Method and system for adaptive action management for business solutions

• US 20060241954A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yoshida, Yoichi, McAuliffe, Kevin Patrick, Nguyen, Quoc-Bao, Bhaskaran, Kumar, Jeng, Jun-Jang, Chang, Hung-yang
• Application Number:
  US11/111,805
• Publication Number:
  US 20060241954A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

A method (and system) of adaptive action management for business solutions includes detecting a business situation, adaptively deciding an action for a detected business situation using information from a knowledge base, and invoking an action service for implementing the action.

Claims

1. A method of adaptive action management for business solutions, comprising:

detecting a business situation;

adaptively deciding an action for a detected business situation using information from a knowledge base; and

invoking an action service for implementing said action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting said business situation comprises monitoring business solutions and detecting business situations and exceptions according to situation rules.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting said business situation comprises using a rules engine which correlates a business event emitted from a business solution and detects an event pattern to decide whether said business situation occurred.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting said business situation comprises deriving said business situation from a status of a business process with a predefined exceptional state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said adaptively deciding said action comprises:

processing incoming business situations; and

choosing a business action determination mechanism.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said adaptively deciding said action further comprises:

deciding a business action to be taken;

mediating necessary data for the decided business action; and

selecting a best action service for said decided business action.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said adaptively deciding said action further comprises:

invoking a selected action service;

executing the invoked action service; and

tracking a result of said executing said invoked action service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said information comprises at least one of decision rules for choosing action determination services, logics of determining business actions, data mediation logics for parametric data of business actions, bindings and criteria for selecting an action service for a given business action, and a metadata of action services.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said action service triggers an associated implementation module.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said action service comprises at least one of a Java component, a World Wide Web (WWW) service, a workflow, and a rule.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deploying computing infrastructure in which computer-readable code is integrated into a computing system, such that said code and said computing system combine to perform said method.

11. A system for adaptive action management for business solutions, comprising:

a business situation detector which detects a business situation; and

an adaptive action manager which adaptively decides an action for a detected business situation, and invokes an action service for implementing said action.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a knowledge base which is accessible by said adaptive action manager, and stores information, said adaptive action manager deciding said action based on said information.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

an event processor which comprises said business situation detector and at least one of a correlator and a metric caculator.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein said adaptive action manager comprises:

an action mediation manager;

a decision-making processor which is consulted by said action mediation manager and returns business actions to said action mediation manager; and

an action service manager which receives an invocation of an action service from said action mediation manager and outputs a directive to a target business solution.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said action mediation manager comprises:

an action determination service which consults with said decision-making processor;

a data mediator which maps data sources to action parameters;

an action planner which generates an invocation plan for target actions; and

an action service selector which selects said action service.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said action service manager comprises an action tracker which tracks an action service invoked by said adaptive action manager, and

wherein said adaptive action manager further comprises an action exception handler which resolves an exception received from said action tracker.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said business solution comprises one of a workflow management system (WFMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a legacy system, a database, and an external source.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein said adaptive action manager comprises:

a metal level control layer comprising an action determiner determiner (ADD), a performance profile, and a decision tree;

a control layer comprising an action determiner (AD), a scheduler, and a planner; and

an execution layer comprising a monitor and an effector, an action effect being fedback from said execution layer to said metal level control layer.

19. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of adaptive action management for business solutions, said method comprising:

detecting a business situation;

adaptively deciding an action for a detected business situation using information from a knowledge base; and

invoking an action service for implementing said action.