Generating a business document model

• US 7,865,820 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2006
• Issued: 01/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sauer, Manuel, Greiner, Ulrike
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mills; Frank D
• Application Number:
  US11/468,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for identifying a substitute relating to a business document model includes receiving, in a computer system that has a modeling tool, a first user input indicating one of multiple components of a business document model in the modeling tool. The multiple components include nodes and edges that represent semantics of a business document. The method includes identifying, in response to the first user input, at least one substitute component for the indicated component. The at least one substitute component is identified in a repository of preexisting business document models and using a graph structure of the business document model. The method includes presenting the identified at least one substitute component in the modeling tool such that a user can replace the indicated component with the substitute component. Quality values can be determined and assigned.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a substitute relating to a business document model, the method comprising:

receiving, in a computer system that has a modeling tool, a first user input indicating one of multiple components of a business document model in the modeling tool, the business document model comprising a semantic model used in generating one or more documents to be exchanged in electronic communication, and the multiple components comprising nodes and edges that represent semantics of a business document, the edges connecting nodes;

identifying, in response to the first user input, at least one substitute component for the indicated component, the at least one substitute component being identified in a repository of preexisting business document models and using a graph structure of the business document model; and

presenting the identified at least one substitute component in the modeling tool such that a user can replace the indicated component with the substitute component.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a user creates the business document model in the modeling tool and makes the first user input by selecting the one of the multiple components, and wherein the identification of the at least one substitute component is automatically triggered by the selection.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the graph structure comprises traversing at least part of the business document model based on the indicated component and attempting to identify those of the multiple components encountered in the traversal.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising terminating the traversal upon traversing a final component, the termination being based on a condition selected from the group consisting of:

any parent or child component of the final component has already been traversed, and an identifier of the final block is known.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising selecting a starting point for the traversal among the multiple components based on closeness to the indicated component in the graph structure.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein identifying the at least one substitute component includes identifying, for each traversed component, at least one best matching component in the repository.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the at least one best matching component for at least one of the traversed components is identified using local information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the local information comprises an attribute value of the traversed component and a parent or child relationship of the traversed component.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising adjusting quality values associated with the respective best matching components.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the quality values are adjusted while again traversing the traversed components in reverse order.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting a quality value for the substitute component based on a quality of the best matching components for the traversed components.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein an attribute of any of the traversed components is used in identifying the best matching components.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the identification of at least one of the best matching components is performed after a determination that the graph structure does not exactly match a structure of the preexisting business models.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a quality value with the substitute component, the quality value representing a determination of a quality of the substitute component as a replacement for the indicated component.

15. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for generating a business document model, the method comprising:

receiving, in a computer system that has a modeling tool, a first user input indicating one of multiple components of a business document model in the modeling tool, the business document model comprising a semantic model used in generating one or more documents to be exchanged in electronic communication, and the multiple components comprising nodes and edges that represent semantics of a business document, the edges connecting nodes;

identifying, in response to the first user input, at least one substitute component for the indicated component, the at least one substitute component being identified in a repository of preexisting business document models and using a graph structure of the business document model; and

presenting the identified at least one substitute component in the modeling tool such that a user can replace the indicated component with the substitute component.

16. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, generate on a display device a graphical user interface for identifying a substitute relating to a business document model, the graphical user interface comprising:

a modeling area configured to present multiple components of a business document model, the business document model comprising a semantic model used in generating one or more documents to be exchanged in electronic communication, and the multiple components comprising nodes and edges that represent semantics of a business document, the edges connecting nodes; and

a substitution candidate area for presenting at least one substitute component such that a user can replace an indicated one of the multiple components in the business document model with the substitute component, the at least one substitute component being identified in a repository of preexisting business document models and using a graph structure of the business document model.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the substitution candidate area further is configured to present a quality value with the substitute component, the quality value representing a determination of a quality of the substitute component as a replacement for the indicated component.