Roundtrip merge of BPEL processes and BPMN models

• US 9,015,648 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Radhakrishnan, Ganesh, Liu, Lili, Aggarwal, Anurag, Saxena, Vishal
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROCHE, JOHN B
• Application Number:
  US12/200,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,427 Days
• Field of Search: 717/104
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method of performing a merge operation can include: mapping a business process modeling notation (BPMN) model to a business process execution language (BPEL) model; modifying the BPMN model to form a modified BPMN model; modifying the BPEL model to form a modified BPEL model; when the merge operation is a forward merge operation: exporting the modified BPMN model to an exported BPEL model; performing an activity level outline merge for added information technology (IT) scopes and branches from the modified BPEL model; performing an activity level detail merge for added IT details from the modified BPEL model; and performing an attribute level merge for updated branch conditions in the merged BPEL model; and when the merge operation is a reverse merge operation, adding scopes and branches from the modified BPEL model to the BPMN model.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computer system, of

performing a merge operation where changes included in a second version of a first exported Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) implementation and an information technology (IT)-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation are propagated to a merged BPEL implementation, wherein the first exported BPEL implementation includes activities in a first business process flow modeled by a first Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) model, the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation includes changes made by a business unit to the activities included in the first exported BPEL implementation, the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has changed IT scopes and/or activities added by an IT unit subsequent to generation of the first exported BPEL implementation and a scope is a logical collection of activities, the method comprising:

when the merge operation is a forward merge operation;

copying, by the computer system, an outline of the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation;

adding, by the computer system, modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation to perform an outline merge, where modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation are added to the merged BPEL implementation either by anchoring added IT scopes to a previous activity in the merged BPEL implementation or by anchoring added IT scopes to a subsequent activity in the merged BPEL implementation if a previous activity is not available;

matching, by the computer system, activities in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation and the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation by comparing previously created hash map identifiers for each activity timestamps;

creating, by the computer system, a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL model;

creating, by the computer system, a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL model;

comparing, by the computer system, timestamps to determine if an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation;

copying details of a matched activity of the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation only when the matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation to establish precedence of business unit changes over IT unit changes; and

performing, by the computer system, an attribute level merge for updated branch conditions in the merged BPEL implementation by replacing conditions for a switch in the merged BPEL implementation with conditions from the same switch in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation if the conditions are different;

and when the merge operation is a reverse merge operation;

converting the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to a modified BPMN model; and

adding scopes and branches from the modified BPMN model to a merged BPMN model including changes made by the business unit to the first BPMN model.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, a first hash map having identifiers associated with activities in the second version of the first BPEL implementation; and

generating, by the computer system, a second hash map having identifiers associated with activities in the IT-side modified version of the first BPEL implementation.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing conditions in the second version of the first BPEL implementation to branch conditions in the IT-side modified version of the first BPEL implementation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a performing the activity level detail merge comprises:

traversing the merged BPEL implementation to find a scope, the found scope having an identification; and

searching for the found scope identification in the IT-side modified version of the first BPEL implementation.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein performing an attribute level merge comprises:

comparing conditions of each switch branch in the second version of the first BPEL implementation with those of the IT-side modified version of the first BPEL implementation.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

using a condition from the second version of the first BPEL implementation in the merged BPEL implementation when the compared conditions are different.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

replacing a condition in the second version of the first BPEL implementation with a corresponding condition from the IT-side modified version of the first BPEL implementation in the merged BPEL implementation model when the compared conditions are the same.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein comparing the conditions comprises comparing code segments.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein comparing the conditions comprises comparing attribute level timestamps.

10. The method of claim 5 further comprising merging human task attributes into the merged BPEL implementation.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request for the forward merge operation from an IT user.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request for the reverse merge operation from a business user.

13. An apparatus that performs a merge operation where changes included in a second version of a first exported Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) implementation and an information technology (IT)-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation are propagated to a merged BPEL implementation, wherein the first exported BPEL implementation includes activities in a first business process flow modeled by a first Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) model, the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation includes changes made by a business unit to the activities included in the first exported BPEL implementation, the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has changed IT scopes and/or activities added by an IT unit subsequent to generation of the first exported BPEL implementation and a scope is a logical collection of activities, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

logic encoded in one or more non-transitory tangible media for execution by the one or more processors, and when executed operable to;

when the merge operation is a forward merge operation;

copy an outline of the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation;

add modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation to perform an outline merge, where modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation are added to the merged BPEL implementation either by anchoring added IT scopes to a previous activity in the merged BPEL implementation or by anchoring added IT scopes to a subsequent activity in the merged BPEL implementation if a previous activity is not available;

match activities in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation and the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation by comparing previously created hash map identifiers for each activity timestamps;

create a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL model;

create a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL model;

compare timestamps to determine if an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation;

copy details of a matched activity of the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation only when the matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation to establish precedence of business unit changes over IT unit changes; and

perform an attribute level merge for updated branch conditions in the merged BPEL implementation by replacing conditions for a switch in the merged BPEL implementation with conditions from the same switch in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation if the conditions are different; and

when the merge operation is a reverse merge operation;

convert the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to a modified BPMN model; and

add scopes and branches from the modified BPMN model to a merged BPMN model including changes made by the business unit to the first BPMN model.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device, comprising:

one or more instructions for determining a merge operation to perform;

one or more instructions for performing a merge operation where changes included in a second version of a first exported Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) implementation and an information technology (IT)-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation are propagated to a merged BPEL implementation, wherein the first exported BPEL implementation includes activities in a first business process flow modeled by a first Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) model, the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation includes changes made by a business unit to the activities included in the first exported BPEL implementation, the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has changed IT scopes and/or activities added by an IT unit subsequent to generation of the first exported BPEL implementation and a scope is a logical collection of activities;

when the determined merge operation is a forward merge operation;

one or more instructions for copying an outline of the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation;

one or more instructions for adding modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation to perform an outline merge, where modified IT scopes from the IT-side modified version of the first exported BP EL implementation are added to the merged BPEL implementation either by anchoring added IT scopes to a previous activity in the merged BPEL implementation or by anchoring added IT scopes to a subsequent activity in the merged BPEL implementation if a previous activity is not available;

one or more instructions for matching activities in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation and the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation by comparing previously created hash map identifiers for each activity timestamps;

one or more instructions for creating a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL model;

one or more instructions for creating a timestamp capturing a last update time of an activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL model;

one or more instructions for comparing timestamps to determine if an activity in the second version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation;

one or more instructions for copying details of a matched activity of the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to the merged BPEL implementation only when the matched activity in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation has been changed more recently than a matched activity in the second version of the first exported BP EL implementation to establish precedence of business unit changes over IT unit changes; and

one or more instructions performing an attribute level merge for updated branch conditions in the merged BPEL implementation by replacing conditions for a switch in the merged BPEL implementation with conditions from the same switch in the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation if the conditions are different; and

when the merge operation is a reverse merge operation;

one or more instructions for converting the IT-side modified version of the first exported BPEL implementation to a modified BPMN model; and

one or more instructions for adding scopes and branches from the modified BPMN model to a merged BPMN model including changes made by the business unit to the first BPMN model.