PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for managing a business process, where one or more processors are programmed to perform steps comprising:
- receiving administrator input of information describing a business process, the information including at least a list of parent activities required to complete the process and one or more levels of child activities associated with at least one of the parent activities and required to complete the associated parent activity, the information associated with at least some activities including starting conditions comprising at least a list of any other activities requiring completion before the activity can start;
processing the administrator input information to create an activity based timeline definition from the input information which identifies activities which can be carried out in parallel and activities which require completion of one or more prior activities in order to start;
starting the process by checking all activities in each level, the activity checking comprising checking starting conditions and starting any activity for which starting conditions are met while working through all the levels of activities, whereby all activities which can be started are run in parallel;
periodically checking the status of all activities to identify completed activities and starting any activities which are dependent on completed activities;
on detection of completion of all child activities required for completion of a parent activity, updating the timeline definition with the duration and completion date of the parent activity; and
on detection of completion of all parent activities required for the process, terminating the process and updating the timeline definition with the completed process duration and the duration of each activity required for completing the process, and storing the updated timeline definition in a database.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A business process or project management system provides for creation of a project or process definition which includes all activities required to complete the process as well as any dependencies, conditions, and deadlines for each activity, and participants designated to carry out the activities. Once the process is started, activities are carried out in turn when the dependencies and conditions are met, and the system updates when any activities are complete so that any activities dependent on completed activities can be started. A reporting module creates status reports for each activity which are displayed to a user such as an administrator on a user interface. Stored information on previous instances of an activity are used to predict when an activity is likely to be late and to provide alerts to users prior to starting the activity.
215 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for managing a business process, where one or more processors are programmed to perform steps comprising:
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receiving administrator input of information describing a business process, the information including at least a list of parent activities required to complete the process and one or more levels of child activities associated with at least one of the parent activities and required to complete the associated parent activity, the information associated with at least some activities including starting conditions comprising at least a list of any other activities requiring completion before the activity can start; processing the administrator input information to create an activity based timeline definition from the input information which identifies activities which can be carried out in parallel and activities which require completion of one or more prior activities in order to start; starting the process by checking all activities in each level, the activity checking comprising checking starting conditions and starting any activity for which starting conditions are met while working through all the levels of activities, whereby all activities which can be started are run in parallel; periodically checking the status of all activities to identify completed activities and starting any activities which are dependent on completed activities; on detection of completion of all child activities required for completion of a parent activity, updating the timeline definition with the duration and completion date of the parent activity; and on detection of completion of all parent activities required for the process, terminating the process and updating the timeline definition with the completed process duration and the duration of each activity required for completing the process, and storing the updated timeline definition in a database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer implemented system for managing a business process, the system comprising:
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a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store computer executable programmed modules; a processor communicatively coupled with the non-transitory computer readable medium configured to execute programmed modules stored therein; a computer programmed process definition module and a computer programmed process automation module both stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium; a data base configured to store process status information; the process definition module being configured to display a series of graphical user interfaces on a user display device, to receive input from an administrator defining a process on the graphical user interfaces, the input comprising at least one condition for initiating the process, a list of parent activities required for completing a process and any associated child activities required to complete a parent activity, and information associated with each activity, the information associated with each activity comprising at least conditions for starting and completing an activity, wherein the conditions for starting at least some activities include dependencies on completion of one or more additional activities; and the process automation module being configured to create an activity based timeline definition from the saved input information which lists parent activities and any child activities associated with each parent activity which are to be completed in order to complete the parent activity, projected start times and durations for each activity and identification of activities which can be carried out in parallel and activities which require completion of one or more prior activities in order to start, to start any parent activity when starting conditions are met, to check all child activities required for completion of a parent activity which has started and start any child activities for which starting conditions are met, to periodically check activity status to identify completed activities and start any activities dependent on completion of detected completed activities, to update the timeline definition with the completion date of any completed activities and store the updated timeline definition in a data base, to update the timeline definition with the completion date of any completed parent activity and store the updated timeline definition on detection of completion of all child activities required for completion of the parent activity, and to terminate the process and update the timeline definition with the completed process duration and the duration of each activity required for completing the process on detection of completion of all activities required for a process, and to store the updated timeline definition in the data base. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A system comprising at least one computer communicatively coupled with at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the computer is programmed for activity based management of a business process by:
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providing a process management interface for administrator entry of selected information regarding a process to be run, the selected information including at least a process identifier, a list of parent and child activities required to complete the process, any participants associated with each activity requiring participant input, and conditions for starting, carrying out, and completing each activity; storing all process information entered by an administrator in the non-transitory computer readable medium; processing the information entered by the administrator to create an activity based timeline definition for running the process, the timeline definition comprising a tree structure having a first level of nodes comprising parent activities and additional levels of nodes under the first level comprising any child activities associated with the respective parent activities; starting the process on detection of a process starting condition; and periodically monitoring the status of all activities in each level of the tree structure and starting any activities for which starting conditions are met and repeating the monitoring and starting of activities for each level of activities at periodic intervals, whereby any parent or child activity dependent on a completion of one or more other activities is started when all dependent activities are detected to be complete; the periodic status monitoring further comprising checking for completion of all child activities required for completion of a parent activity and updating the timeline definition with information on any completed parent activity, and checking for completion of all parent activities in the first level and terminating the process when all parent activities are completed.
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48. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more sequences of instructions for causing one or more processors to perform the steps for managing a business process, the steps comprising:
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providing a process management interface for administrator entry of selected information regarding a process to be run, the selected information including at least a process identifier, a list of parent and child activities required to complete the process, any participants associated with the activities, and conditions for starting, carrying out, and completing each activity; saving all process information entered by an administrator; processing the information entered by the administrator to create an activity based timeline definition for running the process, the timeline definition comprising a tree structure having a first level of nodes comprising parent activities and one or more additional levels of nodes comprising any child activities associated with respective parent activities; starting the process by checking all activities in each level, the activity checking comprising checking starting conditions and starting any activity for which starting conditions are met while working through all the levels of activities, whereby all activities which can be started are run in parallel; periodically checking the status of all activities to identify completed activities and starting any activities which are dependent on completed child activities; on detection of completion of all child activities required for completion of a parent activity, updating the timeline definition with the duration and completion date of the parent activity; and on detection of completion of all parent activities required for the process, terminating the process and updating the timeline definition with the completed process duration and the duration of each activity required for completing the process, and storing the updated timeline definition in a database.
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Specification