Visually exposing data services to analysts

• US 8,381,180 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2006
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Rostoker, Nir
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAYIM, SAMUEL E
• Application Number:
  US11/645,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20080127052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,247 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and software of modifying, configuring, adapting, or otherwise developing one or more pre-constructed applications and business process components to meet a user'"'"'s needs or requirements of a particular business application. Each component or application includes one or more pre-constructed user interfaces and performs one or more predetermined functions, services, or queries. A non-technical user or business analyst may obtain an application and, thereafter, adapt or reconfigure the application to perform desired functions, thus creating a custom application. In some cases, the user may custom build a new application utilizing multiple components or applications. The creation, adaptation, and configuration of the application may be performed in an intuitive manner without exposing the user to the programming code or application model. Thus, the user can often easily create, adapt, and configure the application without the need for specialized information technology skills.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by one or more processors for developing an application, the method comprising:

using the one or more processors to identify one or more pre-constructed business process components using a third party portal;

presenting a pre-built user interface for each of the one or more business process components, each user interface comprising an example of a visual representation of a particular business process component associated with the user interface;

receiving a selection for at least one of the presented user interfaces;

identifying a design-time model representation of at least one of the pre-constructed business process components associated with the selected user interface to form at least a part of a particular application;

generating an abstract representation of the particular application from the design-time model representation of the at least one of the pre-constructed business process components, wherein the abstract representation includes a representation of a graphical user interface described by design-time model representations associated with the particular application; and

sending the abstract representation to a runtime platform for transformation into a runtime representation specific to the runtime platform,

wherein the abstract representation is generated based on an executable graphical user interface language (XGL).

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more gaps existing between an operation of the one or more selected pre-constructed business process components and an operation of the particular application; and

filling the gaps existing between the operation of the one or more pre-constructed business process components and the operation of the particular application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein filling the gaps between the operation of the one or more pre-constructed business process components and the operation of the particular application comprises adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner comprises importing and configuring one or more additional pre-constructed business process components.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner comprises linking two or more pre-constructed business process components together.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying at least one pre-constructed application comprises requesting a search of a library of pre-constructed business process components through the third party portal.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the search utilizes criteria comprising at least one user-defined term and at least one taxonomy term.

8. The method of claim 1, the particular application comprises an existing application operable to incorporate the selected business process component.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein each business process component complies with a service-oriented architecture.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the abstract representation is independent of a particular runtime platform.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the design-time model representation includes a machine-readable representation of an application encapsulating at least one design parameter related to a graphical user interface of the application, the at least one design parameters including at least one of a graphical user interface component, a dependency between multiple graphical user interface components, an input, or an output.

30. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending the abstract representation to a second runtime platform different from the runtime platform, wherein the second runtime platform is associated with at least one of a different graphical user interface framework, source code in a different programming language, or a graphical user interface for a different target device with respect to the runtime platform.

9. Software for managing reusable business process components comprising computer readable instructions embodied on non-transitory, tangible media and operable to:

identify a first business process component of a first type;

store the first business process component in a repository, the repository including a plurality of other business process components with at least a second business process component of a second type and at least a subset of the business process components comprising reusable components;

present an interface to a business analyst, the interface operable to display information for at least the first and second business process components, wherein the displayed information for each of the business process components includes a user interface comprising an example of a visual representation of the business process component;

receive a selection for at least one of the user interfaces;

identify a design-time model representation of the business process component associated with the selected user interface to form at least a part of a particular application;

generate an abstract representation of the particular application from the design-time model representation of the business process component, wherein the abstract representation includes a representation of a graphical user interface described by design-time model representations associated with the particular application; and

send the abstract representation to a runtime platform for transformation into a runtime representation specific to the runtime platform,

wherein the abstract representation is generated based on an executable graphical user interface language (XGL).

10. The software of claim 9, the interface presented in response to a request by the business analyst and comprising a searching component, the software further operable to:

present the searching component to the business analyst;

select business process components based on a requested search from the business analyst; and

display information associated with at least a portion of the selected components.

11. The software of claim 10 further operable to:

receive a selection of at least one business process component; and

allow the business analyst to acquire the selected business process component.

12. The software of claim 11, wherein allowing the user to acquire the selected business process component comprises:

bill the business analyst based on associated costs for the selected business process component; and

allow the business analyst to download the business process component upon payment.

13. The software of claim 9, the repository comprising a first and second repository.

14. The software of claim 13, the first repository comprising a local repository and the second repository comprising a remote repository.

15. The software of claim 13, the first repository comprising a first type of repository and the second repository comprising a second type of repository.

16. The software of claim 9 further operable to allow the business analyst to execute an interactive trial of one of the business process components associated with the displayed information.

17. The software of claim 9 further operable to receive a tag for the first business process component to facilitate subsequent searches.

18. The software of claim 9, the repository further storing automatically identified information involving relationships among two or more business process components.

19. The software of claim 9, the interface further operable to display an expert locator, one or more discussion groups, and usage metrics.

20. The software of claim 9 further operable to authenticate the business analyst via the interface prior to displaying the information.

21. The software of claim 9 further operable to automatically filter the displayed information based on a role of the business analyst.

22. A system comprising:

memory operable to store business process components; and

one or more processors operable to;

identify one or more pre-constructed business process components using a third party portal;

present a pre-built user interface for each of the one or more business process components, each user interface comprising an example of a visual representation of a particular business process component associated with the user interface;

receive a selection for at least one of the presented user interfaces;

identify a design-time model representation of at least one of the pre-constructed business process components associated with the selected user interface to form at least a part of a particular application;

generate an abstract representation of the particular application from the design-time time model representation of the at least one of the pre-constructed business process components, wherein the abstract representation includes a representation of a graphical user interface described by design-time model representations associated with the particular application; and

send the abstract representation to a runtime platform for transformation into a runtime representation specific to the runtime platform,

wherein the abstract representation is generated based on an executable graphical user interface language (XGL).

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further operable to:

identify one or more gaps existing between an operation of the one or more selected pre-constructed business process components and an operation of the particular application; and

fill the gaps existing between the operation of the one or more pre-constructed business process components and the operation of the particular application.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein filling the gaps between the operation of the one or more pre-constructed business process components and the operation of the particular application comprises adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner is accomplished free from exposure to programming code of the one or more business process components.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein adapting the one or more pre-constructed business process components to function in a predetermined manner is accomplished free from exposure to an application model of the one or more business process components.