Anyone looking at BPM solutions should start at the Workflow Management Coalition's Web site, www.wfmc.org, and look at the Workflow Management Coalition Terminology & Glossary.

The glossary is a good starting point for understanding the nomenclature in an industry that, to put it politely, is pretty free with the jargon.

Although it doesn't make the leap to marketspeak terms, it does define Process Definition Meta-Model and illustrates the relationship of elements therein. I found the document particularly helpful for researching standards and understanding some of the components in the business process management suites reviewed on Page 42.

The WfMC offers several other documents that put numerous relevant Web services and BPM standards, such as Workflow-XML 2.0, in context and explain how to use them in the framework of a BPM engine.

For more information, go to www.wfmc.org.

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