Patent ID: 7296056

Claim:
A method for assigning a work item for one of a plurality of nodes in a workflow to at least one of a plurality of users capable of performing workflow related operations at the nodes, comprising: processing a node in a current workflow, wherein a current work item is associated with the processed node; processing an access list indicating users capable of being assigned the current work item; determining from the access list at least one user capable of being assigned the current work item; for each determined user, determining a number of work items other than the current work item assigned to the user in the current workflow and in a workflow other than the current workflow; using a load balancing technique that considers the number of work items assigned to the at least one determined user on the access list in the current and the other workflows to select at least one determined user based on the determined number of work items assigned to the determined users; and assigning the current work item to the at least one selected determined user.