Workflows are widely used in various scientific fields, such as chemical physics, astronomy, environmental science and bioinformatics. A scientific workflow represents a set of experiments performed in an order that is consistent with certain constraints in order to achieve a scientific goal. We differentiate the design and the execution of a workflow. The design captures the conceptual model of the workflow, including the format of its input and output, the functionality of each experiment, as well as the logical constraints on experiment execution order. The execution of a workflow represents a sequence of the experiment runs, consisting of the actual input and output of each experiment, and the order of the execution that satisfies the specification in the design.
Citation:
Qihong Shao, Michel Kinsy, Yi Chen, "Storing and Discovering Critical Workflows from Log in Scientific Exploration," services, pp.209-212, 2007 IEEE Congress on Services (Services 2007), 2007