The WfMC API also identifies an entity called tool agent, which interacts with other applications. Another runtime standard is WfMC Workflow inter operability standard defines the interaction between the WFMS and the other applications in the business domain. WfMC audit data specification is a standard for the information that should be recorded in case of status changes. A more advanced runtime standard compared to WfMC API is the jointFlow standard, and it defines a framework for implementing distributed workflow applications. SWAP control protocol uses the object model of jointFlow, and the standard is basically the implementation of the workflow access protocol provided by WfMC using HTTP protocol.
Workflow management is a crucial productivity tool for all scales of projects.
Widespread use of workflow management systems is an evidence for the truth of this claim. The standards that are considered in the article provide a good infrastructure for building individual WFMSs. But Christoph Bussler, in his article in the same issue of IEEE concurrency talks about the need for a protocol for metadata for WFMSs representation and none of the above standards satisfy this need. Thus although these standards provide a good way to build individual WFMSs, they do not provide a basis for integration of different WFMSs.