ABSTRACT
Dynamic change is a large and pervasive unsolved problem which surfaces within office systems as well as within software engineering, manufacturing, and numerous other domains. Procedural changes, performed in an ad hoc manner, can cause inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and catastrophic breakdowns within offices. This paper is concerned with dynamic change to procedures in the context of workflow systems. How can we make workflow systems more flexible and open? We believe that part of the answer lies in the study and solution of the dynamic change problem. In this paper, we use a Petri net formalism to analyze structural change within office procedures. As an example, we define a class of change called “synthetic cut-over change”, and apply our formalism to prove that this class maintains correctness when downsizing occurs.
- 1.Bender, E. Workgroup Computing, PC World Magazine, January 1995 issue, pp.225-244.]]Google Scholar
- 2.Bair, J. (Co-editor), Office Automation Systems: Why Some Work and Others Fail, Stanford University Conference Proceedings, Stanford University, Center for Information Technology, 1981.]]Google Scholar
- 3.Bair, J. Contrasting Wovkfiow Models, Proceedings of GroupWare'93, pp. 229-237.]]Google Scholar
- 4.Bracchi, G. and Pernici, B. The Design Requirerice Information Systems, 2, 2, April, 1984, pp. 151- 170.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 5.Bull Corporation, FlowPath Functional Specification, Bull S. A., Paris, France, September, 1992.]]Google Scholar
- 6.Chang, S.K. and Chan W.L. Transformation and Verification of Ojfice Procedures, IEEE Transactions on O~ce Information Systems, Vol. 6, No 2, 1988.]]Google Scholar
- 7.Croft, W. B. and Lefkowitz, L. S. Task Support in an Office System, ACM Trans. O~ce Information Sys 2, 3, July, 1984, pp. 197-212.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 8.Ellis, C., Keddara, K., Rozenberg, G., The Modeling of Dynamic Change Within Workfiow Systems, to apper as a technical report.]]Google Scholar
- 9.Fischer, L. and White, T. (eds) New Tools for New Times: The Workfiow Paradigm by Fischer, L. and White, T. (eds) Future Strategies Inc, Alameda, CA. 1994.]]Google Scholar
- 10.Hirschheim, R. A. Office Automation: A Social and Organizational Perspective, John Wiley and Sons, 1985.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 11.Keddara, K., Ellis, C., Rozenberg, G., The Modeling of Dynamic Change Within Workfiow Systems, to apper as a technical report.]]Google Scholar
- 12.Osterweil, L., Automated Support for the Enactment of Rigorously Described Software Processes, Proceeding of the Third International Process Programming Workshop, 1988, pp.122-125. IEEE Computer Society Press.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 13.Reisig W., Petri Nets: An Introduction. EATCS Monographs on Theoretical Computer Science, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg (1985).]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 14.Robinson, M. Design for Unanticipated Use ..., Proceedings of the Third European Conference on CSCW-ECSCW'93, edited by Simone, C. et al., Kluwer Academic Publisher, Sept. 1993.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 15.Suchman, L. A. Office Procedure as Practical Action: Models of Work and System Design, ACM Transactions on Office information Systems, 1, 4, October, 1983, pp. 320-328.]] Google ScholarDigital Library
- 16.Vernadat,F., Leva, A.D., Giolito, P. Organization and Information System Design of Manufacturing Environments: the new M* Approach, Computer- Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 1, No 2, May 1988.]]Google Scholar
- 17.Wainer, J. and Ellis, C. A. Goal Based Models of Collaboration, Collaborative Computing Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 1994.]]Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Dynamic change within workflow systems
Recommendations
Dynamic workflow change in PDM systems
Current manufacturing industry requires product data management (PDM) for efficient product development and production. As an important part of effective PDM solutions, workflow management facilitates creating and executing workflow so as to streamline ...
Comments