Extensible framework for designing workflows

• US 8,170,901 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shukla, Dharma K., Bhandarkar, Aditya G., Sagar, Akash J., Chub, Sergey, Mehta, Mayank, Pilarinos, Dennis, Hisdai, Eli, Parasnis, Abhay Vinayak
• Primary Examiner(s): Boswell, Beth V
• Assistant Examiner(s): JACKSON, ERNEST ADEYEMI
• Application Number:
  US11/046,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20060074730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,647 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/7.12, 705/7.27, 717/102, 717/105, 717/129
• US Class Current: 705/7.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis

Abstract

A user interface for building a componentized workflow model. Each step of the workflow is modeled as an activity that has metadata to describe design time aspects, compile time aspects, and runtime aspects of the workflow step. A user selects and arranges the activities to create the workflow via the user interface. The metadata associated with each of the activities in the workflow is collected to create a persistent representation of the workflow. Users extend the workflow model by authoring custom activities.

Claims

1. A method for modeling a workflow, said workflow including activities, said workflow modeling a business process, said method comprising:

displaying a plurality of activities on a display of a computer system, said plurality of activities being stored in a memory of the computer system;

receiving a selection of the activities from a user via a user interface selection device of the computer system, said received selection of the activities to be included in the workflow;

displaying the received selection of activities on the display;

receiving from the user via the user interface selection device structure information for the selection of activities, said received structure information to be used to form the workflow;

receiving a user-defined activity from the user via the user interface selection device, said user-defined activity having one or more semantics associated therewith;

evaluating the semantics for conformance to a predefined interface requirement;

displaying the received user-defined activity on the display as one of the plurality of activities as a function of said evaluating;

receiving business logic from the user via the user interface selection device for association with one or more activities in the selection of activities;

arranging the displayed selection of activities on the display in accordance with the received structure information and the business logic associated with the activities in the selection of activities to create the workflow for execution by the computer system;

translating the created workflow into a user-designated language by the computer system in response to receiving a command from the user via the user interface selection device; and

executing the user-designed language of the translated workflow by the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the plurality of activities comprises displaying the plurality of activities in one or more of the following in the display:

a palette display area and a workspace display area.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving customization information from the user via the user interface selection device; and

adjusting the displayed plurality of activities as a function of the received customization information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user-defined theme from the user via the user interface selection device, said user-defined theme defining one or more visual aspects of the display; and

applying the received user-defined theme to the selection of activities arranged on the display.

5. In a computer system having a display and a user interface selection device, one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable components for modeling a workflow, said workflow including activities, said workflow modeling a business process, said components comprising:

a rendering component for displaying a plurality of activities on the display;

an interface component for receiving a selection of the activities displayed by the rendering component from a user via the user interface selection device and receiving business logic representing software code from the user via the user interface selection device for association with one or more activities in the selection of activities, said received selection of the activities being included in the workflow, said rendering component further displaying on the display the selection of activities received by the interface component, said interface component further receiving structure information of the plurality of activities to form the workflow from the user via the user interface selection device, wherein the interface component further receives a user-defined activity from the user via the user interface selection device, said user-defined activity having one or more user-defined semantics associated therewith; and

a designer component for arranging the selection of activities on the display in accordance with the received structure information and the business logic associated with the activities in the selection of activities to create the workflow, said designer component translating the created workflow into a user-designated language by the computer system in response to the received user-defined activity.

6. The computer-readable storage media of claim 5, further comprising a validation component for evaluating the semantics for conformance to a predefined interface requirement.

7. The computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the rendering component further displays the received user-defined activity on the display as one of the plurality of activities as a function of the validation component.

8. The computer-readable storage media of claim 5, wherein the rendering component, interface component, and designer component execute within an execution environment of an application program.

9. The computer-readable storage media of claim 5, wherein the interface component comprises one or more of the following:

a graphical user interface and an application programming interface.

10. A system for modeling a workflow, said workflow including activities, said workflow modeling a business process, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing a plurality of activities;

a display area for displaying the plurality of activities stored in the memory area;

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

receiving a selection of the activities via the display area from a user;

displaying the received selection of activities in the display area;

receiving from the user via the display area structure information for the selection of activities, said received structure information to be used to form the workflow;

receiving from the user via the display area business logic representing software code for association with one or more activities in the selection of activities;

arranging the displayed selection of activities in the display area in accordance with the received structure information and the business logic associated with the activities in the selection of activities to create the workflow;

translating the created workflow into a user-designated language by the processor in response to receiving a command from the user via the display area; and

executing the user-designated language of the translated workflow.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a display device containing the display area.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a user interface selection device operable with the processor.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the display area comprises a user interface.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the display area is adapted for display within an execution environment of an application program.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for one or more of the following:

displaying the plurality of activities, receiving the selection of the activities, receiving the structure information from the user, and arranging the displayed selection of activities in accordance with the received structure information to create a workflow.