Method and apparatus for supporting multiple business process languages in BPM

• US 20090064104A1
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Baeyens, Tom, Guizar, Alejandro
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method and apparatus for supporting multiple business process languages in business process management (BPM). The method may include receiving user input identifying a definition of a business process, and determining which business process language was used for the definition of the business process. The method further includes invoking a runtime environment associated with the used business process language, and executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving user input identifying a definition of a business process;

identifying one of a plurality of business process languages used for the definition of the business process;

invoking a runtime environment associated with the used business process language; and

executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of business process languages comprises jPDL and BPEL.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving an indication of a desired business process language;

providing a first user interface if the desired business process language is jPDL;

providing a second user interface if the desired business process language is BPEL; and

storing the definition of the business process specified via the first or second user interface in a process repository.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing runtime execution data in a runtime executions database; and

presenting the runtime execution data to a user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the runtime execution data is presented to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.

9. A system comprising:

a process repository to store definitions of a plurality of business processes; and

a business process management (BPM) process engine, coupled to the process repository, to receive user input identifying a definition of one of the plurality of business processes, to identify one of a plurality of business process languages used for the definition of the business process, to invoke a runtime environment associated with the used business process language, and to execute the business process in the invoked runtime environment.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the plurality of business process languages comprises jPDL and BPEL.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a process definition tool to receive an indication of a desired business process language, to provide a first user interface if the desired business process language is jPDL, to provide a second user interface if the desired business process language is BPEL, and to store the definition of the business process specified via the first or second user interface in the process repository.

12. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a runtime executions database to store runtime execution data; and

a web console to present the runtime execution data to a user.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide the runtime execution data to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.

17. A machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising:

receiving user input identifying a definition of a business process;

identifying one of a plurality of business process languages used for the definition of the business process;

invoking a runtime environment associated with the used business process language; and

executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

storing runtime execution data in a runtime executions database; and

presenting the runtime execution data to a user.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises:

providing a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process;

providing an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process; and

providing a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

20. The machine-accessible medium of claim 17 wherein the runtime execution data is presented to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.