Workflow Handbook 2005

By Layna Fischer

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970350988
• ISBN13: 9780970350985
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Layna Fischer
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An excellent & comprehensive collection of articles surveying the current state of workflow and bu

I was particularly glad to see Chris Lawrence's paper on 'Integrated Function and Workflow', as I have program-managed a number of business change initiatives based on the integrated process architecture he describes. I can certainly testify to its power to transform business operations. The paper is an extract from his book 'Make work make sense' (Future Managers 2005) which explains the architecture and its potential in much greater depth, and which is available from ergonology@iafrica.com. Another paper which caught my eye was Arnaud Bezancon's 'Workflow and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)', maybe because it supported my hunch that SOA and workflow are completely complementary and not rival approaches.

A Timely Book

A very timely book indeed: there are so many hypes floating around (BPM, SOA, BRs...) confusion is almost inevitable. The new handbook gives excellent accounts on major topics surrounding the world of processes by competent authors. Strengths and weeknesses on current approaches and related tools are given thus providing a helpful guide; just as an example: "Narrowing the Semantic Gap between Business Process Analysis and Business Process Execution" (by Khoshafian). This reviewer has also contributed to the book with "Workflow and Business Rules - A Common Approach", where we claim BRs should be combined with BPM using the latest software tools.

Definitive Guide to Workflow & Business Process Management

Another sterling contribution from WfMC. The 2005 edition is a very useful collection of practical papers including case studies. I used this book as a reference for my students.

Paul Harmon, Editor, Business Process Trends

The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) was founded in August of 1993. It is a non-profit, international organization of workflow vendors, users, analysts and university/research groups. The Coalition's stated mission is "to promote and develop the use of workflow through the establishment of standards for software terminology, interoperability and connectivity between workflow products." The WfMC currently consisting of some 300 members, worldwide. Each year, for the past several years, Layna Fischer, the general manager of the WfMC has edited a handbook that brings together the best articles on the current state of the workflow market. Each of these volumes consists of a section on the workflow market and new technologies, a section on workflow related standards work, and a directory of the membership of the WfMC. This volume follows that pattern. Jon Pyke, the Chair of the WfMC, kicks off the volume by providing a Foreword and surveys the development of the workflow market in 2004. He notes that in the previoius year there was quite a bit of conflict between the meaning of workflow and BPM and a proliferation of new standards. This past year, however, the field seems to have settled down quite a bit. There is still come disagreement over the proper use of BPM, but otherwise, the standards are in various committees and everyone seems willing to wait to decide which are needed. The WfMC, meantime, continues to develop and promote its various standards. The contents of the 2005 volume includes: * Foreword, Jon Pyke * Introduction, Layna Fischer Section 1 - The World of Workflow * Workflow in the World of BPM: Are They the Same? Charlie Plesums, WfMC Fellow, US * BPM -- Too Much BP, Not Enough of the M. Derek Miers, Enix Consulting, UK * Integrated Functino and Workflow - Chris Lawrence, Old Mutual, South Africa. * Business Activity Monitoring and Simulation. Joseph M DeFee, CACI, and Paul Harmon, Business Process Trends, US * Business Process Improvement Through Optimization of its Structural Poperties. Vladimir Modrak, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia * Enhancing and Extending ERP Performance with an Automated Workflow System. Robert J. Kearney, Image Integration Systems, Inc. US * Narrowing the Semantic Gap Between Business Process Analysis and Business Process Execution. Dr. Setrag Khoshafian, Pegasystems, Inc. US * Using SOA and Web Services to Improve Business Process Flow. Jachay B.Wheeler, Roberta Bortolotti, SDDM Technology, US * Workflow and Business Rules -- A Common Approach. Heinz Lienhard and Urs-Martin Kunzi, ivyTeam-SORECOGroup, Switzerland * State of BPM Adoption in Asia. Ken Loke, Bizmann System (S) Pte Ltd., and Dr. Pallab Saha, Institute of Systems Science, National University of SIngapore. Section 2 -- Workflow Standards * Business Process Metamodels and Services. Jean-Jacques Dubray, Attachmate, US * Workflow and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Arnaud Bezancon, Advantys, France. * A Compar

A comprehensive book

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges that workflow management systems face. The chapters' contents are easy to ready and understand. It should be noticed, that the book not only covers workflows, but also business processes and also Web services. I am currently adopting several chapters of this book for my lectures since it is well suited for MSc and BSc students.