REDACLE: A flexible database for traceability and workflow management for detector construction

The REDACLE Project was initiated as a simple, flexible and fast workflow management system to assist the construction of a high energy physics detector: CMS. Its database structure has been designed to be flexible enough to manage the construction of virtually any kind of product. In fact it can be used for a very different business process. One of the key element of the project was the complete decoupling between the database structure and the workflow process software as well as the separation between objects and their description.