Context-specific modeling of collaborative business process

• US 8,280,755 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stuhec, Gunther, Pentcheva, Dotchka
• Primary Examiner(s): Hewitt, II, Calvin L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Winter, John M
• Application Number:
  US11/981,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,799 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.11, 705/22, 705/28
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Among other disclosure, a computer-implemented method for context-specific modeling of a collaborative business process includes receiving an identification of a collaborative business process to involve a communication between at least two entities. The identification is submitted by an entity seeking to model the collaborative business process for a specific context associated with the entity. The method includes selecting, in a repository and using the specific context, at least one modeling artifact that has been defined for use in the identified collaborative business process. The repository includes a plurality of stored modeling artifacts for at least one collaborative business process, each of the stored modeling artifacts associated with at least one context value. The method includes providing the selected modeling artifact to the entity in response to the received identification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for context-specific modeling of a collaborative business process, the method comprising:

storing, by a computer system and in a repository that is accessible to other computer systems, multiple modeling artifacts, wherein each of the multiple modeling artifacts is a data component that describes a portion of a collaborative business process;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one of a plurality of collaborative business processes that are represented by various combinations of the multiple modeling artifacts;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one context value from a collection of context values;

receiving, at the computer system and from a first computer system, a query that is for specialized modeling artifacts and that specifies;

(i) a first collaborative business process that is from among the plurality of collaborative business processes, and

(ii) a first context value that is from the collection of context values and that specifies an industry or a geopolitical region of a party that has accessed the first computer system;

selecting, by the computer system and from the repository, a subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that the computer system had assigned to both;

(iii) the first collaborative business process, and

(iv) the first context value;

providing, by the computer system and to the first computer system in response to receiving the query from the first computer system, the selected subset of modeling artifacts,

wherein the first computer system receives the selected subset of modeling artifacts, and

wherein the first computer system modifies a modified modeling artifact that is one of the subset of modeling artifacts;

receiving, at the computer system and from the first computer system after the selected subset of modeling artifacts has been provided to the first computer system, the modified modeling artifact;

determining, by the computer system, that the modified modeling artifact matches another modeling artifact that is stored in the repository and that the computer system has assigned to the first collaborative business process and another context value, the computer system not having assigned the another modeling artifact to the first context value; and

assigning, by the computer system in response to determining that the modified modeling artifact matches the another modeling artifact, the another modeling artifact to the first context value.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system and from a second computer system after the assigning, a second query that is for specialized modeling artifacts and that specifies;

(i) the first collaborative business process, and

(ii) the first context value;

selecting, by the computer system and from the repository, a second subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that the computer system has assigned to both;

(iii) the first collaborative business process, and

(iv) the first context value; and

providing, by the computer system and to the second computer system in response to receiving the second query, the second subset of modeling artifacts, wherein the second subset of modeling artifacts includes the another modeling artifact.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first collaborative business process is configured to involve multiple communications between at least two entities, and wherein each of the subset of modeling artifacts is configured to be included in at least one of the multiple communications.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computer system, the selected subset of modeling artifacts; and

modifying, by the first computing system, the modified modeling artifact that is one of the subset of modeling artifacts.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple modeling artifacts conforms to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the multiple modeling artifacts are stored in the repository as a free tree that has a plurality of nodes associated with at least one context value each, wherein the free tree has no root node.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein selecting the subset of the multiple modeling artifacts includes:

selecting, as a root node, one of the plurality of nodes whose at least one context value matches the first context value; and

deriving a context-specific root tree from the free tree based on the selected root node, wherein nodes of the context-specific root tree have respective context values that are subsets of the at least one context value of the selected root node.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the selected subset of modeling artifacts is a subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that are assigned to the first collaborative business process; and

at least a second modeling artifact of the multiple modeling artifacts that are assigned to the first collaborative business process and that is not in the selected subset of modeling artifacts is assigned to a second context value and is not assigned to the first context value.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of the multiple modeling artifacts is performed by the computer system without user input.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system and from the first computer system after the subset of modeling artifacts have been provided to the first computer system, a second modified modeling artifact which is one of the plurality of modeling artifacts which has been modified by the first computing system;

determining, by the computer system, that the multiple modeling artifacts assigned to the first collaborative business process do not include a modeling artifact that matches the second modified modeling artifact; and

assigning, by the computer system in response to determining that the multiple modeling artifacts assigned to the first collaborative business process do not a modeling artifact that matches the second modified modeling artifact, the modified modeling artifact to the first collaborative business process.

11. One or more non-transitory computer readable devices that comprise instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

storing, by a computer system and in a repository that is accessible to other computer systems, multiple modeling artifacts, wherein each of the multiple modeling artifacts is a data component that describes a portion of a collaborative business process;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one of a plurality of collaborative business processes that are represented by various combinations of the multiple modeling artifacts;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one context value from a collection of context values;

receiving, at the computer system and from a first computer system, a query that is for specialized modeling artifacts and that specifies;

(i) a first collaborative business process that is from among the plurality of collaborative business processes, and

(ii) a first context value that is from the collection of context values and that specifies an industry or a geopolitical region of a party that has accessed the first computer system;

selecting, by the computer system and from the repository, a subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that the computer system had assigned to both;

(iii) the first collaborative business process, and

(iv) the first context value;

providing, by the computer system and to the first computer system in response to receiving the query from the first computer system, the selected subset of modeling artifacts,

wherein the first computer system receives the selected subset of modeling artifacts, and

wherein the first computer system modifies a modified modeling artifact that is one of the subset of modeling artifacts;

receiving, at the computer system and from the first computer system after the selected subset of modeling artifacts has been provided to the first computer system, the modified modeling artifact;

determining, by the computer system, that the modified modeling artifact matches another modeling artifact that is stored in the repository and that the computer system has assigned to the first collaborative business process and another context value, the computer system not having assigned the another modeling artifact to the first context value; and

assigning, by the computer system in response to determining that the modified modeling artifact matches the another modeling artifact, the another modeling artifact to the first context value.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable devices that comprise instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

storing, by a computer system and in a repository that is accessible to other computer systems, multiple modeling artifacts, wherein each of the multiple modeling artifacts is a data component that describes a portion of a collaborative business process;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one of a plurality of collaborative business processes that are represented by various combinations of the multiple modeling artifacts;

assigning, by the computer system, each of the multiple modeling artifacts to at least one context value from a collection of context values;

receiving, at the computer system and from a first computer system, a query that is for specialized modeling artifacts and that specifies;

(i) a first collaborative business process that is from among the plurality of collaborative business processes, and

(ii) a first context value that is from the collection of context values and that specifies an industry or a geopolitical region of a party that has accessed the first computer system;

selecting, by the computer system and from the repository, a subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that the computer system had assigned to both;

(iii) the first collaborative business process, and

(iv) the first context value;

providing, by the computer system and to the first computer system in response to receiving the query from the first computer system, the selected subset of modeling artifacts,

wherein the first computer system receives the selected subset of modeling artifacts, and

wherein the first computer system modifies a modified modeling artifact that is one of the subset of modeling artifacts;

receiving, at the computer system and from the first computer system after the selected subset of modeling artifacts has been provided to the first computer system, the modified modeling artifact;

determining, by the computer system, that the modified modeling artifact matches another modeling artifact that is stored in the repository and that the computer system has assigned to the first collaborative business process and another context value, the computer system not having assigned the another modeling artifact to the first context value; and

assigning, by the computer system in response to determining that the modified modeling artifact matches the another modeling artifact, the another modeling artifact to the first context value.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the computer system and from a second computer system after the assigning, a second query that is for specialized modeling artifacts and that specifies;

(i) the first collaborative business process, and

(ii) the first context value;

selecting, by the computer system and from the repository, a second subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that the computer system has assigned to both;

(iii) the first collaborative business process, and

(iv) the first context value; and

providing, by the computer system and to the second computer system in response to receiving the second query, the second subset of modeling artifacts, wherein the second subset of modeling artifacts includes the another modeling artifact.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first collaborative business process is configured to involve multiple communications between at least two entities, and wherein each of the subset of modeling artifacts is configured to be included in at least one of the multiple communications.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, by the first computer system, the selected subset of modeling artifacts; and

modifying, by the first computing system, the modified modeling artifact that is one of the subset of modeling artifacts.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the multiple modeling artifacts conforms to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the multiple modeling artifacts are stored in the repository as a free tree that has a plurality of nodes associated with at least one context value each, wherein the free tree has no root node.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein selecting the subset of the multiple modeling artifacts includes:

selecting, as a root node, one of the plurality of nodes whose at least one context value matches the first context value; and

deriving a context-specific root tree from the free tree based on the selected root node, wherein nodes of the context-specific root tree have respective context values that are subsets of the at least one context value of the selected root node.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the selected subset of modeling artifacts is a subset of the multiple modeling artifacts that are assigned to the first collaborative business process; and

at least a second modeling artifact of the multiple modeling artifacts that are assigned to the first collaborative business process and that is not in the selected subset of modeling artifacts is assigned to a second context value and is not assigned to the first context value.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein selecting the subset of the multiple modeling artifacts is performed by the computer system without user input.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the computer system and from the first computer system after the subset of modeling artifacts have been provided to the first computer system, a second modified modeling artifact which is one of the plurality of modeling artifacts which has been modified by the first computing system;

determining, by the computer system, that the multiple modeling artifacts assigned to the first collaborative business process do not include a modeling artifact that matches the second modified modeling artifact; and

assigning, by the computer system in response to determining that the multiple modeling artifacts assigned to the first collaborative business process do not a modeling artifact that matches the second modified modeling artifact, the modified modeling artifact to the first collaborative business process.