Designing Workflow Systems Using Building Blocks
This work addresses the design of workflow systems for researchers and developers, presenting an incremental alternative approach.
The paper tackles the need for a new perspective on workflow system design by proposing a building blocks approach, demonstrating its applicability through RADICAL-Cybertools across four case studies covering a dozen science problems.
We suggest there is a need for a fresh perspective on the design and development of workflow systems and argue for a building blocks approach. We outline a description of this approach and define the properties of software building blocks. We discuss RADICAL-Cybertools as one implementation of the building blocks concept, showing how they have been designed and developed in accordance with this approach. Four case studies are presented, covering a dozen science problems. We discuss how RADICAL-Cybertools have been used to develop new workflow systems capabilities and integrated to enhance existing ones, illustrating the applicability and potential of software building blocks. In doing so, we have begun an investigation of an alternative approach to thinking about the design and implementation of workflow systems.