CREATING PARALLEL CONTROL FLOWS IN BUSINESS PROCESS MODELS

• US 20090228886A1
• Filed: 03/10/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Felbecker, Tobias, Kowalkiewicz, Marek
• Granted Patent: US 8,365,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system may include a composition engine that is configured to include a receiving engine that is configured to receive a series of states and transitions from an object lifecycle. The composition engine may include a computation engine that is configured to compute actions from the transitions and to compute preconditions and effects for the actions from the states. The composition engine may include a relations engine that is configured to compute relations between the actions and a parallel process engine that is configured to generate a parallel process fragment that includes at least two of the actions based on the relations between the actions.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a composition engine that is arranged and configured to include;

a receiving engine that is arranged and configured to receive a series of states and transitions from an object lifecycle;

a computation engine that is arranged and configured to;

compute actions from the transitions; and

compute preconditions and effects for the actions from the states;

a relations engine that is arranged and configured to compute relations between the actions; and

a parallel process engine that is arranged and configured to generate a parallel process fragment that includes at least two of the actions based on the relations between the actions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment, the parallel process fragment including:

a set of the actions;

a set of parallel control flow nodes;

a set of input states using the preconditions; and

a set of output states using the effects.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is further arranged and configured to generate a process model that includes the parallel process fragment.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is further arranged and configured to generate a process model that includes the actions, the preconditions, the effects and the parallel process fragment.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that two of the actions belong to a same object and determining that each of the two actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that a first action and a sequentially ordered series of other actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that the first action and the sequentially ordered series of other actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that more than two actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that each of the more than two actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the parallel process engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that a first action belongs to a first object lifecycle and a second action belongs to a second object lifecycle and determining that no dependencies exist between at least the first action and other actions of the second object lifecycle based on the computed relations between the actions.

13. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the composition engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that two of the actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that each of the two actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

14. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the composition engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that a first action and a sequentially ordered series of other actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that the first action and the sequentially ordered series of other actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

15. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the composition engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that more than two actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that each of the more than two actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.

16. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the composition engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment by determining that a first action belongs to a first object lifecycle and a second action belongs to a second object lifecycle and determining that no dependencies exist between at least the first action and other actions of the second object lifecycle based on the computed relations between the actions.

9. A computer program product for generating parallel process fragments for a process model, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a computer-readable medium and including executable code that, when executed, is configured to cause at least one data processing apparatus to execute a composition engine, the composition engine configured to:

receive a series of states and transitions from an object lifecycle;

compute actions from the transitions;

compute preconditions and effects for the actions from the states;

compute relations between the actions; and

generate a parallel process fragment that includes at least two of the actions based on the relations between the actions.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the composition engine is arranged and configured to generate the parallel process fragment, the parallel process fragment including:

a set of the actions;

a set of parallel control flow nodes;

a set of input states using the preconditions; and

a set of output states using the effects.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the composition engine is further arranged and configured to generate a process model that includes the parallel process fragment.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the composition engine is further arranged and configured to generate a process model that includes the actions, the preconditions, the effects and the parallel process fragment.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a series of states and transitions from an object lifecycle;

computing actions from the transitions;

computing preconditions and effects for the actions from the states;

computing relations between the actions; and

generating a parallel process fragment that includes at least two of the actions based on the relations between the actions.

18. The method as in claim 17 wherein generating the parallel process fragment includes generating the parallel process fragment, the parallel process fragment including:

a set of the actions;

a set of parallel control flow nodes;

a set of input states using the preconditions; and

a set of output states using the effects.

19. The method as in claim 17 further comprising generating a process model that includes the parallel process fragment.

20. The method as in claim 17 wherein generating the parallel process fragment includes determining that two of the actions belong to a same object lifecycle and determining that each the two actions are direct predecessor actions of each other based on the computed relations between the actions.