WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20080229307A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Suzuki, Takeshi, Maeda, Kaoru, Rostanin, Oleg, Holz, Harald
• Application Number:
  US12/044,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20080229307A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

A workflow management system wherein a workflow model is dynamically constituted when a workflow is executed, its method, and its computer-executable program are disclosed. The workflow management system includes

• • a receiving unit for receiving access from an external terminal based on a protocol that is capable accessing a file system;
  • a providing unit for providing a folder list to the external terminal, wherein the folder list is acquired by converting a task layer of the workflow managed by the workflow management system into a folder layer of the file system; and
  • an appending unit for appending a document as relevant information to a task of the workflow corresponding to a predetermined folder layer when the document is uploaded by the external terminal.

Claims

1. A workflow management system wherein a workflow model is dynamically constituted when a workflow is executed, the workflow management system comprising:

a receiving unit for receiving an access from an external terminal based on a protocol that is capable of accessing a file system;

a providing unit for providing a folder list to the external terminal, wherein the folder list is acquired by converting a task layer of the workflow managed by the workflow management system into a folder layer of the file system; and

an appending unit for appending a document as relevant information to a task of the workflow corresponding to a predetermined folder layer when the document is uploaded by the external terminal.

2. The workflow management system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a new task generating unit for generating a new task in the task layer of the workflow when new folder generation is requested by the external terminal.

3. The workflow management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

when a document is uploaded for a specified folder in the folder layer, the appending unit appends the document to the task of the workflow corresponding to the specified folder as the relevant information.

4. The workflow management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

when a document is uploaded without a folder in the folder layer being specified, the appending unit appends the document as the relevant information to a task of the workflow specified based on one of an updating time and a keyword of the document.

5. The workflow management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein when plural of the documents are uploaded in a package, the documents are divided into groups based on proximity of the updating time, and a task is specified for each of the groups.

6. A method of controlling a workflow management system wherein a workflow model is dynamically constituted when a workflow is executed, the method comprising:

a receiving step of receiving an access from an external terminal based on a protocol that can access a file system;

a providing step of providing a folder list to the external terminal, wherein the folder list is acquired by converting a task layer of the workflow managed by the workflow management system into a folder layer of the file system; and

an appending step of appending a document to the task of the workflow as relevant information, the task corresponding to a predetermined folder layer, when the document is uploaded by the external terminal.

7. The method of controlling the workflow management system as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

a new task generating step of generating a new task in the task layer of the workflow when the external terminal requests generating a new folder.

8. The method of controlling the workflow management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein

when a document is uploaded to a specified folder of the folder layer, the document is appended as relevant information to the task of the workflow, the task corresponding to the specified folder at the appending step.

9. The method of controlling the workflow management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein

when a document is uploaded without a folder of the folder layer being specified,

the document is appended as relevant information to a task of the workflow based on one of updating time and a keyword of the document at the appending step.

10. The method of controlling the workflow management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein

when plural of the documents are uploaded in a package, the documents are divided into groups based on proximity of the updating time, and a task is specified for each of the groups.

11. A control program of a workflow management system wherein a workflow model is dynamically constituted when a workflow is executed, the control program, comprising:

a function for a computer to realize a receiving unit for receiving access an from an external terminal based on a protocol that can access a file system;

a function for the computer to realize a providing unit for providing the external terminal with a folder list that is acquired by converting a task layer of the workflow managed by the workflow management system into a folder layer of the file system; and

a function for the computer to realize an appending unit for appending a document as relevant information to a task of the workflow corresponding to a predetermined folder layer when the document is uploaded from the external terminal.

12. The control program of the workflow management system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

a function for the computer to generate a new task in the task layer of the workflow based on a request to generate a new folder from the external terminal.

13. The control program of the workflow management system as claimed in claim 11, wherein

when a document is uploaded for a specified folder in the folder layer, the document is appended as relevant information to a task of the workflow corresponding to the specified folder.

14. The control program of the workflow management system as claimed in claim 11, wherein

when a document is uploaded with no folder of the folder layer being specified, the document is appended as relevant information to a task of the workflow based on one of updating time and a keyword of the document.

15. The control program of the workflow management system as claimed in claim 14, wherein

if plural of the documents are uploaded in a package, the documents are divided into groups based on proximity of the updating time, and a task is specified for each of the groups.