Method of load balancing a distributed workflow management system

A method of distributing workload in a workflow management system comprising the steps of:

• a) calculating a load index for each engine of the workflow management system, wherein each load index reflects a workload of its associated engine;
• b) operating in a load insensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the engines in a first distribution fashion that is insensitive to the load indices until a maximum differential load index exceeds a pre-determined threshold;
• and
• c) operating in a load sensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the engines in a second distribution fashion that is sensitive to the load indices until all processes have completed execution once the maximum differential load index exceeds the pre-determined threshold.

A method of distributing workload in a workflow management system comprising the steps of:

• calculating a load index for each engine of the workflow management system, wherein each load index reflects a workload of its associated engine;
• switching from a load insensitive workload distribution mode to a load sensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the engines in a first distribution fashion that is sensitive to the load indices when a maximum differential load index exceeds a first pre-determined threshold, T1;
• and
• switching from the load sensitive workload distribution mode to the load insensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the engines in a second distribution fashion that is insensitive to the load indices when the maximum differential load index is less than a second pre-determined threshold, T2.

A method of distributing workload in a workflow management system comprising the steps of:

• during a calibration mode, executing plural instantiations of a test process to identify load index parameters;
• calculating a load index based on the load index parameters for each of a plurality of engines of the workflow management system, wherein each load index reflects a workload of its associated engine, wherein the load index corresponds to an average activity execution delay;
• distributing workload across the plurality of engines in response to the load indices in a load sensitive mode;
• and
• providing a definition of activities in the test process such that for each activity, a resource execution time is much less than an engine execution time, the resource execution time representing an execution time of a resource to perform work represented by the respective activity, and the engine execution time representing an execution time of the respective engine in performing the activity.

A workflow management system, comprising:

• plural workflow engines;
• workload monitors to compute load indices for the workflow engines, wherein each load index reflects a workload of the corresponding workflow engine;
• and
• a load balancer to:
• operate in a load insensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the workflow engines in a first distribution fashion that is insensitive to the load indices until at least one difference between load indices of the workflow engines exceeds a first threshold;
• and
• after the at least one difference between load indices exceeds the first threshold, operate in a load sensitive workload distribution mode for distributing processes among the workflow engines in a second distribution fashion that is sensitive to the load indices until at least one of:
• (1) all processes have completed execution;
• and
• (2) the at least one difference between load indices of the workflow engines is less than a second threshold.