Distributed workflow management system for electronic commerce

Abstract

We describe a new architecture and protocol that we have developed to meet the requirements of workflow systems that are used for electronic commerce systems among enterprises. We developed practical electronic commerce systems using XML-based workflow systems among enterprises. We found that the requirements are greatly different from traditional workflow systems in some points; such as process management, server communication protocol, history log management, data conversion, and external application calls. In this paper, we illustrate the new requirements and problems when EC systems are developed using traditional workflow architecture and protocols, then we propose our new architecture and protocol that provide solutions for these requirements and problems. In this architecture based on XML, servers have the server communication module and the external-call module. The server commutation module provides a way to make a batch request. The external-call module provides a reliable way to call business applications. We also presented a retrying algorithm that maintains consistency between a workflow engine and an external application. The logging server provides a stable and fast way to query logs by collecting events from workflow servers. Our new protocol is being proposed of WfMC (WorkFlow Management Coalition) as an extension of Wf-XML.