Connector Oriented Workflow System for the Support of Structured Ad Hoc Workflow

In large scale enterprises composed of more than several hundred departments, many workflows still remain in non-automated state which is a serious burden to the enterprises. Usually workflow of a large scale enterprise is in the mixed form of multiple types of workflow where ad hoc workflow is the major hurdle for the automation. While conventional workflow systems support well a certain type of workflow, it does not get along with mixed type of workflow. In this paper we classified ad hoc workflow into structured and inherently ad hoc workflow and proposed a workflow system equipped with connector facility to support structured ad hoc workflow such as decision approval process. The connector facility can be regarded as semi-workflow system to support structured ad hoc workflow effectively or it can be a subsidiary facility for a workflow system to enforce the support of the structured ad hoc workflow in the base workflow system. We are implementing it in Hanuri/TFlow, our distributed transactional workflow system and the details of the connector-oriented extensions to the system are described