Need help modeling workflow

I am attempting to model jobs deposited into a queue for subsequent processing.

These jobs will possess a diverse range of relationships - some jobs involving customers, some with outgoing email, some with workflow. Some will be handled by specific users, others will be dequeued by other processes. Some events will spawn other events.

The object-oriented (java) developers want a wide-open set of tables ("just give me a table with 5 nullable numeric columns and I'll figure out what goes in each") which just makes me cringe. At the same time, having a spider web of intersection tables between some "event" table and (many) various entities seems cumbersome.

Could anyone having implemented such a system give me some suggestions? This will be initially implemented under 8i.

Thanks,

-- 
John Bossert

In what concerns you much, do not think that you
have companions: know that you are alone in the world.

             -- Henry David Thoreau