Document configuration control processes captured in a workflow

✍ Scribed by Hyerim Bae; Wonchang Hu; Woo Sik Yoo; Byeong Kwon Kwak; Yeongho Kim; Yong-Tae Park

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 514 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0166-3615
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compind.2003.07.001

✦ Synopsis

This paper proposes a new method of document version management for workflow management systems (WfMSs). A WfMS is considered an essential element for automation of complex business processes involving many companies, particularly for those in an e-business environment. A core element of such business processes is the documents that flow through the processes. In fact, it can be thought that the execution of a business process is often tantamount to working out a set of formed documents. Therefore, it is very important to have a systematic management of document changes along with the process execution. We propose a version model that can take into account the structure of the underlying process over existing version management techniques. In this model, the components of a document and a process are associated with each other, and this becomes the basis for automatic creation of document versions and automatic configuration of relevant documents for a certain user at a certain stage of the process. A prototype system is implemented, and the potential advantages of the approach are discussed.