Make your work flow! Meet the Wonder! The WFMS for a distributed world!

What is Wonder

Wonder stands for Workflow on Distributed Environment. It's a workflow management system architecture provides a highly distributed framework to support Workflow Execution in large-scale environments. It uses the mobile objects paradigm, together with the communication facilities and resources of the CORBA framework. This project was part of a MS Thesis project of Roberto Silveira Silva FIlho at the IC - Institute of Computing at UNICAMP - University of Campinas - SP - Brazil. The dissertation was defended on July 2000. It is available here.

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Wonder Architecture

The main components and issues of the Wonder architecture are described in the paper published in the 4th International Symposium on Autonomous Decentralized Systems (ISADS '99), March 20-23, 1999 - Tokyo, JAPAN - CORBA Based Architecture for Large Scale Workflow.

It is also summarized in the poster (in portuguese) presented in the 17th Brazilian Symposium on Computer Networks - (SBRC'99) -Bahia - Brazil - May 25-28, 1999. - Wonder: A Distributed Architecture for Large Scale Workflow Using CORBA.

An updated version of the architecture, with some implementation issues is in the paper, published in the IEEE/IEICE Special Issue on Autonomous Decentralized Systems of the IEICE Transactions on Communications magazine, Japan, June 2000.

The tests and the final implementation version is described in the Master Thesis (in portuguese): Uma Arquitetura Baseada em CORBA para Workflow de Larga Escala.

A six-page paper with a brief description of the architecture and the test results of the architecture is also available. Submitted to the CTD 2001 - XIV Tesis and Discertation Workshop of the SBC - Brazilian Computer Society.

The main components of the Wonder architecture are summarized below:

• Activity Manager - Mobile agent that conveys all case data to the actor's host. It implements the workflow engine which allows its authonomous migration. It also provides the data and case mobility of the architecture.
• Wrapper - This component is used by the Activity Manager to invoke external applications as word processors, CAD tools, spreadsheets, and so on. It executes and manages these Invoked applications during a Task execution.
• Synchronization Activity - Implemets the synchronization points (AND and OR joins), udsed do synchronize and merge data from workflow branches.
• Case Coordinator - Corodinates and manages a case instance executuion. Tracks the execution of the AcrivityManager(s) agents of a particular workflow case. It provides fault tolerance and management facilities to the architecture.
• Process Coordinator - Creates and manages Case Coordinators for each case instance. Copes with scalability and performs the case coordinator creation and failure recovery procedure.
• Role Coordinator - Dynamically allocates actors to perform activities. Helps in the ActivityManager migration and in the dynamic binding of actors and resources in the system.
• Backup Server - Stores data used during the activities execution. Used for improved fault tolerance. It copies critical data from unreliable desktops to more stable machines. Also provides data to fault recovery procedures.
• History Server - Stores the execution history of each finalized case. Provides a database front-end used by the role coordinators to dynamically alocate users based on previou execution history.
• Task List - User takslit surrogate object. Implements the communication between an actor and the WONDER system.

The object persistence is implemented by the LOA - Local Object Activator - A "hook" in the orbixd daemon, a Locator that executes in each host of the system. The objects are stored in the Object Repository, a special local disk area.

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Chronogram

Project Chronogram: From March 1998 to February 2000
 

	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
Elaboration	1	1	1
Re-Elaboration			2	2	2
CORBA  Mapping						3	3	3	3	3
Specification/ Implementation										4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Performance Testing/Comping																			5	5	5	5
Finalization/ Thesis Writing																						6	6	6

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Project Status

A prototype of the architecture with the following components were implemented for my MS thesis. Its architecture, implementation and tests are described in my dissertation (in portuguese).

• LOA: The Local Object Activator that implements the persistence of the Wonder Objects;
• LockManager: A concurrency monitor for the LOA: Reading during object serialization must be avoided. It is not used anymore by the system.
• Process Interpreter: The parser that reads a PLISP plan and interprets. It is used by the Coordinators and The Activities. The Process Definition (Workflow) is described in PLISP (Process Lisp) a Lisp like language specially developed for this project;
• Activity Manager: The Object that implements the migration and execution of activities. An optimized data migration process was implemented. It transfers not necessary data as links that are further converted to files (fetched from the previous owner) when needed.
• Wrapper: The Object that manages the execution of an invoked application and notifies the ActivityManager when it is finished.
• Synchronization Activity: Object that implements and-joins/or-joins.
• Process Coordinator: Creates and manages the cases.
• Case Coordinator: Manages a case instance and its activities. Performs the garbage collection by the end of the case, removing the object state and data from the system hosts.
• Role Coordinator: Implements a "yellow page" service of uses and roles.
• Task List: The object that stores information and activities that the user is executing.

The migration mechanism is completely functional, including the data/links transfer optimization police.
A language for definition and creation of a test environment was also implemented. It is interpreted by the Wstarter application that creates the initial system object configuration.

The system was tested using concurrent processes in centralized and distributed scenarios. The tests can be found at the Performance Tests page.

Click here to see the list of the most common errors (in Portuguese) and problems related to OrbixWeb usage in WONDER implementation.

Future Work and Extensions:

• Integrate the Graphic interface for visualization and monitoring (in parallel with the other topics) with the Wonder architecture.
• Implement the Backup Server interface;
• Implement the History Server interface;
• Implement the GatewayActivity component.
• Implement and define charge balance polices for case and process coordinators. Use mobility with these servers.

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Designers and Developers

The Wonder was conceived by the joint work of Roberto Silveira Silva Filho, Jacques Wainer, Edmundo R. M. Madeira (University of Campinas - UNICAMP) and Clarence (Skip) Ellis (University of Colorado in Boulder).

It was implemented and is maintained by Roberto Silveira as a MS project at the Computer Science Institute at UNICAMP - University of Campinas.

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Related Links

Workflow Related Links

1. Projects, Consortioums and Sites realted to Workflow
2. IBM Exotica Project
3. Workflow Management Coallition
4. Object Management Group
5. OMG Workflow RFP
6. IBM Research
7. WORP : A repository and resource for researchers and practitioners in WORKflow and Process management in Information Systems
8. Large-Scale Distributed Information Systems (Univ. Georgia)
9. Workflow Software
10. Micro Workflow
11. GOOGLE Workflow Research
12. WIDE - Workflow on Intelligent Distributed database Environment
13. WONDER Architecture at NEC Search Index
14. WONDER Related Publications at NET Search Index
15. Simple Workflow Access Protocol, an option to IIOP in jFlow OMG Specification
16. Workflow Security Considerations
17. Workflow And Reengineering International Association

Workflow Articles

1. Workflow Applications
2. A User's Guide to E-mail & Workflow Applications
3. The Workflow Automation Corporation - Workflow White Paper
4. Workflow-based applications
5. W4 - Typical Workflow Applications
6. Business Objects and Business Rules
7. Abstracts of talks by C. Mohan

Other Workflow Research Projects (Mainly on Large-scale workflow)

1. Endevours
2. Wide
3. Mentor
4. Worp
5. Dartflow - Workflow using mobile agents
6. MQSeries: IBM Message Oriented Middleware

(Mobile) Agents Related Links

1. UMBC Agent Web
2. Project Messagers - University of California - Irvine
3. IBM Aglets
4. ObjectSpace Voyager Mobile Object Framework
5. MIT Media Lab: Software Agents Group
6. Distributed Objects & Components: Mobile Agents (Thowsands of Links !!!)
7. Links on Objects & Components (Thowsands of Links !!!)
8. Mobile Agents Design Patterns and Frameworks (Distributed Systems Group , Technical University of Vienna)
9. Agent or a Program? (Mobile Agents Taxionomy)
10. Mobile Code Bibliography (Hundreats of Links on mobile code)
11. Massive Distributed Systems (IBM Research)
12. IEEE Distributed Systems Online

CSCW and Groupware Related Links

1. CSCW&Groupware Index
2. CSCW Related Links, topics and articles
3. The unOfficial Yellow Pages of CSCW - Info
4. CSCW Research Centers and Projects
5. Ulrik CSCW Related Links

CORBA Related Links

1. Free CORBA implementations. (Several Links)
2. CORBA Software Links
3. Distributed Object Computing - Many CORBA topics, implementations and related sites
4. Iona Technologies
5. OpenFusion CORBA Services
6. OMG - Object Management Group
7. Distributed Computing and CORBA (Shimidt) 

Java Related Links

1. JavaCC - Java Compiler Compiler
2. JDK1.2
3. JDK1.1
4. Java Lobby
5. Java Tutorial
6. Java IDL Compiler
7. Java World
8. DeveloperWorks - Java Technology Zone
9. IBM Alpha Works
10. Thinking in Java Book
11. O'REILLY Java Reference Books
12. IBM Java Technology Zone
13. Java Developers Journal
14. Distributed Programming using Java

Publications Search Engines

1. Cetus Links - Thousands of Links on Objects and Components
2. Web of Science (FAPESP)
3. NEC Research Index
4. ACM Digital Library
5. KLUWER Academics Publishers
6. California Digital Libraries

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This project was sponsored by  (Process # 98/06648-0 )

Since October 10th, 1999.

This page was last modified in November 3, 2000