Workflow management system, method, and medium with personal subflows
First Claim
1. A workflow system comprising:
- a workflow definition comprising a plurality of activities, each activity being performed by at least one workflow participant or at least one agent;
one or more personal subflows comprising one or more personal subflow activities, a personal subflow activity being defined as an activity from said plurality of activities, wherein a workflow participant among a plurality of workflow participants performs all of the personal subflow activities within a personal subflow, and wherein each of the one or more personal subflow activities
1) presents one or more display pages to the participant,
2) accepts participant entered data, and
3) evaluates the participant entered data in accordance with branch expressions associated with each of the one or more personal subflow activities;
a server for interpreting the workflow definition and facilitating the scheduling and routing of work items in the system;
a client to receive a work item from the server and to display information therefrom to the participant; and
a decision agent that cooperates with the server in the scheduling and routing of work items by considering work item data comprising participant entered data and a branch expression associated with a first personal subflow activity and that determines how the work item data will be subsequently routed to a second personal subflow activity or out of the personal subflow.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Workflow management system and method with personal subflows. A workflow system includes a workflow definition including an activity to be performed by a personal subflow. The personal subflow is defined by personal subflow activities and branch expressions associated with the subflow activities. A server interprets the workflow definition and facilitates the scheduling and routing of work items in the system. A client receives work items from the server and displays information therefrom to a participant. The client also receives data and control commands from the participant. A decision agent cooperates with the server in the scheduling of work items by considering participant-provided data and a branch expression associated with a current personal subflow activity.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A workflow system comprising:
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a workflow definition comprising a plurality of activities, each activity being performed by at least one workflow participant or at least one agent;
one or more personal subflows comprising one or more personal subflow activities, a personal subflow activity being defined as an activity from said plurality of activities, wherein a workflow participant among a plurality of workflow participants performs all of the personal subflow activities within a personal subflow, and wherein each of the one or more personal subflow activities
1) presents one or more display pages to the participant,
2) accepts participant entered data, and
3) evaluates the participant entered data in accordance with branch expressions associated with each of the one or more personal subflow activities;
a server for interpreting the workflow definition and facilitating the scheduling and routing of work items in the system;
a client to receive a work item from the server and to display information therefrom to the participant; and
a decision agent that cooperates with the server in the scheduling and routing of work items by considering work item data comprising participant entered data and a branch expression associated with a first personal subflow activity and that determines how the work item data will be subsequently routed to a second personal subflow activity or out of the personal subflow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
logic to receive the participant entered data and to modify the work item as determined by the participant entered data, and logic to provide the modified work item to the server, wherein the server includes logic to forward the modified work item to the decision point agent so that the agent may consider work item data therein. -
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the client includes HTML logic to display a HTML display associated with each personal subflow activity and to update the HTML display with information contained in the work item.
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4. The system of claim 2 wherein the HTML logic includes logic to open a browser window to display an initial HTML display for an initial personal subflow activity and logic to refresh the browser window with subsequent HTML displays for subsequent personal subflow activities.
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5. The system of claim 2 wherein the HTML logic includes logic to navigate back to a previous personal subflow activity and previous HTML display.
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6. The system of claim 1 wherein the client cooperates with the participant and wherein the personal subflow can be used by any of a plurality of participants.
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7. The system of claim 1 wherein the client includes logic, cooperative with the server, to navigate to a next personal subflow activity.
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8. The system of claim 1 wherein the client includes logic, cooperative with the server, to navigate to a previous personal subflow activity.
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9. A method of performing a workflow having personal subflows, comprising:
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receiving a workflow definition including a plurality of activities, each activity being performed by at least one workflow participant or at least one agent, and one or more personal subflows comprising one or more personal subflow activities, a personal subflow activity being defined as an activity from said plurality of activities, wherein a workflow participant among a plurality of workflow participants performs all of the personal subflow activities within a personal subflow, and wherein each of the one or more personal subflow activities
1) presents one or more display pages to the participant,
2) accepts participant entered data, and
3) evaluates the participant entered data in accordance with branch expressions associated with each of the one or more personal subflow activities;
a server interpreting the workflow definition to facilitate the scheduling and routing of work items;
a client receiving a work item from the server and displaying information therefrom to the participant; and
a decision agent that cooperates with the server in the scheduling and routing of work items by considering work item data comprising participant entered data and a branch expression associated with a first personal subflow activity and that determines how the work item data will be subsequently routed to a second personal subflow activity or out of the personal subflow. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
the client receiving the participant entered data and modifying the work item as determined by the participant entered data, and the client providing the modified work item to the server, the server forwarding the modified work item to the decision point agent so that the agent may consider work item data therein. -
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the client displaying a HTML display associated with each personal subflow activity and updating the HTML display with information contained in the work item.
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12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the client cooperating with a participant and wherein the personal subflow can be used with any of a plurality of participants.
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13. The method of claim 12 further comprising
the client opening a browser window to display an initial HTML display for an initial personal subflow activity and refreshing the browser window with subsequent HTML displays for subsequent personal subflow activities. -
14. The method of claim 9 further comprising
the client cooperating with the server to navigate to a next personal subflow activity. -
15. The method of claim 9 further comprising
the client cooperating with the server to navigate to a previous personal subflow activity.
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16. A set of computer processable instructions on a computer readable medium, comprising:
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server instructions for interpreting a workflow definition comprising a plurality of activities, each activity being performed by at least one workflow participant or at least one agent, and facilitating the scheduling and routing of work items, the workflow definition including one or more personal subflows comprising personal subflow activities, a personal subflow activity being defined as an activity from said plurality of activities, wherein a workflow participant among a plurality of workflow participants performs all of the personal subflow activities within a personal subflow, each of the one or more personal subflow activities
1) presents one or more display pages to the participant,
2) accepts participant entered data, and
3) evaluates the participant entered data in accordance with branch expressions associated with each of the one or more personal subflow activities;
client instructions to receive a work item from a server and to display information therefrom to a participant; and
decision agent instructions that cooperate with the server in the scheduling and routing of work items by considering work item data comprising participant entered data and a branch expression associated with a first personal subflow activity and that determine how the work item data will be subsequently routed to a second personal subflow activity or out of the personal subflow. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
instructions to receive the participant entered data and to modify a work item as determined by the participant entered data, and instructions to provide the modified work item to a server, wherein the server instructions include instructions to forward the modified work item to a decision point agent so that the agent may consider work item data therein. -
18. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 17 wherein the client instructions include HTML instructions to display a HTML display associated with each personal subflow activity and to update the HTML display with information contained in the work item.
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19. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 18 wherein the HTML instructions include instructions to open a browser window to display an initial HTML display for an initial personal subflow activity and instructions to refresh the browser window with subsequent HTML displays for subsequent personal subflow activities.
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20. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 16 wherein the client instructions cooperate with a participant and wherein the personal subflow can be used by any of a plurality of participants.
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21. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 16 wherein the client instructions include instructions, cooperative with the server instructions, to navigate to a next personal subflow activity.
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22. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 16 wherein the client instructions include instructions, cooperative with the server instructions, to navigate to a previous personal subflow activity.
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23. The set of computer processable instructions of claim 16 wherein the server instructions are Java instructions.
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24. A method of performing a workflow having one or more personal subflows, comprising:
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routing a work item to a participant defined within a workflow as the actor to perform a personal subflow defined by one or more personal subflow activities having branch expressions associated therewith;
a server interpreting a workflow definition to facilitate the scheduling and routing of work items;
a client receiving a work item from the server and displaying information therefrom to the participant; and
a decision agent that cooperates with the server in the scheduling and routing of work items by considering work item data and the branch expressions associated with a current personal subflow activity and that determines how the work item data will be subsequently routed to at least one of the next personal subflow activities or out of the personal subflow. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
the client receiving data from the participant and modifying the work item with the participant data, the client providing the modified work item to the server, and the server forwarding the modified work item to the decision point agent so that the agent may consider work item data therein. -
26. The method according to claim 24 further comprising
the client displaying a HTML display associated with a personal subflow activity and updating the HTML display with information contained in the work item.
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Specification