SysML-based domain-specific executable workflows

This paper presents a tool called SysFlow Workflow Engine (SWE) that is being developed to execute a domain workflow defined using SysML´s Activity Diagram. The paper also describes extensions added to the SysML semantics to make them SWE executable. SWE focuses on grid computing, cyberinfrastructure and related domains; however support for other domains can be easily added. SWE aims to provide a common interface to grid, cyberinfrastructure and other domain-specific software by abstracting their complexity and idiosyncrasies. To create a workflow, users can use SysML modelers such as Topcased, which allows them to create and validate SysML models. Before submitting a workflow to SWE for execution, users have to ensure that their workflow is not only a valid SysML model but also a valid SWE executable model. SWE receives a SysML workflow in XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) format and after performing certain validation checks it parses and executes the workflow.