Techniques for Supporting Dynamic and Adaptive Workflow

Principal goals to address in the development of adaptive workflow support are suggested, including strategies for avoiding exceptions, detecting them when they occur, and handling them at various levels of impact.

Abstract

The unpredictability of business processes requires that workflowsystems support exception handling with the ability to dynamicallyadapt to the changing environment. Traditional approaches to handlingthis problem have fallen short, providing little support for change,particularly once the process has begun execution. Further,exceptions vary widely in their character and significance,challenging the application of any single approach to handling them.We briefly discuss the classification of exceptions, highlightingdiffering impacts on the workflow model. Based on this discussion, wesuggest principal goals to address in the development of adaptiveworkflow support, including strategies for avoiding exceptions,detecting them when they occur, and handling them at various levels ofimpact. We then identify a number of specific approaches to supportingthese goals within the design of a workflow system infrastructure.Finally, we describe the implementation of many of these approaches inthe Endeavors workflow support system.