System and method for performing scalable distribution of process flow activities in a distributed workflow management system

• US 5,937,388 A
• Filed: 03/21/1997
• Issued: 08/10/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Davis, James W., Shan, Ming-Chien, Du, Weimin, Sheard, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H.
• Application Number:
  US08/828,208
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/8, 705/10, 705/7, 705/9, 395/182.13, 395/185.04, 395/200.31, 707/202, 707/512
• US Class Current: 705/7.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• 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 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

A system and method for performing scalable distribution of process flow activities in a distributed workflow management system is described. The distributed workflow management system operates over the computer network which includes a plurality of interconnected computers. Each computer includes a processor, memory and input/output facilities. A plurality of resources are each operatively coupled to at least one of the computers and execute at least one of the activities in the process flow. A process flow engine, including a database in which is stored data used in effecting each of the process flow activities, coordinates and schedules execution of the process flow activities on the resources. Bidirectional proxy components are operatively interposed between the process flow engine and the resources. The bidirectional proxy components include logic for handling application data for the resources, logic for handling worklists for access by the resources and logic for managing transport of messages between the process flow engine and each of the resources.

Claims

1. A system for performing scalable distribution of process flow activities in a distributed workflow management system, comprising:

a computer network comprising a plurality of interconnected computers, each computer including a processor, memory and input/output facilities, the distributed workflow management system operating over the computer network;

a plurality of resources which are each operatively coupled to at least one of the computers and execute at least one of the activities in the process flow;

a process flow engine, including a database in which is stored data used in effecting each of the process flow activities, the process flow engine coordinating and scheduling execution of the process flow activities on the resources; and

bidirectional proxy components operatively interposed between the process flow engine and the resources, the bidirectional proxy components comprising logic for handling application data for the resources, logic for handling worklists for access by the resources and logic for managing transport of messages between the process flow engine and each of the resources.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the database of the process flow engine categorizes the data into process-specific data used in effecting the process flow, application-specific data used in effecting the process flow activities and process-relevant data used in effecting the process flow and the process flow activities.

3. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a generic database associated with the distributed workflow management system and whereby the logic for handling application data comprises a plurality of application data handler, each application data handler being associated with one of the resources, each application data handler comprising:

means for accessing data stored in the generic database;

means for augmenting the accessed data with data specific to the activity prior to the execution of the at least one process flow activity on the associated resource; and

means for storing back changes in the data to the generic database.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the generic database comprises the database of the process flow engine, the means for accessing data further comprising means for accessing the data stored in the database of the process flow engine and the means for storing back changes further comprising means for storing back changes in the data to the database of the process flow engine.

5. A system according to claim 3, wherein the generic database comprises a further database substantially distinct from the database of the process flow engine, the means for accessing data further comprising means for accessing data stored in the further database and the means for storing back changes further comprising means for storing back changes in the data to the further database.

6. A system according to claim 3, the application data handler further comprising means for providing transactional semantics to a plurality of the process flow activities, the transactional semantics including means for obtaining data from the database of the process flow engine for each resource.

7. A system according to claim 1, whereby the logic for handling worklists for access by the resources comprises a plurality of worklist handlers, each worklist handler being associated with one of the resources, each worklist handler comprising:

a queue of work to be performed by the resources in effecting the process flow activities, the process flow engine further comprising means for dispatching work requests to each work queue of the worklist handlers;

an interface enabling each resource to interactively access the work queue of the associated worklist handler; and

means for selecting the work to be performed by the resource to effect one such process flow activity.

8. A system according to claim 1, whereby the logic for managing transport of messages between the process flow engine and each of the resources comprises a plurality of transport managers, each transport manager being associated with one of the resources, each transport manager comprising:

a first message interface between the process flow engine and the transport manager;

a second message interface between the transport manager and each associated resource; and

means for exchanging the messages between the flow process engine and each associated resource via the first and second message interfaces.

9. A method for performing scalable distribution of process flow activities in a distributed workflow management system, the distributed workflow management system operating over a computer network comprising a plurality of interconnected computers and a plurality of resources, each computer including a processor, memory and input/output facilities, each resource operatively coupled to at least one of the computers and executing at least one of the activities in the process flow, the method comprising the steps of:

coordinating and scheduling the execution of the process flow activities on the resources using a process flow engine, including storing data used in effecting each of the process flow activities in a database of the process flow engine;

providing application data accessed from the database of the process flow engine to the resources using a application data handler interposed between the resources and process flow engine;

managing worklists for access by the resources using a worklist handler interposed between the resources and process flow engine; and

transporting messages between the process flow engine and each of the resources using a transport manager interposed between the resources and process flow engine.

10. A method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

providing process-specific data used in effecting the process flow into the database of the process flow engine;

providing application-specific data used in effecting the process flow activities into the database of the process flow engine; and

providing process-relevant data used in effecting the process flow and the process flow activities into the database of the process flow engine, the step of handling application data using the application data handler further comprising augmenting the process-relevant data augmented with the application-specific data.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein the distributed workflow management system further comprises a generic database and the step of providing application data further comprises the steps of:

accessing data stored in the generic database;

augmenting the accessed data with data specific to at least one such activity to be performed by one of the associated resources prior to the execution of the at least one process flow activity on the associated resource; and

storing back changes in the data to the generic database upon completion of the execution.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the generic database comprises the database of the process flow engine, the step of accessing data further comprising accessing the data stored in the database of the process flow engine and the step of storing back changes further comprising storing back changes in the data to the database of the process flow engine.

13. A system according to claim 11, wherein the generic database comprises a further database substantially distinct from the database of the process flow engine, the step of accessing data further comprising accessing data stored in the further database and the step of storing back changes further comprising storing back changes in the data to the further database.

14. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of providing transactional semantics to a plurality of the process flow activities, the transactional semantics including means for obtaining data from the database of the process flow engine for each resource.

15. A method according to claim 9, wherein the step of managing worklists further comprises the steps of:

maintaining a queue of work to be performed by the resources in effecting the process flow activities, the step of coordinating and scheduling further comprising dispatching work requests to each work queue of the worklist handlers using the process flow engine;

accessing the work queue of the associated worklist handler interactively from each resource an interface on each worklist handler; and

selecting the work to be performed by the resource to effect one such process flow activity.

16. A method according to claim 9, wherein the step of transporting messages further comprises the steps of:

providing a first message interface between the process flow engine and the transport manager;

providing a second message interface between the transport manager and each associated resource; and

exchanging the messages between the flow process engine and each associated resource via the first and second message interfaces.

17. A method for managing process flow activities in a distributed processing environment, each of the process flow activities comprising units of work performed by a resource operating within the distributed processing environment, the method comprising the steps of:

coordinating the process flow activities using a process management engine operating on a computer system within the distributed processing enviromnment, the process management system identifying the work units to be performed;

augmenting data maintained by the process management engine with further data specific to each such process flow activity using an application data handler functionally interposed between the process management engine and each such resource within the distributed processing enviromnment;

maintaining a list of the work units using a worklist handler functionally interposed between the process management engine and each such resource within the distributed processing environment, the process management engine providing the work units list to the worklist handler and each such resource interactively selecting such work units from the work units list; and

exchanging messages containing descriptions of the work units using a transport manager functionally interposed between the process management engine and each such resource within the distributed processing environment, each such resource interpreting the descriptions for the selected work units.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the step of augmenting data further comprises the steps of:

processing an outbound message received from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources; and

processing an inbound message received from one of the resources for dispatch to the process management engine.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the step of processing an outbound message further comprises the steps of:

receiving the outbound message with a value list from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources, the value list comprising a destination address list, a source address list and program commands;

identifying the program commands in the value list;

executing the program commands against a data repository associated with one of the resources in the destination address list;

augmenting the source address list with a return processing address if return trip processing of the outbound message is required;

omitting or adding an alternate processing address if return trip processing is not required;

removing a first element from the destination address list to thereby form a new first element in the destination address list; and

forwarding the message to one of the resources as determined by the new first element in the destination address list.

20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the step of processing an inbound message further comprises the steps of:

receiving the inbound message with a value list from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources, the value list comprising a destination address list, a source address list and program commands;

identifying the program commands in the value list;

executing the program commands against a data repository associated with one of the resources in the destination address list;

applying required updates against the data repository associated with one of the resources in the destination address list;

removing a first element from the destination address list to thereby form a new first element in the destination address list; and

forwarding the message to one of the resources as determined by the new first element in the destination address list.

21. A method according to claim 18, wherein the step of processing an inbound message further comprises the steps of:

receiving the inbound message with a value list from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources, the value list comprising a destination address list, a source address list and program commands;

removing a first element from the destination address list to thereby form a new first element in the destination address list; and

forwarding the message to one of the resources as determined by the new first element in the destination address list.

22. A method according to claim 17, wherein the step of maintaining a list of work units further comprises the steps of:

processing an outbound message received from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources; and

checking a claim from one of the resources against the outbound message.

23. A method according to claim 19, wherein the step of processing an outbound message further comprises the steps of:

receiving the outbound message with a value list from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources, the value list comprising a destination address list, a source address list and program commands;

parsing the value list for a destination claim;

validating the destination claim for the worklist handler against the work units identified by the process management engine; and

storing the outbound message in the worklist handler using the claim as an index to the stored outbound message.

24. A method according to claim 19, wherein the step of checking a claim further comprises the steps of:

receiving a client message with a claim list from a client corresponding to one of the resources;

validating the claim list with a security service associated with the worklist handler against outbound messages stored in the worklist handler;

identifying available messages in the worklist handler matching the client claims, each of the matching available messages having an index corresponding to one of the client claims; and

supplying the client resource with a list of validly claimable messages.

25. A method according to claim 17, wherein the step of exchanging messages further comprises the step of processing a message, the message comprising either an outbound message or an inbound message.

26. A method according to claim 23, wherein the step of exchanging messages further comprises the steps of:

receiving the message with a value list from the process management engine for dispatch to one of the resources, the value list comprising a destination address list, a source address list and program commands;

augmenting the source address list associated with the message with a return processing address;

removing a first element from the destination address list to thereby form a new first element in the destination address list; and

forwarding the message to one of the resources as determined by the new first element in the destination address list.