Cross-organisational workflow management and co-ordination: WACC'99 workshop report

The increasing deployment of Workflow Management Systems (WfMSs) and other co-ordination and process support systems on the one hand and the proliferation of cheap networking, namely the Internet, on the other hand raises the issue of how to connect these systems across organisational boundaries. Current WfMSs do not provide suitable means for cross-organisational connections. The workshop "Cross-Organizational Workflow Management and Co-ordination" at the International Joint Conference on Work Activities Coordination and Collaboration, San Francisco, February 22 - 25, 1999 provided a forum to discuss workflow management and co-ordination in situations in which processes span multiple independent organisations. The workshop helped the ca. 30 participants understand the key problems and clarified ways in which existing products and prototypes as well as current projects contribute to enable cross-organisational workflow execution.