Adaptive Mobile Work Processes

Abstract

Systems that efficiently provide support for adaptive work processes in a mobile environment do not exist according to our knowledge. Such systems would increase efficiency and safety in environments where work is inherently mobile, ad-hoc, and requires input from a set of heterogeneous sources. Traditional work support systems are normally not capable of dynamic change and plans must be made before work is started. This conflicts with most work processes, which are dynamic and where plans cannot be completely pre-defined. Current workflow systems are for the most part not capable of handling dynamic change in the workflow process execution. Those that do exist are geared more towards long-term adaptability of the workflow process and not towards in-situ planning of activities. In this report we provide an overview over current research related to adaptive workflow, activity theory, situated actions, and context-awareness. Then, we further explore the concept of adaptive workflow and context-awareness and how this can be implemented in a prototype workflow enactment service. A set of requirements for such a system is elicited from this exploration. We also provide a possible scenario for usage of adaptive context-aware workflow technology. From these requirements we have created an overall architecture that supports adaptive context-aware mobile work. Our focus within this architecture is on context-aware adaptive workflow systems. We finally present the design and implementation of a prototype application supporting context-aware adaptive mobile work processes. This prototype has been named PocketFlow and is implemented in embedded visual C++ for Microsoft PocketPC 2003 second edition.