Flexible Workflow Enforcement with Global Method Constraints

If workflow models are to be used to manage information systems, it must be possible to adapt an initial plan to changing requirements. If workers are given these possibilities, it is difficult to enforce an initial plan. As a first step we therefore proposed a concept to enforce important parts of a workflow specification by introducing refinement degrees which restrict the workers's freedom to perform work steps orther than those specified in the corresponding method. This way of configuring workflow models to enable adaptability applies only to specific tasks and methods. Global constraints for methods within a business process, such as a global minimization of the schedule, cannot be specified by these means. To solve this problem we are designing a language that allows the set of methods that can be chosen by a worker to be restricted. In addition to time aspects, the quality and cost of a method can also be influenced using this language.