Contextual workflow modeling
First Claim
1. A workflow modeling technique based on a finite state machine executing in a data environment wherein a) Modifications to the data environment can lead to a change in the running status of the state machine. b) Each state in the finite state machine follows a well-defined lifecycle including but not limited to the following lifecycle stages:
- Instantiated, Activated, Aborted, and Completed. c) Business rules operating on data drawn from the data environment govern the progression of each state through its lifecycle and the transitions from one state to one or more subsequent states. d) Business rules operating on data drawn from the data environment govern the ability to start a workflow instance. e) A business rule executes and returns a value that indicates the success or failure of rule execution.
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Abstract
A workflow modeling technique is proposed wherein a workflow is modeled as a modified finite-state machine executing strictly in the context of a data environment. The data environment isolates the state machine such that the only way to effect a change in the running status of the state machine is through modifications to the data environment. Each state in the state machine has a well-defined lifecycle. The progression of each state through its lifecycle and the transitions to other states are governed by user-defined business rules which operate on data drawn from the data environment. Business rules can also be defined to determine the executability of a particular task. Injection of data into the data environment can be accomplished either by programmatically setting values for user-defined variables or by users filling out forms interactively. User access to forms and individual data fields on a form is determined dynamically from the user'"'"'s role and the current workflow status. Form layouts are handled automatically to accommodate for the visibility of individual data fields at any particular time. The task list for each user is extracted dynamically from the form access information and the current workflow data contents.
51 Citations
134 Claims
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1. A workflow modeling technique based on a finite state machine executing in a data environment wherein
a) Modifications to the data environment can lead to a change in the running status of the state machine. b) Each state in the finite state machine follows a well-defined lifecycle including but not limited to the following lifecycle stages: - Instantiated, Activated, Aborted, and Completed.
c) Business rules operating on data drawn from the data environment govern the progression of each state through its lifecycle and the transitions from one state to one or more subsequent states. d) Business rules operating on data drawn from the data environment govern the ability to start a workflow instance. e) A business rule executes and returns a value that indicates the success or failure of rule execution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134)
- Instantiated, Activated, Aborted, and Completed.
Specification