Executable workflows: a paradigm for collaborative design on the Internet

This paper introduces a directed hypergraph model that supports (1) workflow composition and reconfiguration while accessing and executing programs, data, and computing resources across the Internet, (2) synchronous and asynchronous peer-to-peer interaction between members of any team during workflow composition and execution, (3) synchronous and asynchronous peer-to-workflow interaction between any team member and any object in the workflow. Given a library of program and data nodes, editing the workflow and its execution is as intuitive as the hierarchical schematic design capture and simulation. Examples of multi-site multi-user applications demonstrate that the proposed workflow implementation provides a user-friendly paradigm for distributed and collaborative team design.