System and method for synchronized workflow management

• US 20070266368A1
• Filed: 05/12/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Szpak, Peter, Orehek, Martin, Pacheco, Paulo, Robl, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 8,181,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• 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 workflow manager that offers structure and control over the graphical modeling environment so that the graphical modeling environment is reconfigured in a manner appropriate for a particular workflow is disclosed. The workflow manager of the present invention provides hierarchical task management that is synchronized to the graphical modeling environment. The workflow manager also allows a model designer to navigate a series of steps required to achieve the goal of a particular workflow. An API allows the steps to be customized as required by the end user.

Claims

1. A method of managing workflows in a graphical modeling environment, comprising:

receiving user input associated with an identified workflow;

displaying information associated with the identified workflow based on the received user input; and

reconfiguring at least a portion of a modeling environment in response to a user selection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user selection is the selection of a step in the identified workflow and wherein reconfiguring at least a portion of the modeling environment comprises reconfiguring the modeling environment to graphically indicate model elements associated with the identified step.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein graphically indicating model elements associated with the identified step further comprises at least one of modifying a display color of at least one model element associated with the identified step and altering a display intensity property for the element.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein reconfiguring at least a portion of a modeling environment further comprises displaying at least one of:

a graphical modeling editor view, a model hierarchy view, a model dependencies view, a compiled model view, a model requirements view, a model coverage view, a model simulation results view, a model debugging view, a model profiling view and a contents editor view.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified workflow is selected by a user from a menu.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an API that allows a user to add at least a second workflow to the modeling environment, both the second workflow and the identified workflow being simultaneously active in the modeling environment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an API that allows a user to create a new workflow associated with a model being modeled in the modeling environment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an API that allows a user to alter an existing workflow.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the altering of the existing workflow comprises one or a combination of:

adding a step to the existing workflow, deleting a step from the existing workflow, an ordering of tasks in the workflow, a changing of the dependencies of tasks in the workflow, a setting of a permission level for at least one of a user or type of user to execute the workflow, an addition of an indication of a relationship to at least one other workflow, highlighting model elements and an altering of an existing indication of a relationship to at least one other workflow.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a set of acceptance criteria for a model being modeled in the modeling environment;

specifying at least one task in a workflow associated with the model as requiring validation against the acceptance criteria.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein one of the set of acceptance criteria or an alteration to the set of acceptance criteria are specified using an API associated with the workflow.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

performing a task in the workflow; and

validating the model against the set of acceptance criteria.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing to the user a report indicating an amount of incomplete work in the workflow.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving a snapshot of a state of the identified workflow, the snapshot including at least one of a collection of current workflow information and a collection of current model information.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

linking bi-directionally components in different views of the graphical modeling environment, the bi-directional linkage allowing a user to navigate from a first component in one view to a corresponding component in a second view.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified workflow is one or a combination of:

a workflow converting a model from a floating point implementation to a fixed-point implementation, a workflow converting a model from one type of fixed point implementation to another type of fixed point implementation, a workflow converting a model from a continuous-time implementation to a discrete-time implementation, a workflow to optimize a model to enhance simulation performance, a workflow to configure a model for optimal code generation, a workflow for instrumenting a model for data logging, a data management workflow, a code generation workflow, a verification and validation workflow, a workflow calibrating against collected data, a workflow for validating the matching of model interfaces, a workflow to prepare a model for connecting with instrumentation hardware, a workflow to configure ‘

reconfigurable I/O’

, and a workflow to setup instruments.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the reconfiguring of the model environment further comprises:

reconfiguring one or more of;

a block diagram editor, a data flow diagram editor, a text-based block inside a graphical diagram, a statechart, a sequence diagram, a class diagram, a physical modeling view, and a data explorer view.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the reconfiguring of the model environment reconfigures one or more of:

a spreadsheet view, a GUI, a tree view, a block, a state, a library, a user dialog, a signal, a dependency view, a text-based editor, an application environment, a system environment and a transition.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified workflow is a hierarchical task-based workflow.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified workflow is depicted using one of the group of:

graphics and text.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified workflow generates an artifact proving the completion of at least one task within the workflow.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing the workflow to the modeling environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguring of the modeling environment further comprises altering a view generated by the modeling environment to indicate to the user a progression towards completion of the identified workflow.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the modeling environment is altered to display completed items in the identified workflow in a first color and incomplete items in the identified workflow in a second color.

5-1. Instructions for graphically indicating in the modeling environment the elements associated with the identified step by altering a display intensity property for the element.

16. The method of claim 16 wherein the report is displayed in a workflow manager.

18. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

restoring the state saved in the snapshot in the graphical modeling environment.

25. The method of claim 25 wherein the identified workflow is represented by one of a flowchart and state chart.

28. A system for capturing task-based workflows in a graphical modeling environment, comprising:

a task-based workflow identified by a user;

user input associated with the task-based workflow;

a view of information associated with the workflow based on the received user input, the workflow synchronized to a modeling environment; and

a modeling environment, the modeling environment being reconfigured in response to a user selection.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the task-based workflow is a hierarchical task-based workflow.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the modeling environment includes at least one of:

a block diagram editor, a data flow diagram editor, a text-based block inside a graphical diagram, a statechart, a sequence diagram, an entity flow diagram, a class diagram, a physical modeling view, and a data explorer view.

31. The system of claim 28 further comprising:

at least one snapshot of a current state of the identified workflow, the snapshot including at least one of a collection of current workflow information and a collection of current model information.

32. A medium holding computer-executable instructions for providing a task manager, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving user input associated with a identified workflow;

instructions for displaying information associated with the identified workflow based on the received user input; and

instructions for reconfiguring at least a portion of a modeling environment in response to a user selection.

33. The medium of claim 32 wherein the user selection is the selection of a step in the identified workflow and wherein reconfiguring at least a portion of the modeling environment comprises reconfiguring the modeling environment to graphically indicate model elements associated with the identified step.

34. The medium of claim 33 wherein graphically indicating model elements associated with the identified step further comprises:

modifying a display color of at least one model element associated with the identified step.

35. The medium of claim 33 wherein the instructions further comprise:

36. The medium of claim 32 wherein a view generated by the modeling environment includes at least one of a graphical modeling editor view, a model hierarchy view, a model dependencies view, a compiled model view, a model requirements view, a model coverage view, a model simulation results view, a model debugging view, a model profiling view and a contents editor view.

37. The medium of claim 32 wherein the reconfiguring of the modeling environment includes altering a view generated by the modeling environment to indicate to the user a progression towards completion of the identified workflow.

38. The medium of claim 37 wherein the modeling environment is altered to display completed items in the identified workflow in a first color and incomplete items in the identified workflow in a second color.

39. The medium of claim 32 wherein the identified workflow is selected by a user from a menu.

40. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for providing an API that allows a user to add at least a second workflow to the modeling environment, both the second workflow and the identified workflow being simultaneously active in the modeling environment.

41. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for providing an API that allows a user to create a new workflow.

42. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for providing an API that allows a user to alter an existing workflow.

43. The medium of claim 42, wherein the altering comprises one or a combination of:

adding a step to the existing workflow, deleting a step from the existing workflow, an ordering of tasks in the workflow, a changing of the dependencies of tasks in the workflow, a setting of a permission level for at least one of a user or type of user to execute the workflow, an addition of an indication of a relationship to at least one other workflow and an altering of an existing indication of a relationship to at least one other workflow.

44. The medium of claim 32, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for providing a set of acceptance criteria for a model being modeled in the modeling environment;

instructions for specifying at least one task in a workflow associated with the model as requiring validation against the acceptance criteria.

45. The medium of claim 44 wherein one of the set of acceptance criteria or an alteration to the set of acceptance criteria are specified using an API associated with the workflow.

46. The medium of claim 44 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for performing a task in the workflow; and

instructions for validating the model against the set of acceptance criteria.

47. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for providing a report to a user indicating an amount of incomplete work in the workflow.

48. The medium of claim 47 wherein the report is displayed in a workflow manager.

49. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for saving a snapshot of a state of the identified workflow, the snapshot including at least one of a collection of current workflow information and a collection of current model information.

50. The medium of claim 49 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for restoring the state saved by the snapshot in the graphical modeling environment.

51. The medium of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for linking bi-directionally components in different views of the graphical modeling environment, the bi-directional linkage allowing a user to navigate from a first component in one view to a corresponding component in a second view.

52. The medium of claim 32 wherein the identified workflow is one or a combination of:

a workflow converting a model from a floating point implementation to a fixed-point implementation, a workflow converting a model from one type of fixed point implementation to another type of fixed point implementation, a workflow converting a model from a continuous-time implementation to a discrete-time implementation, a workflow to optimize a model to enhance simulation performance, a workflow to configure a model for optimal code generation, a workflow for instrumenting a model for data logging, a data management workflow, a code generation workflow, a verification and validation workflow, a workflow calibrating against collected data, a workflow for validating the matching of model interfaces, a workflow to prepare a model for connecting with instrumentation hardware, a workflow to configure ‘

reconfigurable I/O’

, and a workflow to setup instruments.

53. The medium of claim 32 wherein the reconfiguring of the model environment further comprises reconfiguring one or more of:

a block diagram editor, a data flow diagram editor, a text-based block inside a graphical diagram, a statechart, an entity flow diagram, a sequence diagram, a class diagram, a physical modeling view, and a data explorer view.

54. The medium of claim 32 wherein the reconfiguring of the model environment reconfigures one or a combination of:

a spreadsheet view, a GUI, a tree view, a block, a state, a library, a user dialog, a signal, a dependency view, a text-based editor, an application environment, a system environment and a transition.

55. The medium of claim 32 wherein the identified workflow is a hierarchical task-based workflow.

56. The medium of claim 32 wherein the identified workflow is depicted using one of the group of:

graphics and text.

57. The medium of claim 56 wherein the identified workflow is one of a flowchart and state chart.

58. The method of claim 32 wherein the identified workflow generates an artifact proving the completion of at least one task within the workflow.

59. The method of claim 32 wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for synchronizing the workflow with the modeling environment.

60. In a graphical modeling environment, a method for managing workflows in a graphical modeling environment, comprising:

means for receiving user input associated with an identified workflow;

means for displaying information associated with the identified workflow based on the received user input; and

means for reconfiguring at least a portion of a modeling environment in response to a user selection.