diff --git a/lib/Spectre/Workflow.pm b/lib/Spectre/Workflow.pm
index ce36ff9e5..7e2853126 100644
--- a/lib/Spectre/Workflow.pm
+++ b/lib/Spectre/Workflow.pm
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use HTTP::Cookies;
 use POE qw(Component::Client::HTTP);
 use Tie::IxHash;
 use JSON qw/ encode_json /;
+use Clone qw(clone);
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -83,9 +84,10 @@ sub addInstance {
     } 
     else {
         $instance->{workingPriority} = ($instance->{priority} -1) * 10;
-	    $instance->{lastState} = "never run";
-	    $self->debug("Adding workflow instance ".$instance->{instanceId}." from ".$instance->{sitename}." to queue at priority ".$priority.".");
-        $self->{queue}{$instance->{instanceId}} = $instance; 
+	    $instance->{lastState} = 'never run';
+        $instance->{status} = 'waiting';
+	    $self->debug("Adding workflow instance ".$instance->{instanceId}." from ".$instance->{sitename}." to queue at priority ".$instance->{workingPriority}.".");
+        $self->{_queue}{$instance->{instanceId}} = $instance; 
     }
 }
 
@@ -133,7 +135,7 @@ Returns an integer representing the number of running instances.
 sub countRunningInstances {
 	my $self = shift;
     my $count = 0;
-    foreach my $instance (values %{$self->{queue}}) {
+    foreach my $instance ($self->getInstances) {
         if ($instance->{status} eq 'running') {
             $count++; 
         }
@@ -174,7 +176,7 @@ Removes a workflow instance from the processing queue.
 sub deleteInstance {
 	my ($self, $instanceId,$kernel, $session ) = @_[OBJECT, ARG0, KERNEL, SESSION];
 	$self->debug("Deleting workflow instance $instanceId from queue.");
-    delete $self->{queue}{$instanceId};
+    delete $self->{_queue}{$instanceId};
 }
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -207,19 +209,19 @@ sub editWorkflowPriority {
     $self->debug("Updating the priority of $instanceId to $newPriority.");
 
     my $instance = $self->getInstance($instanceId);
-    $instance->{priority} = $newPriority;
-    $instance->{workingPriority} = ($instance->{priority} -1) * 10;
-    $self->updateInstance($instance);
 
-    if (! $found) {
+    if (defined $instance) {
+        $instance->{priority} = $newPriority;
+        $instance->{workingPriority} = ($instance->{priority} -1) * 10;
+        $self->updateInstance($instance);
+        # return success message
+        $kernel->call(IKC=>post=>$rsvp, encode_json({message => 'edit priority success'}));
+    }
+    else {
         # return an error message
         my $error = 'edit priority instance not found error';
         $kernel->call(IKC=>post=>$rsvp, encode_json({message => $error}));
     }
-    else {
-        # return success message
-        $kernel->call(IKC=>post=>$rsvp, encode_json({message => 'edit priority success'}));
-    }
 }
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -256,10 +258,24 @@ The id of the instance to retrieve.
 
 sub getInstance {
     my ($self, $instanceId) = @_;
-    return $self->{queue}{$instanceId};
+    return clone($self->{_queue}{$instanceId});
 }
 
 
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head2 getInstances (  )
+
+Returns the array of instances from the queue.
+
+=cut
+
+sub getInstances {
+    my ($self) = @_;
+    my @instances = values %{$self->{_queue}};
+    return @{clone(\@instances)};
+}
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 =head2 getJsonStatus ( )
@@ -271,7 +287,8 @@ Returns JSON report about the workflow engine.
 sub getJsonStatus {
     my ($kernel, $request, $self) = @_[KERNEL,ARG0,OBJECT];
     my ($data, $rsvp) = @$request;
-    $kernel->call(IKC=>post=>$rsvp, encode_json($self->{queue}));
+    my @instances = $self->getInstances;
+    $kernel->call(IKC=>post=>$rsvp, encode_json(\@instances));
 }
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -298,13 +315,14 @@ Returns the next available instance.
 sub getNextInstance {
 	my $self = shift;
 	$self->debug("Looking for a workflow instance to run.");
-	if (scalar(keys %{$self->{queue}}) > 0) {
+    my @instances = $self->getInstances;
+	if (scalar(@instances) > 0) {
         my $lowInstance = {};
         my $lowPriority = 999999999999;
         my $waitingCount = 0;
-        foreach my $instance (values %{$self->{queue}}) {
+        foreach my $instance (@instances) {
             next unless $instance->{status} eq 'waiting';
-            $waiting++;
+            $waitingCount++;
             if ($instance->{workingPriority} > $lowPriority) {
                 $lowInstance = $instance;
             }
@@ -333,7 +351,7 @@ sub getStatus {
 	my $summaryPattern = "%19.19s %4d\n";
 	my $total = 0;
 	my $output = sprintf $pattern, "Priority", "Status", "Sitename", "Instance Id", "Last State", "Last Run Time";
-    foreach my $instance (values %{$self->{queue}}) {
+    foreach my $instance ($self->getInstances) {
 		my $originalPriority = ($instance->{priority} - 1) * 10;
         my $priority = $instance->{workingPriority}."/".$originalPriority;
 		$output .= sprintf $pattern, $priority, $instance->{status}, $instance->{sitename}, $instance->{instanceId}, $instance->{lastState}, $instance->{lastRunTime};
@@ -383,7 +401,7 @@ sub new {
 		Alias => 'workflow-ua',
 		CookieJar => $cookies
   		);
-	$self->{queue} = {};
+	$self->{_queue} = {};
 }
 
 
@@ -414,7 +432,7 @@ sub runWorker {
 	my ($kernel, $self, $instance, $session) = @_[KERNEL, OBJECT, ARG0, SESSION];
 	$self->debug("Preparing to run workflow instance ".$instance->{instanceId}.".");
     $self->debug("Incrementing ".$instance->{instanceId}." priority from ".$instance->{workingPriority});
-	$instance->{workingPriority} = $priority + 1; 
+	$instance->{workingPriority}++;
     $instance->{status} = 'running';
     $self->updateInstance($instance);
 	my $url = "http://".$instance->{sitename}.':'.$self->config->get("webguiPort").$instance->{gateway};
@@ -437,7 +455,7 @@ Suspends a workflow instance for a number of seconds defined in the config file,
 =cut
 
 sub suspendInstance {
-    my ($self, $instance, $waitTimeout) = @_[OBJECT, ARG0, ARG1];
+    my ($self, $kernel, $instance, $waitTimeout) = @_[OBJECT, KERNEL, ARG0, ARG1];
     $waitTimeout ||= $self->config->get("suspensionDelay");
     $self->debug("Suspending workflow instance ".$instance->{instanceId}." for ".$waitTimeout." seconds.");
     $instance->{status} = 'suspended';
@@ -460,7 +478,7 @@ A hash reference of the properties of the instance.
 sub updateInstance {
     my ($self, $instance) = @_;
     $self->debug("Updating ".$instance->{instanceId}."'s properties.");
-    $self->{queue}{$instance->{instanceId}};
+    $self->{_queue}{$instance->{instanceId}};
 }
 
 
@@ -494,7 +512,7 @@ sub workerResponse {
 		$instance->{lastRunTime} = localtime(time());
 		if ($state =~ m/^waiting\s*(\d+)?$/) {
             my $waitTime = $1;
-			$self->debug("Was told to wait on $instanceId because we're still waiting on some external event.");
+			$self->debug("Was told to suspend $instanceId because we're still waiting on some external event.");
 			$kernel->yield("suspendInstance",$instance, $waitTime);
 		}
         elsif ($state eq "complete") {