System and method for social service event processing and management

• US 8,489,729 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Weidenschlager, Armin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US11/479,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20070220140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,573 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/7.26, 705/301, 705/320, 705/321, 705/322, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

An event processing mechanism is provided as a system interface between software applications that contain events that need to be processed, a BRF program that executes event rules, and workflow processes that capture the processing of the events. A social service eventing program enables centralized and streamlined event processing by receiving event information from software applications, assigning appropriate event rules based on the received information and applicable business or regulatory rules, prioritizing event rules, setting and communicating applicable event rules to parameterized rules to be executed by a BRF program.

Claims

1. An event processing computer system comprising:

a social service eventing program stored on a computer readable storage medium providing a program interface between a plurality of software applications containing events to be raised,

wherein the social service eventing program is to;

receive event data from the plurality of software applications;

send confirmation of the receipt of the event data to the plurality of software applications, wherein the plurality of software applications return to one or more existing work processes after receiving the confirmation from the social service eventing program;

perform rule determination to assign event subscriptions to the events raised by the plurality of software applications, wherein event subscriptions are a set of business or regulatory rules;

set the assigned event subscriptions to parameterized business rule framework (BRF) rules, wherein the parameterized BRF rules contain a case category, a processing priority, and an authorization level granted to the system administrator;

initiate a BRF program for execution of the parameterized BRF rules;

send the BRF program the parameterized BRF rules; and

initiate workflow processes for processing of the events raised by the plurality of software applications.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the events contain information, including event type, event subscriptions, and event instance data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the event type contains event type hierarchy.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the event instance data contains event attributes and event context.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the event data received by the social service eventing program contains the event type, the event attributes, and the event context.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the event subscriptions are rules embodied in logical conditions, of which if true, initiate actions to be processed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the social service eventing program performs rule determination by reading the event subscriptions available to the events based on the event data received from the plurality of software applications, deciding processing priority of the event subscriptions, and filtering event subscriptions based on the processing priority.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the social service eventing program decides the processing priority of the event subscriptions by comparing the event subscriptions available to the events and the received event data and determining a set of event subscriptions for immediate processing and a set of event subscriptions for delayed processing.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the social service eventing program performs rule determination based on authorization granted to a system administrator using the computer system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the authorization granted to the system administrator is based on an individual level.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the authorization granted to the system administrator is based on an organizational unit level.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the social service eventing program performs rule determination by verifying whether the events raised by the plurality of software applications belong to particular case categories.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the BRF program maintains an error log that records errors occurred during the execution of the BRF rules.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the social service eventing program checks the error log and processes errors depending on whether the errors occurred after the events were raised, and whether the errors were permanent or temporary.

15. An event processing computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

receiving event data from a plurality of software applications by a social service eventing program stored on a computer readable storage medium;

sending, by the social service eventing program, confirmation of the receipt of the event data to the plurality of software applications, wherein the plurality of software applications return to one or more existing work processes after receiving the confirmation from the social service eventing program;

initiating a first workflow process to be executed by a processor and process immediate event subscriptions by the social service eventing program, wherein event subscriptions are a set of business or regulatory rules;

initiating a business rule framework (BRF) program by the social service eventing program;

determining the immediate event subscriptions to be applied to the event by the social service eventing program;

setting the immediate event subscriptions to be applied to the event to parameterized BRF rules by the social service eventing program, wherein the parameterized BRF rules contain a case category, a processing priority, and an authorization level granted to the system administrator;

executing the parameterized BRF rules by the BRF program;

initiating a second workflow process to process delayed event subscriptions by the social service eventing program;

initiating the BRF program by the social service eventing program;

determining the delayed event subscriptions to be applied to the event by the social service eventing program;

setting the delayed event subscriptions to be applied to the event to parameterized BRF rules by the social service eventing program; and

executing the parameterized BRF rules by the BRF program.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the event contains information, including event type, event subscriptions, and event instance data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the event type contains event type hierarchy.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the event instance data contains event attributes and event context.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the event data received by the social service eventing program contains the event type, the event attributes, and the event context.

20. The method claim 15, wherein the immediate event subscriptions are rules embodied in logical conditions that are to be executed immediately, of which if true, initiate actions to be processed.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the social service eventing program determines the immediate event subscriptions by reading the event subscriptions available to the event based on the event data received, comparing the event subscriptions with the event data received, and deciding processing priority to be immediate.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the social service eventing program determines the immediate event subscriptions based on authorization granted to a system user of the program.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the authorization granted to a system user is based on an individual level.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the authorization granted to a system user is based on an organizational unit level.

25. The method claim 15, wherein the delayed event subscriptions are rules embodied in logical conditions that are to be executed after the execution of the immediate event subscriptions, of which if true, initiate actions to be processed.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the social service eventing program determines the delayed event subscriptions by reading the event subscriptions available to the event based on the event data received, comparing the event subscriptions and the event data received, and deciding the processing priority to be delayed.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the social service eventing program determines the delayed event subscriptions based on authorization granted to the system user of the program.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the authorization granted to a system user is based on an individual level.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the authorization granted to a system user is based on an organizational unit level.

30. The method of claim 15, wherein the social service eventing program determines whether the event belongs to a particular case category.

31. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of maintaining an error log that records errors occurred during the execution of the BRF rules by the BRF program.

32. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of the social service eventing program:

checking the error log; and

processing an error depending on whether the error occurred after the software application raised the event, and whether the error was permanent or temporary.

33. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform the steps of:

raising an event to be processed by one or more software applications;

sending event data to a social service eventing program;

confirming the receipt of the event data to the one or more software applications;

initiating a first workflow process to process immediate event subscriptions, wherein event subscriptions are a set of business or regulatory rules;

initiating a business rule framework (BRF) program;

determining the immediate event subscriptions to be applied to the event;

setting the immediate event subscriptions to be applied to the event to parameterized BRF rules, wherein the parameterized BRF rules contain a case category, a processing priority, and an authorization level granted to the system administrator;

executing the parameterized BRF rules;

initiating a second workflow process to process delayed event subscriptions;

initiating the BRF program;

determining the delayed event subscriptions to be applied to the event;

setting the delayed event subscriptions to be applied to the event to parameterized BRF rules;

executing the parameterized BRF rules.

34. The medium of claim 33, wherein the event contains information, including event type, event subscriptions, and event instance data.

35. The medium of claim 34, wherein the event type contains event type hierarchy.

36. The medium of claim 34, wherein the event instance data contains event attributes and event context.

37. The medium of claim 33, wherein the event data sent to the social service eventing program contains the event type, the event attributes, and the event context.

38. The medium claim 33, wherein the immediate event subscriptions are rules embodied in logical conditions that are to be executed immediately, of which if true, initiate actions to be processed.

39. The medium of claim 33, wherein the social service eventing program determines the immediate event subscriptions by reading the event subscriptions available to the event based on the event data received, and comparing the event subscriptions and the event data received, and deciding processing priority to be immediate.

40. The medium of claim 33, wherein the social service eventing program determines the immediate event subscriptions based on authorization granted to a system user of the program.

41. The medium of claim 40, wherein the authorization granted to the system user is based on an individual level.

42. The medium of claim 40, wherein the authorization granted to the system user is based on an organizational unit level.

43. The medium of claim 33, wherein the social service eventing program determines the delayed event subscriptions by reading the event subscriptions available to the event based on the event data received, comparing the event subscriptions and the event data received, and deciding the processing priority to be delayed.

44. The medium of claim 33, wherein the social service eventing program determines the delayed event subscriptions based on authorization granted to the system user of the program.

45. The medium of claim 44, wherein the authorization granted to the system user is based on an individual level.

46. The medium of claim 44, wherein the authorization granted to the system user is based on an organizational unit level.

47. The medium of claim 33, wherein the social service eventing program determines whether the event belongs to a particular case category.

48. The medium of claim 33, further performs the step of maintaining an error log that records errors occurred during the execution of the BRF rules.

49. The medium of claim 33, further performs the steps of the social service eventing program:

checking the error log; and

processing an error depending on whether the error occurred after the software application raised the event, and whether the error was permanent or temporary.