A workflow management system (WfMS or WFMS) provides an infrastructure for the set-up, performance and monitoring of a defined sequence of tasks, arranged as a workflow application.

International standards

There are several international standards-setting bodies in the field of workflow management: * Workflow Management Coalition * World Wide Web Consortium * Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards * WS-BPEL 2.0 (integration-centric) and WS-BPEL4People (human task-centric) published by OASIS Standards Body. The underlying theoretical basis of workflow management is the mathematical concept of a

Petri net A Petri net, also known as a place/transition (PT) net, is one of several mathematical modeling languages for the description of distributed systems. It is a class of discrete event dynamic system. A Petri net is a directed bipartite graph that ...

. Each of the workflow models has tasks (nodes) and dependencies between the nodes. Tasks are activated when the dependency conditions are fulfilled.

Workflows for people

WfMS allow the user to define different workflows for different types of jobs or processes. For example, in a manufacturing setting, a design document might be automatically routed from designer to a technical director to the production engineer. At each stage in the workflow, one individual or group is responsible for a specific task. Once the task is complete, WfMS ensures that the individuals responsible for the next task are notified and receive the data they need to execute their stage of the process. Workflows can also have more complex dependencies; for example if a document is to be translated into several languages, a translation manager could select the languages and each selection would then be activated as a work order form for a different translator. Only when all the translators have completed their respective tasks would the next task in the process be activated. It is process management from top level to lower level. WfMS also automate redundant tasks and ensure that uncompleted tasks are followed up. A key standard that deals with human tasks in workflows is the WS-BPEL4People Standard by the OASIS Standards Body.

Automated workflows

WfMS may control automated processes in addition to replacing paper work order transfers. For example, if the above design documents are now available as AutoCAD but the workflow requires them as Catia, then an automated process would implement the conversion prior to notifying the individual responsible for the next task. This is the concept of

enterprise application integration Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the use of software and computer systems' architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications. Overview Enterprise application integration is an integration framework compo ...

. WfMS also appear in distributed IT environments such as

grid computing Grid computing is the use of widely distributed computer resources to reach a common goal. A computing grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve many files. Grid computing is distinguished from ...

cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over m ...

. The aim of such systems is to manage the execution of various processes that may belong to the same application while in many cases they are used as a means to guarantee the offered

quality of service Quality of service (QoS) is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network, or a cloud computing service, particularly the performance seen by the users of the network. To quantitat ...

(QoS).An innovative workflow mapping mechanism for Grids in the frame of Quality of Service, WfMS may also be enhanced by using existing enterprise infrastructure such as Microsoft Outlook or Office 365.

Functional categorization

Workflow systems can be categorized in the following categories based on their functionalities: * Integration-centric workflow systems * Human task-centric workflow systems * XCFG

List of notable WfMS

* Activiti *

Apache ODE Apache ODE (Apache Orchestration Director Engine) is a software coded in Java as a workflow engine to manage business processes which have been expressed in the Web Services Business Process Execution Language ( WS-BPEL) via a website. It was ma ...

* Apache Taverna *

Apache Airflow Apache Airflow is an open-source workflow management platform for data engineering pipelines. It started at Airbnb in October 2014 as a solution to manage the company's increasingly complex workflows. Creating Airflow allowed Airbnb to programma ...

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Ancient Greeks, Greek historian with Ancient Rome, Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of ...

* Bizagi *

Bonita BPM Bonita is an open-source business process management and Low-code development platform created in 2001. Bonita technology was developed originally in 2001 by Miguel Valdés Faura, at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Autom ...

* Camunda * CEITON * Collective Knowledge *

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

* IBM BPM * Imixs-Workflow * QuickBase * jBPM * PRPC * ProActive *

Pyrus Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

* Qntrl * RedBooth Workflow Management * Salesforce.com Process Workflow * ServiceNow Platform *

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...

Business Workflow *

TACTIC Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefie ...

Windows Workflow Foundation Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications. The latest version of WF was ...

WorkflowGen WorkflowGen is a web-based low-code business application creation solution developed by Advantys. As a workflow software and business process management (BPM) solution, WorkflowGen enables organizations to automate human and system-based process ...

YAWL A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...

Built-in WfMS as part of the function

* Jira * Workfront

References

{{Reflist Workflow technology