Data structures for context information related to business events

• US 20080162565A1
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAG AG
• Inventors: Waguet, Cyrille
• Granted Patent: US 7,954,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, related to data structures for context information related to business events. Data characterizing an event of one or more business processes (e.g., an event corresponding to a business activity in one or more computer-implemented business processes) is received, and a data structure is generated to enable event resolution. The data structure is generated in response to receiving the data and the data structure includes information about the event derived from the data and information to assist retrieving further information related to the event. The data structure may be defined in accordance with a declarative programming language. A business process to include events that are resolved with the use of a data structure including context information and a data structure (e.g., a designtime data structure) may be modeled in a visual modeling tool.

Claims

1. A computer-program product embodied on tangible media, the computer program product operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving data characterizing an event of one or more business processes; and

generating a data structure to enable event resolution, the generating in response to the receiving the data, the data structure comprising;

information about the event derived from the data; and

information to assist retrieving further information related to the event.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

generating the event in response to user interaction with a user interface from which a user is enabled to gain services of a business process.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the event relates to an orchestration of a web service in accordance with a business process, the business process being described in a messaging protocol for business processes and implemented in accordance with the messaging protocol.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

modeling a business process and the data structure in a visual modeling tool; and

generating a runtime implementation of the business process that is one of the business processes.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a relationship defined in accordance with an ontology; and

modifying the data structure to include the relationship.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

selectively generating an alert if rules of any of the business processes specify the alert is to be generated in response to the event.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein:

the data structure further comprises an event resolution procedure, and

the computer program product is operable to perform further operations comprising;

determining whether the event resolution procedure prescribes event resolution for the event, and

initiating the event resolution procedure if the event resolution procedure prescribes event resolution for the event.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

selecting a designtime data structure from a plurality of designtime data structures, the designtime data structure to be used to generate the data structure and the selecting depending on the data characterizing the event.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the information to assist retrieving further information related to the event comprises at least one of a reference to the further information at an information source or a procedure describing how to gather the further information.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the data structure further comprises performance indicator parameters and the computer program product is operable to perform further operations comprising collecting data to populate the performance indicator parameters.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 operable to perform further operations comprising:

initiating event resolution, the event resolution to reference the data structure for information about the event.

12. A computer-program product embodied on tangible media, the computer program product operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving data characterizing an event, the event corresponding to a business activity in one or more computer-implemented business processes; and

generating a data structure to enable resolution of the event, the generating in response to the receiving the data, the data structure being defined in accordance with a declarative programming language and the data structure comprising;

information about the event derived from the data, and

information to assist retrieving further information related to the event.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 operable to perform further operations comprising:

modeling the business process and the data structure in a visual modeling tool; and

generating a runtime instance of the business process being the computer-implemented business process.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 operable to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a relationship defined in accordance with an ontology; and

modifying the data structure to include the relationship.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 operable to perform further operations comprising:

selectively generating an alert if rules of any of the business processes specify the alert is to be generated in response to the event.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

the data structure further comprises an event resolution procedure, and

the computer program product is operable to perform further operations comprising;

determining whether the event resolution procedure prescribes event resolution for the event, and

initiating the event resolution procedure if the event resolution procedure prescribes event resolution for the event.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the data structure further comprises performance indicator parameters and the computer program product is operable to perform further operations comprising collecting data to populate the performance indicator parameters.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving data characterizing an event, the event corresponding to a business activity in one or more computer-implemented business processes; and

generating a data structure to enable resolution of the event, the generating in response to the receiving the data, the data structure being defined in accordance with a declarative programming language and the data structure comprising;

information about the event derived from the data, and

information to assist retrieving further information related to the event.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

modeling a business process and the data structure in a visual modeling tool; and

generating a runtime instance of the business process being one of the computer-implemented business processes.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving a relationship defined in accordance with an ontology; and

modifying the data structure to include the relationship.