Modeling and Evaluation of Distributed Workflow Algorithms

Workflow management systems are gaining importance as an infrastructure for effectively managing business processes in several application domains. A workflow can typically be specified as a set of tasks, and coordinating relationships among these tasks. In an earlier work [1], Atluri et al. proposed an approach that can automatically redesign a workflow in such a way that it minimizes the number of communications and interference between sites. In this paper, we summarize the effectiveness of the proposed techniques (split-task and compensate-task) in reducing the inter-site communications and improving the concurrency within a workflow. Towards this end, we develop and evaluate several performance metrics. The results clearly indicate the efficacy of the split-task and the compensate-task approaches in achieving the desired objectives.