Exception handling through a workflow

Exception handling is a fundamental functionality of workflow management systems (WfMS). User involvement in exception handling is recognized as critical in various situations due to the unpredictability nature of the exceptions that can occur in a running workflow (WF) engine. The problem however is how to orchestrate human ad hoc interventions with a minimum impact on system integrity. The control flow and data integrity dimensions of the impact are analyzed. Our perspective is to allow the maximum latitude possible to user interventions while keeping system correctness. We propose a solution that uses a WF to guide users handling WF exceptions. Furthermore, we extended the WF engine with a propagation mechanism allowing users to involve multiple members of the organization in the exception handling WF. This solution is implemented in the OpenSymphony (OS) platform. The implementation details of the proposed solution in the OS platform are also given in the paper.