Comparing workflow specification languages: A matter of views

Serge Abiteboul (1) , Pierre Bourhis (2) , Victor Vianu (3)

1 LSV - Laboratoire Spécification et Vérification [Cachan]
2 DAHU - Verification in databases
3 CSE - UC San Diego - Department of Computer Science and Engineering [Univ California San Diego]

We address the problem of comparing the expressiveness of workflow specification formalisms using a notion of view of a workflow. Views allow to compare widely different workflow systems by mapping them to a common representation capturing the observables relevant to the comparison. Using this framework, we compare the expressiveness of several workflow specification mechanisms, including automata, temporal constraints, and pre-and post-conditions, with XML and relational databases as underlying data models. One surprising result shows the considerable power of static constraints to simulate apparently much richer workflow control mechanisms.

Mots clés: Workflow Management

Domaines: Base de données [cs.DB]

Serge Abiteboul, Pierre Bourhis, Victor Vianu. Comparing workflow specification languages: A matter of views. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 2012, 37 (10), ⟨10.1145/2188349.2188352⟩. ⟨hal-00766210⟩