SEMAFLEX: A novel approach for implementing workflow flexibility by deviation based on constraint satisfaction problem solving

The concept developed during the SEMAFLEX project combines knowledge‐based document management with flexible workflow management to achieve ideal support for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises. This paper focusses on the workflow approach that implements flexibility by deviation on the basis of constraint satisfaction problem solving. Workflow deviations due to unpredictable circumstances or upcoming events are tolerated at runtime, but still, support is maintained and possible succeeding work items are proposed. Procedurally modelled workflows are transformed to declarative constraints, which serve as database for the workflow engine. The described approach is fully implemented, and our experiments demonstrate sufficient runtime performance as well as improvements for practical use.