Two decades ago most companies were function oriented and the customer was very often seen as an obstacle. Because of their rigid structure the enterprises were very inflexible and could only react very slowly to new requirements from the markets and/or the customers. As the market places became more and more international the competition in domestic markets increased rapidly. To stay competitive companies changed their internal structure to more process oriented organizations which are much more flexible towards changes in requirements from the business environment. In order to manage the challenges of those rapid, continuous changes computer sciences had to develop also new information and communication technologies to align them with the needs of the new business environment. The development of workflow technologies during the early 1990s was an outstanding contribution to the new trend.

Workflow management systems range from e-mail based tools like calendar and flow charting tools to high sophisticated integrated development tools which can be used enterprise-wide or even across companies. In times of increased complexity such systems are helpful to adapt processes to new requirements, make processes more efficient, support the employees in their tasks in making them more easily to handle and contribute to fulfil the specific customer needs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on workflow management systems and its possible applications. To get a better understanding of workflow management the terminology, the history, the standard definitions, the benefits and the modelling of workflow will be introduced to the reader in the next chapter.

The terms workflow/workflow management systems, groupware and document management are very often mistaken and thus a few definitions and explanations are provided below to distinguish those terms.

The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), an organization of workflow vendors, users, analysts and universities (founded in 1993), defines a workflow as `the computerized facilitation or automation of a business process, in whole or part. Workflow systems are often associated with business process re-engineering. BPR is mainly concerned with the assessment, analysis, modelling, definition, and implementation of core business processes. Very often workflow technologies are the appropriate solution (separation of business procedure logic and IT operational support; flexible system to change).

A workflow management system is defined as 'a systems that completely defines, manages, and executes 'workflow' through the execution of software whose order of execution is driven by a computer representation by the workflow logic.

Workflow systems are convenient for structured and constant procedures. The complexity of the systems is high and the need for information defined. The solution is integrated in the process.

Groupware supports the uncoordinated work of groups or employees; hence, the focus lies on unstructured communication and decision processes. Typical components of groupware are joint-editing systems (sharing editing of texts), time coordination (sharing a calendar) and communication (conference systems like e-mail or video conference). In terms of Groupware the process can be different from case to case and the collaboration with people is not fixed and can differ depending on the case. The complexity of the system is low and the need for information not defined. The solution is open.

Document management is the administration of electronic documents. Normally document management supports scanning, forwarding, administration, archiving, storing and searching of information and documents. In some sources document management is considered as part of workflow management.

In the 1990s Workflow management systems were one of the most innovative applications in information technology. Workflow management systems help the computer specialists to automate business processes rather than supporting or automating a specific task.

Workflow management systems have their origin in different developments of automated business applications. Document image processing, office systems, and transaction processing have boosted the development of the workflow market. In the first run the emphasize lied on storing, retrieving and tracking. Later on workflow software was subsequently integrated in office systems where e-mails which became the core of office systems provided a communication facility for workflow systems to transfer messages and documents among users and to exchange files among component programmes.

There are three different classifications types of workflow systems: production, ad hoc, and administrative systems.

Production workflows are predefined and prioritized without negotiations of who will do what task. Thus they support high volumes. Additional workflows or tasks can be added to the overall process. The claim after a car accident has some basic steps which appear in nearly every claim (e.g. identifying the parties, ordering the police report, confirming policy coverage) and some additional tasks (e.g. handling bodily injury, settle property damage, arrange the repair of the car). Production workflows can be simple or very complex. They can be completely predefined or follow only a general procedure and additional steps may be added. The delivery channel is mostly dedicated. Production workflows provide control over the process and sustainable productivity.

Ad hoc workflows are characterized by negotiation and new definition for each workflow. They are very convenient and provide a control of the process. Ad hoc workflows are often built on an e-mail platform using e-mails to deliver the work. This type of workflow overlaps with groupware for example in a group design of a new product.

Administrative workflows are a cross between ad hoc and production workflows. The flow is pre-defined (e.g. approval of expense report) and the delivery is whether through e-mail or a custom delivery mechanism. This kind of workflow is widely used for routine administration for example for travel claims.

In order to provide a standard the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) defined the following reference model which specifies a framework for workflow systems where the characteristics, functions and interfaces are identified.

The defined standards exist on three levels. The first is the reference model itself which describes on how the standards fit together. The next level is the abstract specification which defines each of the function needed and what data is involved. The bindings are the third level of standardization which defines the details of how specifications are implemented with a set of tools, formats and protocols.

WfMC emphasized especially on the five APIs around the workflow engine. These APIs provide a standard means for the communication between the clients (including the other workflow components like process definition and monitoring tools) and the workflow engine.

1. Process definition: The first interface handles the procedures which are followed in implementing the workflow and the resources (people, systems, groups) which perform the work

2. Client interfaces: This is the way an application programme invokes workflow

3. Invoked applications: This interface invokes other applications e.g. document management systems, image systems, mail systems and legacy data systems

4. External workflow services: This interface handles the interoperability between interdependent workflow systems within a company or across multiple companies e.g. ordering a product from another organization (macroscopic processes) or picking an item through an external manual system or automated warehouse system

5. Administration and monitoring includes the administration of the history of each case and the monitoring of the total work performed.

Standards are very important as automation technology becomes more and more complex. It is vital that the workflow systems have an open architecture so that they can be implemented into the existing environment and are compatible with systems of other companies in order to cooperate on cross-company basis.

The graph below demonstrates a typical workflow example of an IT ordering process:

To describe a business process, operational and organisational structure, resources, objects, the layout and flow of the information and documents have to be defined. The organisational structure represents the hierarchy in a company. The operational structure describes causal relations between single activities for the fulfilment of a task. The focus lies in event and object oriented aspects. Every work step and activity has to be identified and described. The business process can be standardized through automation. The process flow is described whether graphical or through script language.

In order to implement a workflow system the following steps have to be undertaken depending on the product used:

1. Definition of activity types

2. Definition and description of the organisational structure including competences

3. Description of objects and equipment

4. Description of information and documents including their flow

5. Assignment of jobs, objects, information and resources

If the workflow system is defined an employee can initiate a process. The software coordinates the system users, resources and data, controls the process, forwards the task to involved employees in the correct order, checks if the respective employee can provide the requested task and performs so called default-actions (for example update of data) automatically.

Plesums puts the benefits into three categories:

1. Direct cost savings: this category involves the more efficient use of the staff or the reduction of the staff. In workflow management systems less training for the employees is necessary as they don't have to understand the whole process of the organization. These saving can be substantial but very often do not cover the cost of the system.

(3) Intangible benefits: These benefits can hardly be quantified. They include employee satisfaction, improved services, organizational options, security and privacy. With workflow systems the employees have been given the right environment to work as the systems picks the most important task first and therefore makes life of an employee easier. Furthermore the systems can be accessed only by an authorized person; this guarantees a better security of the data (on need to know basis).

Generally workflow management systems can contribute to intensifying customer relationships and optimizing the relationship with suppliers through innovative ways of communication. With modern technologies companies can achieve a competitive edge compared to their competitors and can maintain or even enlarge their market position.

H.-J. Bullinger, C. Altendorf, M.Petrovic: Markstudie Dokumenten- und Workflowsysteme, Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, 1998.

C. Plesums: Introduction to Workflow Management, Workflow Management Handbook, 2003.