Workflow interoperability using extensible markup language (XML)

States of the art workflow management systems (WFMS) do not have adequate features of interoperability among WFMSs that cause incompatible "islands" of process automation within an organization or between organizations. This paper introduces method of interoperability that accommodates the variety of implementation techniques in realizing the WFMS interoperability. To realize the workflow interoperability, this paper uses two WFMS products in the market, i.e. Domino Workflow and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. The method that ties in a workflow interoperability framework is a major contribution of this paper. The framework consists of both WFMS products together with two interoperability tools, i.e. Microsoft Exchange Connector for Lotus Notes and Document Object Model (DOM) of Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard that addresses the communication and exchange document issues between both WFMS products. To demonstrate the workflow interoperability of our approach, a prototype system has been implemented.