Workflow Topics

• term workflow
• transformation service
• physical transformation
• workflow patterns
• professional domains
• conceptual models
• systematic organization
• queuing systems
• service provision
• control purposes
• virtual representation
• information flows
• mass energy
• flow charts
• resource utilization
• workflows
• intents
• assembly line
• operations research
• adaptability

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Workflow, Workflow

Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work, segregated in workshare, work split or other types of ordering. For control purposes, workflow may be a view on real work under a chosen aspect, See e.g., ISO/TR 16044:2004, [2] thus serving as a virtual representation of actual work. The flow being described often refers to a document that is being transferred from one step to another.

More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activity enabled by a systematic organization of resources, defined roles and mass, energy and information flows, into a work process that can be documented and learned. See e.g., on workflow patterns [3] See e.g., workflow pattern analysis [4] Workflows are designed to achieve processing intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision, or information processing.

Workflows may be viewed as one primitive building block of organizations. The relationships among these concepts are described later in this entry.

Workflow (management) software aims to provide end users with an easier way to orchestrate or describe complex processing of data in a visual form, much like flow charts but without the need to understand computers or programming.

The term workflow is more commonly used in particular industries, such as printing, and professional domains, where it may have particular specialized meanings.

While the assembly line remains the most famous example of a workflow from this era, the early thinking around work was far more sophisticated than is commonly understood. The notion of flow was more than a sequential breakdown of processing. The common conceptual models of modern operations research, including flow shops, job shops, and queuing systems, Pinedo, 2001 can be found in early forms in early 20th century industry.

This era is thus identified with the simplest notions of workflow optimization: throughput and resource utilization.

The low cost and adaptability of information flows were seen as enabling workflows that were at once highly rational in their organization and highly flexible, adaptable and responsive. These insights unleashed a whole range of information technology at workflows in manufacturing, services and pure information work. Flexible manufacturing systems, just-in-time inventory management, and other highly agile and adaptable systems of workflow are products of this era.

Source: Wikipedia > Workflow