workflowmodel

A workflow model is an abstract representation of a process that describes the sequence of tasks, their dependencies, data flows, and the resources required to achieve a goal. It serves to analyze, communicate, and automate processes across organizations and software systems. A typical workflow model specifies activities, the order in which they execute (control flow), data objects they consume and produce, and the roles or agents responsible for execution. It may also define events, exceptions, parallel branches, loops, and constraints on resources or timing.

Common modeling formalisms include BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), UML activity diagrams, and Petri nets. Some models are descriptive, aimed at human understanding, while executable models can be run by a workflow engine or orchestration system to automate tasks in a service or microservice environment.

Workflow models are central to workflow management and business process management (BPM). They support design, analysis, simulation, and monitoring of processes, enable reuse of components, and provide a basis for audit trails. They can represent both business processes and computational workflows, such as data pipelines or cloud-based serverless workflows.

A workflow model is the abstract blueprint; a workflow engine executes models, and a workflow management system provides tooling around deployment, monitoring, and governance. Key challenges include managing model complexity, versioning, and maintaining alignment with actual execution. Practitioners address these issues through modular design, version control, and incremental testing.