METHOD, SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR MODELING PROCESSES

• US 20070283318A1
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tong, Tack, Benayon, Jay W., Mirlas, Lev, Lafond, Anne Marie, Leung, Humie, Williams, Randolph P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,861,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, system, and program product for modeling processes such as business processes. Specifically, under the present invention, a process having multiple variations is modeled as a placeholder process, and is associated with an annotation that maps the multiple variations to different contexts of the placeholder process. Thereafter, process variations can be generated based on the different contexts of the placeholder process. Integrity checks can also be performed to determine if any of the process variations has an error so that the generation of any corresponding process will be prevented.

Claims

1. A method for modeling processes, comprising:

modeling a process having multiple variations as a placeholder process; and

associating an annotation with the placeholder process that maps the multiple variations to different contexts of the placeholder process.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating process variations based on the different contexts of the placeholder process.

3. The method of claim 2, the generating comprising providing distinct input sets for each of the different contexts of the placeholder process.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising performing integrity checks to determine if any of the process variations has an error.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising preventing the generation of any process determined to have an error.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the process is a business process, and wherein at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to business process and at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to consumer process.

7. A system for modeling processes, comprising:

a modeler tool for modeling a process having multiple variations as a placeholder process; and

a mapping tool for associating an annotation with the placeholder process that maps the multiple variations to different contexts of the placeholder process.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a generator for generating process variations based on the different contexts of the placeholder process.

9. The system of claim 8, the system for generating providing distinct input sets for each of the different contexts of the placeholder process.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the system performs integrity checks to determine if any of the process variations has an error.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the system prevents the generation of any process determined to have an error.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the process is a business process, and wherein at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to process and at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to consumer process.

13. A program product stored on a computer readable medium for modeling processes, the computer readable medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to perform the following steps:

modeling a process having multiple variations as a placeholder process; and

associating an annotation with the placeholder process that maps the multiple variations to different contexts of the placeholder process.

14. The program product of claim 13, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to perform the following step:

generating process variations based on the different contexts of the placeholder process.

15. The program product of claim 14, the generating comprising providing distinct input sets for each of the different contexts of the placeholder process.

16. The program product of claim 14, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to perform the following step:

performing integrity checks to determine if any of the process variations has an error.

17. The program product of claim 16, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to perform the following step:

preventing the generation of any processing determined to have an error.

18. The program product of claim 13, wherein the process comprises a business process, and wherein at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to business process and at least one of the multiple variations corresponds to a business to consumer process.

19. A method for deploying an application for modeling processes, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

model a process having multiple variations as a placeholder process; and

associate an annotation with the placeholder process that maps the multiple variations to different contexts of the placeholder process.

20. The method of claim 19, the computer infrastructure being further operable to generate process variations based on the different contexts of the placeholder process.