FLEXIBLE CHAINING OF DISPARATE HUMAN WORKFLOW TASKS IN A BUSINESS PROCESS

• US 20110282707A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rangaswamy, Ravi, Nainani, Bhagat
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,240 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for providing task chaining as part of modeling a business process (e.g. a BPEL process). Chained tasks maintain a reference to the previous task and during retrieval of that task, the system can append relevant information, including but not limited to task history, attachments and comments of the previous task. Task chaining can be enabled by selecting a previously completed task and marking that the current task chains the selected task. In one embodiment, tasks are chained across multiple instances of a process. Accordingly, tasks in different processes can be chained together to obtain access to the same context information and other data.

Claims

1. A method for chaining tasks in a process execution environment, said method comprising:

defining one or more graphical process definitions including a set of tasks;

persisting the one or more process definitions in a repository;

instantiating a first process instance and a second process instance based on said one or more graphical process definitions, the first process instance including a first task and the second process instance including a second task, wherein separate state objects are generated for the first task and the second task within the repository;

chaining the first task of the first process instance to the second task of the second process instance, wherein a reference is created from the state object associated with the first task to state object associated with the second task; and

querying data associated with the first task, wherein the data for the first task and the second task is retrieved by using the reference as a result of the querying.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first task and the second task accept user input and wherein an automated task is executed between the first task and the second task.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the data associated with the first task further includes retrieving one or more of the following:

task history, attachments, context data and comments associated with the second task.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the data object associated with the first task and the second task and displaying the data for both the first task and the second task.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

unchaining the first task from the second task if security access rights associated with a user accessing the first process instance is modified.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first process instance and the second process instance are instances of the same business process execution language (BPEL) process definition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first process instance and the second process instance are instances of two different and separately modeled business process execution language (BPEL) process definitions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein chaining the first task and the second task is enabled by selecting, via a graphical user interface (GUI), a previously completed first task and marking that the second task chains the first task.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a human task and associating the human task with a BPEL process by using a BPEL designer component.

10. A system for chaining tasks in a process execution environment, said system comprising:

a process designer interface used to define one or more graphical process definitions, the one or more process definitions including a set of tasks;

a repository that persists the one or more process definitions;

a process engine that instantiates a first process instance and a second process instance based on said one or more graphical process definitions, the first process instance including a first task and the second process instance including a second task, wherein separate state objects are generated for the first task and the second task within the repository;

wherein the first task of the first process instance is chained to the second task of the second process instance by creating a reference from the state object associated with the first task to state object associated with the second task; and

a query mechanism that queries data associated with the first task, wherein the data for the first task and the second task is retrieved by using the reference as a result of the querying.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first task and the second task accept user input and wherein an automated task is executed between the first task and the second task.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein querying the data associated with the first task further includes retrieving one or more of the following:

task history, attachments, context data and comments associated with the second task.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the data object associated with the first task and the data object associated with the second task are accessed and wherein the data is displayed for both the first task and the second task.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first task is unchained from the second task if security access rights associated with a user accessing the first process instance are modified.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the first process instance and the second process instance are instances of the same business process execution language (BPEL) process definition.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the first process instance and the second process instance are instances of two different and separately modeled business process execution language (BPEL) process definitions.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein chaining the first task and the second task is enabled by selecting, via a graphical user interface (GUI), a previously completed first task and marking that the second task chains the first task.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the first task is a human task created by using the process designer component and associated with the first process instance.

19. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for chaining tasks in a process execution environment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

defining one or more graphical process definitions including a set of tasks;

persisting the one or more process definitions in a repository;

instantiating a first process instance and a second process instance based on said one or more graphical process definitions, the first process instance including a first task and the second process instance including a second task, wherein separate state objects are generated for the first task and the second task within the repository;

chaining the first task of the first process instance to the second task of the second process instance, wherein a reference is created from the state object associated with the first task to state object associated with the second task; and

querying data associated with the first task, wherein the data for the first task and the second task is retrieved by using the reference as a result of the querying.