A Definition and Analysis of the Role of Meta-workflows in Workflow Interoperability

Scientific workflows orchestrate the execution of complex experiments on high performance computing platforms. Meta-workflows represent an emerging type of such workflows which aim to integrate multiple embedded workflows from potentially different workflow systems to achieve complex experimentation. Workflow interoperability plays a profound role in achieving this objective. This paper is focused at formalizing definitions of different types of workflows and meta-workflows to facilitate improved understanding and interoperability. It also includes thorough formalization of the coarse grained workflow interoperability approach highlighting the role of workflow systems. The paper presents a case study from Heliophysics which successfully demonstrates the use of technologies developed to realize the concepts of meta-workflows and workflow interoperability within a science gateway environment.