Workflow Management

Unlike common opinion the efficiency of product development projects can be increased by the application of workflow-management-systems. The basis for this provides a reference model for workflow-supported product development which classifies the required workflow types and software tools for the different tasks in the project. For the frequent case of a change management process it will be shown how different variants of this process can be configured through workflow modules and which interdependencies between workflow and project management system occur.

Business process management (BPM) as a process-oriented approach to management has to implement and control the change process within an organisation from function- to process-orientation regarding organisational, personal and technological aspects. Furthermore BPM offers software-support to plan, control and supervise process performance and comprehensive cooperation of business processes.

Optimized and efficient business processes are increasingly understood to be the key elements of competitive enterprises. The so far separated functionalities of modelling, execution, integration and analysis of business processes undergo currently a strong trend of convergence - this will lead to a new product type. These new systems will enable companies to put their business process model into the centre of their IT-landscape, to manage them process-centrically and to perform a successive transition to the Real-Time Enterprise due to the consideration of process data within the process model.

The answer to engineering change and event management within a supplier network is collaborative ramp-up management, because it achieves transparency and defined structures in the ramp-up planning and steering processes. The usage of the ramp-up demonstrator, developed by the IML, simplifies the serial start-up within a supplier network. The ramp-up demonstrator is a combination of order-to-delivery simulation and current workflow management concepts, by which a controllable and plannable ramp-up environment is achieved.

An intensive co-operation and data exchange between members of different disciplines are necessary in planning, conception and development of production plants and processes. Planning failures that are identified too late or different understanding of contents can lead to significant effects, e.g. during starting or ramp-up. In the context of the Digital Factory the Fraunhofer IPA develops organizational and technological solutions for co-operative planning on the base of workflow and knowledge management as well as solutions for interaction, data and tool integration. The aim is the optimisation of planning quality and planning costs.