the invention comprises a new and useful process , and appurtenant apparatus , for developing and using workflow applications with decision support . specifically , the invention includes a decision support engine and a programmatic interface thereto . the decision support engine is a middleware computer program that receives queries from a workflow application , connects to external data sources , executes queries , and returns query results to the workflow application . the programmatic interface allows a developer to integrate business logic and queries into a workflow application that supports decision - making .