Workflow process modelling and resource allocation based on polychromatic sets theory

Abstract

In workflow management, studying the relationship between workflow process activities and resource allocation is one of the interesting research topics. Polychromatic sets theory (PST) is a relatively new mathematical theory which is especially suitable for treating such problems. Based on PST, this paper proposes a framework of workflow process modelling and resource allocation. As the theoretical foundation, polychromatic sets (PS), polychromatic graph (PG) and isolation operation (IO) of the PS are introduced. Special net structure (SNS), a special PG with colourless nodes and concolourous edges, is also introduced, and a new workflow process model and its verification algorithm are presented. Furthermore, a workflow resource model based on the entity of PS is developed. Based on IO of PS, the allocation mechanism that considers workflow process and workflow resource is proposed. Finally, a case study is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the above-mentioned theory and method.