Unfortunately, its treatment of the subject is superficial, providing very few details:

In Chapter 2 the authors use the same process to illustrate the 3 modeling methodologies. Examples are always good! Unfortunately, the discussion is superficial. The book fails in explaining the shortcomings of each methodology and the types of processes for which they are applicable.

Chapter 3 discusses some very interesting issues too briefly. For example, I expected the authors to present and compare at least 2 or 3 workflow specification languages in the section entitled "Description Languages." Instead of providing concrete examples, they list generic features: "A good language should also have a very modular structure, so that libraries of popular sub-flows can be used... [I]n current practice, the rule-based languages are most often used" (24). The same happens in the next section, "Software architecture of the workflow enactment service." One of the issues that the authors try to address is reliability. But again instead of presenting solutions and discussing alternatives, they follow the same path: "To lower the probability of a software failure, the system should be carefully designed and developed..." (27).

Given the amount of detail that the authors provide about transactions in Chapter 4, it is reasonable to assume that they have a strong database background. The major problem with this whole chapter is that the transition from transactions to transactional workflows is too abrupt. Why do we have to think in terms of transactions when we look at workflow? We could also think in terms of objects sending messages, or people engaging in speech acts. The authors do not provide a clear rationale for transactional workflows.

In Chapter 6 the authors had the opportunity to present lots of the information collected during MCC's 1996 study mentioned at the beginning of the book. Unfortunately, the details are again superficial. Moreover, the treatment is inconsistent. First the authors describe the important features of workflow applications for the analysis, development, execution and administration phases. However, in the section entitled "Comparison of workflow products," they compare 7 products only in terms of the software environment characteristics (e.g., the OS on which the server and clients run and the database system it can use), disregarding the features they have previously discussed.

"Workflow and Process Automation" lies at the boundary between trade press and technical publications. The high level descriptions and lack of detail are typical of trade press publications, and several issues (e.g., extended transactions) belong to the realm of technical publications. Think of it as a trade book authored by people who are used to writing technical papers. To someone who belongs in the latter category, the result may be unsatisfactory. Moreover, the price tag makes one believe that the book is technical, when it really isn't.