Business Process Efficiency in Workflows using TOC

Workflow Management System (WFMS) is a software system to support an efficient execution, control and management of complex business processes. Since traditional commercial systems mainly focus on automating processes, they don't have methods for enhancing the task performer's efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new method of executing business processes more efficiently in that a whole process is scheduled considering the degree of the participants' workload. The method allows managing the largest constraints among constituent resources of the process. We utilize DBR scheduling techniques to develop the method. We first consider the differences between workflow process models and DBR application models, and then develop the modified drum, buffer and rope. This leads us to develop WF-DBR (WorkFlow-DBR) that can control the proper size of the task performers' work list and arrival rate of process instances. Use of WF-DBR improves the efficiency of the whole process as well as the participants' working condition. We then carry out a set of simulation experiments and compare the effectiveness of our approach with that of scheduling techniques used in existing systems.