Patent ID: 8593665

Claim:
A system for performing a processing flow based on a definition file which designates a plurality of tasks each of which can be performed by a function provided by an image forming apparatus and an order of performance of a plurality of tasks, wherein the system has a plurality of network devices including an image forming apparatuses, the system comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire, as a function of one of the network devices, the definition file of the processing flow specified by a user; a determination unit configured to select, as the function of one of the network devices, one of a plurality of the image forming apparatuses to perform each task included in the processing flow based on candidate information included in the definition file of the processing flow; and a performing unit configured to perform each task included in the processing flow as a function of the image forming apparatus selected by the determination unit, wherein the candidate information is set, as information for selecting an image forming apparatus that performs each task included in the processing flow, at least one of first information indicative of a user device corresponding to the user, second information indicative of an image forming apparatus having generated an instruction for performing the processing flow and third information indicative of an image forming apparatus specified by address information, wherein, when the first information indicative of the user device is set as the candidate information of a print task included in the processing flow in the definition file, the determination unit selects the image forming apparatus set as the user device of the user which instructed for performing the processing flow based on the candidate information and the performing unit performs the print task in the image forming apparatus which is the user device selected by the determination unit, wherein the candidate information further includes information on an order of priority for selecting an image forming apparatus that performs the task based on the first, second and third information, and wherein each of the network devices has at least a CPU.