Method and apparatus for supporting multiple business process languages in BPM

• US 8,423,955 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Baeyens, Tom, Guizar, Alejandro
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, RONGFA PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US11/897,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,055 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method and apparatus for supporting multiple business process languages in business process management (BPM). The method may include receiving user input identifying a definition of a business process, and determining which business process language was used for the definition of the business process. The method further includes invoking a runtime environment associated with the used business process language, and executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a business process management (BPM) engine executable by a processing device to support a plurality of business process languages, user input identifying a definition of a business process;

identifying one of the plurality of business process languages supported by the BPM engine and used for the definition of the business process, the identifying in view of a filename extension of a file containing the definition;

invoking a runtime environment associated with the one of the plurality of business process languages;

executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment; and

storing, in a runtime execution database, runtime execution data collected during the executing of the business process, wherein the runtime execution data comprises generic data that applies across the plurality of business process languages and data specific to one of the plurality of business process languages.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of business process languages comprises jPDL and BPEL.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving an indication of a desired business process language;

providing a first user interface if the desired business process language is jPDL;

providing a second user interface if the desired business process language is BPEL; and

storing the definition of the business process specified via the first or second user interface in a process repository.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting the runtime execution data to a user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises providing a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the runtime execution data is presented to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.

9. A system comprising:

a process repository to store definitions of a plurality of business processes; and

a business process management (BPM) process engine, coupled to the process repository, the BPM process engine to support a plurality of business process languages, and to receive user input identifying a definition of one of the plurality of business processes, to identify one of the plurality of business process languages supported by the BPM process engine and used for the definition of the business process, the identifying in view of a filename extension of a file containing the definition, to invoke a runtime environment associated with the one of the plurality of business process languages, to execute the business process in the invoked runtime environment, and to store, in a runtime execution database, runtime execution data collected during executing of the business process, wherein the runtime execution data comprises generic data that applies across the plurality of business process languages and data specific to one of the plurality of business process languages.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the plurality of business process languages comprises jPDL and BPEL.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a process definition tool to receive an indication of a desired business process language, to provide a first user interface if the desired business process language is jPDL, to provide a second user interface if the desired business process language is BPEL, and to store the definition of the business process specified via the first or second user interface in the process repository.

12. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a web console to present the runtime execution data to a user.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the web console is to provide the runtime execution data to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.

17. A non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a business process management (BPM) engine to support a plurality of business process languages, user input identifying a definition of a business process;

identifying, by the processing device, one of the plurality of business process languages supported by the BPM engine and used for the definition of the business process, the identifying in view of a filename extension of a file containing the definition;

invoking a runtime environment associated with the one of the plurality of business process languages;

executing the business process in the invoked runtime environment; and

storing, in a runtime execution database, runtime execution data collected during the executing of the business process, wherein the runtime execution data comprises generic data that applies across the plurality of business process languages and data specific to one of the plurality of business process languages.

18. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

presenting the runtime execution data to a user.

19. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 18 wherein presenting the runtime execution data to the user comprises:

providing a monitoring user interface to allow the user to monitor the execution of the business process;

providing an execution user interface to allow the user to interact with the execution of the business process; and

providing a statistics user interface to allow the user to view statistics associated with the execution of the business process.

20. The non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium of claim 17 wherein the runtime execution data is presented to the user in a uniform manner regardless of a business process language used for defining the business process.