What is the difference between "workflow engine" and "business process management engine"?

Question

I have heard about these two concepts after a lot of time.

Such as "windows workflow foundation" and Activiti and jBPM and other project is "business process management engine".

Are these two nouns ("workflow engine" and "business process management engine") the same thing?

Answer 1

In Wikipedia, a "Workflow Engine" is defined as:

A software application that manages and executes modeled computer processes.

and from the same source, "Business Process Management" is defined as:

A "holistic management" approach to aligning an organization's business processes with the wants and needs of clients

Hence these nouns should not be used interchangeably; a "Workflow engine" is a generic engine used for modelling any workflow, whereas a "Business Process Management Engine" is a specific implementation of a "Workflow Engine" which models business process management.

So you could make the analogy, "Workflow Engine" is to a block of wood as "Business Process Management Engine" is to a carved wooden walking stick.