Simply put, BioIDE's workflow system is far superior to the conventional scripting approach in most use cases. As a researcher will soon find out after testing it, the workflow system in BioIDE enjoys the folowing advantages:

• Intuitive to use: Except for entering parameter values, the mouse is all a researcher needs to build a workflow, which can include many steps and branches. By removing the rather steep requirement of scripting, average researchers can now build workflows to give them exactly what they want.


• Easy to manage: All workflows in BioIDE are automatically saved upon creation and subsequent revisions to central locations on disk. No more manual steps to move them between directories.


• Robust and flexible: In BioIDE, a researcher can build all kinds of workflows as they can fathom. The workflow can have as many sequential steps and branches as needed, can use the same data processing or analytical components more than once, and can associate any visualization component with any data processing/analytical component.


• Easy to share: Everyone can use a good workflow that has been proven. In contrast, it is not that easy to share when scripting is the only way to go because scripting has heavy dependency on directory structure, operating system, etc. A workflow built in BioIDE can be easily shared with colleagues with simple mouse clicks.