Building user context into workflow process models

Bates, D

Abstract

industries. This work identified clear business benefits for an intelligent algorithm that could
match their information delivery requirements to the capability of their delivery networks.
Therefore this research introduces a new model for relating distributed information sources
to a user's requirements and context/ containing within it such an algorithm. However/
fundamentally what is new is that in doing this/ the disparate worlds of context and
workflow management research are brought together. In other words/ the aim is to build
user context into workflow process models.
This work is divided into three phases, the first of which is concerned with the application of
context to workflows and introduces the new model. The outcome of this phase is a set of
context-driven workflows. To ensure robustness of the model's design/ a series of key
questions were asked. From the subsequent answers/ it was then possible to postulate how
the model could be enhanced to accommodate them. Out of this process/ there emerged a
number of important conclusions/ in particular the need for a set of supplementary advanced
tasks under certain workflow criteria.
The second phase is concerned with a system implementation prototype of the model. The
core purpose of this prototype is a working system capable of demonstrating the key concepts
of the research/ which can then be formally evaluated.
The third phase is the evaluation phase which includes sections on software testing, user
feedback and a critique. One of the aims of the work was not just to concentrate on the
specific case/ but to draw out some general principles on formulating context-aware systems.
Therefore this phase also introduces a context template for this very purpose. This is further
elaborated with a look at the subsequent development that has emerged from this work,
called mi-Guide.

Citation

Bates, D. Building user context into workflow process models. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 16, 2021
• Additional Information: Funders : Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Projects : Distributed Information Management Programme
• Award Date: Apr 1, 2007