Methods and systems for improving a workflow based on data mined from plans created from the workflow

• US 6,938,240 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2001
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Borland Software Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Borland Software Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Kern, Jonathan, Coad, Peter, Charisius, Dietrich
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Ted T.
• Application Number:
  US09/945,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20020078432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 717100-113, 717120-131, 705 7- 11
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an integrated process modeling and project planning tool that allows an enterprise affiliate to improve a workflow that models a process. To improve the workflow, the tool initiates execution of a plan created from the workflow such that an instance of the process is at least partially performed, receives a characteristic about the performance of the plan, and modifies the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system having a workflow that models a process and a plan that reflects an instance of the process and that has been created from the workflow, wherein the workflow includes an activity that gas a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, and wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, method comprising the steps of:

initiating execution of the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed;

receiving a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan; and

modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic, said modifying comprising steps of;

determining whether the default-successor of the activity corresponds to the successor of the task; and

when it is determined that the default-successor of the activity does not corresponding to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the duration of the task is within a predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity; and

when it is determined that the duration of the task is within the predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity, modifying the duration of the activity to correspond to the duration of the task.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource assigned to perform the role, and wherein the received characteristic is the resource assigned to perform the role.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and

when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user,

identifying another role that the manually assigned resource is capable of performing; and

replacing the role of the activity with the other role.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the role has a skill and a corresponding skill strength and wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and

when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user,

identifying a skill of the resource that corresponds to that of the role; and

modifying the skill strength of the role to be substantially equivalent to a corresponding skill strength of the resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task comprises the steps of:

determining whether the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task; and

when it is determined that the workflow does not have another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, adding another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task to the workflow.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of:

when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, modifying the activity to have a new default-successor that corresponds to the other activity.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of:

when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task,

determining whether the activity has a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity; and

when it is determined that activity does not have a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity, removing the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying the workflow further comprises the steps of:

notifying a user of a recommendation to modify the workflow to reflect the received characteristic;

receiving a reply to the notification;

determining whether the reply authorizes the recommendation; and

when it is determined that the reply authorizes the recommendation,

modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic.

11. A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflects instances of the process, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans;

determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and

when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold,

performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.

12. The method in claim 11, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new duration for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a duration of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new duration.

13. The method in claim 11, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes a role to perform the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new role for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a role of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new role.

14. The method in claim 11, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes the role to perform the activity and that includes a resource assigned to perform the role, wherein the role of the task is consistent with a role of the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new resource for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the steps of:

determining whether the new resource is capable of performing the role;

when it is determined that the new resource is not capable of performing the role,

identifying another role that the new resource is capable of performing; and

modifying the role of the activity to reflect the other role.

15. The method in claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

when it is determined that the new resource has the capability to perform the role,

identifying a skill assigned to the new resource that matches a skill assigned to the role of the activity; and

modifying the role of the activity to have a corresponding skill strength that is substantially the same as a strength of the skill assigned to the new resource.

16. The method in claim 11, wherein the number of the modified plans is a percentage of the plurality of the plans that constitute the modified plans, and wherein the predefined threshold is a predefined percentage of the plans.

17. A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflect instances of the process, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, and wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, the method comprising the steps of:

initiating execution of each plan such that the instances of the process are at least partially performed;

receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow;

determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and

when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold,

modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent characteristic, said modifying comprising steps of;

determining whether the default-successor of the activity corresponds to the successor of the task; and

when it is determined that the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.

18. The method in claim 17, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.

19. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system having a workflow that models a process and a plan that reflects an instance of the process and that has been created from the workflow, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, and wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, the method comprising the steps of:

initiating execution of the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed;

receiving a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan; and

modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic, said modifying comprising steps of;

determining whether the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the duration of the task is within a predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity; and

when it is determined that the duration of the task is within the predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity, modifying the duration of the activity to correspond to the duration of the task.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource assigned to perform the role, and wherein the received characteristic is the resource assigned to perform the role.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and

when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user,

identifying another role that the manually assigned resource is capable of performing; and

replacing the role of the activity with the other role.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the role has a skill and a corresponding skill strength and wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of:

determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and

when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user,

identifying a skill of the resource that corresponds to that of the role; and

modifying the skill strength of the role to be substantially the same as a corresponding skill strength of the resource.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task comprises the steps of:

determining whether the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task; and

when it is determined that the workflow does not have another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, adding another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task to the workflow.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of:

when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, modifying the activity to have a new default-successor that corresponds to the other activity.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of:

when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task,

determining whether the activity has a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity; and

when it is determined that activity does not have a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity, removing the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the step of modifying the workflow further comprises the steps of:

notifying a user of a recommendation to modify the workflow to reflect the received characteristic;

receiving a reply to the notification;

determining whether the reply authorizes the recommendation; and

when it is determined that the reply authorizes the recommendation,

modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic.

29. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans;

determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and

when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold

performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new duration for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a duration of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new duration.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes a role to perform the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new role for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a role of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new role.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes the role to perform the activity and that includes a resource assigned to perform the role, wherein the role of the task is consistent with a role of the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new resource for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the steps of:

determining whether the new resource has a capability to perform the role;

when it is determined that the new resource does not have the capability to perform the role,

identifying another role that the new resource is capable of performing; and

modifying the role of the activity to reflect the other role.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, further comprising the steps of:

when it is determined that the new resource has the capability to perform the role,

identifying a skill assigned to the new resource that matches a skill assigned to the role of the activity; and

modifying the role of the activity to have a corresponding skill strength that is substantially the same as a strength of the skill assigned to the new resource.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, further comprising the step of receiving the predefined threshold from a user.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the number of the modified plans is a percentage of the plans where a modification has been received, and wherein the predefined threshold is a predefined percentage of the plans.

36. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling in a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of:

initiating execution of each plan such that instances of the process are at least partially performed;

receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow;

determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and

when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold,

modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent characteristic, said modifying comprising steps of;

determining whether the default-successor of the activity corresponds to the successor of the task; and

when it is determined that the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.

38. A data processing system comprising:

a secondary storage device further comprising a workflow that models a process and a plan that reflects an instance of the process and that has been created from the workflow, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, and wherein the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task;

a memory device further comprising a program that activates the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed, that receives a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan, and that modifies the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic; and

a processor for running the program.

39. The data processing system of claim 38, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.

40. The data processing system of claim 38, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource with a capability, wherein the received characteristic is the resource with the capability, and wherein the role does not reflect the capability.

41. The data processing system of claim 40, wherein the modified workflow includes a new role for the activity that reflects the capability of the resource.

42. The data processing system of claim 38, wherein the modified workflow reflects the successor of the task.

43. The data processing system of claim 38, wherein the modified workflow includes another activity that reflects the successor of the task.

44. The data processing system of claim 43, wherein the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, and wherein the modified workflow includes a new default-successor for the activity that corresponds to the other activity.

45. The data processing system of claim 44, wherein the modified workflow reflects the removal of the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.