Distributed Database Support for Data-Intensive Work ow Applications

Work ows deal with the automation of business processes in which documents, data and tasks are transferred among participant roles according to a de ned set of rules to achieve a common goal. Workow management systems (WFMS) have mainly focused on implementing the control ow, paying few attention to the data ow. However, data-intensive work ow applications require advanced data handling capabilities, typical of a DBMS, in order to be e ciently supported by the WFMS. In this paper we propose a data replication model, called DOT (Dynamic Ownership Transition), to realize the integration between work ow and database technology to support data-intensive workow applications. DOT is derived from Distributed DBMS (DDBMS) replication models and allows only one role at a time to have the ownership of data. An automatic mechanism for the dynamic update of the ownership is provided, for a exible data ow management in enterprise environment. The resulting system o ers the functionalities of a WFMS powered by a data handling mechanism typical of Distributed DBMSs. The proposed solution has been implemented in a prototype system integrating ActionWork ow (Action Technology Inc.) WFMS and Microsoft SQL Server.