[werkflow-user] musings

"Brian Topping" <[email protected]> Thu, 29 Jan 2004 02:39:05 -0500
Newsgroups gmane.comp.java.werkflow
Message-ID <[email protected]>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1">
<META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version =
6.0.5762.3">
<TITLE>musings</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">hi all,</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Werkflow project looks operational, but =
otherwise inactive.&nbsp; Is there a story there?&nbsp; Should I avoid =
it?</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">I'm looking at a workflow engine to be =
able to manage a large (several hundred maybe) number of concurrent =
workflows.&nbsp; A user needs to be able to log in and have the system =
give them an activity from an active case based on the roles that they =
are a part of.&nbsp; </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Question:&nbsp; Can Werkflow provide a =
list of all activities that are available across all cases for a given =
role?&nbsp; It seems pretty simple, but none of the examples really =
address anything this complex, and the interfaces aren't all clear =
yet.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">As our system evolves, I'd like to be =
able to track activity execution times to the database, then use that =
data to predictively choose which tasks need to be executed first by an =
available user in a role to minimize the number of business constraints =
that are violated because of poor scheduling (consider orders that have =
to be sent for next day delivery).&nbsp; If this were easy to answer, it =
would be done already, and I'm not looking for a how-to on this.&nbsp; =
But the question of whether the architecture of Werkflow can (or should) =
handle this is another question.&nbsp; </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">I like that Werkflow is very abstract =
with respect to persistence.&nbsp; jbpl is really heavily coupled to the =
database, it will be impossible to use without forking it as the first =
step.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">I also saw the attached list on one of =
the jbpl forum.&nbsp; Can someone check off the items that do and do not =
work?&nbsp; The seem to have all but about two of them.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">(Don't worry about replying if this =
project is on a ventilator and counting the days... :-)</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Thanks a bunch in advance,</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">-b</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">BASIC CONTROL FLOW:</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">1. Sequence</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">2. Parallel split </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">3. Synchronization</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">4. Exclusive choice</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">5. Simple merge</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">ADVANCED BRANCHING:</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">6. Multi-choice</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">7. Synchronizing merge</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">8. Multi-merge</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">9. Discriminator</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">STRUCTURAL:</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">10. Structured cycle</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">11. Arbitrary cycle</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">12. Implicit termination</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">13. Multiple instances without =
synchronization</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">14. Multiple instances with a priori =
design time knowledge</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">15. Multiple instances with a priori =
runtime knowledge</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">16. Multiple instances without a =
priori runtime knowledge</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">STATE BASED:</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">17. Deferred choice</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">18. Interleaved parallel =
routing</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">19. Milestone</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">CANCELLATION:</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">20. Cancel activity</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">21. Cancel case</FONT>
</P>

</BODY>
</HTML>