Paper Info
Title
Untangling Unstructured Cyclic Flows - A Solution Based on Continuations
Abstract
We present a novel transformation method that allows us to map unstructured cyclic business process models to functionally equivalent workflow specifications that support structured cycles only. Our solution is based on a continuation semantics, which we developed for the graphical representation of a process model. By using a rule-based transformation method originally developed in compiler theory, we can untangle the unstructured flow while solving a set of abstract continuation equations. The generated workflow code can be optimized by controlling the order in which the transformation rules are applied. We then present an implementation of the transformation method that directly manipulates an object-oriented model of the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services BPEL4WS. The implementation maps abstract continuation equations to the BPEL4WS control-flow graph. The transformation rules manipulate the links in the graph such that all cycles are removed and replaced by equivalent structured activities. A byproduct of this work is that, if a continuation semantics is adopted for BPEL4WS, its restriction to acyclic links can be dropped.
Year
DOI
Venue
2004
10.1007/978-3-540-30468-5_10
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Field
DocType
Volume
Business process,Computer science,Continuation,Theoretical computer science,Compiler construction,Business Process Execution Language,Business process modeling,Workflow,Semantics,Class diagram
Conference
3290
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0302-9743
26
2.41
References 
Authors
8
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jana Koehler194478.34
Rainer Hauser218517.35