Method and apparatus to facilitate development of a customer-specific business process model

• US 20040027388A1
• Filed: 06/23/2003
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Berg, Eric, Kilambi, Krishna
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A business process model pertaining to an application product is associated with a set of views that illustrate the realization of the business process in the application product. Further, the business process model is displayed to the user together with the set of views to enhance the user'"'"'s understanding of the business process provided by the application product.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an application product; and

associating a business process model pertaining to the application product with a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating the business process model for the application product using data from an external file.

4. The method of claim 5, wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the business process model comprises graphical representations of a plurality of activities within the business process.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the business process model with the plurality of views to the user.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein associating the business process model comprises:

creating the plurality of views corresponding to a plurality of user interfaces defined in the application product;

storing an identifier of each of the plurality of views in a repository; and

associating, in the repository, the identifier of each of the plurality of views with at least one of a plurality of activities represented in the business process model.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the application product is a standard application product defined for a specific industry.

9. A method comprising:

displaying a business process model pertaining to an application product; and

displaying a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

deleting one of the plurality of views in response to a user request.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

adding a view to the plurality of views in response to a user request.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

replacing one of the plurality of views with a different view in response to a user request.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a user request to navigate to one of the plurality of views in the application product;

determining a view identifier; and

passing a command to the application product to trigger display of a user interface associated with the view identifier in execution mode.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

creating a first set of business requirements using the business process model; and

transferring the first set of business requirements to a business requirement database.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

modifying the business process model in response to a user request;

creating a second set of business requirements using the modified business process model; and

transferring the second set of business requirements to the business requirement database.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

maintaining existing relationships between components of the business process model when creating the first set of business requirements.

19. The method of claim 9 wherein the application product is a standard application product defined for a specific industry.

20. A machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

identifying an application product; and

associating a business process model pertaining to the application product with a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the method further comprises:

creating the business process model for the application product using data from an external file.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 20 wherein associating the business process model comprises:

creating the plurality of views corresponding to a plurality of user interfaces defined in the application product;

storing an identifier of each of the plurality of views in a repository; and

associating, in the repository, the identifier of each of the plurality of views with at least one of a plurality of activities represented in the business process model.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the application product is a standard application product defined for a specific industry.

26. A machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

displaying a business process model pertaining to an application product; and

displaying a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the method further comprises:

modifying the plurality of views displayed to the user in response to a user request.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user request to navigate to one of the plurality of views in the application product;

determining a view identifier; and

passing a command to the application product to trigger display of a user interface associated with the view identifier in execution mode.

31. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus; and

a linkage process executed from the memory by the processor to cause the processor to identify an application product and to associate a business process model pertaining to the application product with a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein the linkage process causes the processor to associate the business process model by creating the plurality of views corresponding to a plurality of user interfaces defined in the application product, storing an identifier of each of the plurality of views in a repository, and associating, in the repository, the identifier of each of the plurality of views with at least one of a plurality of activities represented in the business process model.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the application product is a standard application product defined for a specific industry.

36. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus; and

a data presentation process executed from the memory by the processor to cause the processor to display a business process model pertaining to an application product and a plurality of views illustrating a business process within the application product.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein each of the plurality of views is an image representing one of a plurality of user interfaces defined by the application product.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein the business process model is created in a modeling language.

39. The system of claim 36 wherein the data presentation process further causes the processor to modify the plurality of views displayed to the user in response to a user request.

40. The system of claim 36 wherein the data presentation process further causes the processor to receive a user request to navigate to one of the plurality of views in the application product, to determine a view identifier, and to pass a command to the application product to trigger display of a user interface associated with the view identifier in execution mode.