Software business process model

• US 20040181775A1
• Filed: 03/12/2003
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Anonsen, Steven P., Brookins, Timothy James
• Granted Patent: US 7,730,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A business software framework includes an application framework that has a process model. The process model provides desired services to the business components. The process model arranges operations into activities. The process model can also use an agent/service arrangement.

Claims

1. A method of generating a computer implemented business process, comprising:

specifying a plurality of operations, each operation, when performed by the computer, performing an isolated, granular piece of work;

scoping the plurality of operations with a plurality of business activities, each business activity, when performed by the computer, invoking performance of an associated plurality of the operations; and

arranging the plurality of business activities in an order desired to accomplish the business process.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein scoping comprises:

assigning to each business activity a number of operations to be invoked by each business activity, each of the operations assigned being executable within an expected time-out period for a piece of work.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the operations are performed on an item of data, and, when performed, lock the item of data from access by other operations, and wherein scoping comprises:

assigning to each activity a number of operations to be invoked by each business activity, the pieces of work performed by each of the operations being based on a desired lock-up time during which each operation assigned to each business activity is performed.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein arranging the plurality of business activities comprises:

arranging at least one business sub-process within the business process.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein arranging at least one business sub-process comprises:

configuring one of the plurality of business activities to initiate the business sub-process.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein arranging at least one business sub-process comprises:

configuring the business sub-process to initiate a second one of the plurality of business activities.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein arranging the plurality of business activities comprises:

nesting business activities such that a base business activity is configured to initiate an internal business activity to be performed before completing the base business activity.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein arranging the plurality of business activities comprises:

nesting business sub-processes such that a base business sub-process is configured to initiate at least one of an internal business activity or business sub-process to be performed before completing the base business sub-process.

9. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

arranging stop points relative to the business activities during which execution of the business process waits for an external input prior to continuing.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein arranging the plurality of business activities comprises:

propagating an event from within a selected one of the plurality of business activities;

invoking an additional business activity based on the event; and

returning to the selected business activity upon completion of the additional business activity.

11. A method of performing a computer implemented business process, comprising:

describing the business process by describing business activities, comprised of operations, and describing business sub-processes, and an order in which they are to be performed to accomplish the business process, in a non-imperative process description language;

interpreting the process description language to instantiate the described business activities and business sub-processes in the described order to instantiate the business process; and

initiating the instantiated business process.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein initiating the instantiated business process comprises:

receiving a process initiation input; and

initiating the instantiated business process based on the process initiation input.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving the process initiation input comprises:

receiving an automated input from an external component.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving the process initiation input comprises:

receiving a user input.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein describing the business process comprises:

describing the business process in a metadata structure stored in a metadata store.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein describing the business process comprises:

describing the business process in a text file.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein describing the business process comprises:

specifying a plurality of operations, each operation, when performed by the computer, performing an isolated, granular piece of work.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein describing the business process comprises:

describing a plurality of business activities, each business activity, when performed by the computer, invoking performance of an associated plurality of the operations.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein describing the business process comprises:

describing an arrangement of the plurality of business activities in an order desired to accomplish the business process.

20. A business process model for use in business process software applications on a computer, comprising:

a plurality of operations, each operation performing an isolated piece of work;

a plurality of business activities which, when performed, invoke performance of a related set of the plurality of operations; and

a description of the plurality of business activities in a non-imperative description language which, when interpreted by the computer, causes the computer to instantiate the described business activities.

21. The business process model of claim 20 wherein the description includes a description of an order in which the plurality of business activities are to be performed to accomplish a selected business process.

22. The business process model of claim 20 and further comprising:

at least one business sub-process, comprised of a plurality of activities.

23. The business process model of claim 22 wherein the description comprises:

a description of the business sub-process.

24. The business process model of claim 20 and further comprising:

a stop point during which the business process waits for an input prior to completing performance of the business process.

25. A business process model used for implementing a computer-implemented business process, comprising:

an agent having a method configured to receive a process request from a client; and

a service factory configured to be invoked by the agent to instantiate and call a service to perform an operation.

26. The business process model of claim 25 wherein the agent is configured to invoke the service factory a plurality of times based on the process request.

27. The business process model of claim 25 wherein the agent is configured to hold state with the service through the service factory while the service factory is invoked a plurality of times.

28. The business process model of claim 25 wherein the service factory is configured to instantiate the service based on a received service identifier.

29. The business process model of claim 28 wherein the agent has a method configured to receive the service identifier from the client.

30. The business process model of claim 29 wherein the service factory is configured to receive the service identifier from the agent.

31. The business process model of claim 28 wherein the service factory is configured to receive the service identifier from metadata.

32. The business process model of claim 28 wherein the service factory is configured to propagate an event in response to being invoked by the agent.

33. The business process model of claim 32 wherein the service factory is configured to receive the service identifier from an event handler invoked in response to the event propagated by the service factory.