Processing a group of jobs substantially independently while synchronizing and maintaining the original order of the jobs at appropriate points in a workflow

A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable medium embodying a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a workflow management computer causes the computer to perform the steps of:

• receiving a named group of print jobs;
• for each print job of the group, assigning a workflow that includes parameters for printing the job;
• for each print job of the group, including information identifying the name of the group;
• and
• printing each print job by:
• processing the job according to the printing parameters in its workflow;
• determining, based on the group name for the print job, a checkpoint from multiple checkpoints at which to halt processing of the print job until each job of the group has reached the checkpoint, by:
• parsing the print job to identify the name of the group;
• acquiring a definition indicating how to process groups having the name;
• and
• reviewing the definition to identify at least one checkpoint for the group;
• halting processing of the job once the checkpoint has been reached;
• determining that each job of the group has reached the checkpoint;
• and
• resuming processing of the print job responsive to determining that each job of the group has reached the checkpoint.

A system for processing workflow of a plurality of related jobs, the system comprising:

• a job receiver for receiving a named group of print jobs from an external job source;
• a plurality of workflow processors each adapted to process received print jobs according to printing parameters in workflows for those jobs ;
• and
• a group workflow manager implemented at a hardware processor, communicatively coupled to the job receiver and communicatively coupled to the plurality of workflow processors and adapted to determine, for each print job based on the group name for the print job, a checkpoint from multiple checkpoints at which to halt processing of the print job until each job of the group has reached the checkpoint, to halt processing of the job once the checkpoint has been reached, to determine that each job of the group has reached the checkpoint;
• and to resume processing of the print job responsive to determining that each job of the group has reached the checkpoint,
• wherein the group workflow manager is further adapted to assign a workflow that includes parameters for printing the job to each print job of the group, to include information identifying the name of the group to each print job of the group, and to determine a checkpoint for each print job by parsing the print job to identify the name of the group, acquiring a definition indicating how groups of the name are processed, and reviewing the definition to identify at least one checkpoint for the group.