Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for enabling design, generation, and execution of real-time workflows. Such embodiments provide a graphical designer including a plurality of shapes representing the various objects of a workflow that are used to model the workflow. In addition, various embodiments of the graphical designer provide shapes to model aspects of the workflow not found in previous graphical designers. Various embodiments also provide a code generator that converts the representation of the workflow into executable code for multiple target languages. Various embodiments also provide a workflow engine based on a Petri net model responsible for executing the workflow and for delegating tasks to be performed for the workflow to an operating system. In various embodiments, the workflow engine further includes a platform abstraction layer that provides a transition layer from the Petri net language to the operating system language.