Workflow Management in Grid Era: from Process- Driven Paradigm to a Goal-Driven One

Abstract. As workflow technology evolves into the grid domain, workflow process becomes more and more complex, raising a great challenge both to workflow modeling and workflow execution. In response to the challenge, this paper puts forward a goal-driven workflow framework. The framework first proposes process pattern as an effective way for procedural knowledge representation and then deploys a pattern-based planning algorithm to (semi-) automatically generate workflow on the fly according to the goal specified by users and the running context. Such a goal-driven workflow management paradigm could not only enhance the flexibility and adaptability of workflow system but also ease the heavy burden of workflow definition