<p>This project aims to describe how workflow systems can integrate and make use of context information from context rich environments, to enhance the execution of workflow processes. Context information can for example be used to control transitions between activities, activity enactment and process/activity coordination. A dynamic contextual environment also requires that a workflow system is capable of responding to contextual events. A set of requirements for a context-aware workflow system, based on existing workflow standards, theory behind context-aware computing and activity theory, will be presented and elaborated. Prototypes, which illustrate how these requirements can be implemented in a standard based workflow system, are also provided. Based on the solutions presented in the prototypes, a new interface for a workflow enactment service is presented. This new interface serves as the link between the contextual environment and the workflow system. We also present a solution for handling context related exception states. The definition of basic terms in workflow systems are expanded to better support context-aware behaviour. Ideas and solutions for more complex requirements not met in our prototypes are also discussed, such as situated activity coordination.</p>

This project aims to describe how workflow systems can integrate and make use of context information from context rich environments, to enhance the execution of workflow processes. Context information can for example be used to control transitions between activities, activity enactment and process/activity coordination. A dynamic contextual environment also requires that a workflow system is capable of responding to contextual events. A set of requirements for a context-aware workflow system, based on existing workflow standards, theory behind context-aware computing and activity theory, will be presented and elaborated. Prototypes, which illustrate how these requirements can be implemented in a standard based workflow system, are also provided. Based on the solutions presented in the prototypes, a new interface for a workflow enactment service is presented. This new interface serves as the link between the contextual environment and the workflow system. We also present a solution for handling context related exception states. The definition of basic terms in workflow systems are expanded to better support context-aware behaviour. Ideas and solutions for more complex requirements not met in our prototypes are also discussed, such as situated activity coordination.

Business processes form the backbone of all business operations, and workflow technology has enabled companies to gain significant productivity benefits through the automatic enactment of routine, repetitive processes. Process automation can be achieved by encoding the business rules and procedures into the applications, but capturing the process logic in a graphical workflow model allows the process to be specified, validated and ultimately maintained by business analysts with limited technical knowledge. The process models can also be automatically verified at design-time to detect structural issues such as deadlock and ensure correct data flow during process execution. These benefits have resulted in the success of workflow technology in a variety of industries, although workflows are often criticised for being too rigid, particularly in light of their recent deployment in collaborative applications such as e-business. Generally, many events can impact on the execution of a workflow process. Initially, the workflow is triggered by an external event (for example, receipt of an order). Participants then interact with the workflow system through the worklist as they perform constituent tasks of the workflow, driving the progression of each process instance through the model until its completion. For traditional workflow processes, this functionality was sufficient. However, new generation 'responsive' workflow technology must facilitate interaction with the external environment during workflow execution. For example, during the execution of an 'order to cash' process, the customer may attempt to cancel the order or update the shipping address. We call these events 'interruptions'. The potential occurrence of interruptions can be anticipated but, unlike the other workflow events, they are never required to occur in order to successfully execute any process instance. Interruptions can also occur at any stage during process execution, and may therefore be considered as 'expected, asynchronous exceptions' during the execution of workflow processes. Every interruption must be handled, and the desired reaction often depends on the situation. For example, an address update may not be permitted after a certain point, where this point depends on the customer type, and a shipping charge or refund may be applicable, depending on the original and new delivery region. Therefore, a set of rules is associated with each interruption, such that if a condition is satisfied when the event occurs, a particular action is to be performed. This set of rules forms a policy to handle each interruption. Several workflow systems do facilitate the automatic enforcement of 'exception handling' rules and support the reuse of code fragments to enable the limited specification and maintenance of rules by non-technical users. However, this functionality is not represented in a formal, intuitive model. Moreover, we argue that inadequate consideration is given to the verification of the rules, with insufficient support provided for the detection of issues at design-time that could hinder effective maintenance of the process logic or interfere with the interruption handling functionality at run-time. This thesis presents a framework to capture, analyse and enforce interruption process logic for highly responsive processes without compromising the benefits of workflow technology. We address these issues in two stages. In the first stage, we consider that the reaction to an interruption event is dependent on three factors: the progress of the process instance with respect to the workflow model, the values of the associated case data variables at the time at which the event occurs, and the data embedded in the event. In the second stage, we consider that the reaction to each interruption event may also depend on the other events that have also been detected, that is, we allow interruptions to be defined through event patterns or complex events. We thus consider the issues of definition, analysis and enactment for both 'basic' and 'extended' interruption policy models. First, we introduce a method to model interruption policies in an intuitive but executable manner such that they may be maintained without technical support. We then address the issue of execution, detailing the required system functionality and proposing a reference architecture for the automatic enforcement of the policies. Finally, we introduce a set of formal, generic correctness criteria and a verification procedure for the models. For extended policy models, we introduce and compare two alternative execution models for the evaluation of logical expressions that represent interruption patterns. Finally, we present a thorough analysis of related verification issues, considering both the system and user perspectives, in order to ensure correct process execution and also provide support for the user in semantic validation of the interruption policies.

Business processes form the backbone of all business operations, and workflow technology has enabled companies to gain significant productivity benefits through the automatic enactment of routine, repetitive processes. Process automation can be achieved by encoding the business rules and procedures into the applications, but capturing the process logic in a graphical workflow model allows the process to be specified, validated and ultimately maintained by business analysts with limited technical knowledge. The process models can also be automatically verified at design-time to detect structural issues such as deadlock and ensure correct data flow during process execution. These benefits have resulted in the success of workflow technology in a variety of industries, although workflows are often criticised for being too rigid, particularly in light of their recent deployment in collaborative applications such as e-business. Generally, many events can impact on the execution of a workflow process. Initially, the workflow is triggered by an external event (for example, receipt of an order). Participants then interact with the workflow system through the worklist as they perform constituent tasks of the workflow, driving the progression of each process instance through the model until its completion. For traditional workflow processes, this functionality was sufficient. However, new generation 'responsive' workflow technology must facilitate interaction with the external environment during workflow execution. For example, during the execution of an 'order to cash' process, the customer may attempt to cancel the order or update the shipping address. We call these events 'interruptions'. The potential occurrence of interruptions can be anticipated but, unlike the other workflow events, they are never required to occur in order to successfully execute any process instance. Interruptions can also occur at any stage during process execution, and may therefore be considered as 'expected, asynchronous exceptions' during the execution of workflow processes. Every interruption must be handled, and the desired reaction often depends on the situation. For example, an address update may not be permitted after a certain point, where this point depends on the customer type, and a shipping charge or refund may be applicable, depending on the original and new delivery region. Therefore, a set of rules is associated with each interruption, such that if a condition is satisfied when the event occurs, a particular action is to be performed. This set of rules forms a policy to handle each interruption. Several workflow systems do facilitate the automatic enforcement of 'exception handling' rules and support the reuse of code fragments to enable the limited specification and maintenance of rules by non-technical users. However, this functionality is not represented in a formal, intuitive model. Moreover, we argue that inadequate consideration is given to the verification of the rules, with insufficient support provided for the detection of issues at design-time that could hinder effective maintenance of the process logic or interfere with the interruption handling functionality at run-time. This thesis presents a framework to capture, analyse and enforce interruption process logic for highly responsive processes without compromising the benefits of workflow technology. We address these issues in two stages. In the first stage, we consider that the reaction to an interruption event is dependent on three factors: the progress of the process instance with respect to the workflow model, the values of the associated case data variables at the time at which the event occurs, and the data embedded in the event. In the second stage, we consider that the reaction to each interruption event may also depend on the other events that have also been detected, that is, we allow interruptions to be defined through event patterns or complex events. We thus consider the issues of definition, analysis and enactment for both 'basic' and 'extended' interruption policy models. First, we introduce a method to model interruption policies in an intuitive but executable manner such that they may be maintained without technical support. We then address the issue of execution, detailing the required system functionality and proposing a reference architecture for the automatic enforcement of the policies. Finally, we introduce a set of formal, generic correctness criteria and a verification procedure for the models. For extended policy models, we introduce and compare two alternative execution models for the evaluation of logical expressions that represent interruption patterns. Finally, we present a thorough analysis of related verification issues, considering both the system and user perspectives, in order to ensure correct process execution and also provide support for the user in semantic validation of the interruption policies.

Business processes form the backbone of all business operations, and workflow technology has enabled companies to gain significant productivity benefits through the automatic enactment of routine, repetitive processes. Process automation can be achieved by encoding the business rules and procedures into the applications, but capturing the process logic in a graphical workflow model allows the process to be specified, validated and ultimately maintained by business analysts with limited technical knowledge. The process models can also be automatically verified at design-time to detect structural issues such as deadlock and ensure correct data flow during process execution. These benefits have resulted in the success of workflow technology in a variety of industries, although workflows are often criticised for being too rigid, particularly in light of their recent deployment in collaborative applications such as e-business. Generally, many events can impact on the execution of a workflow process. Initially, the workflow is triggered by an external event (for example, receipt of an order). Participants then interact with the workflow system through the worklist as they perform constituent tasks of the workflow, driving the progression of each process instance through the model until its completion. For traditional workflow processes, this functionality was sufficient. However, new generation 'responsive' workflow technology must facilitate interaction with the external environment during workflow execution. For example, during the execution of an 'order to cash' process, the customer may attempt to cancel the order or update the shipping address. We call these events 'interruptions'. The potential occurrence of interruptions can be anticipated but, unlike the other workflow events, they are never required to occur in order to successfully execute any process instance. Interruptions can also occur at any stage during process execution, and may therefore be considered as 'expected, asynchronous exceptions' during the execution of workflow processes. Every interruption must be handled, and the desired reaction often depends on the situation. For example, an address update may not be permitted after a certain point, where this point depends on the customer type, and a shipping charge or refund may be applicable, depending on the original and new delivery region. Therefore, a set of rules is associated with each interruption, such that if a condition is satisfied when the event occurs, a particular action is to be performed. This set of rules forms a policy to handle each interruption. Several workflow systems do facilitate the automatic enforcement of 'exception handling' rules and support the reuse of code fragments to enable the limited specification and maintenance of rules by non-technical users. However, this functionality is not represented in a formal, intuitive model. Moreover, we argue that inadequate consideration is given to the verification of the rules, with insufficient support provided for the detection of issues at design-time that could hinder effective maintenance of the process logic or interfere with the interruption handling functionality at run-time. This thesis presents a framework to capture, analyse and enforce interruption process logic for highly responsive processes without compromising the benefits of workflow technology. We address these issues in two stages. In the first stage, we consider that the reaction to an interruption event is dependent on three factors: the progress of the process instance with respect to the workflow model, the values of the associated case data variables at the time at which the event occurs, and the data embedded in the event. In the second stage, we consider that the reaction to each interruption event may also depend on the other events that have also been detected, that is, we allow interruptions to be defined through event patterns or complex events. We thus consider the issues of definition, analysis and enactment for both 'basic' and 'extended' interruption policy models. First, we introduce a method to model interruption policies in an intuitive but executable manner such that they may be maintained without technical support. We then address the issue of execution, detailing the required system functionality and proposing a reference architecture for the automatic enforcement of the policies. Finally, we introduce a set of formal, generic correctness criteria and a verification procedure for the models. For extended policy models, we introduce and compare two alternative execution models for the evaluation of logical expressions that represent interruption patterns. Finally, we present a thorough analysis of related verification issues, considering both the system and user perspectives, in order to ensure correct process execution and also provide support for the user in semantic validation of the interruption policies.

Business processes form the backbone of all business operations, and workflow technology has enabled companies to gain significant productivity benefits through the automatic enactment of routine, repetitive processes. Process automation can be achieved by encoding the business rules and procedures into the applications, but capturing the process logic in a graphical workflow model allows the process to be specified, validated and ultimately maintained by business analysts with limited technical knowledge. The process models can also be automatically verified at design-time to detect structural issues such as deadlock and ensure correct data flow during process execution. These benefits have resulted in the success of workflow technology in a variety of industries, although workflows are often criticised for being too rigid, particularly in light of their recent deployment in collaborative applications such as e-business. Generally, many events can impact on the execution of a workflow process. Initially, the workflow is triggered by an external event (for example, receipt of an order). Participants then interact with the workflow system through the worklist as they perform constituent tasks of the workflow, driving the progression of each process instance through the model until its completion. For traditional workflow processes, this functionality was sufficient. However, new generation 'responsive' workflow technology must facilitate interaction with the external environment during workflow execution. For example, during the execution of an 'order to cash' process, the customer may attempt to cancel the order or update the shipping address. We call these events 'interruptions'. The potential occurrence of interruptions can be anticipated but, unlike the other workflow events, they are never required to occur in order to successfully execute any process instance. Interruptions can also occur at any stage during process execution, and may therefore be considered as 'expected, asynchronous exceptions' during the execution of workflow processes. Every interruption must be handled, and the desired reaction often depends on the situation. For example, an address update may not be permitted after a certain point, where this point depends on the customer type, and a shipping charge or refund may be applicable, depending on the original and new delivery region. Therefore, a set of rules is associated with each interruption, such that if a condition is satisfied when the event occurs, a particular action is to be performed. This set of rules forms a policy to handle each interruption. Several workflow systems do facilitate the automatic enforcement of 'exception handling' rules and support the reuse of code fragments to enable the limited specification and maintenance of rules by non-technical users. However, this functionality is not represented in a formal, intuitive model. Moreover, we argue that inadequate consideration is given to the verification of the rules, with insufficient support provided for the detection of issues at design-time that could hinder effective maintenance of the process logic or interfere with the interruption handling functionality at run-time. This thesis presents a framework to capture, analyse and enforce interruption process logic for highly responsive processes without compromising the benefits of workflow technology. We address these issues in two stages. In the first stage, we consider that the reaction to an interruption event is dependent on three factors: the progress of the process instance with respect to the workflow model, the values of the associated case data variables at the time at which the event occurs, and the data embedded in the event. In the second stage, we consider that the reaction to each interruption event may also depend on the other events that have also been detected, that is, we allow interruptions to be defined through event patterns or complex events. We thus consider the issues of definition, analysis and enactment for both 'basic' and 'extended' interruption policy models. First, we introduce a method to model interruption policies in an intuitive but executable manner such that they may be maintained without technical support. We then address the issue of execution, detailing the required system functionality and proposing a reference architecture for the automatic enforcement of the policies. Finally, we introduce a set of formal, generic correctness criteria and a verification procedure for the models. For extended policy models, we introduce and compare two alternative execution models for the evaluation of logical expressions that represent interruption patterns. Finally, we present a thorough analysis of related verification issues, considering both the system and user perspectives, in order to ensure correct process execution and also provide support for the user in semantic validation of the interruption policies.

Business processes form the backbone of all business operations, and workflow technology has enabled companies to gain significant productivity benefits through the automatic enactment of routine, repetitive processes. Process automation can be achieved by encoding the business rules and procedures into the applications, but capturing the process logic in a graphical workflow model allows the process to be specified, validated and ultimately maintained by business analysts with limited technical knowledge. The process models can also be automatically verified at design-time to detect structural issues such as deadlock and ensure correct data flow during process execution. These benefits have resulted in the success of workflow technology in a variety of industries, although workflows are often criticised for being too rigid, particularly in light of their recent deployment in collaborative applications such as e-business. Generally, many events can impact on the execution of a workflow process. Initially, the workflow is triggered by an external event (for example, receipt of an order). Participants then interact with the workflow system through the worklist as they perform constituent tasks of the workflow, driving the progression of each process instance through the model until its completion. For traditional workflow processes, this functionality was sufficient. However, new generation 'responsive' workflow technology must facilitate interaction with the external environment during workflow execution. For example, during the execution of an 'order to cash' process, the customer may attempt to cancel the order or update the shipping address. We call these events 'interruptions'. The potential occurrence of interruptions can be anticipated but, unlike the other workflow events, they are never required to occur in order to successfully execute any process instance. Interruptions can also occur at any stage during process execution, and may therefore be considered as 'expected, asynchronous exceptions' during the execution of workflow processes. Every interruption must be handled, and the desired reaction often depends on the situation. For example, an address update may not be permitted after a certain point, where this point depends on the customer type, and a shipping charge or refund may be applicable, depending on the original and new delivery region. Therefore, a set of rules is associated with each interruption, such that if a condition is satisfied when the event occurs, a particular action is to be performed. This set of rules forms a policy to handle each interruption. Several workflow systems do facilitate the automatic enforcement of 'exception handling' rules and support the reuse of code fragments to enable the limited specification and maintenance of rules by non-technical users. However, this functionality is not represented in a formal, intuitive model. Moreover, we argue that inadequate consideration is given to the verification of the rules, with insufficient support provided for the detection of issues at design-time that could hinder effective maintenance of the process logic or interfere with the interruption handling functionality at run-time. This thesis presents a framework to capture, analyse and enforce interruption process logic for highly responsive processes without compromising the benefits of workflow technology. We address these issues in two stages. In the first stage, we consider that the reaction to an interruption event is dependent on three factors: the progress of the process instance with respect to the workflow model, the values of the associated case data variables at the time at which the event occurs, and the data embedded in the event. In the second stage, we consider that the reaction to each interruption event may also depend on the other events that have also been detected, that is, we allow interruptions to be defined through event patterns or complex events. We thus consider the issues of definition, analysis and enactment for both 'basic' and 'extended' interruption policy models. First, we introduce a method to model interruption policies in an intuitive but executable manner such that they may be maintained without technical support. We then address the issue of execution, detailing the required system functionality and proposing a reference architecture for the automatic enforcement of the policies. Finally, we introduce a set of formal, generic correctness criteria and a verification procedure for the models. For extended policy models, we introduce and compare two alternative execution models for the evaluation of logical expressions that represent interruption patterns. Finally, we present a thorough analysis of related verification issues, considering both the system and user perspectives, in order to ensure correct process execution and also provide support for the user in semantic validation of the interruption policies.

Sistemas de workflow estão se tornando líderes de mercado na modelagem de regras de negócios das organizações. Contudo, eles ainda carecem de uma série de definições e padrões que sejam amplamente aceitos. Tais carências refletem-se nas técnicas atuais de modelagem de workflow, onde muitos conceitos existentes em um modelo são representados de forma completamente diferentes em outros ou, até mesmo, não existem. A partir de um levantamento realizado sobre os requisitos de modelagem de workflow, verificou-se que os modelos conceituais de workflow, hoje existentes, não atendem a todos os requisitos considerados essenciais para a modelagem da realidade dos processos de negócios. A identificação dos elementos de representação que devem existir em um modelo de processo para representar estes requisitos, o detalhamento das informações que devem ser levantadas durante a modelagem do processo para representar toda a realidade dos processos de negócio e o desenvolvimento de um modelo de processos que apresente estes elementos de representação são o objeto desta dissertação de mestrado. / Workflow systems are becoming the most important tools for business rules modeling. However, workflow systems still lack widely accepted definitions and standards. This is reflected in the difference among existing workflow modeling techniques. Many times the same modeling concept is represented in very different ways in different models or is even absent in some of them. Workflow modeling requirements were evaluated and it became clear that the existing workflow conceptual models do not offer all the essential resources needed to model real business processes. The main goals of this work are: to identify the representation elements needed to express such requirements; to define all the information that has to be gotten during process modeling in order to represent to whole business process reality; to propose a process model that presents these representation elements.

The increasing amounts of electronic data of all forms, produced by humans (e.g. Web pages, structured content such as Wikipedia or the blogosphere etc.) and/or automatic tools (loggers, sensors, Web services, scientific programs or analysis tools etc.) leads to a situation of unprecedented potential for extracting new knowledge, finding new correlations, or simply making sense of the data.Visual analytics aims at combining interactive data visualization with data analysis tasks. Given the explosion in volume and complexity of scientific data, e.g., associated to biological or physical processes or social networks, visual analytics is called to play an important role in scientific data management.Most visual analytics platforms, however, are memory-based, and are therefore limited in the volume of data handled. Moreover, the integration of each new algorithm (e.g. for clustering) requires integrating it by hand into the platform. Finally, they lack the capability to define and deploy well-structured processes where users with different roles interact in a coordinated way sharing the same data and possibly the same visualizations.This work is at the convergence of three research areas: information visualization, database query processing and optimization, and workflow modeling. It provides two main contributions: (i) We propose a generic architecture for deploying a visual analytics platform on top of a database management system (DBMS) (ii) We show how to propagate data changes to the DBMS and visualizations, through the workflow process. Our approach has been implemented in a prototype called EdiFlow, and validated through several applications. It clearly demonstrates that visual analytics applications can benefit from robust storage and automatic process deployment provided by the DBMS while obtaining good performance and thus it provides scalability.Conversely, it could also be integrated into a data-intensive scientific workflow platform in order to increase its visualization features.

Sistemas de workflow estão se tornando líderes de mercado na modelagem de regras de negócios das organizações. Contudo, eles ainda carecem de uma série de definições e padrões que sejam amplamente aceitos. Tais carências refletem-se nas técnicas atuais de modelagem de workflow, onde muitos conceitos existentes em um modelo são representados de forma completamente diferentes em outros ou, até mesmo, não existem. A partir de um levantamento realizado sobre os requisitos de modelagem de workflow, verificou-se que os modelos conceituais de workflow, hoje existentes, não atendem a todos os requisitos considerados essenciais para a modelagem da realidade dos processos de negócios. A identificação dos elementos de representação que devem existir em um modelo de processo para representar estes requisitos, o detalhamento das informações que devem ser levantadas durante a modelagem do processo para representar toda a realidade dos processos de negócio e o desenvolvimento de um modelo de processos que apresente estes elementos de representação são o objeto desta dissertação de mestrado. / Workflow systems are becoming the most important tools for business rules modeling. However, workflow systems still lack widely accepted definitions and standards. This is reflected in the difference among existing workflow modeling techniques. Many times the same modeling concept is represented in very different ways in different models or is even absent in some of them. Workflow modeling requirements were evaluated and it became clear that the existing workflow conceptual models do not offer all the essential resources needed to model real business processes. The main goals of this work are: to identify the representation elements needed to express such requirements; to define all the information that has to be gotten during process modeling in order to represent to whole business process reality; to propose a process model that presents these representation elements.