Enacting BPM-oriented Workflows with WADE

This paper has two main focuses. First it provides a review on the reasons why agent technologies are a good choice for BPM (Business Process Management). A brief survey of the literature on the subject is presented and a critical revision of the main motivations that are commonly accepted for the use of agents in BPM is presented taking into account recent technological developments. Then, the paper presents the recent developments of Wade (Workflow and Agent Development Environment) and it confers such developments and value-added features in the scope of the initial discussion. Finally, the paper briefly enumerates some successful applications of the presented technologies in Telecom Italia. Such applications are so important and demanding that their implementation using agent-based approaches is an outstanding result for agent technology.