Workflows and workflow systems
Scientific calculations often involve the coordinated submission of grid computing jobs and usage of other services. The sequence of computational and data manipulation steps required to perform a specific analysis is called a workflow.
Workflows allow the reuse of software, applications and simulations. They are a powerful mechanism to develop, execute and share scientific calculations. Good workflows allow researchers to:
-
improve the repeatability of scientific calculations – workflows provide a list of steps required for an analysis, which can be easily reproduced by co-workers.
-
become more efficient – workflows can be shared within or across teams, reducing the time spent on programming and allowing scientists to concentrate on their research.
Workflow systems are 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.
EGI workflow systems enable scientific communities to write and execute their own workflows on resources of the European Grid Infrastructure.
The approach has proved to be very successful: many National Grid Initiatives, projects and scientific communities are already using workflows and workflow systems on EGI. These solutions are collected on the following pages:
More information
More services
