Wide Area Workflow Management

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Scenario.- 1.2 What is Wide Area Workflow Management (WAWM)?.- 1.3 Aims of this book.- 1.4 Structure.- 2 Case studies.- 2.1 Case study 1: sales activities in an international brewery.- 2.2 Case study 2: collaboration between a large lighting manufacturer and suppliers.- 3 Foundations of computer-aided interaction among widely dispersed office workers.- 3.1 Developments in the application of computer systems.- 3.2 Decentralized collaboration.- 3.3 Process orientation in office work within and between organizations.- 3.4 Technological fundaments.- 4 Workflow management related approaches under aspects of distribution.- 4.1 Classification of workflow management systems.- 4.2 Conceptual approaches.- 4.3 Commercial systems.- 4.4 Discussion of the approaches presented in respect to Wide Area Workflow Management.- 5 Concepts for Wide Area Workflow Management (WAWM).- 5.1 Fundamentals.- 5.2 General characteristics and requirements.- 5.3 Interaction and synchronization of distributed workflow parts.- 5.4 Coordination of WFMSs' interaction - three different mechanisms.- 5.5 Aspects of flexibility.- 5.6 Architectural concepts.- 5.7 Models for implementation and continuous improvement of WAWM.- 6 Wide Area GroupFlow System (WAGS).- 6.1 Architecture.- 6.2 Components.- 6.3 Further developments.- 7 Wide Area Workflow Management in practical application.- 7.1 Case study 1: sales activities in an international brewery.- 7.2 Case study 2: collaboration between a large lighting manufacturer and suppliers.- 8 Conclusions and outlook.- 9 Summary.- 10 References.- 10.1 Literature references.- 10.2 Online references.- 11 Indices.- 11.1 Keyword index.- 11.2 Abbreviations.- 11.3 Figures.- 11.4 Tables.- About the author and his team.