A non-volatile computer readable medium includes computer program instructions to cause a computing device to perform steps in a process. The process comprises presenting a graphical design area on a visual display associated with the computing device. Within the graphical design area, the process presents a graphical depiction of a configurable worker object that encapsulates an application function configured to perform a processing task. The process positions the graphical depiction of the configurable worker object within the graphical design area and in response to a positioning instruction. A connection to the configurable worker object that represents a portion of a path in a workflow is presented graphically. One or more commands that correspond to the configurable worker object cause the configurable worker object to be created to perform work as part of the workflow.
