Workflow management/process automation refer to the concepts, techniques and tools to support operational processes in the design, analysis, and enactment phase. Note that the focus is not on the automation of tasks or communication but on the glue between tasks. |
The automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents,
information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according
to a set of procedural rules. |
The ability to substantially automate the enactment or implementation of an organizations core business processes. This automation should be based on a model of business processes that is both familiar to business people and sufficiently precise so as to avoid ambiguity or mis-interpretation. It focussses primarily on delivering statements of work, to be carried out by resources (people or machines) in the order and according to the constraints defined by the process model/template. |
WfMC's definitions are so familiar to me that I can't think of a truly original way to define it. |
Workflow management describes the IT-supported design and execution of business processes. |
computer-based execution of structured business processes with scheduling, resource allocation, routing,exception handling, and performance measurement. |
Automated assistance for process enactment |
technology that supports the modeling, execution, monitoring, and management of business processes within and across enterprises. |
Workflow Management:
The proactive distribution and synchronization of activities with respect to people and machines. In addition the process instances are made transparent and tools, include modelling, analytic, and simulation tools, give the workflow processes flexibility with a mininum of development effort. |
A technology to model and enact business processes involving people and IT systems. |
A formal definition and specification of a business process that makes it possible to automate that process. Events in the process are handled automatically (prefered) or manually (if neccessary). |
Actually, I think that workflow management and process automation are two different things.
Workflow management typically relates to the (automated) support for definition and enactment of (administrative) business processes. Automation is typically assumed, but manual workflow management is possible; the domain is complex office environments.
Process automation relates to computer-based support for processes in general, which may be physical processes (as for example in factories). So automation is explicit, but the domain is not fixed. |
Process used by managers to ensure that the tasks, activities and processes used by individuals in the attainment of the organization mission,goals and objectives are efficient effective and economical. Process automation is the use of technology to automate these tasks,activities etc. so that machine do them vs human. |
It is a piece of technology
that allows us to create
a process layer, which
provides a level of process
abstraction, and removes
the processes from the
control of applications.
In the same way as Middleware
provided a data abstraction
layer, BPM provides a
‘process abstraction’
layer. With BPM, instead
of having each application
being in charge of a set
of processes, and trying
to subjugate adjacent
applications, to drive
its processes, we take
the control of the process
away from the individual
applications, and make
them equal peers, subjugated
to a BPM layer that controls
the execution of the processes,
and delegates tasks or
activities to the individual
applications according
to their strengths. In
order to do this well,
it needs to support all
the attributes of a business
process, which we described
above. For example, it
needs to be able to:
- Manage applications
in parallel as well
as series
- It needs to manage
people-intensive applications
- Inside and outside
the organisation
- Continuous and discrete,
and allow processes
to change over time.
This is a tall order. |
Workflow management is technology specialized in supporting programs that do not "run all at once". These programs have different people who must interact with them at different times, and possibly different places. The workflow system allows for a convenient programming paradigm, where a series of 'activities' are layed out graphically, but what the uses this for is to initialize thing, inform the party of the thing to do, and then wait for the response. These things are called "processes" because they are a sequence of 'activities' (pieces of work to be done) but typically the activities themselves are not 'automated' in the traditional sense. They are just as manual as ever, but the sequencing (the stuff between) is automated. |
Design, execution and management of business processes within and across organizations through IT. |
modeling and controlled execution of application processes |
Workflow management is the understanding of a process and its procedures. Management of that process is workflow management. Process automation is having the ability automate all or part of that workflow. Replacing the manual work needed to complete that workflow with an automation process. |
Workflow management and process automation is method that enable firms to standardizes processes across fucntions and division and remove manual efforts wherever applicable. |
Software technology implementing business processes on an end user level by implementing end user business concepts. |