Time business process validations within data context

• US 7,945,891 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2006
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Belousova, Maria, Prickril, Gregory Robert, Shankarnarayan, Chandrika G., Mital, Vijay, Chkodrov, Gueorgui B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Deng; Anna
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rampuria; Satish
• Application Number:
  US11/279,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20070244735A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,861 Days
• Field of Search: 717/100, 717124-135, 705/8
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Validating executable data for interactions among a plurality of process artifacts at design time. A data context is created to include the plurality of process artifacts. The data context carries interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts. The executable data from a data source is associated with the plurality of process artifacts in the created data context. A subset of the interaction rules is selected corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts. The associated executable data is validated when the associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

Claims

1. A method executable by a processor of a computing device for validating executable data for interactions among a plurality of process artifacts at design time, said processor being configured for executing computer-executable instructions for:

creating a data context based on the plurality of process artifacts, said data context including interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts, said included interaction rules defining sequences and interactions among the plurality of process artifacts;

associating executable data with the plurality of process artifacts from a data source based on the included interaction rules;

selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts;

evaluating the associated executable data relative to the selected subset of the interaction rules; and

validating the evaluated associated executable data when the evaluated associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules, and providing a suggestion to change the evaluated associated executable data when the evaluated associated executable data is not in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein validation further comprising validating the evaluated associated executable data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts in the data context.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured for associating another set of executable data in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules in response to validating.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein validating further comprising collecting another set of executable data for the plurality of process artifacts as a function of the provided suggestion when the collected set of the executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable data includes data and expressions for execution by a processing unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein validating comprises executing a set of static check routines for determining whether the evaluated associated executable data includes entities needed for the expressions to be executed by the processing unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable storage media store the computer-executable instructions of claim 1.

8. A system for validating data interactions, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving data from a data source;

a memory area for storing the received data;

a processor being configured for executing computer-executable instructions for;

creating a data context including a plurality of process artifacts, said data context including interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts, said included interaction rules defining sequences and interactions among the plurality of process artifacts;

associating received data with the plurality of process artifacts from the data source to the created data context based on the included interaction rules;

selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts;

evaluating the associated executable data relative to the selected subset of the interaction rules; and

validating the associated data when the associate data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules, and providing, when the evaluated associated executable data is not in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules, a suggestion to change at least one the following;

one of the plurality of process artifacts; and

one of the selected subset of interaction rules.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory area stores data relating to the plurality of the process artifacts;

and wherein the processor is configured to validate the associated data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the received data includes executable data and executable expressions for execution by the processor.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to execute a set of static check routines for determining whether the associated data includes entities or parameters needed for the expressions to be executed by the processor.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the interface provides the suggestion to a user, and wherein the interface receives input from the user to make said change in response to the provided suggestion.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to identify a set of executable data in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules in response to validating or in response to the provided suggestion.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable components for validating data interactions among a plurality of process artifacts in a data context, said computer-executable components comprising:

a process module for creating a data context based on the plurality of process artifacts, said data context configuring interaction rules among the plurality of process artifacts;

said configured interaction rules defining sequences and interactions among the plurality of process entities;

an association module for associating executable data with the plurality of process artifacts from a data source to the created data context based on the configured interaction rules;

a data module for selecting a subset of the interaction rules corresponding to at least one of the plurality of process artifacts; and

a validation module for evaluating the associated executable data relative to the selected subset of the interaction rules, for validating the evaluated associated executable data when the evaluated associated executable data is in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules, and providing a suggestion to change the evaluated associated executable data when the evaluated associated executable data is not in accordance with the selected subset of the interaction rules.

15. The computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the validation module validates the evaluated associated executable data before execution of the plurality of process artifacts in the data context.

16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the evaluated associated executable data including executable data and executable expressions for execution by the process module, and wherein the validation module is configured to execute a set of static check routines for determining whether the evaluated associated executable data includes entities or parameters needed for the executable expressions to be executed by the process module.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the validation module is further configured to provide a suggestion to supplement the evaluated associated executable data as a function of the selected subset of the interaction rules.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 14, further comprising a user interface (UI) component for providing the suggestion to a user, and wherein the UI component receives input from the user in response to the provided suggestion.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the association module is configured to identify another set of executable data in accordance with the selected subset of the interactions among the plurality of process artifacts in response to validating by the validation module or as a function of the provided suggestion by the validation module.