CONSOLIDATING BUSINESS PROCESS WORKFLOWS THROUGH THE USE OF SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

• US 20120116836A1
• Filed: 11/08/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Flores, Romelia H., Mathai, Shiju, Givens, Charlet N.
• Application Number:
  US12/941,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20120116836A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis

Abstract

A first and a second workflow can be identified. The workflows can be a sequence of connected steps representing work of a business process which can be modeled within a computing environment as an object. The object can be an activity or an event of the business process. A semantic analysis can be automatically performed upon the workflows. The semantic analysis can compare each object of the workflows to each other. An object report can be generated from the comparison which can indicate a similarity and/or a difference between each object of the workflows. The similarity can denote two or more objects are identical and the difference can denote two or more objects are not identical. The workflows can be programmatically consolidated into one or more consolidated roadmap using the object report. The roadmap can be a business process workflow comprised of each unique object of first and second workflow.

Claims

1. A method for consolidated roadmap generation comprising:

identifying a first and a second workflow, wherein the first and second workflow is a sequence of connected steps representing work of a business process, wherein each step of the sequence of connected steps is modeled within a computing environment as an object, wherein the object is at least one of an activity and an event of the business process, wherein the first and second workflow is comprised of a plurality of the object;

automatically performing a semantic analysis upon the first and second workflow, wherein the semantic analysis compares each object of the first workflow with each object of the second workflow;

generating an object report associated with the first and second workflow, wherein the object report indicates at least one of a similarity and a difference between each object of the first workflow and each object of the second workflow, wherein the similarity denotes an object of the first workflow is identical to an object of a second workflow, wherein the difference denotes an object of the first workflow is not identical to an object of the second workflow; and

programmatically consolidating the first and second workflow into at least one consolidated roadmap using the object report, wherein the roadmap is a business process workflow comprising of each unique object of the first and second workflow.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting the object report within a user interface, wherein the user interface is a roadmap dashboard, wherein the roadmap dashboard is a graphical user interface for managing at least one of the object report and the consolidated roadmap.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting user interface with the object report, dashboard for the execution metrics, and having user comment, a user specified tag, and a user rating.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting at least one metadata tag from a social network associated with an object of either the first and the second workflow, wherein the metadata tag is a keyword tag, wherein the social network is social structure comprising of at least two nodes, wherein the nodes are connected by at least one specific type of interdependency; and

conveying at least one metadata tag to an entity performing the semantic analysis.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the social network is a user specified social network, wherein the user specified social network is stored within a user profile.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the collecting is obtained from at least one of a Web site, a Web Log, a Wiki, a forum, and a Web application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each object of the consolidated roadmap is associated with at least one of a progress value, a similarity score, a user comment, a user rating, a metadata tag, a workflow language, an activity execution time, a process execution time, and a response time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user interface with object report, dashboard associated with the consolidated roadmap, having at least one of a user comment, a user specified tag, a user approval indicator, and a user rating; and

notifying a user associated with the consolidated roadmap.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an aggregate score associated with the first workflow and the second workflow, wherein the aggregate score indicates the similarity between the first workflow and the second workflow.

10. A method for generating a consolidated roadmap comprising:

identifying a programmatically generated consolidated roadmap within a roadmap framework, wherein the roadmap framework is an entity comprising of a business process workflow, an object report, and a consolidated roadmap, wherein the business process workflow is a sequence of connected steps representing work of a business process, wherein each step of the sequence of connected steps is modeled within a computing environment as an object, wherein the object is at least one of an activity and an event of the business process;

receiving a feedback artifact associated with the object report, wherein the feedback artifact is at least one of a user specified alteration and a determined adjustment;

modifying the object report based on the received feedback artifact.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically performing a semantic analysis on metadata associated with the object report.

12. A system for generating a consolidated roadmap comprising:

a processor;

a volatile memory;

a bus connecting said processor, non-volatile memory, and volatile memory to each other, wherein the volatile memory comprises computer usable program code execute-able by said processor, said computer usable program code comprising;

a roadmap generator configured to generate a consolidated roadmap from a plurality of business process workflows, wherein each of the plurality of workflows is a sequence of connected steps representing work of a business process, wherein each step of the sequence of connected steps is modeled within a computing environment as an object, wherein the object is at least one of an activity and an event of the business process;

an analytics engine configured to perform a semantic analysis on the plurality of business process workflows, wherein the semantic analysis identifies unique objects of the plurality of business process workflows, wherein the semantic analysis produces an object report, wherein the object report comprises of at least one of a unique object identified by the semantic analysis, a tentative roadmap, and a metadata associated with the business process workflow;

a social network search engine able to perform networking actions within a networked environment, wherein the networked environment comprises of entities, wherein the entities is at least one of a social network, a Web site, a Wiki, a forum, a Web Log, and a Web application; and

a metadata repository capable of storing metadata associated with at least one of the business process workflow and the analytics engine, wherein the metadata is at least one of a keyword tag, a keyword tag synonym, and a filter.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the networking actions comprise of collecting semantic information associated with the plurality of business process workflows, wherein the semantic information is at least one of a keyword tag and a filter.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the networking actions comprise of conveying the object report to at least one entity within the networked environment.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the networking actions comprise of receiving at least one review artifact associated with the object report, wherein the review artifact is at least one of a user comment, a user specified tag, a user approval indicator, and a user rating.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a user profile configured to store at least one of a user preference, an object, and a keyword tag obtained from the social network search engine.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a roadmap dashboard able to present at least one user interface containing at least one consolidated roadmap, wherein the roadmap dashboard is a highly configurable user interface.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the roadmap generator optimizes the consolidated roadmap based on feedback associated with the object report, wherein the feedback is at least one of a determined input or user input.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the object report conforms to a Resource Description Framework (RDF) or other standard formats.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the metadata is at least one metric is associated with a business process workflow, wherein the metric is at least one of a progress value, a similarity score, a user comments, a user rating, an activity execution time, a process execution time, and a response time.