Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems (Cooperative Information Systems series) [Paperback]

Wil van van der Aalst (Author), Kees van van Hee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2004 | Series: Cooperative Information Systems series

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to workflow management, the management of business processes with information technology. By defining, analyzing, and redesigning an organization's resources and operations, workflow management systems ensure that the right information reaches the right person or computer application at the right time. The book provides a basic overview of workflow terminology and organization, as well as detailed coverage of workflow modeling with Petri nets. Because Petri nets make definitions easier to understand for nonexperts, they facilitate communication between designers and users. The book includes a chapter of case studies, review exercises, and a glossary.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is an insightful, authoritative source on workflow modeling and analysis."--Amit P. Sheth, Director, Large Scale Distributed Information Systems Lab, and Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Georgia

"Business process management techniques are of increasing importance in research and in practice; I consider knowledge in this field indispensable for young professionals. I use Workflow Management in my university courses because it combines sound modelling techniques with experience from applications in an impressive way."--Ruediger Valk, Professor of Informatics/Computer Science, University of Hamburg, Germany

"This book provides a very good, wide-ranging introduction to the theory of workflow technology. Of particular note is the rigorous derivation of workflow process models using Petri-net formalisation."--David Hollingsworth, Distinguished Engineer, ICL Pathway, UK, and Chairman, Workflow Management Coalition, Technical Committee

"This is the most comprehensive volume on workflow management to date. At last we have a book that deals with the basic principles. Workflow Management defines the field on an academic level, and should be used in every workflow course."--Stef M. M. Joosten, Professor of Information Systems and Business Processes, Open University of The Netherlands, and Founder, Anaxagoras

About the Author

Kees van Hee is Professor of Computing Science at Eindhoven University of Technology and Chairman of the Board of Deloitte & Touche Bakkenist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (January 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262720469
• ISBN-13: 978-0262720465
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Prof.dr.ir. Wil van der Aalst is a full professor of Information Systems at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e). Currently he is also an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) working within the BPM group there. His research interests include workflow management, process mining, Petri nets, business process management, process modeling, and process analysis. Wil van der Aalst has published more than 130 journal papers, 16 books (as author or editor), 250 refereed conference/workshop publications, and 50 book chapters. Many of his papers are highly cited (he has an H-index of more than 75 according to Google Scholar, making him the Dutch computer scientist with the highest H-index) and his ideas have influenced researchers, software developers, and standardization committees working on process support. He has been a co-chair of many conferences including the Business Process Management conference, the International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems, the International conference on the Application and Theory of Petri Nets, and the IEEE International Conference on Services Computing. He is also editor/member of the editorial board of several journals, including the Distributed and Parallel Databases, the International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management, the International Journal on Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures, Computers in Industry, Business & Information Systems Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, and Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency. He is also a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen).

For more information about his work visit: www.workflowpatterns.com, www.workflowcourse.com, www.processmining.org, www.yawl-system.com, www.wvdaalst.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Workflow design with a twist, October 28, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems (Cooperative Information Systems) (Hardcover)

This book has significantly changed my thinking about and approach to workflow management. Prior to reading it I based workflow systems on process chains based on frameworks such as entry-task-validation-exit (ETVX) or plan-do-check-act (PDCA). While process chains are a valid approach, the only level of formality I imposed was cost and value analysis, which I realized after reading this book was not the entire picture of a workflow.

What I learned is how to view workflow as a logical network using Perti Nets, which are both graphical and based on a formal language using Boolean logic (AND and OR joins and splits), programmatic views (iteration) and analytical logic (causality). More importantly, this approach has resolved a misalignment between the design of workflow systems with which I previously used procedures and events and the development approach used by my company's software engineers who were using object-oriented methods. Petri Nets are based on states instead of events, which more naturally aligns object-oriented development of workflow systems to the underlying design. Discovering this is what so significantly changed my thinking and approach to workflow.

Although this book is heavily slanted towards Perti Nets, it also contains a wealth of material about workflow from business process and operations perspectives, and does not obviate process chain approaches. Instead, it provides you with a good grounding in the basics of workflow in general, and provides you with tools, techniques and an approach to developing workflows in a formal manner. If you are involved in process design, workflow development or business process engineering/reengineering this book is an invaluable, thought-provoking resource.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Workflows, explained simply and clearly!, November 27, 2004

By 

Sazi Temel - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems (Cooperative Information Systems series) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book containing principals, patterns and practices of workflow systems. The theory of workflow is covered with terms of Petri nets, the relevant concepts are clearly explained, and a lot of practical examples with thought provoking questions are included. I enjoyed reading/studying it. Workflow practitioners will find this book very useful both for practical and theoretical aspects. Finally a book that connects the practice of workflow with simple but complete theory!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 7, 2008

By 

Martin A. Piattini - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems (Cooperative Information Systems series) (Paperback)

This is and excellent book. I was looking for a good book of workflows to use in my work and class like university professor. Out there there are many "empty" books. This one is rare one excellent book deep and simple and the same time. I strongly recommend it.

Bye Martin