Workflow Management Systems and Agents - Do they Fit Together?

Pavlos Delias

2008

Abstract

Workflow management systems are an emerging category of information systems, currently under dynamic evolution. On the other hand software agents is a distinct research area and an also emerging paradigm for information systems design and development. In this paper, I outline the major points of a doctoral thesis that will focus on the intersection of these two fields. I try to clarify the thesis specific objectives and describe the motivation underneath. The general methodology as well as some initial findings are also described.

References

  1. Singh, M.P. and M.N. Huhns, Multiagent systems for workflow. International Journal of Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance & Management, 1999. 8(2): p. 105-117.
  2. Abbott, K.R. and S.K. Sarin. Experiences with workflow management: issues for the next generation. in Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. 1994. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States: ACM Press.
  3. Sheth, A.P., W. Van Der Aalst, and I.B. Arpinar, Processes driving the networked economy. IEEE Concurrency, 1999. 7(3): p. 18-31.
  4. Muehlen, M.z., Workflow-based Process Controlling, ed. J. Becker. 2004, Berlin: Logos verlag. 282.
  5. WFMC, WfMC Standards, Workflow Reference Model D. Hollingsworth, Editor. 1995, Workflow Management Coalition.
  6. Stohr, E.A. and J.L. Zhao, Workflow Automation: Overview and Research Issues. Information Systems Frontiers, 2001. 3(3): p. 281-296.
  7. Li, H. and Z. Lu. Decentralized workflow modeling and execution in service-oriented computing environment. in Service-Oriented System Engineering, 2005. SOSE 2005. IEEE International Workshop. 2005. Beijing, CHINA.
  8. Jennings, N.R., T.J. Norman, and P. Faratin, ADEPT: an agent-based approach to business process management. ACM SIGMOD Record, 1998. 27(4): p. 32-39.
  9. Jennings, N.R., et al., Autonomous Agents For Business Process Management. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 2000. 14(2): p. 145-189.
  10. Fakas, G. and B. Karakostas, A workflow management system based on intelligent collaborative objects. Information and Software Technology, 1999. 41(13): p. 907-915.
  11. Judge, D.W., et al., Agent-enhanced Workflow. BT Technology Journal, 1998. 16(3): p. 79- 85.
  12. Muller, R., U. Greiner, and E. Rahm, AGENTWORK: a workflow system supporting rulebased workflow adaptation. Data & Knowledge Engineering, 2004. 51(2): p. 223-256.
  13. O'Brien, P.D. and M.E. Wiegand, Agent based process management: applying intelligent agents to workflow. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 1998. 13(2): p. 161-174.
  14. Shepherdson, J.W., S.G. Thompson, and B.R. Odgers, Decentralised Workflows and Software Agents. BT Technology Journal, 1999. 17(4): p. 65-71.
  15. Wang, S., W. Shen, and Q. Hao, An agent-based Web service workflow model for interenterprise collaboration. Expert Systems with Applications, 2006. 31(4): p. 787-799.
  16. Yan, Y., Z. Maamar, and S. Weiming. Integration of workflow and agent technology for business process management. in The Sixth International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design. 2001. London, Ont., Canada: IEEE.
  17. Zeng, L., et al. An agent-based approach for supporting cross-enterprise workflows. in Proceedings of the 12th Australasian database conference 2001. Queensland, Australia IEEE Computer Society.
  18. Qu, Y., X. Sheng, and W. Jiao. A Multi-Agent Based Model of Workflow Management. in 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, 2006. CSCWD 7806. . 2006. Nanjing, China.
  19. Hongchen, L. and S. Meilin. Application of agents in workflow management system. in Fifth Asia-Pacific Conference On Communications and Fourth Optoelectronics and Communications Conference APCC/OECC 7899. 1999. Beijing, China.
  20. Qiu, J., C. Wang, and Y. He. Research on application of intelligent agents in the workflow management system. in 2005 IEEE Networking, Sensing and Control, ICNSC2005. 2005. Tucson, Arizona, USA: IEEE.
  21. Chang, J.W. and C.T. Scott, Agent-based workflow: TRP Support Environment (TSE). Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, 1996. 28(7-11): p. 1501-1511.
  22. Huhns, M.N. and M.P. Singh, Workflow agents. Internet Computing, IEEE, 1998. 2(4): p. 94-96.
  23. Merz, M. and W. Lamersdorf, Crossing Organizational Boundaries with Mobile Agents in Electronic Service Markets. Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, 1999. 6(2): p. 91 - 104.
  24. Alonso, G., et al., Functionality and Limitations of Current Workflow Management Systems. IEEE Expert, 1997. 12(5).
  25. Georgakopoulos, D., M. Hornick, and A. Sheth, An overview of workflow management: From process modeling to workflow automation infrastructure. Distributed and Parallel Databases, 1995. 3(2): p. 119-153.
  26. Suh, Y.-H., et al., Design of a Mobile Agent-Based Workflow Management System, in Mobile Agents for Telecommunication Applications: Third International Workshop, MATA 2001, Montreal, Canada, August 14-16, 2001. Proceedings, S. Pierre and R. Glitho, Editors. 2001, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. p. 93-102.
  27. Lange, D.B. and M. Oshima, Seven good reasons for mobile agents Commun. ACM, 1999. 45(3): p. 88-89.
  28. Merz, M., B. Liberman, and W. Lamersdorf, Using Mobile Agents To Support interorganizational Workflow Management. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 1997. 11(6): p. 551 - 572.
  29. Bolcer, G.A. and R.N. Taylor, Advanced Workflow Management Technologies. SOFTWARE PROCESS-Improvement and Practice, 1998. 4: p. 125-171.
  30. Sheth, A. and K.J. Kochut. Workflow applications to research agenda : Scalable and dynamic work coordination and collaboration systems. in Workflow Management Systems and Interoperability, NATO Advanced Study Institute on Workflow Management Systems and Interoperability. 1997. Istanbul, Turkey.
  31. Blake, M.B. and H. Gomaa, Object-Oriented Modeling Approaches to Agent-Based Workflow Services, in Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems II, C. Lucena, et al., Editors. 2004, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. p. 111-128.
  32. Blake, M.B. and H. Gomaa, Agent-oriented compositional approaches to services-based cross-organizational workflow. Decision Support Systems, 2005. 40(1): p. 31-50.
  33. Kishore, R., H. Zhang, and R. Ramesh, Enterprise integration using the agent paradigm: foundations of multi-agent-based integrative business information systems. Decision Support Systems, 2006. 42(1): p. 48-78.
  34. Wang, M., H. Wang, and D. Xu, The design of intelligent workflow monitoring with agent technology. Knowledge-Based Systems, 2005. 18(6): p. 257-266.
  35. Yoo, J.-J., et al., Scalable Workflow System Model Based on Mobile Agents, in Intelligent Agents: Specification, Modeling, and Application : 4th Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA 2001, Taipei, Taiwan, July 28-29, 2001. Proceedings, S.-T. Yuan and M. Yokoo, Editors. 2001, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. p. 222-236.
  36. Yu, L. and B.F. Schmid. A conceptual framework for agent-oriented and role-based workflow modeling. in Proceedings of the CaiSE Workshop on Agent Oriented Information Systems (AOIS99). 1999.
  37. Buhler, P., J.M. Vidal, and H. Verhagen. Adaptive Workflow = Web Services + Agents. in ICWS 7803. 2003. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: CSREA Press.
  38. Singh, M.P. Distributed enactment of multiagent workflows: temporal logic for web service composition. in Second international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems 2003. Melbourne, Australia ACM Press.
  39. Buhler, P.A. and J.M. Vidal, Towards Adaptive Workflow Enactment Using Multiagent Systems. Information Technology and Management, 2005. 6(1): p. 61-87.
  40. Joeris, G. Decentralized and Flexible Workflow Enactment Based on Task Coordination Agents. in 2nd Int'l. Bi-Conference Workshop on Agent-Oriented Information Systems (AOIS-2000@CAiSE*00). 2000. Stockholm, Sweden: iCue Publishing.
  41. Stormer, H. Task Scheduling in Agent-based Workflow. in Int. ICSC Symp. on Multi-Agents and Mobile Agents in Virtual Organizations and E-Commerce (MAMA'2000). 2000. Wollogong, Australia.
  42. Parunak, H.V.D., Applications of distributed artificial intelligence in industry in Foundations of distributed artificial intelligence G. O'Hare and N.R. Jennings, Editors. 1996, John Wiley \& Sons, Inc. p. 139-164.
  43. Meng, J., S. Helal, and S. Su. An ad-hoc workflow system architecture based on mobile agents and rule-based processing. in Proceedings of the 2000 international conference on artificial intelligence (ICAI2000). 2000. Las Vegas.
  44. Delias, P., A. Doulamis, and N. Matsatsinis, A Joint Optimization Algorithm for Dispatching Tasks in Agent-based Workflow Management Systems, in 10th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, ICEIS 2008. 2008: Barcelona, Spain.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Delias P. (2008). Workflow Management Systems and Agents - Do they Fit Together? . In - ICEIS, ISBN , pages 0-0. DOI: 10.5220/0001725200000000


in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis08,
author={Pavlos Delias},
title={Workflow Management Systems and Agents - Do they Fit Together?},
booktitle={ - ICEIS,},
year={2008},
pages={},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0001725200000000},
isbn={},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - - ICEIS,
TI - Workflow Management Systems and Agents - Do they Fit Together?
SN -
AU - Delias P.
PY - 2008
SP - 0
EP - 0
DO - 10.5220/0001725200000000