Architectural design for service procurement application software

• US 20070156489A1
• Filed: 12/30/2005
• Published: 07/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sala, Paola, Von Geisau, Otfried, Tebbe, Matthias, Moosmann, Gerd, Kaetker, Stefan, Freund, Jens, Latocha, Peter, Fitz, Peter, Berger, Arthur, Neumayer, Peter, Schwarz, Armin, Schueler, Arnulf, Jaeger, Bettina, Tillinger, Karin
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing service procurement. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service interface operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include a Project Processing process component; a Purchase Request Processing process component; a Purchase Order Processing process component; a Purchasing Contract process component; a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component; a Supplier Invoice Processing process component; an RFQ Processing process component that; and a Time and Labor Management process component.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising application software encoded on a tangible machine-readable information carrier, the application software being structured as process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, the software comprising:

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a Project Processing process component that structures, plans, and executes measures or projects;

a Purchase Request Processing process component provides a request or instruction to the purchasing department to purchase specified goods or services in specified quantities within a specified time;

a Purchase Order Processing process component that handles purchase orders to external suppliers and supplier confirmations;

a Purchasing Contract process component that handles agreements between a purchaser and a supplier that details the supply of goods or the performance of services at agreed conditions;

a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component that handles goods and service acknowledgements, which states a recipient'"'"'s obligation to pay a supplier for goods received or services rendered;

a Supplier Invoice Processing process component that handles supplier invoices and supplier invoice requests;

an RFQ Processing process component that handles requests for quotation and corresponding quotes; and

a Time and Labor Management process component that supports the definition of employees'"'"' planned working time as well as the recording or the actual working times and absences and their evaluation; and

a plurality of service interface operations, each service interface operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the Purchase Request Processing process component and the RFQ Processing process component;

the Logistics Execution Control process component and the Inbound Delivery Processing process component Inbound Delivery Processing process component;

the Project Processing process component and the Purchase Request Processing process component;

the RFQ Processing process component and the Purchase Order Processing process component;

the Purchase Order Processing process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component;

the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component; and

the Project Processing process component and the Time and Labor Management process component.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of process components further includes:

an Accounting process component that records relevant business transactions;

a Payment Processing process component that handles incoming and outgoing payments as well as represent the main database for a liquidity status;

a Due Item Processing process component that manages payables and receivables from service and supply; and

a Internal Request Processing process component that handles internal requests for the procurement of goods or services for the company, which can be fulfilled by an issue of a purchase request to the purchasing department, a reservation of goods from stock, or a production request; and

wherein

the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components further include interactions between;

the Payment Processing process component and the Accounting process component;

an external Bank statement creation at bank process component and the Payment Processing process component;

the Supplier Invoice Processing process component and the Due Item Processing process component;

between the Payment Processing process component and an external Processing at Business Partner process component;

the Payment Processing process component and the Project Processing process component;

the Internal Request Processing process component and the Purchase Request Processing process component;

the Due Item Processing process component and the Payment Processing process component;

the Purchase Order Processing process component and an external Sales Order Processing at Supplier process component;

an external Customer Invoice Processing at Supplier process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component;

the Due Item Processing process component and the Accounting process component;

the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component and the Accounting process component;

the Payment Processing process component and an external Payment Order processing at house bank process component;

the Supplier Invoice Processing process component and the Accounting process component;

the Purchase Order Processing process component and the Accounting process component; and

the Supplier Invoice Processing process component and the Accounting process component.

3. The product of claim 2, wherein:

each of the plurality of process components is assigned to exactly one deployment unit among multiple deployment units, and each deployment unit is deployable on a separate computer hardware platform independent of every other deployment unit; and

all interaction between a process component in one deployment unit and any other process component in any other deployment unit takes place through the respective service interfaces of the two process components.

4. The product of claim 3, wherein the deployment units comprise:

a Financial Accounting deployment unit includes the Accounting process component;

a Project Management deployment unit that includes the Project Processing process component;

a Purchasing deployment unit that includes the Purchase Request Processing process component, the Purchase Order Processing process component, the Purchasing Contract process component, and the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component;

a Supplier Invoicing deployment unit that includes the Supplier Invoice Processing process component;

a Payment deployment unit that includes the Payment Process component;

an RFQ Processing deployment unit that includes the RFQ Processing process component;

a Due Item Management deployment unit that includes the Due Item Processing process component;

a Requisitioning deployment unit that includes the Internal Request Processing process component; and

a Human Capital Management deployment unit that includes the Time and Labor Management process component.

5. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

6. The product of claim 5, wherein the business objects comprise a business process object.

7. The product of claim 5, wherein:

none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

8. The product of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

9. The product of claim 8, wherein:

the inbound process agents comprise a first inbound process agent operable to start the execution of step requested in a first inbound message by creating or updating one or more business object instances.

10. The product of claim 8, wherein:

the outbound process agents comprise a first asynchronous outbound process agent that is called after a business object that is associated with the first outbound process agent changes.

11. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise synchronous and asynchronous operations.

12. A system, comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more hardware platforms for executing a computer software application;

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a Project Processing process component that structures, plans, and executes measures or projects;

a Purchase Request Processing process component provides a request or instruction to the purchasing department to purchase specified goods or services in specified quantities within a specified time;

a Purchase Order Processing process component that handles purchase orders to external suppliers and supplier confirmations;

a Purchasing Contract process component that handles agreements between a purchaser and a supplier that details the supply of goods or the performance of services at agreed conditions;

a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component that handles goods and service acknowledgements, which states a recipient'"'"'s obligation to pay a supplier for goods received or services rendered;

a Supplier Invoice Processing process component that handles supplier invoices and supplier invoice requests;

an RFQ Processing process component that handles requests for quotation and corresponding quotes; and

a Time and Labor Management process component that supports the definition of employees'"'"' planned working time as well as the recording or the actual working times and absences and their evaluation; and

a plurality of service interface operations, each service interface operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the Purchase Request Processing process component and the RFQ Processing process component;

the Logistics Execution Control process component and the Inbound Delivery Processing process component Inbound Delivery Processing process component;

the Project Processing process component and the Purchase Request Processing process component;

the RFQ Processing process component and the Purchase Order Processing process component;

the Purchase Order Processing process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component;

the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component; and

the Project Processing process component and the Time and Labor Management process component.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein:

a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

16. The system of claim 12, the system comprising multiple hardware platforms, wherein:

the Project Processing process component is deployed on a first hardware platform;

the Purchase Request Processing process component, the Purchase Order Processing process component, the Purchasing Contract process component, and the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component are deployed on a second hardware platform;

the Supplier Invoice Processing process component is deployed on a third hardware platform;

the RFQ Processing process component is deployed on a fourth hardware platform; and

the Time and Labor Management process component is deployed on a fifth hardware platform.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the first through the fifth hardware platforms are distinct and separate from each other.

18. A method for developing a computer software application, comprising:

obtaining in a computer system digital data representing an architectural design for a set of processes implementing an end-to-end application process, the design specifying a process component for each process in the set of processes, the design specifying further specifying a set of process component interactions, wherein

the specified process components include

a Project Processing process component that structures, plans, and executes measures or projects;

a Purchase Request Processing process component provides a request or instruction to the purchasing department to purchase specified goods or services in specified quantities within a specified time;

a Purchase Order Processing process component that handles purchase orders to external suppliers and supplier confirmations;

a Purchasing Contract process component that handles agreements between a purchaser and a supplier that details the supply of goods or the performance of services at agreed conditions;

a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component that handles goods and service acknowledgements, which states a recipient'"'"'s obligation to pay a supplier for goods received or services rendered;

a Supplier Invoice Processing process component that handles supplier invoices and supplier invoice requests;

an RFQ Processing process component that handles requests for quotation and corresponding quotes; and

a Time and Labor Management process component that supports the definition of employees'"'"' planned working time as well as the recording or the actual working times and absences and their evaluation; and

the process component interactions include interactions between

the Purchase Request Processing process component and the RFQ Processing process component;

the Logistics Execution Control process component and the Inbound Delivery Processing process component Inbound Delivery Processing process component;

the Project Processing process component and the Purchase Request Processing process component;

the RFQ Processing process component and the Purchase Order Processing process component;

the Purchase Order Processing process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component;

the Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component and the Supplier Invoice Processing process component; and

the Project Processing process component and the Time and Labor Management process component; and

using the design including the specified process components and the specified process component interactions to develop a computer software application to perform the set of processes.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

each process in the set of processes is a business process transforming a defined business input into a defined business outcome.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

obtaining digital data representing the architectural design further comprises editing the design before using the design.