CAPTURING DATA FROM USER SELECTED PORTIONS OF A BUSINESS PROCESS AND TRANSFERRING CAPTURED DATA TO USER IDENTIFIED DESTINATIONS

• US 20090177985A1
• Filed: 02/27/2009
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Mueller, Ralf, Khodabakchian, Edwin, Mi, Weigun, Nainani, Bhagat V., Reddy, Kireet M., Eidson, William
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,453 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming

Abstract

A graphical user interface (GUI) displays a flow of activities of a business process, including any portion thereof from which capture of data is permitted. The GUI receives, in an operation, at least an indication of a business process portion from which data is to be captured (“sensor”), an identification of an endpoint to which captured data is to be transferred, and a type of the endpoint which identifies (through a mapping) a predetermined software. A sensor may be added any number of times (through a single GUI or though multiple GUIs) by repeatedly performing the operation. Also, a given sensor may be associated with multiple endpoints. Computer(s) executing the business process check whether or not a sensor is present, on execution of the business process portion, and if present, then execute the corresponding predetermined software(s) to transfer data from the sensor directly to the respective endpoint(s).

Claims

1. A method of transferring data sensed from a business process, the method comprising:

displaying in a graphical user interface, the business process including indications of a plurality of portions from which data capture is to be permitted during execution of the business process;

receiving, through the graphical user interface, a selection of a portion in the plurality of portions, from which data capture is to be performed;

receiving, through the graphical user interface, values of a plurality of attributes of a destination to which is to be transferred the data to be captured from the portion identified in the first identification;

wherein the plurality of attributes comprises a type of said destination and an identification of said destination;

executing the business process while checking on execution of at least a group of portions in said plurality, whether or not capture of data is enabled;

performing capture of data, from the portion identified in the selection; and

using predetermined software associated with said type of said destination to transfer data captured from the portion identified in the selection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the predetermined plurality of types comprises at least (a) a queuing type, (b) a database type and (c) a subscription publication type.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the predetermined plurality of types further comprises a custom type; and

on receipt of the custom type, the method further comprises receiving software prepared by the user for processing the data to be captured from the portion identified in the selection.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the selection of said portion once again;

receiving additional values of said plurality of attributes;

wherein the additional values include an additional type and an additional destination; and

transferring, to the additional destination, said data captured from the portion identified in the selection.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

transferring a first document comprising at least two first descriptions of tuples including (a) a first tuple comprising (the selected portion, the type, and the identification of destination) and (b) a second tuple comprising (the selected portion, the additional type and the additional destination);

wherein the first document is transferred subsequent to transfer of a second document comprising a second description of the business process;

wherein the first document is transferred subsequent to transfer of a third document comprising a third description indicating each portion in the plurality of portions from which data capture is permitted; and

wherein all documents are expressed in a common markup language.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

generating a carrier wave encoded with the first document for transmission over a communication network.

7. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions to perform the acts of claim 5, the storage medium being further encoded with at least the first document.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the business process comprises at least one of (a) an activity to invoke a web service, (b) a receive activity to wait for a message from an external source and (c) a throw activity to raise an exception error; and

the portion identified in the first identification comprises at least one of a variable and a fault.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the plurality of attributes further comprises a property which depends on said type.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the property indicates a set of connection configuration parameters to be used in transferring the captured data to said destination.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the plurality of attributes further comprises a filter to be applied on the data captured from the portion identified in the selection.

12. A carrier wave encoded with instructions to perform the acts of claim 1.

13. A plurality of computers interconnected to one another, each computer in the plurality of computers comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor,

wherein memory of a first computer in the plurality of computers is encoded with instructions at least to:

display in a graphical user interface, a flow of activities of the business process including indications of a plurality of portions thereof from which data capture is permitted during execution of the business process;

receive, through the graphical user interface, a first identification of a portion in said plurality, from which data capture is to be enabled; and

receive, through the graphical user interface, a second identification of an endpoint to which is to be transferred the data to be captured from the portion identified in the first identification;

wherein memory of a second computer in the plurality of computers is encoded with instructions at least to;

execute the business process while checking after execution of each portion in said plurality, whether or not capture of data is enabled;

perform capture of data, from the portion identified in the first identification; and

transfer, to the endpoint identified in the second identification, data captured from the portion identified in the first identification.

14. An apparatus for orchestrating a business process, the apparatus comprising:

means for displaying in a graphical user interface, a flow of activities of the business process including indications of a plurality of portions thereof from which data capture is permitted during execution of the business process;

means for receiving, through the graphical user interface, a first identification of a portion in said plurality, from which data capture is to be enabled;

means for receiving, through the graphical user interface, a second identification of an endpoint to which is to be transferred the data to be captured from the portion identified in the first identification;

means for executing the business process while checking after execution of each portion in said plurality, whether or not capture of data is enabled;

means for performing capture of data, from the portion identified in the first identification; and

means for transferring, to the endpoint identified in the second identification, data captured from the portion identified in the first identification.

15. A computer-implemented method of transferring data sensed from a business process, the method comprising:

displaying in a graphical user interface, a plurality of portions of a business process;

receiving, through the graphical user interface, an identification of a portion in the plurality of portions, from which data is to be captured;

generating a description of said portion from which data is to be captured; and

executing the business process while checking after execution of each portion thereof, whether or not data is to be captured as indicated in said description.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

displaying in said graphical user interface an icon adjacent to said portion from which data is to be captured.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the description is expressed in a human-readable language.