ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR MANUAL INVOICING APPLICATION SOFTWARE

• US 20100138255A1
• Filed: 12/03/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Hoffmann, Thomas, Podhajsky, Georg, Franke, Stefan, Schlappner, Klaus, Nowotny, Dietmar, Sudbrack, Andrea
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing manual invoicing. 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 Customer Invoice Processing process component, a Due Item Processing process component, a Payment Processing process component, an Accounting process component, a Project Processing process component, and a Balance of Foreign Payment Management process component.

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 due item processing process component that collects, manages, and monitors trade receivables or payables and corresponding sales tax or withholding tax;

a project processing process component that structures, plans, and executes simple, short-term measures and complex projects;

a balance of foreign payment management process component that collects, processes, and reports receivables and payables according to foreign trade regulations to create a balance of payments of a country;

a payment processing process component that processes and manages payments and conducts communications with financial institutions;

a customer invoice processing process component that processes invoicing of customers for delivery of goods or provision of services; and

an accounting process component that processes business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; 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 due item processing process component and a due item processing at business partner process component;

the accounting coding block distribution processing process component and the project processing process component;

the payment processing process component and the due item processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the accounting process component;

a bank statement creation at bank process component and the payment processing process component;

the due item processing process component and the customer invoice processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the balance of foreign payment management process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment processing at business partner process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment order processing at house bank process component; and

the customer invoice processing process component and a supplier invoice processing at customer process component.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of process components is assigned to no more than 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 deployment units comprise:

a financials deployment that includes the accounting process component, the due item processing process component, the payment processing process component, and the balance of foreign payment management process component;

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

a customer invoicing deployment unit that includes the customer invoice processing 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, and 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 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 due item processing process component that collects, manages, and monitors trade receivables or payables and corresponding sales tax or withholding tax;

a project processing process component that structures, plans, and executes simple, short-term measures and complex projects;

a balance of foreign payment management process component that collects, processes, and reports receivables and payables according to foreign trade regulations to create a balance of payments of a country;

a payment processing process component that processes and manages payments and conducts communications with financial institutions;

a customer invoice processing process component that processes invoicing of customers for delivery of goods or provision of services; and

an accounting process component that processes business transactions for valuation and profitability analysis; 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 due item processing process component and a due item processing at business partner process component;

the accounting coding block distribution processing process component and the project processing process component;

the payment processing process component and the due item processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the accounting process component;

a bank statement creation at bank process component and the payment processing process component;

the due item processing process component and the customer invoice processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the balance of foreign payment management process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment processing at business partner process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment order processing at house bank process component; and

the customer invoice processing process component and a supplier invoice processing at customer 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, 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, and each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

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

the accounting process component, the due item processing process component, the payment processing process component, and the balance of foreign payment management process component are deployed on a first hardware platform;

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

the customer invoice processing process component is deployed on a third hardware platform.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the first through the third 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 due item processing process component that collects, manages, and monitors trade receivables or payables and corresponding sales tax or withholding tax;

a project processing process component that structures, plans, and executes simple, short-term measures and complex projects;

a balance of foreign payment management process component that collects, processes, and reports receivables and payables according to foreign trade regulations to create a balance of payments of a country;

a payment processing process component that processes and manages payments and conducts communications with financial institutions;

a customer invoice processing process component that processes invoicing of customers for delivery of goods or provision of services; and

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

the process component interactions include interactions between;

the due item processing process component and a due item processing at business partner process component;

the accounting coding block distribution processing process component and the project processing process component;

the payment processing process component and the due item processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the accounting process component;

a bank statement creation at bank process component and the payment processing process component;

the due item processing process component and the customer invoice processing process component;

the customer invoice processing process component and the balance of foreign payment management process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment processing at business partner process component;

the payment processing process component and a payment order processing at house bank process component; and

the customer invoice processing process component and a supplier invoice processing at customer process component; and

using the design including the specified process components and 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.