Using patterns paradigm to refine workflow policies

We propose an approach to formalize the patterns and to automatically apply the formalized patterns. In our case, we use the pattern paradigm to refine security policies of a workflow. A policy refinement process derives low- level workflow policies from high-level and abstract policies specified by stakeholders. Such refinement process requires domain-specific expertise knowledge, which will be captured by using the pattern paradigm. These refinement patterns are formalized by using both description logic and temporal logic formalisms.