A prototype of workflow management system for construction design projects

A great deal of benefits can be achieved if information and process are integrated within the building design project. This paper aims to establish a prototype of workflow management system for construction design project through the application of workflow technology. The composition and function of prototype is presented to satisfy the needs of information share and process integration. By integrating all subsystems and modules of the prototype, the whole system can deal with design information-flow modeling, emulating and optimizing, task planning and distributing, automatic tracking and monitoring, as well as network service, etc. In this way, the collaborative design environment of building design proiect is brought into being.

Research of Web-based Workflow Management System

The state of the art of workflow management techniques in research is introduced. The research and development trends of Workflow Management System (WFMS) are presented. On basis of analysis and comparison of kinds of WFMSs, a WFMS based on Web technology and distributed object management is proposed. Finally, the application of the WFMS in supply chain management is described in detail.

Flexible Workflow Management in Agile Supply Chain System

With the vehement development of global competition , Agile Supply Chain (ASC) becomes an effective approach that supports dynamic ent erprise alliance and realizes agile manufacturing, as for the enterprises to cap ture market opportunities rapidly and strengthen their anti-risk ability. As Ag ile Supply Chain System (ASCS) is dynamic and distributed, the realization of it ’s processes needs to be much flexible. Often in Agile Supply Chain System (ASCS ), there are many dynamic tasks, many changes of the processes, and cooperative workflows, which need the workflows able to be adjusted agilely and smoothly, no t much affecting others. This paper will propose a flexible workflow management for achieving the agility and compatibility. At the first of the paper, we will discuss the situation in which Agile Supply C hain System is applied, and then we will elaborate the characteristics of Agile Supply Chain System. So with that, the shortcomings of the process managements t hat are, at present, used in Supply Chain Systems will be displayed clearly. The n, the proposal will be given in the paper, to resolve the problems in the prese nt process management in ASCS. We will see supply chain systems implemented mult i-agent-based technology to adapt to the dynamic environment, however in many systems, coordination of the workflows is executed by the explicit messages comm unicated between the agents. This will lead to a tightly coupled system. To over come it, the paper suggests the workflow management in agent-based ASCS using t he Events-Triggering mechanism, instead of the explicit messages. We create Eve nts-Triggering contents and rules, having push-pull mechanism, event-state se t and triggering-conditions, and store them in the distributed database subject ed to the corresponding agents. Adjusting the Events-Triggering data will be us ed to adapt to the dynamic tasks and the changes of processes. In sum, we will p resent the methods of process modeling, the system structure, and the executing -mechanism of the flexible workflow management we propose in the paper. Also, t he paper outlines several exception-handling policies for the flexible workflow management, in succession. And at the final of the paper, we discuss the realiz ation of the flexible workflow management in Agile Supply Chain System. The flex ible workflow management will be implemented using CORBA services and Java techn ology for the distributed systems. CORBA is chosen as the specification of distr ibuted electronic data exchange, and Java as the construction tool of the system . The framework of the flexible workflow management constructed on them is showe d in the paper.

AGENT-BASED WORKFLOW COORDINATION FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

To align customer demand with suppliers for reducing work in process and supply costs and increasing re sp onsiveness to customer requirements, a real time collaborative supply chain mana gement system is essential. A solution to the realization of supply chain manage ment capable of timely responding to customer requirements is proposed. Workflow automation is used to manage process interaction across enterprises; Agents can be automatically invoked by supply chain workflow process and are used to pro mote the flexibility and reconfigurability by providing the mechanism in support of distributed compution in an enterprises to meet the requirements of performa nce and business dynamics. An approach that supports agent based workflow proce ss in a supply chain is proposed. And the coordination mechanism between agents is also discussed.

Adaptive resource allocation for workflow containerization on Kubernetes

In a cloud-native era,the Kubernetes-based workflow engine enables workflow containerized execution through the inherent abilities of Kubernetes.However,when encountering continuous workflow requests and unexpected resource request spikes,the engine is limited to the current workflow load information for resource allocation,which lacks the agility and predictability of resource allocation,resulting in over and underprovisioning resources.This mechanism seriously hinders workflow execution efficiency and leads to high resource waste.To overcome these drawbacks,we propose an adaptive resource allocation scheme named adaptive resource allocation scheme(ARAS)for the Kubernetes-based workflow engines.Considering potential future workflow task requests within the current task pod’s lifecycle,the ARAS uses a resource scaling strategy to allocate resources in response to high-concurrency workflow scenarios.The ARAS offers resource discovery,resource evaluation,and allocation functionalities and serves as a key component for our tailored workflow engine(KubeAdaptor).By integrating the ARAS into KubeAdaptor for workflow containerized execution,we demonstrate the practical abilities of KubeAdaptor and the advantages of our ARAS.Compared with the baseline algorithm,experimental evaluation under three distinct workflow arrival patterns shows that ARAS gains time-saving of 9.8% to 40.92% in the average total duration of all workflows,time-saving of 26.4% to 79.86% in the average duration of individual workflow,and an increase of 1% to 16% in centrol processing unit(CPU)and memory resource usage rate.

PRODUCT-ORIENTED WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT IN CAPP

A product-oriented process workflow management model is proposed based on themulti-agent technology. The autonomy, inter-operability, scalability and flexibility of agent areused to cooperate the whole process planning and achieve the full share of resource and information.Thus, unnecessary waste of human labor, time and work is reduced and the computer-aided processplanning (CAPP) system's adaptability and stability are improved. In the detailed implementation,according to the products' BOM (Bill of materials) in structural design, the task assignment,management control, automatic process making, process examination and process sanction are combinedinto a unified management to make it convenient for the adjustment, control and management.

Research on Concurrent Engineering Oriented Integrated Product Development Process Management System

In concurrent engineering, effective process management is the key to improve the efficiency and quality of product development. Although in project management system, workflow management system and PDM system, process management functions are provided, they can not meet the needs of product development. In this paper, we integrate the project management, workflow management and product management technique together and a concurrent engineering oriented integrated product development process management system is proposed. The system structure, integrated product development model and running method are introduced. The practice proves this system is powerful in supporting product development process.

Research on Petri Net Based Modeling and Analyzing Methods for Workflow Process

Workflow management is an important aspect in CSCW at present. The elementary knowledge of workflow process is introduced, the Petri nets based process modeling methodology and basic definitions are provided, and the analysis and verification of structural and behavioral correctness of workflow process are discussed. Finally, the algorithm of verification of process definitions is proposed.

CA-PLAN, a Service-Oriented Workflow

Workflow management systems (WfMSs) are accepted worldwide due to their ability to model and control business processes. Previously, we defined an intra-organizational workflow specification model, Process LANguage (PLAN). PLAN, with associated tools, allowed a user to describe a graph specification for processes, artifacts, and participants in an organization. PLAN has been successfully implemented in Agentflow to support workflow (Agentflow) applications. PLAN, and most current WfMSs are designed to adopt a centralized architecture so that they can be applied to a single organization. However, in such a structure, participants in Agentflow applications in different organizations cannot serve each other with workflows. In this paper, a service-oriented cooperative workflow model, Cooperative Agentflow Process LANguage (CA-PLAN) is presented. CA-PLAN proposes a workflow component model to model inter-organizational processes. In CA-PLAN, an inter-organizational process is partitioned into several intra-organizational processes. Each workflow system inside an organization is modeled as an Integrated Workflow Component (IWC). Each IWC contains a process service interface, specifying process services provided by an organization, in conjunction with a remote process interface specifying what remote processes are used to refer to remote process services provided by other organizations, and intra-organizational processes. An IWC is a workflow node and participant. An inter-organizational process is made up of connections among these process services and remote processes with respect to different IWCs. In this paper, the related service techniques and supporting tools provided in Agentflow systems are presented.

Application of workflow technology for workshop scheduling

This paper attempts to solve the complexity of scheduling problems and meet the requirement of the ever-changing manufacturing environment. In this paper, a new Workflow-Based Scheduling System (WBSS) is proposed. The integration of Workflow Management System (WfMS) and rule-based scheduler provides us an effective way of generating a task-sheet according to the states of system and the scheduled objects. First, the definition of workflow model for scheduling is proposed, and following are the architecture and mechanism of the proposed WBSS. At last, an application is given to show how the established system works.

An Inter-enterprise Workflow Model for Supply Chain and B2B E-commerce

The goals of B2B electronic commerce and supply chain management system are to implement interoperability of independent enterprises, to smooth the information flow between them and to deploy business processes over multiple enterprises. The inherent characteristics of workflow system make it suitable to implement the cross organization management. This paper, firstly, proposes an inter enterprises workflow model based on the agreement to support the construction of supply chain management system and B2B electronic commerce. This model has extended the standard workflow model. After that, an architecture which supports the model has been introduced, especially it details the structure and implementation of interfaces between enterprises.

Optimising workflow in andrology: a new electronic patient record and database

Aim： To improve workflow and usability by introduction of a new electronic patient record （EPR） and database. Methods： Establishment of an EPR based on open source technology （MySQL database and PI-IP scripting language） in a tertiary care andrology center at a university clinic. Workflow analysis, a benchmark comparing the two systems and a survey for usability and ergonomics were carried out. Results： Workflow optimizations （electronic ordering of laboratory analysis, elimination of transcription steps and automated referral letters） and the decrease in time required for data entry per patient to 71% ± 27%, P 〈 0.05, lead to a workload reduction. The benchmark showed a significant performance increase （highest with starting the respective system： 1.3 ± 0.2 s vs. 11.1 ± 0.2 s, mean ± SD）. In the survey, users rated the new system at least two ranks higher over its predecessor （P 〈 0.01） in all sub-areas. Conclusion： With further improvements, today＇s EPR can evolve to substitute paper records, saving time （and possibly costs）, supporting user satisfaction and expanding the basis for scientific evaluation when more data is electronically available. Newly introduced systems should be versatile, adaptable for users, and workflow-oriented to yield the highest benefit. If ready-made software is purchased, customization should be implemented during rollout. （Asian J Andro12006 Mar; 8： 235-241）

Research on an Agile Manufacturing Information System

With the more intense competition in the worldwide market, the agile virtual enterprise (AVE) will become a new organization form of manufacturing enterprise. To support the new relationship, an agile manufacturing information system (AMIS) is described in this paper which serves to assist the virtual enterprise to manage and control information flow among collaborating partners. Based on the requirement analysis of virtual information system, the architecture, functions, features and execution scheme of AMIS are discussed in detail.

Conflict detection and resolution for authorization policies in workflow systems

The specification of authorization policies in access control models proposed so far cannot satisfy the requirements in workflow management systems(WFMSs).Furthermore,existing approaches have not provided effective conflict detection and resolution methods to maintain the consistency of authorization polices in WFMSs.To address these concerns,we propose the definition of authorization policies in which context constraints are considered and the complicated requirements in WFMSs can be satisfied.Based on the definition,we put forward static and dynamic conflict detection methods for authorization policies.By defining two new concepts,the precedence establishment rule and the conflict resolution policy,we provide a flexible approach to resolving conflicts.

Laboratory information management system for biosafety laboratory:Safety and efficiency

Laboratory information management system(LIMS)has been widely used to facilitate laboratory activities.However,the current LIMSs do not contain functions to improve the safety of laboratory work,which is the major concern of biosafety laboratories(BSLs).With tons of biosafety information that need to be managed and an increasing number of biosafety-related research projects under way,it is worthy of expanding the current framework of LIMS and building a system that is more suitable for BSL usage.Such a system should carefully trade off between the safety and efficiency of regular lab activities,allowing the laboratory staff to conduct their research as free as possible while ensuring their and the environment’s safety.In order to achieve this goal,the information on the research contents,laboratory personnel,experimental materials and experimental equipment need to be well collected and fully utilized by a centralized system and its databases.

Queue Waiting Time Aware Dynamic Workflow Scheduling in Multicluster Environments

Workflows are prevailing in scientific computation. sources, benefiting workflows but also challenging the traditional Multicluster environments emerge and provide more reworkftow scheduling heuristics. In a multicluster environment, each cluster has its own independent workload management system. Jobs are queued up before getting executed, they experience different resource availability and wait time if dispatched to different clusters. However, existing scheduling heuristics neither consider the queue wait time nor balance the performance gain with data movement cost. The proposed algorithm leverages the advancement of queue wait time prediction techniques and empirically studies if the tunability of resource requirements helps scheduling. The extensive experiment with both real workload traces and test bench shows that the queue wait time aware algorithm improves workflow performance by 3 to 10 times in terms of average makespan with relatively very low cost of data movement.

Formal Verification of Temporal Properties for Reduced Overhead in Grid Scientific Workflows

With quick development of grid techniques and growing complexity of grid applications, it is becoming critical for reasoning temporal properties of grid workflows to probe potential pitfalls and errors, in order to ensure reliability and trustworthiness at the initial design phase. A state Pi calculus is proposed and implemented in this work, which not only enables fexible abstraction and management of historical grid verification of grid workflows. Furthermore, a relaxed region system events, but also facilitates modeling and temporal analysis （RRA） approach is proposed to decompose large scale grid workflows into sequentially composed regions with relaxation of parallel workflow branches, and corresponding verification strategies are also decomposed following modular verification principles. Performance evaluation results show that the RRA approach can dramatically reduce CPU time and memory usage of formal verification.

Scaling Notebooks as Re-configurable Cloud Workflows

Literate computing environments,such as the Jupyter(i.e.,Jupyter Notebooks,JupyterLab,and JupyterHub),have been widely used in scientific studies;they allow users to interactively develop scientific code,test algorithms,and describe the scientific narratives of the experiments in an integrated document.To scale up scientific analyses,many implemented Jupyter environment architectures encapsulate the whole Jupyter notebooks as reproducible units and autoscale them on dedicated remote infrastructures(e.g.,highperformance computing and cloud computing environments).The existing solutions are stl limited in many ways,e.g.,1)the workflow(or pipeline)is implicit in a notebook,and some steps can be generically used by different code and executed in parallel,but because of the tight cell structure,all steps in the Jupyter notebook have to be executed sequentially and lack of the flexibility of reusing the core code fragments,and 2)there are performance bottlenecks that need to improve the parallelism and scalability when handling extensive input data and complex computation.In this work,we focus on how to manage the workflow in a notebook seamlessly.We 1)encapsulate the reusable cells as RESTful services and containerize them as portal components,2)provide a composition tool for describing workflow logic of those reusable components,and 3)automate the execution on remote cloud infrastructure.Empirically,we validate the solution's usability via a use case from the Ecology and Earth Science domain,illustrating the processing of massive Light Detection and Ranging(LiDAR)data.The demonstration and analysis show that our method is feasible,but that it needs further improvement,especially on integrating distributed workflow scheduling,automatic deployment,and execution to develop as a mature approach.

Agile Information System Supporting Virtual Enterprise Operation

Dynamic collaboration is a relationship of companies working together for mutual benefit to bring a complementary set of competencies to gain a market opportunity. A mechanism to manage and control information flow among collaborating partners is described in this paper. Analysis of the virtual information system requirements was used to develop an agile manufacturing information system (AMIS) to create, sustain and dissolve a virtual enterprise.

A Workflow Demonstrator for Processing Catalysis Research Data

The UK Catalysis Hub(UKCH)is designing a virtual research environment to support data processing and analysis,the Catalysis Research Workbench(CRW).The development of this platform requires identifying the processing and analysis needs of the UKCH members and mapping them to potential solutions.This paper presents a proposal for a demonstrator to analyse the use of scientific workflows for large scale data processing.The demonstrator provides a concrete target to promote further discussion of the processing and analysis needs of the UKCH community.In this paper,we will discuss the main requirements for data processing elicited and the proposed adaptations that will be incorporated in the design of the CRW and how to integrate the proposed solutions with existing practices of the UKCH.The demonstrator has been used in discussion with researchers and in presentations to the UKCH community,generating increased interest and motivating furtherdevelopment.