System and method for a process broker and backend adapter based process integration

• US 8,869,170 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Sarferaz, Siar, Peter, Markus, Schmitt, Bernd, Wiechers, Volker
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kraft, Shih-Wei
• Application Number:
  US12/956,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20120137306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention may provide a local process integration component to facilitate process integration. The local process integration component may include an adapter, a process broker and a process broker handler. The process broker may collaborate with the business logic and adapter to perform business-centric integration logic. The architecture is based on is a toolkit and generator approach. For inbound communication, the adapter is responsible for control flow while the process broker handler provides generic services. For outbound communication, the process broker is responsible for control flow while the process broker handler provides generic services. The control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodied with program instructions for causing a computer to execute a method for local process integration, the method comprising:

providing a business logic layer, wherein the business logic layer includes at least one business object and business logic associated with the at least one business object;

providing an inbound adapter that wraps an inbound process broker to expose the business logic via an inbound interface to external systems and receives inbound messages from the external systems, wherein the inbound messages adhere to the inbound interface;

providing the inbound process broker that processes the inbound messages based on the business logic;

providing an outbound process broker to communicate, in response to the processing of the inbound messages, with a remote process via an outbound adapter that implements an outbound interface, wherein the outbound interface includes the parameters required by the remote process; and

providing a process broker handler to instantiate the inbound process broker, the inbound adapter, the outbound process broker, and the outbound adapter, wherein the process broker handler implements a plurality of process integration services including routing and mapping;

wherein for inbound communication, the inbound adapter is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation and wherein for outbound communication, the outbound process broker is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein for asynchronous outbound communication, the outbound process broker defines an execute method and registers interested events and the process broker handler listens to determine whether any interested event has occurred, when an interested event occurs, the process broker handler invokes the execute method of the outbound process broker, the outbound process broker invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter and performs error handling and process book-keeping.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the interested events include:

a status attribute change event of the business object, and a save event of a transaction manager.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein for synchronous outbound communication, the business object invokes a logical method of the outbound process broker with application specific request, the outbound process broker in turn invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter, the outbound adapter transforms the request to an external format.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein for outbound communication, the outbound process broker is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation.

6. An apparatus for local process integration, comprising:

a memory to store computer program instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the computer program instructions to;

provide a business logic layer, wherein the business logic layer includes at least one business object and business logic associated with the at least one business object;

provide an inbound adapter that wraps an inbound process broker to expose the business logic via an inbound interface to external systems and receives inbound messages from the external systems, wherein the inbound messages adhere to the inbound interface;

provide the inbound process broker that processes the inbound messages based on the business logic;

provide an outbound process broker to communicate, in response to the processing of the inbound messages, with a remote process via an outbound adapter that implements an outbound interface, wherein the outbound interface includes the parameters required by the remote process;

and provide a process broker handler to instantiate the inbound process broker, the inbound adapter, the outbound process broker, and the outbound adapter, wherein the process broker handler implements a plurality of process integration services including routing and mapping;

wherein for inbound communication, the inbound adapter is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation and wherein for outbound communication, the outbound process broker is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein for asynchronous outbound communication, the outbound process broker defines an execute method and registers interested events and the process broker handler listens to determine whether any interested event has occurred, when an interested event occurs, the process broker handler invokes the execute method of the outbound process broker, the outbound process broker invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter and performs error handling and process book-keeping.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the interested events include:

a status attribute change event of the business object, and a save event of a transaction manager.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein for synchronous outbound communication, the business object invokes a logical method of the outbound process broker with application specific request, the outbound process broker in turn invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter, the outbound adapter transforms the request to an external format.

10. A computer implemented method for local process integration, the method comprising:

providing, by a computer processor, a business logic layer, wherein the business logic layer includes at least one business object and business logic associated with the at least one business object;

providing, by the computer processor, an inbound adapter that wraps an inbound process broker to expose the business logic via an inbound interface to external systems and receives inbound messages from the external systems, wherein the inbound messages adhere to the inbound interface;

providing, by the computer processor, the inbound process broker that processes the inbound messages based on the business logic;

providing, by the computer processor, an outbound process broker to communicate, in response to the processing of the inbound messages, with a remote process via an outbound adapter that implements an outbound interface, wherein the outbound interface includes the parameters required by the remote process; and

providing, by the computer processor, a process broker handler to instantiate the inbound process broker, the inbound adapter, the outbound process broker, and the outbound adapter, wherein the process broker handler implements a plurality of process integration services including routing and mapping;

wherein for inbound communication, the inbound adapter is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation and wherein for outbound communication, the outbound process broker is responsible for control flow and control flow orchestration is uniformed by code generation.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein for synchronous outbound communication, the business object invokes a logical method of the outbound process broker with application specific request, the outbound process broker in turn invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter, the outbound adapter transforms the request to an external format.

11. The computer implemented method of 10, wherein for asynchronous outbound communication, the outbound process broker defines an execute method and registers interested events and the process broker handler listens to determine whether any interested event has occurred, when an interested event occurs, the process broker handler invokes the execute method of the outbound process broker, the outbound process broker invokes a logical method of the outbound adapter and performs error handling and process book-keeping.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the interested events include:

a status attribute change event of the business object, and a save event of a transaction manager.