Commercial Workflow Systems Research Articles

Personal Authentication System Based Iris Recognition withDigital Signature Technology

Authentication based on biometrics isused to prevent physical access to high-security institutions. Due to the rapid rise of information system technologies, Biometrics is now being used in applications for accessing databases and commercial workflowsystems. These applications need to implement measures to counter security threats. Many developers are exploring and developing novel authentication techniques to prevent these attacks. However, the most challenging problem is keeping biometric data while maintaining the functional performance ofidentity verification systems. This paper presents a biometrics-based personal authentication system combining a smart card, a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and iris verification technologies. Raspberry Pi 4 Model B+ is the core of hardware componentswith an IR Camera. Following that idea, we designed an optimal image processing algorithm in OpenCV/ Python, Keras, and sci-kit learn libraries for feature extraction and recognition chosen for application development in this project. The implemented systemgives an accuracy of (97% and 100%) for the left and right (NTU) iris datasets, respectively, after training. Later, the person verification based on the iris feature is performed to verify the claimed identity and examine the system authentication. Thetime of essential generation, Signature, and Verification is 5.17sec,0.288, and 0.056 for the NTU iris dataset. This work offers a realistic architecture to implement identity-based cryptography with biometrics using the RSA algorithm.

Personal Authentication System Based on Iris Recognition and Digital Signature Technology

Authentication based on biometrics is being used to prevent physical access to high-security institutions. Recently, due to the rapid rise of information system technologies, biometrics is now being used in applications to access databases and commercial workflow systems. These applications need to implement measures to counter security threats. Many developers are exploring and developing novel authentication techniques to prevent these attacks. However, the most challenging problem is how to keep biometric data while maintaining the functional performance of identity verification systems. This paper presents a biometrics-based personal authentication system in which a smart card, a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and iris verification technologies are combined. Raspberry Pi 4 Model B+ is used as the core of hardware components with an IR Camera. Following that idea, we designed an optimal image processing algorithm in OpenCV, Python, Keras, and sci-kit learn libraries for feature extraction and recognition is chosen for application development in this project. After training, the implemented system gives an accuracy of (97% and 100%) for the left and right (NTU) iris datasets. Later, the person verification based on the iris feature is performed to verify the claimed identity and examine the system authentication. For the NTU iris dataset, the time of key generation, Signature, and Verification is 5.17sec,0.288, and 0.056, respectively. This work offers the realistic architecture to implement identity-based cryptography with biometrics using the Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) algorithm.

A semantic approach to the discovery of workflow activity patterns in event logs

Workflow activity patterns represent a set of recurrent behaviours that can be found in a wide range of business processes. In this paper we address the problem of determining the presence of these patterns in process models. This is usually done manually by the analyst, who inspects the model and interprets its elements in terms of the semantics of those patterns. Here, we present an approach to perform this discovery based on the event log created during process execution. The approach makes use of an ontology and the semantic annotation of the event log in order to discover the patterns automatically by means of semantic reasoning. We illustrate the application of the proposed approach in a case study involving a purchase process implemented in a commercial workflow system.

ITasks

In this paper we introduce the iTask system: a set of combinators to specify work flows in a pure functional language at a very high level of abstraction. Work flow systems are automated systems in which tasks are coordinated that have to be executed by humans and computers. The combinators that we propose support work flow patterns commonly found in commercial work flow systems. Compared with most of these commercial systems, the iTask system offers several advantages: tasks are statically typed, tasks can be higher order, the combinators are fully compositional, dynamic and recursive work flows can be specified, and last but not least, the specification is used to generate an executable web-based multi-user work flow application. With the iTask system, useful work flows can be defined which cannot be expressed in other systems: work can be interrupted and subsequently directed to other workers for further processing. The implementation is special as well. It is based on the Clean iData toolkit which makes it possible to create fully dynamic, interactive, thin client web applications. Thanks to the generic programming techniques used in the iData toolkit, the programming effort is reduced significantly: state handling, form rendering, user interaction, and storage management is handled automatically. The iTask system allows a task to be regarded as a special kind of persistent redex being reduced by the application user via task completion. The combinators control the order in which these redexes are made available to the application user. The system rewrites the persistent task redexes in a similar way as functions are rewritten in lazy functional languages.

The role of collaborative support to promote participation and commitment in software development teams

AbstractThis work discusses the use of collaborative technology as an element for extending software process culture within development teams. This discussion starts with the idea that collaboration support comprises an important element for software process improvement (SPI) and an agent for process learning. We argue that improving awareness information about work processes and about the collaboration intrinsic to it may help software development teams to better accept the idea of defining, standardizing and continuously improving their work. Our approach relies on the use of workflow systems for software process support. We have built an environment—PIEnvironment—by extending a commercial workflow system with awareness information mechanisms and participation channels. Through case studies, we have evaluated its use for the enactment of software process activities. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Enriched workflow modelling and Stochastic Branch-and-Bound

Workflow systems provide means and techniques for modelling, designing, performing and controlling repetitive (business) processes. The quality of commercial workflow systems is usually determined to a large extent by their versatility and multi-purpose application. One of the current trends in improving workflow systems lies in enriching modelling methods and techniques in order to enlarge design alternatives. The need for such advanced methods is particularly apparent in those fields in which the process duration can be determined only vaguely, but whose completion schedules are at the same time strictly enforced by a highly competitive market by means of fines and penalties. The risk of an overrun has to be weighed against the expected costs and benefits of certain measures reducing turn-around time and their combinations. Because they can help to avoid such penalties—or, at least, keep any potential losses low by identifying critical subprocesses and evaluate appropriate measures—modelling and evaluation techniques are becoming essential features of workflow systems. Methodologically, we use Stochastic Branch-and-Bound as a technique for finding “optimal” bundles of measures. A numerical study shows the benefits of this meta-approach by means of five stepwise-developed decision scenarios requiring rich modelling. Petri nets as a modelling tool and Stochastic Branch-and-Bound as an optimization technique determine for multi-mode resource constrained workflows of varying complexity an optimal workforce strategy with respect to the number of workers and their qualification.

A case-based reasoning framework for workflow model management

In order to support efficient workflow design, recent commercial workflow systems are providing templates of common business processes. These templates, called cases, can be modified individually or collectively into a new workflow to meet the business specification. However, little research has been done on how to manage workflow models, including issues such as model storage, model retrieval, model reuse and assembly. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to support workflow modeling and design by adapting workflow cases from a repository of process models. Our approach to workflow model management is based on a structured workflow lifecycle and leverages recent advances in model management and case-based reasoning techniques. Our contributions include a conceptual model of workflow cases, a similarity flooding algorithm for workflow case retrieval, and a domain-independent AI planning approach to workflow case composition. We illustrate the workflow model management framework with a prototype system called Case-Oriented Design Assistant for Workflow Modeling (CODAW).

A case-based reasoning framework for workflow model management

In order to support efficient workflow design, recent commercial workflow systems are providing templates of common business processes. These templates, called cases, can be modified individually or collectively into a new workflow to meet the business specification. However, little research has been done on how to manage workflow models, including issues such as model storage, model retrieval, model reuse and assembly. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to support workflow modeling and design by adapting workflow cases from a repository of process models. Our approach to workflow model management is based on a structured workflow lifecycle and leverages recent advances in model management and case-based reasoning techniques. Our contributions include a conceptual model of workflow cases, a similarity flooding algorithm for workflow case retrieval, and a domain-independent AI planning approach to workflow case composition. We illustrate the workflow model management framework with a prototype system called Case-Oriented Design Assistant for Workflow Modeling (CODAW).

Mending the Lag between Commercial Needs and Research Prototypes: A Logic-Based Workflow Verification Approach

The increasing complexity of business processes in recent years has heightened the need for workflow verification tools. However, there is a significant lag between current commercial needs and research prototypes. Our investigation indicates that existing workflow verification tools depend largely on the Petri net formalism, which is more complex than the modeling formalisms in commercial workflow systems. This makes it difficult to apply those workflow verification tools to commercial workflow systems. This lag between commerce and research motivated our study in developing an alternative approach to workflow verification. In this paper, we propose a logic-based verification method that is easier to implement in commercial workflow systems than Petri-net-based verification methods. We further demonstrate that our logic-based workflow verification approach is simple, yet powerful enough to handle complex, including cyclic, workflow models.

Enhancing the fault tolerance of workflow management systems

Today's commercial workflow systems, although useful, do not scale well, have limited fault tolerance, and don't interoperate well with other workflow systems. The authors discuss current research directions and potential future extensions that might enable workflow services to meet the needs of mission-critical applications.

Managing process and service fusion in virtual enterprises

Virtual Enterprises (VEs) are businesses providing services and products that rely on the resources of multiple enterprises. VEs can achieve their business objectives only through effective collaboration between the autonomous enterprises that comprise them. In this paper we advocate the position that effective multi-enterprise collaboration can be achieved by integrating the business processes of the participant enterprises, and by managing the resulting multi-enterprise (business) processes. A key requirement for this is developing multi-enterprise processes that explicitly capture and manage the functional and contractual relationships between the enterprises in a VE. In particular, this includes the inter-enterprise services each enterprise in a VE provides to others as needed to realize multi-enterprise processes. Current process management technology does not deal with the heterogeneity and autonomy of the processes that need to be integrated in a multi-enterprise process. In addition, existing solutions that combine services and multi-enterprise processes either lead to specification explosion or disallow conversations between process activities and services. The Collaboration Management Infrastructure (CMI) addresses these problems by extending an advanced workflow model with a comprehensive set of service management primitives. These include service interfaces, service activities, primitives for coordinating service activities, service wrapper processes, as well as service quality and contracts. A CMI system that supports these has been developed by integrating existing software components, such as a commercial workflow system, with several prototype engines and tools that support the new primitives for multi-enterprise process and service management. To illustrate how CMI supports these, we use multi-enterprise process and service examples from the telecommunications industry.

Workflow = OIS? A report of a workshop at the CSCW '94 conference

The idea for this workshop was born during the 1993 Conference on Organizational Computing Systems (COOCS). Researchers and developers from academia and industry who attended the conference were sharing their observations and concerns on the absence of a connection between earlier work presented at COOCS and the current presentations of workflow systems. Historically, COOCS has focused on office automation and office information systems (OIS). During the 1980s numerous OIS were presented at COOCS (e.g., [4, 6, 7, 19]). These systems acknowledge over time that the office is a distributed place composed of autonomous units and that activities, tasks, or procedures must be supported in conjunction with the accompanying office objects, such as documents in paper or electronic format. Workflow systems started appearing in the 1990s. These systems were commercially introduced as a new product category. Commercial workflow systems take advantage of the growing base of installed personal computers or workstations, Local Area Networks, and appealing graphical user interfaces. Many participants at COOCS'93 had a sense that workflow and OIS were dealing with similar issues using different labels. Both types of systems were concerned with the support of dynamic aspects of knowledge work in organizations. Both types of systems have to address issues such as • the representation of activities • the definition of roles • the capture of time and deadlines • the integration of single user tools • the coordination of work results • the structure of the organization This list is probably not complete. Yet the shared issues between workflow systems and office information systems are significant. To better understand the similarities and differences between workflow and OIS, to share results and experiences in developing these systems, and to foster potential collaboration between the two communities, Carson Woo and Dirk Mahling proposed this workshop at the 1994 Computer Supported Cooperative Work conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Researchers and developers were invited to submit position papers concerning their view of the relation between workflow and OIS. More than twenty statements were selected. The workshop was conducted on October 22nd, 1994. The workshop consisted of a few presentations followed by breakout discussions. The presentations were targeted to bring out important issues related to the workshop, and to facilitate the focus of discussions during the breakout. The workshop begins by looking into the current organizational needs and their implication to automation (Section 2). This is to remind ourselves on why we are developing workflow and OIS systems. The problems with existing workflow systems (Section 3) and how OIS influences the development of workflow systems (Section 4) were then discussed. Next, some enabling technologies for workflow and OIS were explored (Section 5). Participants were then broken up into four groups to discuss various issues including: • A metrics to evaluate workflow technology (Section 6.1). • Differences between workflow and OIS (Section 6.2). • Issues related to the deployment of workflow in organizations (Section 6.3). • Should workflow be considered part of CSCW (Section 6.4). This report summarizes the above presentations and discussions.