WORKFLOW ENGINE FOR AUTOMATING BUSINESS PROCESSES IN SCALABLE MULTIPROCESSOR COMPUTER PLATFORMS

摘要

The present invention relates to a workflow and workflow engine. A workflow in accordance with the present invention is a process that gets triggered in response to a predetermined event (1404) in a relationship management system. The event could be anything input into the system, such as an incoming interaction like a phone call, a fax, an e-mail, or a web-form submission. In addition an event (1404) could be a business events such as an overdue task, an inventory update, a merchandise sale, or an equipment order. A workflow is preferably characterized in terms of a set of steps the workflow is to perform (1406, 1400, 1402), such as creating or modifying a business object, creating and sending an email or fax, making a decision based on a query, scheduling a timed event, and so on.