Functionality and Limitations of Current Workflow Management Systems

Workflow systems hold the promise of facilitating the everyday operation of many enterprises and work environments. As a result, many commercial workflow management systems have been developed. These systems, although useful, do not scale well, have limited fault-tolerance, and are inflexible in terms of interoperating with other workflow systems. In this paper, we discuss the limitations of contemporary workflow management systems, and then elaborate on various directions for research and potential future extensions to the design and modeling of workflow management systems