Provisioning of software components via workflow management systems

A computerized method for automatically generating a provisioning process said provisioning process being capable to install at least one software component on a target system,

• said method comprising:
• a first step of receiving a request to install a first software component;
• a second step of determining a product dependency graph for said first software component, said product dependency graph identifying as a directed graph additional software components required by said first software component to be installed as prerequisite or corequisite software components, and of
• determining for each of said additional software components in said product dependency graph a corresponding installation facility, and
• determining for at least one of said additional software components in said product dependency graph a corresponding uninstall facility;
• a third step of transforming the product dependency graph into a process model executable by a Workflow Management System (WFMS), wherein said process model comprises a directed graph of activities that imitates said product dependency graph, and wherein the transforming comprises translating dependencies between different ones of said additional software components in said product dependency graph into sequential and parallel execution paths in said process model such that said directed graph of activities is a sequence generated by one of a depth-first or a breadth-first traversal of said product dependency graph, and
• wherein each of said additional software components of said product dependency graph is associated with an activity in said process model such that when each said activity is executed, an installation is performed by an installation facility corresponding to said each of said additional software components, and wherein, for an activity in said process model, a compensation activity is generated such that when said compensation activity is executed, the uninstall facility is performed that corresponds to said at least one of said additional software components in said product dependency graph;
• and
• wherein a sequence of said activities in said directed graph does not violate the dependencies of said additional software components in said product dependency graph;
• and
• a fourth step of inserting said process model in said WFMS as said provisioning process.