A meta modeling approach to workflow management systems supporting exception handling

Workflow Management Systems (WFMSs) facilitate the definition of structure and decomposition of business processes and assists in management of coordinating, scheduling, executing and monitoring of such activities. Most of the current WFMSs are built on traditional relational database systems and/or using an object-oriented database system for storing the definition and run time data about the workflows. However, a WFMS requires advanced modeling functionalities to support adaptive features, such as on-line exception handling. This article describes our advanced meta-modeling approach using various enabling technologies (such as object orientation, roles,rules, active capabilities) supported by an integrated environment, the ADOME, as a solid basis for a flexible WFMS involving dynamic match making, migrating workflows and exception handling. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.