Tracing software execution of a business process

• US 8,626,543 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2011
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Liu, Yingzhi, Beuter, Hans-Georg, Deora, Piyush, Schnack, Mirko, Ziegler, Carsten
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US13/269,578
• Publication Number:
  US 20130091342A1
• Time in Patent Office: 822 Days
• Field of Search: 1/1, 707601-752, 707/999, 705 711- 742, 705/301, 705/348, 709202-242, 717100-135, 719315-328, 726 21- 26
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods to trace an execution of a business process are disclosed. Business rules and corresponding business objects required to execute the business process are identified and rendered to receive an input. Based upon detecting a trigger to execute the business process, the business rules and the corresponding business objects are processed to compute a process-resultant for the business process. A process-path of the computed process-resultant is traced by tracing key-strings corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant, to generate a trace-resultant. The trace-resultant is parsed by determining versioned business objects and business information of the key-strings, to derive a business definition for the traced business objects involved in computing the process-resultant. Based upon the business definition, a comprehensive trace-map comprising a compilation of the process-resultant to execute the business process is generated.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to trace an execution of a business process, comprising:

receiving from a computer generated user interface, an input to one or more business objects corresponding to one or more business rules associated with the business process;

based upon detecting a trigger to execute the business process, a processor of the computer performing a step of processing the one or more business rules and the corresponding one or more business objects associated with the business process, to compute a process-resultant for the business process;

the processor tracing a process-path of the computed process-resultant by tracing one or more key-strings corresponding to the business objects to generate a trace-resultant;

the processor parsing the trace-resultant by determining one or more versioned business objects and business information of the key-strings, and deriving a business definition for the one or more versioned business objects; and

based upon the derived business definition, the processor generating a comprehensive trace-map, comprising a compilation of the process-resultant of the executed business process, the comprehensive trace-map including a resultant of an evaluation of the process-resultant and a demonstration of the trace-resultant.

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

identifying the business rules involved in executing the business process;

identifying the business objects corresponding to the business rules; and

rendering the identified business objects on the computer generated user interface to receive the input.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein tracing the key-strings comprise:

tracing one or more key-identifiers of the corresponding business objects; and

tracing one or more key-values describing one or more business values assigned to the corresponding business objects.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein tracing the key-strings comprise:

tracing a time-stamp of the business objects.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein tracing the process-path comprises a lean tracing mechanism comprising:

tracing one or more key-identifiers corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant;

tracing one or more key-values corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant;

tracing one or more time-stamps corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant; and

generating a trace-resultant based upon the traced key-identifiers, the traced key-values and the traced time-stamps of the corresponding business objects involved in computing the process-resultant.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein tracing the process-path includes a strategic tracing mechanism comprising:

determining the business objects required for generating the process-resultant; and

tracing the key-strings corresponding to the business object required for generating the trace-resultant.

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

determining one or more modifications occurring on the business objects corresponding to the business rules; and

versioning the modified business objects to create the versioned business objects.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

associating a time-stamp with the versioned business objects based upon an instance at which the versioning is performed.

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

generating a key-string table comprising the key-identifiers, the key-values and the time-stamps of the business objects and the versioned business objects.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the trace-resultant comprises:

tracing the key-strings corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant; and

encoding the traced key-strings to generate the trace resultant.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein deriving a business definition for the traced business objects comprises:

determining the key-identifiers and the key-values included in the key-strings corresponding to the traced business objects;

based upon the key-identifiers, determining business information of the corresponding traced business objects;

based upon the key-values, determining the business values assigned to the corresponding traced business object;

determining the versioned business objects associated with the key-strings corresponding to the traced business objects; and

compiling the versioned business objects, the key-identifiers and the key-values of the traced business objects to derive the business definition of the traced business objects.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating a comprehensive trace-map comprises:

mapping the business information present in the business definition to the traced business objects;

mapping the versioned business objects to the traced business objects; and

generating the trace-map including the business definition, the business information, and the versioned business objects of the traced business objects involved in computing the process-resultant.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the versioned business objects of the key-strings comprise:

determining a unique version of the business object associated with a unique time-stamp for the traced business objects.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the comprehensive trace-map comprises:

decoding the traced key-strings corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the business definition;

determining the versioned business objects corresponding to the traced business objects; and

determining one or more dependant objects that depend upon the traced business objects involved in computing the process-resultant.

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

storing the business definition of the traced business objects in a universal format, to enable the generation of the comprehensive trace-map.

16. A computer system to trace an execution of a business process, comprising:

a processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in one or more memory elements; and

the one or more memory elements storing instructions to;

a user interface engine to receive an input to one or more business objects corresponding to one or more business rules associated with the business process;

a business processor to process the one or more business rules and the corresponding business objects associated with the business process and to compute a process-resultant for the business process, based upon detecting a trigger to execute the business process;

a path tracing engine to trace a process-path of the computed process-resultant by tracing one or more key-strings corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant and to generate a trace-resultant;

a trace-parser to parse the trace-resultant by determining one or more versioned business objects and business information of the key-strings, and to derive a business definition for the one or more versioned business objects involved in computing the process-resultant; and

a compiler to generate a comprehensive trace-map comprising a compilation of the process-resultant of the executed business process, based upon the business definition, the comprehensive trace-map including a resultant of an evaluation of the process-resultant and a demonstration of the trace-resultant.

17. The computer system of claim 16 wherein the business process is associated with a business logic describing a principle of handling the business rules and the business objects and a manner of interaction between the business objects.

18. The computer system of claim 16 further comprises:

a business repository to store the business objects, the business rules, a key-string table, the process-resultant, and the trace-resultant.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the business processor renders the process-resultant and the trace-map on a user interface associated with the user interface engine.

20. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to tangibly store instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive from a user interface, an input to one or more business objects corresponding to one or more business rules associated with the business process;

based upon detecting a trigger to execute the business process, process the one or more business rules and the corresponding business objects associated with the business process, to compute a process-resultant for the business process;

trace a process-path of the computed process-resultant by employing a processor to trace one or more key-strings corresponding to the business objects involved in computing the process-resultant, and to generate a trace-resultant;

parse the trace-resultant by employing the processor to determine one or more versioned business objects and business information of the key-strings, and to derive a business definition for the one or more versioned business objects involved in computing the process-resultant; and

based upon the business definition, generate a comprehensive trace-map comprising a compilation of the process-resultant of the executed business process the comprehensive trace-map including a resultant of an evaluation of the process-resultant and a demonstration of the trace-resultant.