Using time stream Petri nets over a service architecture for workflow modelling and enactment

Abstract

Timing requirements are important aspects in workflow modelling, analysis and enactment. In the last few years, though, many workflow languages and tools have been proposed but only few of them address timing issues during enactment. This paper argues that Time Stream Petri Nets (TSPNs), originally designed for multimedia/hypermedia modelling and analysis, are a well-suited formalism also for supporting the whole lifecycle of workflow processes with timing constraints. A novel approach to distributed enactment of workflow processes specified by TSPNs in the context of PN-Engine is proposed. PN-Engine is a decentralized enactment engine based on the Service Oriented Computing paradigm, that enables execution of workflow processes where the coordinated activities may involve cross-boundary organizations. The approach is illustrated by means of an example concerned with a wine-production process.