Abstract
At the CAiSE conference in Heidelberg in 1999, Wasim Sadiq and Maria Orlowska presented an algorithm to verify workflow graphs [19]. The algorithm uses a set of reduction rules to detect structural conflicts. This paper shows that the set of reduction rules presented in [19] is not complete and proposes an alternative algorithm. The algorithm translates workflow graphs into so-called WF-nets. WF-nets are a class of Petri nets tailored towards workflow analysis. As a result, Petri-net theory and tools can be used to verify workflow graphs. In particular, our workflow verification tool Woflan [21] can be used to detect design errors. It is shown that the absence of structural conflicts, i.e., deadlocks and lack of synchronization, conforms to soundness of the corresponding WF-net [2]. In contrast to the algorithm presented in [19], the algorithm presented in this paper is complete. Moreover, the complexity of this alternative algorithm is given.
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van der Aalst, W.M.P., Hirnschall, A., Verbeek, H.M.W. (2002). An Alternative Way to Analyze Workflow Graphs. In: Pidduck, A.B., Ozsu, M.T., Mylopoulos, J., Woo, C.C. (eds) Advanced Information Systems Engineering. CAiSE 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2348. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47961-9_37
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