Architectural Design for Opportunity Management Application Software

• US 20100070329A1
• Filed: 09/18/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Shafiq, Shadab, Hota, Naga Chandra Sekhar, Mohana, Priya, Pfitzner, Ingo, Gentes, Wolfgang, Wachholz-Prill, Andre, Engler, Christoph, Sudbrack, Andrea, Lahr, Martina, Schulte, Helge
• Granted Patent: US 8,374,896 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing ad-hoc goods movement. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include, for example, a lead processing process component that handles the potential interests of a business partner and the interactions with the business partner over a certain timeframe; an opportunity processing process component that handles the development, processing, and monitoring of opportunities; a customer quote processing process component that handles the processing of quotes to customers offering the delivery of goods according to specific terms; and a sales order processing process component that handles the processing of customers'"'"' requests to seller for delivery of goods, on a specific date, for a specific quantity, and for a specific price.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising application software encoded on a tangible machine-readable information carrier, the application software being structured as process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, the software comprising:

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a lead processing process component that handles the potential interests of a business partner and the interactions with the business partner over a certain timeframe;

an opportunity processing process component that handles the development, processing, and monitoring of opportunities;

a customer quote processing process component that handles the processing of quotes to customers offering the delivery of goods according to specific terms;

a sales order processing process component that handles the processing of customers'"'"' requests to seller for the delivery of goods, on a specific date, for a specific quantity, and for a specific price;

an activity management process component that handles the recording of activities within an organization; and

a groupware process component that handles the integration of emails, tasks, and calendar events from a groupware server; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the groupware process component and the activity management process component.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of process components further includes;

a duet process component that provides a platform with which business applications implemented in clients use available services and components to retrieve and process data from enterprise software systems; and

the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components further include interactions between;

the activity management process component and the duet process component relating to email;

the duet process component and the activity management process component relating to a groupware task;

the duet process component and the activity management process component relating to a calendar event;

the activity management process component and the external duet process component relating to a calendar event; and

the activity management process component and the duet process component relating to a task.

3. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of process components is assigned to exactly one deployment unit among multiple deployment units, and each deployment unit is deployable on a separate computer hardware platform independent of every other deployment unit; and

all interaction between a process component in one deployment unit and any other process component in any other deployment unit takes place through the respective service interfaces of the two process components.

4. The product of claim 3, wherein the deployment units comprise:

a customer relationship management deployment unit that includes the lead processing process component, the opportunity processing process component, the customer quote processing process component, and the sales order processing process component.

5. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

6. The product of claim 5, wherein the business objects comprise a business process object.

7. The product of claim 5, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

8. The product of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

9. The product of claim 8, wherein the inbound process agents comprise a first inbound process agent operable to start the execution of a business process step requested in a first inbound message by creating or updating one or more business object instances.

10. The product of claim 8, wherein the outbound process agents comprise a first asynchronous outbound process agent that is called after a business object that is associated with the first outbound process agent changes.

11. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise synchronous and asynchronous operations.

12. A system, comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more hardware platforms for executing a computer software application;

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a lead processing process component that handles the potential interests of a business partner and the interactions with the business partner over a certain timeframe;

an opportunity processing process component that handles the development, processing, and monitoring of opportunities;

a customer quote processing process component that handles the processing of quotes to customers offering the delivery of goods according to specific terms;

a sales order processing process component that handles the processing of customers'"'"' requests to seller for the delivery of goods, on a specific date, for a specific quantity, and for a specific price;

an activity management process component that handles the recording of activities within an organization; and

a groupware process component that handles the integration of emails, tasks, and calendar events from a groupware server; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the groupware process component and the activity management process component.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the plurality of process components further includes:

a duet process component that provides a platform with which business applications implemented in clients use available services and components to retrieve and process data from enterprise software systems; and

the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components further include interactions between;

the activity management process component and the duet process component relating to email;

the duet process component and the activity management process component relating to a groupware task;

the duet process component and the activity management process component relating to a calendar event;

the activity management process component and the external duet process component relating to a calendar event; and

the activity management process component and the duet process component relating to a task.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message, each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

17. The system of claim 12, the system comprising one hardware platforms, wherein:

the lead processing process component, the opportunity processing process component, the customer quote processing process component, and the sales order processing process component are deployed on one hardware platform.

18. A method for developing a computer software application, comprising:

obtaining in a computer system digital data representing an architectural design for a set of processes implementing an end-to-end application process, the design specifying a process component for each process in the set of processes, the design specifying further specifying a set of process component interactions, wherein;

the specified process components include;

a lead processing process component that handles the potential interests of a business partner and the interactions with the business partner over a certain timeframe;

an opportunity processing process component that handles the development, processing, and monitoring of opportunities;

a customer quote processing process component that handles the processing of quotes to customers offering the delivery of goods according to specific terms;

a sales order processing process component that handles the processing of customers'"'"' requests to seller for the delivery of goods, on a specific date, for a specific quantity, and for a specific price,

an activity management process component that handles the recording of activities within an organization; and

a groupware process component that handles the integration of emails, tasks, and calendar events from a groupware server; and

using the design including the specified process components and the specified process component interactions to develop a computer software application to perform the set of processes.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each process in the set of processes is a business process transforming a defined business input into a defined business outcome.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein obtaining digital data representing the architectural design further comprises editing the design before using the design.