What are Work Queues?

[Michael Pokraka]

Greetings,
Could someone be so kind as to enlighten me what a work queue is and wher=
e
it may be used?
 
The SAP docs mention:
"List of objects that are to be processed once and together within a
specified period." - which is a bit generic.
 
They also state:
"Work queue work items are not displayed in the Business Workplace."
as well as
"Work queue work items are displayed in the Business Workplace."
...which now has me thoroughly confused.
 
A wee bit of background: Something has been configured in the past 6
months that activated some work queues today which have started to error
with no useful message and no object key. On a long shot, is anyone
familiar with Object Type AM_AI? This is the one that's failing, seems to
be part of Asset Management (4.7 IS Retail system).
 
Cheers
Mike