and enhanced by this second version of the specification. The
XPDL and the BPMN specifications address the same modeling problem
from different perspectives. XPDL provides an XML file format
that can be used to interchange process models between tools.
BPMN provides a graphical notation to facilitate human communication
between business users and technical users, of complex business
processes.
There are a number of elements that
are present in BPMN version 1.0 but were not present in XPDL
version 1.0. Those had been incorporated into this version of
XPDL. The WfMC has identified five functional interfaces to
a process or workflow service as part of its standardization
program. This specification forms part of the documentation
relating to "Interface one" - supporting Process Definition
Import and Export. This interface includes a common meta-model
for describing the process definition (this specification) and
also a companion XML schema for the interchange of process definitions.
Comments can be posted in the WfMC discussion
forum here.
Historical Documents Interface 1
Now amalgamated into Interface 2, TC-1009.
Learn more about the ASAP/Wf-XML 2.0 live
demo.
Wf-XML
2.0 (Current Draft) 441kb PDF wfxml20.xsd
(updated November 2005) 7kb
Wf-XML 2.0/ASAP (October 2003) ASAP_WfXML_2003_10.zip
(zipped 158kb) XML Based Protocol for Run-Time Integration of
Process Engines This document will:
- Provide an executive overview
- Specify the goals of WF-XML as an extension
of AWSP.
- Explain how resource (object) model
works and how URIs are used to invoke methods of those resources.
- Specify preliminary details of the
interface methods and parameters The discussion forum for feedback
has been set up at www.workflow-research.de/Forums.
Background Information
AWSP (Asynchronous Web Services Protocol
) June 2002 (Historical Reference ONLY) (awsp-2002-04-05.zip
- zipped 497kb.) In April 2002 at the San Francisco meeting of
wfmc, the AWSP (Asynchronous Web Services Protocol was presented,
discussed, and found to meet all the goals that had been identified
at the Muenster meeting. These goals specifically were (Layer
on top of SOAP, Use XML Schema representation, Multiple Observers,
Subscribe/Unsubscribe,Set process instance data). Since that time:
this work has evolved into the ASAP technical committee of OASIS,
and has been entirely subsumed by that other work.
Please use this document only for historical
reference, and refer instead to the ASAP working group (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=asap)
for current implementation information.
Interoperability Wf-XML Binding
Version 1.1 FINAL (read
press release)
Document
Number WFMC-TC-1023 (Zipped WinWord 629k)
Document
Number WFMC-TC-1023 (PDF Format 211K)
The XML language described herein, Wf-XML,
can be used to implement the three models of interoperability
defined in the Interoperability Abstract specification. Specifically,
chained workflows, nested workflows and parallel-synchronized
workflows are supported. Wf-XML supports these three types of
interchanges both synchronously and asynchronously, and allows
messages to be exchanged individually or in batch operations.
Furthermore, this specification describes a language that is independent
of any particular implementation mechanism, such as programming
language, data transport mechanism, OS/hardware platform, etc.
However, because HTTP is expected to be the most prevalent data
transport mechanism used for interchanging Wf-XML messages, this
specification provides a description of how Wf-XML messages are
to be interchanged using this protocol.
This document represents a specification
for a language based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) designed
to model the data transfer requirements set forth in the Workflow
Management Coalition (WfMC)’s Interoperability Abstract specification.
This language will be used as the basis for concrete implementations
of the functionality described in the Interoperability Abstract
supporting the WfMC’s Interface 4, as defined by the Workflow
Reference Model .
This version (1.1) of the Wf-XML specification
is fully backward compatible with its previous version (1.0).
For the sake of clarity, the term “backward-compatible” is used
here to mean that all changes made to the specification in this
version have been additive, making it is a superset of version
1.0. For a more detailed explanation of conformance implications,
see section 6 Conformance.
Working Group 4 - Workflow Interoperability
Working Group 6
- OMG
jointFlow submission.
Working Group 7 - Conformance
Please ensure that you have the most recent
version of Adobe Acrobat when downloading these documents, otherwise
you may encounter font and other format errors.
- The Workflow Reference Model: 10
Years On (570kb
PDF) February 2004 - David Hollingsworth, Fujitsu Services,
United Kingdom; Chair, Technical Committee, WfMC. extracted
from Workflow
Handbook 2004. Last year saw the 10th anniversary of the
Workflow Reference Model. This short paper reassesses the relevance
of the Model in the current context of Business Process Management.
It discusses the principles behind the Model, its strengths
and weakness and examines how it remains relevant to the industry
today. It concludes by introducing a number of considerations
required to establish a “BPM Reference Model” and discusses
how the various overlapping standards in this space may be categorised.
- ASAP/Wf-XML
2.0 Cookbook in Workflow Handbook 2004 - Keith D. Swenson,
Fujitsu Software Corporation This paper is for those who have
a process engine of some sort, and wish to implement a Wf-XML
interface. At first, this may seem like a daunting task because
the specifications are thick and formal. But, as you will see,
the basic capability can be implemented quickly and easily.
This paper will take you through the basics of what you need
to know in order to quickly set up a foundation and demonstrate
the most essential functions. The rest of the functionality
can rest on this foundation. The approach is to do a small part
of the implementation in order to understand how your particular
process engine will fit with the protocol.
- Does
Better Math Lead to Better Business Processes? (November
2003) - Why Business Process Management and its predecessor,
workflow management, are not simply an extension to the theory
of pi-calculus and why pi-calculus is not the only answer to
the BPM debate. by Jon Pyke and Roger Whitehead
- Process
Management Standards Overview (April 2003) - Dr. Michael
zur Muehlen, Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management,
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
- BPM
Booming in Asia Pacific - By Linus Chow, HandySoft,
Pacific Rim
- The
Workflow Reference Model: 10 Years On (570 kb PDF) -
David Hollingsworth, Fujitsu Services, United Kingdom; Chair,
Technical Committee, WfMC. extracted from Workflow
Handbook 2004.
- Workflow
and Process Management (25-page PDF extracted from the
Workflow Handbook 2003) by Carol Prior, Maestro BPE Pty Limited,
Australia
- An
Introduction to Workflow (20 pages PDF) by Charles Plesums
(Fellow, USA) extracted from the Workflow Handbook 2002
- Workflow:
An Introduction by Rob Allen, (Fellow, UK) - Extracted
from from the Workflow Handbook 2001 (24 pages PDF)
- Workflow BizTalk Framework™ Schema
Description - This schema defines a language used to exchange
information among Workflow Management Systems. Information marked
up in compliance with this language is used to initiate, monitor
and control business processes in/by remote systems.
- The
Key to e-Commerce and to Process Scalability - Article
by Working Group 4 (PDF 12 pages, 73 kb)
- White
paper: Stand-alone and embedded workflow management systems.
8 pages, PDF format - Michael Zur Muehlen and Rob Allen. March
10, 2000 This paper distinguishes, at a high level, the differences
between workflow engines and simple trigger routines. Its main
function is to clarify the segmentation between autonomous and
embedded workflow deployment.
- White
Paper - Events - David Hollingsworth, ICL A&TC. 11 pages,
WinWord. April 99. This document contains a proposed approach
for classifying and handling the processing associated with
Events. It includes proposals for extensions to I/Fs 1, 2/3
and 4 (and potentially audit data which may be associated with
particular event occurrences). It builds upon the proposals
originally made by Steve Dworkin (May 1998) and earlier draft
notes from Klaus Dieter Kreplin, Dave Holllingsworth and Mike
Anderson.
- Discussion
Paper - A Common Object Model - Document Number - WfMC-TC-1023,
by David Hollingsworth, ICL A&TC. March 99. 16 pages, WinWord.
This document describes the current status of the WfMC standardization
program and identifies the current work on object related standards
which includes interface bindings for both OLE Automation and
OMG/IDL objects. The scope of the current Reference Model is
discussed, plus possible extensions to support a lower granularity
component architecture, internal to the workflow enactment service,
as a complement to existing work focused on the service functions
provided at the boundary of a workflow enactment service. This
is postulated on the basis of defining a common underlying object
model which can be mapped to the two important component architectures
emerging in the industry, the OMG object architecture and services
and the ActiveX/DCOM architecture.
- Workflow
Interoperability - Enabling E-Commerce April 1, 1999
WfMC White Paper 83kb pdf
- Workflow
and the Internet: Catalysts for Radical Change - June
11, 1998. WfMC announces major White Paper.
- JSA
Interworkflow Definition - Feb 1997 (WfMC TC 2102) 98kb
pdf
- Presentation
by Kanagawa Institute of Technology on Interworkflow Management
System (Tokyo, Dec 3, 1999) 193kb
- Reference
Model - The Workflow Reference Model (WFMC-TC-1003,
19-Jan-95, 1.1) 211Kb pdf
- Terminology & Glossary (WFMC-TC-1011,
Feb-1999, 3.0) English:
198Kb pdf (Revised) French:
(of Version 2.0) : 68Kb pdf German:
198kb
- Workflow
Security Considerations - White Paper 54Kb pdf
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