Batch Processing in Workflow: the Model and the Implementation

Batch service is a kind of specific stochastic service system which has broad application background. However, in practical, batch service exists commonly as one or several steps in a production or business process. Workflow management system (WfMS) is a powerful tool to support business processes modeling and execution. It has gained extensive attention from both industry and academic domain. But, it is a pity that the traditional WfMSs do not take the batch service into consideration, let alone provide the relevant supporting mechanism. This paper has done some in-depth research to introduce batch service to WfMS. It first discusses the batch service schedule model and proposes a workflow model to support it. Then, the problem and issues about improving the traditional WfMS to support batch service as well as the design and implementation details are analyzed deeply.