ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR TIME RECORDING APPLICATION SOFTWARE

• US 20100070555A1
• 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: Klein, Ralf, Tebbe, Matthias, Moosmann, Gerd, Duparc, Jacques, Jungkind, Christoph, Beisel, Gertrud, Biehler, Markus, Neumayer, Peter J., Fitz, Peter, Roesner, Kai-Michael, Moser, Thomas, Thorleifsson, Helgi, Kaetker, Stefan, Kenntner, Joachim, Guenther, Fabian, Freund, Jens, Krisch, Dieter, Geisau, Otfried Von, Sieber, Peter, Latocha, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing time recording. 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 a Project Processing process component that supports the management of projects, a Time and Labor Management process component that supports the management of employees timekeeping and work planning, an Accounting process component that records relevant business transactions, a payroll processing process component that supports the execution and monitoring of payroll processes, and a Goods and Service Acknowledgement process component that receives a confirmation from an employee of goods received or services rendered.

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 project processing process component that supports the management of projects;

a time and labor management process component that supports the management of employee timekeeping and work planning;

a payroll processing process component that supports the execution and monitoring of payroll processes;

an accounting process component that records relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; and

a goods and service acknowledgement process component that represents a confirmation by an employee of goods received or services rendered; 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 time and labor management process component and the goods and service acknowledgement process component;

the time and labor management process component and the project processing process component;

the time and labor management process component and the accounting process component; and

the time and labor management process component and the payroll processing process component.

2. 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.

3. The product of claim 2, wherein the multiple deployment units comprise:

a project management deployment unit that includes the project processing component;

a human capital management deployment unit that includes the time and labor management process component;

a payroll deployment unit that includes the payroll processing process component;

a financial accounting deployment unit that includes the accounting process component; and

a purchasing deployment unit that includes the goods and service acknowledgement process component.

4. 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.

5. The product of claim 4, wherein the business objects comprise a business process object.

6. The product of claim 4, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

7. 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.

8. The product of claim 7, 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.

9. The product of claim 7, 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.

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

11. 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 project processing process component that supports the management of projects;

a time and labor management process component that supports the management of employee timekeeping and work planning;

a payroll processing process component that supports the execution and monitoring of payroll processes;

an accounting process component that records relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; and

a goods and service acknowledgement process component that represents a confirmation by an employee of goods received or services rendered; 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 time and labor management process component and the goods and service acknowledgement process component;

the time and labor management process component and the project processing process component;

the time and labor management process component and the accounting process component; and

the time and labor management process component and the payroll processing process component.

12. The system of claim 11, 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.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

14. The system of claim 11, 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.

15. The system of claim 11, the system comprising multiple hardware platforms, wherein:

the project processing process component is deployed on a first hardware platform;

the time and labor management process component is deployed on a second hardware platform;

the accounting process component is deployed on a third hardware platform;

the goods and service acknowledgement process component is deployed on a fourth hardware platform; and

the payroll processing process component is deployed on a fifth hardware platform.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the first through the fifth hardware platforms are distinct and separate from each other.

17. 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 and the design further specifying a set of process component interactions, wherein the specified process components include;

a project processing process component that supports the management of projects;

a time and labor management process component that supports the management of employee timekeeping and work planning;

a payroll processing process component that supports the execution and monitoring of payroll processes;

an accounting process component that records relevant business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; and

a goods and service acknowledgement process component that represents a confirmation by an employee of goods received or services rendered; 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.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein each process in the set of processes is a business process transforming a defined business input into a defined business outcome.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein obtaining digital data representing the architectural design further comprises editing the design before using the design.