Architectural design for personnel events application software

• US 8,671,033 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2007
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Suenderhauf, Philipp, Richter, Matthias, Guenther, Fabian, Penning, Jan, Latocha, Peter, Bold, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): ADE, OGER GARCIA
• Application Number:
  US11/967,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20090171716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,262 Days
• Field of Search: 705/30, 705/31
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/125 Finance or payroll

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing personnel events functionality. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include a personnel administration process component, a payroll processing process component, an expense and reimbursement management process component, a time and labor process component, a compensation management process component, an employee payroll administration process component, and numerous country-specific employer regulatory compliance process components.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising application software encoded on a tangible machine-readable information carrier, the application software being structured as process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, the software comprising:

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a payroll processing process component that handles execution and monitoring of regular and off-cycle payroll processes;

a time and labor management process component that handles management of employees'"'"' planned working times, and recording and valuation of work performed and absence times;

a compensation management process component that handles planning and specification of compensation data for employees using appropriate reward strategies based on predefined compensation structures and components;

an employee payroll administration process component that handles administration of employee specific payroll agreements and overview of completed and planned payroll processes;

a DE employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Germany are legally obligated to perform;

a US employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United States of America are legally obligated to perform;

a CN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that employers in China, with respect to employees, are legally obligated to perform;

an FR employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in France are legally obligated to perform;

a GB employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United Kingdom are legally obligated to perform;

an IT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Italy are legally obligated to perform;

an AU employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Australia is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Canada is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a DK employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that an employer in Denmark is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an NL employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in the Netherlands is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an SG employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Singapore is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a ZA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in South Africa is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an AT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Austria is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CH employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Switzerland is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

an IN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in India is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the time and labor management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AU employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the FR employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the GB employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the employee payroll administration process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DK employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the SG employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DE employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the compensation management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the US employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CH employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the IN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the NL employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component; and

the IT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of process components further includes;

a personnel administration process component that handles administration of personnel changes concerning employee master data and work agreements;

a business partner data management process component that handles management of business partner master data of a company;

an identity management process component that handles identification of individuals in a system landscape and controlling their access by associating user rights and restrictions;

a human capital master data management process component that handles management of work agreements, employments, and human capital master data; and

an expense and reimbursement management process component that handles management and monitoring of expenses incurred by employees, and reimbursement of such expenses to employees; and

wherein;

the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components further include interactions between;

the personnel administration process component and the business partner data management process component;

the personnel administration process component and the human capital master data management process component;

the business partner data management process component and the identity management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the expense and reimbursement management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the time and labor management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the compensation management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the employee payroll administration process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DE employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the US employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CN employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the FR employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the GB employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the IT employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the AU employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CA employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DK employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the NL employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the SG employer regulatory compliance process component; and

the human capital master data management process component and the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component.

3. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of process components is assigned to exactly one deployment unit among multiple deployment units, and each deployment unit is deployable on a separate computer hardware platform independent of every other deployment unit; and

all interaction between a process component in one deployment unit and any other process component in any other deployment unit takes place through the respective service interfaces of the two process components.

4. The product of claim 3, wherein the deployment units comprise:

a human capital management deployment unit that includes the time and labor management process component, the compensation management process component, the employee payroll administration process component, the DE employer regulatory compliance process component, the US employer regulatory compliance process component, the CN employer regulatory compliance process component, the FR employer regulatory compliance process component, the GB employer regulatory compliance process component, the IT employer regulatory compliance process component, the AU employer regulatory compliance process component, the CA employer regulatory compliance process component, the DK employer regulatory compliance process component, the NL employer regulatory compliance process component, the SG employer regulatory compliance process component, the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component, the AT employer regulatory compliance process component, the CH employer regulatory compliance process component, the IN employer regulatory compliance process component, and the personnel administration process component;

a payroll deployment unit that includes the payroll processing process component; and

an expense and reimbursement management deployment unit that includes the expense and reimbursement management process component.

5. The product of claim 1, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

6. The product of claim 5, wherein the business objects comprise a business process object.

7. The product of claim 5, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

8. The product of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message and each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

9. The product of claim 8, wherein the inbound process agents comprise a first inbound process agent operable to start the execution of a business process step requested in a first inbound message by creating or updating one or more business object instances.

10. The product of claim 8, wherein the outbound process agents comprise a first asynchronous outbound process agent that is called after a business object that is associated with the first outbound process agent changes.

11. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise synchronous and asynchronous operations.

12. A system comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more hardware platforms for executing a computer software application;

a plurality of process components, each of the process components being a package of software implementing a respective and distinct business process, the plurality of process components including;

a payroll processing process component that handles execution and monitoring of regular and off-cycle payroll processes;

a time and labor management process component that handles management of employees'"'"' planned working times, and recording and valuation of work performed and absence times;

a compensation management process component that handles planning and specification of compensation data for employees using appropriate reward strategies based on predefined compensation structures and components;

an employee payroll administration process component that handles administration of employee specific payroll agreements and overview of completed and planned payroll processes;

a DE employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Germany are legally obligated to perform;

a US employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United States of America are legally obligated to perform;

a CN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that employers in China, with respect to employees, are legally obligated to perform;

an FR employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in France are legally obligated to perform;

a GB employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United Kingdom are legally obligated to perform;

an IT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Italy are legally obligated to perform;

an AU employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Australia is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Canada is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a DK employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that an employer in Denmark is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an NL employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in the Netherlands is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an SG employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Singapore is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

a ZA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in South Africa is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an AT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Austria is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CH employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Switzerland is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

an IN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in India is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

a plurality of service operations, each service operation being implemented for a respective process component, the operations comprising inbound and outbound operations, the outbound operation for a first process component being operable to send a message to a second process component of the plurality of process components, the second process component having an inbound operation for receiving the message, the passing of messages between an inbound and an outbound operation defining a message-based pair-wise interaction between the respective process components of the respective operations, the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components including interactions between;

the time and labor management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AU employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the FR employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the GB employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the employee payroll administration process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DK employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the SG employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DE employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the compensation management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the US employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CH employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the IN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the NL employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component; and

the IT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the plurality of process components further includes;

a personnel administration process component that handles administration of personnel changes concerning employee master data and work agreements;

a business partner data management process component that handles management of business partner master data of a company;

an identity management process component that handles identification of individuals in a system landscape and controlling their access by associating user rights and restrictions;

a human capital master data management process component that handles management of work agreements, employments, and human capital master data; and

an expense and reimbursement management process component that handles management and monitoring of expenses incurred by employees, and reimbursement of such expenses to employees; and

wherein;

the pair-wise interactions between pairs of the process components further include interactions between;

the personnel administration process component and the business partner data management process component;

the personnel administration process component and the human capital master data management process component;

the business partner data management process component and the identity management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the expense and reimbursement management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the time and labor management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the compensation management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the employee payroll administration process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DE employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the US employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CN employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the FR employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the GB employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the IT employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the AU employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CA employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DK employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the NL employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the SG employer regulatory compliance process component; and

the human capital master data management process component and the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

each of the process components includes one or more business objects; and

none of the business objects of any one of the process components interacts directly with any of the business objects included in any of the other process components.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein none of the business objects included in any one of the process components is included in any of the other process components.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising a plurality of process agents, each process agent being either an inbound process agent or an outbound process agent, an inbound process agent being operable to receive a message from an inbound operation, an outbound process agent being operable to cause an outbound operation to send a message and each process agent being associated with exactly one process component.

17. The system of claim 12, the system comprising multiple hardware platforms, wherein:

the time and labor management process component, the compensation management process component, the employee payroll administration process component, the DE employer regulatory compliance process component, the US employer regulatory compliance process component, the CN employer regulatory compliance process component, the FR employer regulatory compliance process component, the GB employer regulatory compliance process component, the IT employer regulatory compliance process component, the AU employer regulatory compliance process component, the CA employer regulatory compliance process component, the DK employer regulatory compliance process component, the NL employer regulatory compliance process component, the SG employer regulatory compliance process component, the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component, the AT employer regulatory compliance process component, the CH employer regulatory compliance process component, the IN employer regulatory compliance process component, and the personnel administration process component are deployed on a first hardware platform;

the payroll process component is deployed on a second hardware platform; and

the expense and reimbursement management process component is deployed on a third hardware platform.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the first through the third hardware platforms are distinct and separate from each other.

19. A method for developing a computer software application, comprising:

obtaining in a computer system digital data representing an architectural design for a set of processes implementing an end-to-end application process, the design specifying a process component for each process in the set of processes and the design further specifying a set of process component interactions, wherein;

the specified process components include;

a payroll processing process component that handles execution and monitoring of regular and off-cycle payroll processes;

a time and labor management process component that handles management of employees'"'"' planned working times, and recording and valuation of work performed and absence times;

a compensation management process component that handles planning and specification of compensation data for employees using appropriate reward strategies based on predefined compensation structures and components;

an employee payroll administration process component that handles administration of employee specific payroll agreements and overview of completed and planned payroll processes;

a DE employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Germany are legally obligated to perform;

a US employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United States of America are legally obligated to perform;

a CN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that employers in China, with respect to employees, are legally obligated to perform;

an FR employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in France are legally obligated to perform;

a GB employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in the United Kingdom are legally obligated to perform;

an IT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles administration of employee data and reporting to authorities that employers in Italy are legally obligated to perform;

an AU employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Australia is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Canada is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a DK employer regulatory compliance process component that handles reporting and other administrative activities that an employer in Denmark is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an NL employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in the Netherlands is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an SG employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in Singapore is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an AT employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Austria is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

a CH employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in Switzerland is obliged to perform with respect to employees;

an IN employer regulatory compliance process component that handles the combination of activities an employer in India is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

a ZA employer regulatory compliance process component that handles activities an employer in South Africa is obliged to perform with respect to employees; and

the process component interactions include interactions between;

the time and labor management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AU employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the FR employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the GB employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the employee payroll administration process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DK employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the SG employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CA employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the DE employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the compensation management process component and the payroll processing process component;

the US employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the AT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the CH employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the IN employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component;

the NL employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component; and

the IT employer regulatory compliance process component and the payroll processing process component; and

using the design including the specified process components and the specified process component interactions to develop a computer software application to perform the set of processes.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the specified process components further include;

a personnel administration process component that handles administration of personnel changes concerning employee master data and work agreements;

a business partner data management process component that handles management of business partner master data of a company;

an identity management process component that handles identification of individuals in a system landscape and controlling their access by associating user rights and restrictions;

a human capital master data management process component that handles management of work agreements, employments, and human capital master data; and

an expense and reimbursement management process component that handles management and monitoring of expenses incurred by employees, and reimbursement of such expenses to employees; and

wherein;

the process component interactions further include interactions between;

the personnel administration process component and the business partner data management process component;

the personnel administration process component and the human capital master data management process component;

the business partner data management process component and the identity management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the expense and reimbursement management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the time and labor management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the compensation management process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the employee payroll administration process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DE employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the US employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CN employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the FR employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the GB employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the IT employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the AU employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the CA employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the DK employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the NL employer regulatory compliance process component;

the human capital master data management process component and the SG employer regulatory compliance process component; and

the human capital master data management process component and the ZA employer regulatory compliance process component.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein each process in the set of processes is a business process transforming a defined business input into a defined business outcome.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein:

obtaining digital data representing the architectural design further comprises editing the design before using the design.