Abstract: The invention identifies areas in a workflow graph that operate on one workstation—islands that can execute also remote from a central workflow server. Such a remote workstation can even operate physically disconnected from a central server during the interpretation/execution of the island. The workflow model is analyzed and those parts that are defined for execution on one specific workstation are encapsulated. Those parts, called “islands” can be interpreted or executed on the central workflow server, or can be downloaded from the server to a specific remote client workstation. Additionally, the islands in the workflow graph can optionally be transformed, either at the server or after downloading at the destination workstations, towards much more efficiently executable versions of the islands.