Mass start of workflows in idoc inbound processing

[Ulrich Mende]

Hello workflowers,
we have a problem with mass processing of inbound idocs here (4.6C).
In the processing of the incoming idocs we start a workflow directly
with SWW_WI_START. The workflow consists of background steps only, which
all call methods doing something like  CALL TANSACTION VNNNN USING
BDCTAB MODE 'N'. (Yes, I know, this is not realy workflow and could be
done by
an ABAP program too, but they like workflows here  :-)  )
Everything works fine when idocs arrive with "normal" frequency less  1
idoc/second. But sometimes after a delaytion in the outbound system the
idocs arrive with much higher frequency. In this case we get a system
deadlock and the system must be shut down. Idoc processing is set to
"direct".
 
Did anyone of you experianced correponding problems with mass start of
workflows?
Could it be usefull to
- serialize the idoc processing?
- switch the background tasks in the workflow to dialog tasks?
 
Any help is higly appriciated
 
Best regards Uli