Workflows, workflow systems
A workflow describe a scientific analysis that consists of several, ordered steps. Workflows allow the reuse of software, applications and simulations across experiments, among users and communities. Workflow systems provide graphical or text environments that can be used to design workflows, just like word or spreadsheet processors allow users to write a document or set up a series of calculations.
The workflow approach has proved to be very successful in EGI: many National Grid Initiatives, projects and scientific communities are already using workflows and workflow systems on the production infrastructure. Some of these solutions are specific for a certain community, while others are flexible, customisable and can be applied in various scenarios. In order to support scientific communities in finding ‘the right tool for the job’ the User Community Support Team of EGI.eu recently setup a new section on the EGI website about workflows and workflow systems. These pages collect solutions from the EGI community and aim to be an important resource to those who want to reuse specific workflows, or want to develop their own workflows to utilise EGI services in a custom way.
