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Publications and
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application to the WfMC
Secretariat. (Scroll down for General Publications).
View list of XPDL supporters.
Workflow Process Definition Interface:
Archive Documents
Audience:
The intended audience for this document is
primarily vendor organizations who seek to implement the XML Process
Definition Language (XPDL) of the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC),
or using it as a file format for the Business Process Modeling Notation
(BPMN) of OMG/BPMI. It may also be of interest to those seeking to
assess conformance claims made by vendors for their products. Comments
should be addressed to the Workflow Management Coalition.
Purpose:
XPDL version
2.0 is back-compatible with XPDL version 1.0, and is intended to be
used as a file format for BPMN. The original purpose of XPDL is
maintained and enhanced by this second version of the specification.
The XPDL and the BPMN specifications address the same modeling problem
from different perspectives. XPDL provides an XML file format that can
be used to interchange process models between tools. BPMN provides a
graphical notation to facilitate human communication between business
users and technical users, of complex business processes.
There are a
number of elements that are present in BPMN version 1.0 but were not
present in XPDL version 1.0. Those had been incorporated into this
version of XPDL. The WfMC has identified five functional interfaces to
a process or workflow service as part of its standardization program.
This specification forms part of the documentation relating to
"Interface one" - supporting Process Definition Import and Export. This
interface includes a common meta-model for describing the process
definition (this specification) and also a companion XML schema for the
interchange of process definitions.
Comments
can be posted in the WfMC discussion forum here.
Historical
Documents Interface 1
Now amalgamated into Interface 2, TC-1009.
Learn more about the ASAP/Wf-XML 2.0 live demo.
Wf-XML
2.0 (Current Draft) 441kb PDF wfxml20.xsd
(updated November 2005) 7kb
Wf-XML 2.0/ASAP (October 2003) ASAP_WfXML_2003_10.zip
(zipped 158kb) XML Based Protocol for Run-Time Integration of Process
Engines This document will:
- Provide an
executive overview
- Specify the
goals of WF-XML as an extension of AWSP.
- Explain how
resource (object) model works and how URIs are used to invoke methods
of those resources.
- Specify
preliminary details of the interface methods and parameters The
discussion forum for feedback has been set up at www.workflow-research.de/Forums.
Background Information
AWSP
(Asynchronous Web Services Protocol ) June 2002 (Historical Reference
ONLY) (awsp-2002-04-05.zip
- zipped 497kb.) In April 2002 at the San Francisco meeting of wfmc,
the AWSP (Asynchronous Web Services Protocol was presented, discussed,
and found to meet all the goals that had been identified at the
Muenster meeting. These goals specifically were (Layer on top of SOAP,
Use XML Schema representation, Multiple Observers,
Subscribe/Unsubscribe,Set process instance data). Since that time: this
work has evolved into the ASAP technical committee of OASIS, and has
been entirely subsumed by that other work.
Please use
this document only for historical reference, and refer instead to the
ASAP working group (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=asap)
for current implementation information.
Interoperability
Wf-XML Binding Version 1.1 FINAL (read press release)
Document
Number WFMC-TC-1023 (Zipped WinWord 629k)
Document
Number WFMC-TC-1023 (PDF Format 211K)
The XML
language described herein, Wf-XML, can be used to implement the three
models of interoperability defined in the Interoperability Abstract
specification. Specifically, chained workflows, nested workflows and
parallel-synchronized workflows are supported. Wf-XML supports these
three types of interchanges both synchronously and asynchronously, and
allows messages to be exchanged individually or in batch operations.
Furthermore, this specification describes a language that is
independent of any particular implementation mechanism, such as
programming language, data transport mechanism, OS/hardware platform,
etc. However, because HTTP is expected to be the most prevalent data
transport mechanism used for interchanging Wf-XML messages, this
specification provides a description of how Wf-XML messages are to be
interchanged using this protocol.
This document
represents a specification for a language based on the eXtensible
Markup Language (XML) designed to model the data transfer requirements
set forth in the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC)’s
Interoperability Abstract specification. This language will be used as
the basis for concrete implementations of the functionality described
in the Interoperability Abstract supporting the WfMC’s
Interface 4, as defined by the Workflow Reference Model .
This version
(1.1) of the Wf-XML specification is fully backward compatible with its
previous version (1.0). For the sake of clarity, the term
“backward-compatible” is used here to mean that all
changes made to the specification in this version have been additive,
making it is a superset of version 1.0. For a more detailed explanation
of conformance implications, see section 6 Conformance.
Working
Group 4 - Workflow Interoperability
Working Group 6 - OMG
jointFlow submission.
Working Group 7 -
Conformance
Please ensure that you
have the most recent version of Adobe Acrobat when downloading these
documents, otherwise you may encounter font and other format errors.
- The
Workflow Reference Model: 10 Years On (570kb
PDF) February 2004 - David Hollingsworth, Chairman Emeritus,
WfMC Technical Committee. 2003 saw the 10th anniversary of the Workflow
Reference Model. This short paper reassesses the relevance of the Model
in the current context of Business Process Management. It discusses the
principles behind the Model, its strengths and weakness and examines
how it remains relevant to the industry today. It concludes by
introducing a number of considerations required to establish a
“BPM Reference Model” and discusses how the various
overlapping standards in this space may be categorised.
- ASAP/Wf-XML 2.0 Cookbook in Workflow
Handbook 2004 - Keith D. Swenson, Fujitsu Software
Corporation This paper is for those who have a process engine of some
sort, and wish to implement a Wf-XML interface. At first, this may seem
like a daunting task because the specifications are thick and formal.
But, as you will see, the basic capability can be implemented quickly
and easily. This paper will take you through the basics of what you
need to know in order to quickly set up a foundation and demonstrate
the most essential functions. The rest of the functionality can rest on
this foundation. The approach is to do a small part of the
implementation in order to understand how your particular process
engine will fit with the protocol.
- Does
Better Math Lead to Better Business Processes?
(November 2003) - Why Business Process Management and its predecessor,
workflow management, are not simply an extension to the theory of
pi-calculus and why pi-calculus is not the only answer to the BPM
debate. By Jon Pyke and Roger Whitehead
- Process
Management Standards Overview (April 2003) - Dr.
Michael zur Muehlen, Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management,
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
- BPM
Booming in Asia Pacific - By Linus Chow, HandySoft,
Pacific Rim
- The
Workflow Reference Model: 10 Years On (570 kb PDF)
- David Hollingsworth, Fujitsu Services, United Kingdom; Chair,
Technical Committee, WfMC. extracted from Workflow Handbook 2004.
- Workflow
and Process Management (25-page PDF extracted from
the Workflow Handbook 2003) by Carol Prior, Maestro BPE Pty Limited,
Australia
- An
Introduction to Workflow (20 pages PDF) by Charles
Plesums (Fellow, USA) extracted from the Workflow Handbook 2002
- Workflow:
An Introduction by Rob Allen, (Fellow, UK) -
Extracted from from the Workflow Handbook 2001 (24 pages PDF)
- The
Key to e-Commerce and to Process Scalability -
Article by Working Group 4 (PDF 12 pages, 73 kb)
- White
paper: Stand-alone and embedded workflow management systems.
8 pages, PDF format - Michael Zur Muehlen and Rob Allen. March 10, 2000
This paper distinguishes, at a high level, the differences between
workflow engines and simple trigger routines. Its main function is to
clarify the segmentation between autonomous and embedded workflow
deployment.
- White
Paper - Events - David Hollingsworth, ICL
A&TC. 11 pages, WinWord. April 99. This document contains a
proposed approach for classifying and handling the processing
associated with Events. It includes proposals for extensions to I/Fs 1,
2/3 and 4 (and potentially audit data which may be associated with
particular event occurrences). It builds upon the proposals originally
made by Steve Dworkin (May 1998) and earlier draft notes from Klaus
Dieter Kreplin, Dave Holllingsworth and Mike Anderson.
- Discussion
Paper - A Common Object Model - Document Number -
WfMC-TC-1023, by David Hollingsworth, ICL A&TC. March 99. 16
pages, WinWord. This document describes the current status of the WfMC
standardization program and identifies the current work on object
related standards which includes interface bindings for both OLE
Automation and OMG/IDL objects. The scope of the current Reference
Model is discussed, plus possible extensions to support a lower
granularity component architecture, internal to the workflow enactment
service, as a complement to existing work focused on the service
functions provided at the boundary of a workflow enactment service.
This is postulated on the basis of defining a common underlying object
model which can be mapped to the two important component architectures
emerging in the industry, the OMG object architecture and services and
the ActiveX/DCOM architecture.
- Workflow
Interoperability - Enabling E-Commerce April 1,
1999 WfMC White Paper 83kb pdf
- Workflow
and the Internet: Catalysts for Radical Change -
June 11, 1998. WfMC announces major White Paper.
- JSA
Interworkflow Definition - Feb 1997 (WfMC TC 2102)
98kb pdf
- Presentation
by Kanagawa Institute of Technology on Interworkflow Management System
(Tokyo, Dec 3, 1999) 193kb
- Reference
Model - The Workflow Reference Model
(WFMC-TC-1003, 19-Jan-95, 1.1) 211Kb pdf
- Terminology
& Glossary (WFMC-TC-1011, Feb-1999, 3.0) English:
198Kb pdf (Revised) French:
(of Version 2.0) : 68Kb pdf German:
198kb
- Workflow
Security Considerations - White Paper 54Kb pdf
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