1. A method for deploying a process to a distributed network environment, wherein the process comprises a plurality of processing steps to be performed by a plurality of computing components of the distributed network environment, the method comprising: a. generating an Extensible Markup Language (XML) process package that defines information needed to execute the process; and b. deploying the XML process package to the plurality of computing components; c. wherein the XML process package comprises: a control flow definition, comprising a definition of the plurality of processing steps and at least one connection between the plurality of processing steps; and a data flow definition, comprising a definition of at least one dataflow between the plurality of processing components.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control flow definition comprises a plurality of activity types for the plurality of processing steps selected from the group comprising: abstract activity, human task activity, web service activity, scripting activity, email activity, embedded sub-process and/or independent sub-process.