Flexible workflow tool including multi-lingual support

• US 20080052613A1
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Maine, Dale W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method of generating a flexible automated workflow system includes identifying a workflow process, creating at least one form associated with the workflow process identified for display in a base language, generating a user interface version of the at least one form, and displaying the user interface version of the at least one form in the base language for use by a user. A user selectable option to translate includes providing at least one alternate translation of the user interface version of the at least one form into at least one alternate language when the at least one alternate translation was provided by a developer when the at least one form was created and an option to translate is selected by the user. Alternatively, the at least one translation of the user interface version of the at least one form can also be displayed when the at least one alternate translation is provided by a developer subsequent to creation of the at least one form.

Claims

1. A method of generating a flexible automated workflow system comprising the steps of:

identifying a workflow process;

creating at least one form associated with the workflow process identified for display in a base language, wherein creating the at least one form includes;

defining at least one field of information for the at least one form;

generating configuration information for each field of information defined;

storing the configuration information as a workflow definition in a markup language;

generating a user interface version of the at least one form based upon the workflow definition; and

displaying the user interface version of the at least one form in the base language for use by a user.

2. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 1, wherein the markup language is Extensible Markup Language.

3. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of generating configuration information includes:

determining a type of field associated with each field of information defined; and

generating the configuration information based upon the type of field.

4. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 3, further including the step of:

identifying the attribute of information defined as being translatable from the base language into at least one alternate language based upon the type of field determined to be associated with each field of information defined.

5. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 4, further including the steps of:

providing at least one alternate translation for each field of information identified as being translatable, wherein the at least one alternate translation is provided in the at least one alternate language by a developer when the at least one form was created; and

storing the at least one alternate translation for each field of information translated in at least one alternate language translation table.

6. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 5, further including the steps of:

providing a user selectable translation feature including the at least one alternate language;

modifying the workflow definition based upon the at least one alternate language translation table when the user selects the at least one alternate language; and

displaying the user interface version of the at least one form in the at least one alternate language based upon the modified workflow definition when the user selects the at least one alternate language.

7. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 4, further including the steps of:

providing at least one alternate translation for each field of information identified as being translatable, wherein the at least one alternate translation is provided in the at least one alternate language by a developer subsequent to creation of the at least one form; and

storing the at least one alternate translation for each field of information translated in at least one alternate language translation table.

8. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 7, further including the steps of:

providing a user selectable translation feature including the at least one alternate language;

modifying the workflow definition based upon the at least one alternate language translation table when the user selects the at least one alternate language; and

displaying the user interface version of the at least one form in the at least one alternate language based upon the modified workflow definition when the user selects the at least one alternate language.

9. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 1, further including the step of:

attaching at least one attribute to each field of information defined, wherein the at least one attribute is attached to each field of information via the markup language.

10. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 9, wherein the at least one attribute includes attribute data and further including the step of:

identifying the attribute data of at least one attached attribute as being translatable from the base language into at least one alternate language.

11. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 10, further including the step of:

providing at least one alternate translation for each attached attribute identified as being translatable, wherein the at least one alternate translation is provided in the at least one alternate language by a developer when the at least one form was created; and

storing the at least one alternate translation for each field of information translated in at least one alternate language translation table.

12. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 11, further including the steps of:

providing a user selectable translation feature including the at least one alternate language;

modifying the workflow definition based upon the at least one alternate language translation table when the user selects the at least one alternate language; and

displaying the user interface version of the at least one form in the at least one alternate language based upon the modified workflow definition when the user selects the at least one alternate language.

13. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least one attribute is one of:

a field name and a field label.

14. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 9, further including the step of:

creating a style sheet associated with the at least one form, wherein the style sheet defines rules for translating the markup language into the user interface version.

15. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 14, wherein the style sheet is created in a presentation language.

16. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 15, wherein the presentation language is Extensible Stylesheet Language.

17. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 16, wherein the style sheet is created automatically by the flexible automated workflow system.

18. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 17, wherein the style sheet is customized by the developer.

19. A method of generating a flexible automated workflow system comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one workflow process; and

creating a customized form for each workflow process identified including providing a translation feature.

20. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 19, further including the step of:

displaying the customized form in a base language for use by a user, wherein the translation feature includes translating the customized form from the base language to at least one alternate language different from the base language.

21. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 20, wherein the customized form is created by a developer and the translation feature is user selectable.

22. The method of generating the flexible automated workflow system as recited in claim 21, further including the step of displaying the customized form in the at least one alternate language when the translation feature is selected by the user.