Workflow is based on work items in a business process that are acted on by people (or systems) in roles. Typically the purpose of workflow is to support processes with automation. A workflow definition states the sequential or parallel steps, decision points, and participants that make up a process.

A workflow solution uses software to execute workflow definitions; it records the status of each workflow as it's completed and may notify human participants, authorize and record their decisions, route forms or documents for review, make automated decisions, and interact with other systems. See our workflow solution components page for more details on what makes up a workflow solution.

Other terms that we've used in discussing workflow:

See Wikipedia for a more general discussion of workflow and workflow patterns.

Feel free to add other definitions to this page!