Workflow Description Languages

A workflow language formalism is a formalism expressing the causal/temporal dependencies among a number of tasks to execute. A workflow language is a particular XML notation representing the inter-task dependencies. A formalism can underpin different languages.

Workflow languages (scientific and industrial)

• AGWL
• BPEL4WS
• BPML
• BPMN
• DGL
• DPML Discovery Process Markup Language
• GJobDL
• GSFL
• GFDL (Grid Flow Description Language)
• GWorkflowDL (Grid Workflow Description Language)
• MoML
• SWFL
• WSCL
• WSCI (Web Service Choreography Interface)
• WSFL
• WSL (Workflow Specification Language of the C3Grid project)
• XLANG
• YAWL
• SCUFL/XScufl
• WPDL (Workflow Process Definition Language)
• PIF (Process Interchange Framework)
• PSL (Process Specification Language)
• OWL-S
• XPDL
• xWFL

Workflow languages formalisms

• Petri net
• UML activity diagram
• BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation)
• DAG
• IPO (Input-Process-Output)
• GPSG (Generalized Process Structure)
• Workflow Patterns
• Pi Calculus
• Finite-State Machine
• Gamma-calculus (Chemical workflow enactment)

Mapping abstract onto concrete workflows

• CWG (Concrete Workflow Generator)
• ACWG (Abstract and Concrete Workflow Generator)
• Grid Job Handler
• GWES (Grid Workflow Execution Service)

Compatibility and Conversion of different Grid workflow description languages

The CoreGRID project established a research group with the objective of making a joint survey about compatibility and conversion (mapping) issues between commonly available workflow description languages. Further information is aviable at the snip Compatibility and Conversion.

Links

• A Survey on Grid Workflows by Gregor von Laszewski
• http://www.gridblog.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_gridblog_archive.html
• http://dps.uibk.ac.at/index.pl/grid
• MyGrid Workflow Wiki
• Scientific Workflows Survey
• GGF Workflow Management Research Group
• DFG-Projekt Adaptive Workflow Managment in Uni-Leipzig
• Workflow patterns
• http://www.nesc.ac.uk/action/esi/contribution.cfm?Title=303
• WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition)
• http://grommit.lrdc.pitt.edu/fiswidgets/scientific_workflows.html
• http://www.workflow-research.de/Tutorials/AMCIS2004/
• http://www.ebpml.org/status.htm

References

• Workflow Management - State of the Art vs. State of the Practice
• Grid Workflow
• The Application of Petri Nets to Workflow Managament
• Mapping Abstract Complex Workflows onto Grid Environments
• Grid Workflow: A Flexible Failure Handling Framework for the Grid (broken link)
• Workflow Terminology
• Web services composition standards evaluation
• Workflow Tutorial by O.F. Rana ppt (9MB), pdf (9MB)
• http://ats.nist.gov/psl/xml/process-descriptions.html