Patent ID: 8140591

Claim:
A method for enabling workflow awareness within a business process management (BPM) system comprising: receiving of an instantiation request for a workflow by a workflow awareness controller, wherein said workflow comprises a plurality of workflow steps to be performed by a BPM system comprising hardware and software; determining, from a plurality of workflow metadata, at least one workflow redundancy with at least one workflow instance initiated prior to the receipt of the instantiation request, wherein the at least one workflow redundancy is categorized as one of an instance-level redundancy and a step-level redundancy, and, wherein the plurality of workflow metadata comprises at least one record that uniquely represents operating parameter values for a performance of the at least one prior workflow instance, wherein the determining comprises: querying a workflow metadata registry housing the plurality of workflow metadata for at least one record that matches at least one of a workflow identifier and a step identifier associated with the requested workflow, wherein the workflow identifier and step identifier uniquely designate a workflow and a workflow step, respectively; when at least one match exists matching the workflow identifier of the requested workflow, for each workflow step, comparing input values of the workflow step of the requested workflow with input values of the workflow step of the at least one match; and when the input values are identical, identifying the requested workflow as being an instance-level redundancy of the matching prior workflow instance; and when at least one workflow redundancy exists, utilizing persistent workflow data corresponding to the at least one workflow redundancy during the performance of a workflow instance of the requested workflow within the BPM system, wherein the persistent workflow data replaces running of at least one workflow step of the workflow instance, whereby reducing a redundant performance of the at least one workflow step for the requested workflow.