DESIGN-TIME BUSINESS PROCESS VALIDATIONS WITHIN DATA CONTEXT

• US 20110185338A1
• Filed: 04/06/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mital, Vijay, Chkodrov, Gueorgui B., Belousova, Maria, Prickril, Gregory Robert, Shankarnarayan, Chandrika G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,640,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Validating executable data for interactions among a plurality of process artifacts at design time. A data context is created to include the plurality of process artifacts. The data context carries interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts. The executable data from a data source is associated with the plurality of process artifacts in the created data context. A subset of the interaction rules is selected corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts. The associated executable data is validated when the associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

Claims

1. A method executable by a processor of a computing device for validating executable data for interactions among a plurality of process artifacts at design time, said processor being configured for executing computer-executable instructions for:

creating a data context based on the plurality of process artifacts, said data context including interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts;

associating executable data with the plurality of process artifacts from a data source based on the included interaction rules;

selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts; and

validating the associated executable data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts in the data context when the associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured for associating another set of executable data in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules in response to validating.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein validating further comprises providing a suggestion to supplement the associated executable data as a function of the selected subset of the interaction rules.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein validating further comprises collecting another set of executable data for the plurality of process artifacts as a function of the provided suggestion when the collected set of the executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable data includes data and expressions for execution by a processing unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein validating further comprises executing a set of static check routines for determining whether the associated executable data includes entities needed for the expressions to be executed by the processing unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable storage media store the computer-executable instructions of claim 1.

8. A system for validating data interactions, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving data from a data source;

a memory area for storing the received data;

a processor being configured for executing computer-executable instructions for;

receiving data from the data source, said received data including executable data and executable expressions;

storing the received data;

creating a data context including a plurality of process artifacts, said data context including interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts, said included interaction rules defining sequences and interactions among the plurality of process artifacts;

associating the received data with the plurality of process artifacts from the data source to the created data context based on the included interaction rules;

executing a set of static check routines for determining the availability of required data;

selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts; and

validating the associated data when the associated data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory area stores data relating to the plurality of the process artifacts;

and wherein the processor is configured to validate the associated data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said determining the availability of the required data comprises verifying, monitoring, or tracking associated data required for the data context.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising receiving a condition evaluating the branching decision as a function of the determined availability of the required data and implementing the received condition

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to provide a suggestion to supplement the associated data as a function of the selected subset of the interaction rules.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface provides the suggestion to a user, and wherein the interface receives input from the user in response to the provided suggestion.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to identify a set of executable data in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules in response to validating or in response to the provided suggestion.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable components for validating data interactions among a plurality of process artifacts in a data context, said computer-executable components comprising:

a process module for creating a data context based on the plurality of process artifacts, said data context configuring interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts;

said configured interaction rules defining sequences and interactions among the plurality of process entities;

an association module for associating executable data with the plurality of process artifacts from a data source to the created data context based on the configured interaction rules;

a data module for selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts; and

a validation module for validating the associated executable data when the associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules, said validation module further configured to provide a suggestion to supplement the associated executable data as a function of the selected subset of the interaction rules, said suggestion comprising one or more of the following;

adding a task, changing a form to permit additional input from the data source, changing a form to permit additional input from a user, and choosing a particular process entity from the plurality of process entities.

16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the validation module validates the associated executable data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts in the data context.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the associated executable data including executable data and executable expressions for execution by the process module, and wherein the validation module is configured to execute a set of static check routines for determining whether the associated executable data includes entities or parameters needed for the executable expressions to be executed by the process module.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, further comprising a user interface (UI) component for providing the suggestion to the user, and wherein the UI component receives the additional input from the user in response to the provided suggestion.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the association module is configured to identify another set of executable data as a function of the selected subset of the interaction rules in response to validating by the validation module or as a function of the provided suggestion by the validation module.