Staging objects in workflow management systems
First Claim
1. A plurality of computer systems acting as a workflow-management-system (WFMS), comprising:
- a process-model defining at least one process-activity managed and executed by said WFMS, a plurality of WFMS-clients, each WFMS client executing on a respective computer system of said plurality of computer systems;
a plurality of WFMS-agents;
a WFMS-server, said WFMS-server performing navigation through said process-model and performing resolution by (a) selecting a next-process-activity to be executed by said WFMS, (b) selecting a WFMS-agent to execute said next-process-activity, and (c) selecting a WFMS-client to control execution of said next-process-activity by a work-item, said WFMS client executing on a first computer system of said plurality of computer systems; and
a stager invoked by said WFMS-server according to said process-model, said stager being designated by said process-model independently of said WFMS-client and independently of said WFMS-agent said stager storing resources required for execution of said next-process-activity, said resources being obtained from at least one source-location and being stored at a WFM-staging-location on a second computer system of said plurality of computer systems, said first and second computer systems being different computer systems, said stager storing said resources required for execution of said next-process activity responsive to said WFMS-server performing said resolution;
wherein said WFMS-agent uses said resources from said WFMS-staging-location for execution of said next-process-activity; and
wherein said WFMS-server provides said work-item to said selected WFMS-client for presentation to a user only after said resources have been stored at said WFMS-staging-location.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a device within and a method processed by a Workflow Management System (WFMS) making resources/objects accessible to activities of said WFMS processing these resources/objects. The Workflow-Management-System (WFMS) according the current invention comprises a WFMS-server said WFMS-server performs navigation through a process-model and performs resolution by selecting a next-process-activity to be executed by said WFMS, and by selecting a WFMS-agent to execute said next-process-activity. The current invention teaches a stager storing, after the WFMS performing said resolution, resources required for execution of said next-process-activity from one or a multitude of source-locations onto a WMF-staging-location. Afterwards the WFMS-agent uses said resources from said WFMS-staging-location for execution of said next-process-activity.
87 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A plurality of computer systems acting as a workflow-management-system (WFMS), comprising:
-
a process-model defining at least one process-activity managed and executed by said WFMS, a plurality of WFMS-clients, each WFMS client executing on a respective computer system of said plurality of computer systems;
a plurality of WFMS-agents;
a WFMS-server, said WFMS-server performing navigation through said process-model and performing resolution by (a) selecting a next-process-activity to be executed by said WFMS, (b) selecting a WFMS-agent to execute said next-process-activity, and (c) selecting a WFMS-client to control execution of said next-process-activity by a work-item, said WFMS client executing on a first computer system of said plurality of computer systems; and
a stager invoked by said WFMS-server according to said process-model, said stager being designated by said process-model independently of said WFMS-client and independently of said WFMS-agent said stager storing resources required for execution of said next-process-activity, said resources being obtained from at least one source-location and being stored at a WFM-staging-location on a second computer system of said plurality of computer systems, said first and second computer systems being different computer systems, said stager storing said resources required for execution of said next-process activity responsive to said WFMS-server performing said resolution;
wherein said WFMS-agent uses said resources from said WFMS-staging-location for execution of said next-process-activity; and
wherein said WFMS-server provides said work-item to said selected WFMS-client for presentation to a user only after said resources have been stored at said WFMS-staging-location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
said WFMS-agent stores output generated by execution of said next-process-activity at said WFMS-staging-location; and
said stager, after completion of said next-process-activity, re-stores said output to said source-location.
-
-
3. The WFMS of claim 2, wherein access to said WFMS-staging-location is managed through a WMFS-staging-server.
-
4. The WFMS of claim 2, wherein said stager is called by one of the set comprising:
- (a) said WFMS-server, and (b) said WFMS-agent.
-
5. The WFMS of claim 2, wherein:
-
said process-activity has associated with it at least one input-container; and
said resources are determined by said stager from the contents of said input-container of said next-process-activity.
-
-
6. The WFMS of claim 1, wherein said WFMS-staging-location is selected dynamically from a predefined set of WFMS-staging-locations.
-
7. The WFMS of claim 1, wherein said stager is located on the same computer system as said WFMS-server.
-
8. The WFMS of claim 1, wherein said WFMS-staging-location and said WFMS-agent are located on the same computer system.
-
9. The WFMS of claim 1, wherein access to said WFMS-staging-location is managed through a WMFS-staging-server.
-
10. A method of staging resources in a Workflow-Management-System (WFMS), said WFMS comprising a process-model defining at least one process-activity managed and executed by said WFMS, said WFMS performing navigation through said process-model, said method comprising the computer-executed steps of:
-
resolving a next-process-activity, said resolving step comprising the steps of;
(a) selecting a next-process-activity to be executed by said WFMS, (b) selecting a WFMS-agent to execute said selected next-process-activity, and (c) selecting a WFMS-client to control execution of said next-process activity by a work-item, said WFMS-client executing on a first computer system;
invoking a stager according to said process-model, said stager being designated by said process-model independently of said WFMS client and independently of said WFMS-agent, said stager staging stored resources required for execution of said next-process-activity from at least one source-location to a WFM-staging-location on a second computer system, said second computer system being different from said first computer system, said staging step being performed responsive to said resolving step;
presenting a work-item to a user, said step of presenting a work-item to a user being performed after said staging step, said work-item allowing said user to control execution of said next-process-activity from said selected WFMS-client;
accessing said resources from said WFM-staging-location, said accessing step being performed by said WFMS agent; and
executing said next-process-activity in said WFMS-agent using said resources from said WFMS-staging-location. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
storing output generated by said step of executing said next-process-activity into said WFM-staging-location, said storing step being performed by said WFMS-agent; and
restoring said output to said source-location after completion of said next-process-activity.
-
-
12. The method of staging resources of claim 11, wherein in said staging-step said resources are determined from the contents of one or more input-containers of said next-process-activity, each said input-container being associated with said next-process-activity.
-
13. The method of staging resources of claim 10, wherein said WFMS-staging-location is selected dynamically from a predefined set of WFMS-staging-locations.
Specification