Method and system for processing work items

A program storage device readable by a machine, said program storage device storing therein a program of instructions executable by a processor of a computer system to perform a method for processing work items of a workflow system, said method comprising:

• said processor retrieving information identifying work items from a server responsible for handling work items based on a set of configuration rules;
• said processor storing the information in a cache that comprises N containers;
• said processor searching for matching work items in the cache in response to a work item request from an application, said work item request specifying n+1 criteria for work items such that n is at least 2, wherein N is a product over a cardinality Ci of criterion i from i=0 through i=n, wherein C0=1, and wherein Ci is at least 2 for i=1 through i=n, and wherein Ci is a number of distinct values for criterion i for i=1, 2, . . . , n;
• said processor delivering, in response to finding at least one work item matching the work item request, a piece of information identifying to the application the at least one matching work item from the cache;
• and
• said processor storing information identifying work items of an allowable type of work item of a set of allowable types of work items in a respective container of the N containers.

A computer system comprising a processor, a memory, and a computer readable storage device, said storage device storing program code configured to be executed by the processor via the memory to implement a method for processing work items of a workflow system, said method comprising:

• said processor retrieving information identifying work items from a server responsible for handling work items based on a set of configuration rules;
• said processor storing the information in a cache that comprises N containers;
• said processor searching for matching work items in the cache in response to a work item request from an application, said work item request specifying n+1 criteria for work items such that n is at least 2, wherein N is a product over a cardinality Ci of criterion i from i=0 through i=n, wherein C0=1, and wherein Ci is at least 2 for i=1 through i=n, and wherein Ci is a number of distinct values for criterion i for i=1, 2, . . . , n;
• said processor delivering, in response to finding at least one work item matching the work item request, a piece of information identifying to the application the at least one matching work item from the cache;
• and
• said processor storing information identifying work items of an allowable type of work item of a set of allowable types of work items in a respective container of the N containers.