Logging and post-mortem analysis of workflow executions based on event histories

This paper shows how both workflow execution logging and post-mortem analysis of workflow executions are addressed in EvE, a prototypical distributed system implementing event-driven workflow execution.

Abstract

Logging and post-mortem analysis of workflow executions are important tasks of a workflow management system. In this paper, we show how both tasks are addressed in EvE, a prototypical distributed system implementing event-driven workflow execution. Essentially, both tasks benefit from the concept of an event history as it is present in active database systems. By using event-based workflow execution, the workflow log actually corresponds to the event history, and post-mortem analysis is accomplished through querying the event history. In our approach, an analysis of the required information has led to the design and development of a workflow analysis query service.