Business Process A set of one or more linked procedures or activities which collectively realize a business objective or policy goal, normally within the context of an organizational structure defining functional roles and relationships.

Workflow The automation of a business process, in whole or in part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action according to a set of procedural rules.

Workflow Management System A system that defines, creates and manages the execution of workflows through the use of software, running on one or more workflow engines, which is able to interpret the process definition, interact with workflow participants and, where required, invoke the use of IT tools and applications.

Workflow Engine A software service or "engine" that provides the run time execution environment for a process instance.

Process Definition The representation of a business process in a form, which supports automated manipulation, such as modeling, or enactment by a workflow management system. The process definition consists of a network of activities and their relationships, criteria to indicate the start and termination of the process, and information about the individual activities, such as participants, associated IT applications and data, etc.

Activity A description of a piece of work that forms one logical step within a process. An activity may be a manual activity, which does not support computer automation, or a workflow (automated) activity. A workflow activity requires human and/or machine resource(s) to support process execution where human intervention is required an activity is allocated to a workflow participant.

Process Instance The representation of a single enactment of a process.

Activity Instance The representation of an activity within a (single) enactment of a process, i.e. within a process instance.

Workflow Participant A resource, which performs the work represented by a workflow activity instance. This work is normally manifested as one or more work items assigned to the workflow participant via the work list.

Worklist A list of work items associated with a given workflow participant (or in some cases with a group of workflow participants who may share a common worklist. The worklist forms part of the interface between a workflow engine and the worklist handler.

Worklist Handler A software component that manages the interaction between the user (or group of users) and the worklist maintained by a workflow engine. It enables work items to be passed from the workflow management system to users and notifications of completion or other work status conditions to be passed between the user and the workflow management system.

Process Designer A software component normally used by the system administrator to develop new process definitions or modify existing ones.

Deadline A time scheduling constraint which requires that a certain activity (or work item) be completed by a certain time?

Transition A point during the execution of a process instance where one activity completes and the thread of control passes to another, which starts.

Workflow Application A general term for a software program that interacts with a workflow enactment service, handling part of the processing required to support a particular activity.

Client Application A client application is an application, which interacts with a workflow engine, requesting facilities and services from the engine.

Invoked Application An invoked application is a workflow application that is invoked by the workflow management system to automate an activity, fully or in part, or to support a workflow participant in processing a work item.

Application Data Data that is application specific and not accessible by the workflow management system.

Workflow Relevant Data Data that is used by a Workflow Management System to determine the state transitions of a workflow instance, for example within pre- and post-conditions, transition conditions or workflow participant assignment