1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Work Flow Management is a fast evolving technology which is increasingly being exploited by businesses in a
variety of industries. Its primary characteristic is the automation of processes involving combinations of human
and machine-based activities, particularly those involving interaction with IT applications and tools. Although
its most prevalent use is within the office environment in staff intensive operations such as insurance, banking,
legal and general administration, etc, it is also applicable to some classes of industrial and manufacturing
applications .
Many software vendors have WFM products available today which involve WFM technology and there is a
continual introduction of more products into the market. The availability of a wide range of products within the
market has allowed individual product vendors to focus on particular functional capabilities and users have
adopted particular products to meet specific application needs. However, there are, as yet, no standards defined
to enable different WFM products to work together, which is resulting in incompatible "islands" of process
automation.
The WFM Coalition is a grouping of companies who have joined together to address the above situation. It has
been recognised that all work flow management products have some common characteristics, enabling them
potentially to achieve a level of interoperability through the use of common standards for various functions.
The WFM Coalition has been established to identify these functional areas and develop appropriate
specifications for implementation in workflow products. It is intended that such specifications will enable
interoperability between heterogeneous workflow products and improved integration of workflow applications
with other IT services such as electronic mail and document management, thereby improving the opportunities
for the effective use of workflow technology within the IT market, to the benefit of both vendors and users of
such technology.
1.2. Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide a framework to support the development of the various
specifications described above. It provides a common "Reference Model" for workflow management systems
identifying their characteristics, terminology and components, enabling the individual specifications to be
developed within the context of an overall model for workflow systems. The detailed specifications will be
developed as separate documents.
1.3. Scope
This document covers the concepts, terminology, general structure of a workflow management system, its
major functional components and the interfaces and information interchange flows between them. It identifies
the areas appropriate for standardisation and illustrates the potential interoperability scenarios which may be
supported through the use of common standards. It also discusses, where appropriate, the applicability of
existing standards to workflow management systems and their integration with other standard IT services. It
does not cover wider aspects of business process engineering which lie outside the use of information
technology to support the business process.
1.4. Audience
The intended audience of this document is the work flow coalition membership as well as others that are
interested in the efforts of the coalition and wish to understand the top level technical architecture which
underpins the work of the Coalition. The document is intended for a moderately technical audience but
extensive prior knowledge of workflow systems is not assumed.
1.5. How to read this document
Chapter 2 provides a general introduction to the concepts of workflow systems technology, its evolution, the
business context and background on the types of systems which may incorporate this type of technology. If you
are unfamiliar with workflow technology you should start here; if you are already familiar with workflow
management systems, consider starting at Chapter 3.
Chapter 3 discuses the internal structure of workflow systems, the major functional components and the nature
of their interactions. It introduces the top level architecture and identifies the various interfaces which may be
used to support interoperability between different system components and integration with other major IT
infrastructure components.
Chapter 4 provides a general overview of the workflow application programme interface (WAPI), comments on
the necessary protocol support for open interworking and discusses the principles of conformance to the
specifications. It identifies those aspects of the specifications which are required to support various classes of
interoperability. The detailed WAPI specifications are published as separate specification documents (see cross
references below).
