Contract-based process integration

• US 9,299,049 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Stallman, Florian, Falter, Timm
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US13/838,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals

Abstract

The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for providing contract-based process integration. One computer-implemented method includes selecting a process integration (PI) scenario definition and a desired party with which to establish communication using an interface, determining at least one semantic contract associated with the selected PI scenario definition, querying the desired party to determine familiarity with the selected PI scenario definition and the semantic contract, analyzing known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract to generate first party analysis results, computing an intersection between the first party analysis results and corresponding received analysis results received from the desired party, determining an agreed upon set of processing types with the second party by performing an intersection with contract usage processing types exchanged with the desired party, and generating a technical specification for a message signature based upon the agreed upon set of processing types.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

selecting a process integration (PI) scenario definition and a desired party with which to establish communication using an interface;

determining at least one semantic contract associated with the selected PI scenario definition, wherein the at least one semantic contract specifies one or more related message interfaces with particular operations and signatures that are provided or consumed in an interaction between computing parties along with additional constraints, wherein the interaction is described by means of a set of operations, clustered into interfaces with a single shared interface definition between the computing parties, wherein the definition introduces detailed constraints requiring an explicit definition of valid uses of the interaction, and wherein, for each particular interaction, one definition of the interaction is established as binding on each computing party and forms a basis for a single data model of an interface for the particular interaction;

querying the desired party to determine familiarity with the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract;

analyzing known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract to generate first party analysis results;

computing an intersection between the first party analysis results and corresponding received analysis results received from the desired party;

determining an agreed upon set of processing types with the desired party by performing an intersection with contract usage processing types exchanged with the desired party; and

generating a technical specification for a message signature based upon the agreed upon set of processing types.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PI scenario definition can be automatically selected based on contextual data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determination of the at least one semantic contract is performed by a communication contract-aware communication framework.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving confirmation of awareness of the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract from the desired party.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an analysis of known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract from the desired party.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising implementing the interface compliant with the generated technical specification.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising exchanging a message with the desired party using the implemented interface.

8. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions executable by a hardware computer processor to:

select a process integration (PI) scenario definition and a desired party with which to establish communication using an interface;

determine at least one semantic contract associated with the selected PI scenario definition, wherein the at least one semantic contract specifies one or more related message interfaces with particular operations and signatures that are provided or consumed in an interaction between computing parties along with additional constraints, wherein the interaction is described by means of a set of operations, clustered into interfaces with a single shared interface definition between the computing parties, wherein the definition introduces detailed constraints requiring an explicit definition of valid uses of the interaction, and wherein, for each particular interaction, one definition of the interaction is established as binding on each computing party and forms a basis for a single data model of an interface for the particular interaction;

query the desired party to determine familiarity with the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract;

analyze known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract to generate first party analysis results;

compute an intersection between the first party analysis results and corresponding received analysis results received from the desired party;

determine an agreed upon set of processing types with the desired party by performing an intersection with contract usage processing types exchanged with the desired party; and

generate a technical specification for a message signature based upon the agreed upon set of processing types.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the PI scenario definition can be automatically selected based on contextual data.

10. The medium of claim 8, wherein determination of the at least one semantic contract is performed by a communication contract-aware communication framework.

11. The medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions to receive confirmation of awareness of the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract from the desired party.

12. The medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions to receive an analysis of known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract from the desired party.

13. The medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions to implement the interface compliant with the generated technical specification.

14. The medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions to exchange a message with the desired party using the implemented interface.

15. A computer system, comprising:

a computer memory configured to hold at least a semantic contract; and

at least one hardware computer processor interoperably coupled to the computer memory and configured to;

select a process integration (PI) scenario definition and a desired party with which to establish communication using an interface;

determine at least one semantic contract associated with the selected PI scenario definition, wherein the at least one semantic contract specifies one or more related message interfaces with particular operations and signatures that are provided or consumed in an interaction between computing parties along with additional constraints, wherein the interaction is described by means of a set of operations, clustered into interfaces with a single shared interface definition between the computing parties, wherein the definition introduces detailed constraints requiring an explicit definition of valid uses of the interaction, and wherein, for each particular interaction, one definition of the interaction is established as binding on each computing party and forms a basis for a single data model of an interface for the particular interaction;

query the desired party to determine familiarity with the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract;

analyze known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract to generate first party analysis results;

compute an intersection between the first party analysis results and corresponding received analysis results received from the desired party;

determine an agreed upon set of processing types with the desired party by performing an intersection with contract usage processing types exchanged with the desired party; and

generate a technical specification for a message signature based upon the agreed upon set of processing types.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the PI scenario definition can be automatically selected based on contextual data.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein determination of the at least one semantic contract is performed by a communication contract-aware communication framework.

18. The system of claim 15, further configured to receive confirmation of awareness of the selected PI scenario definition and the at least one semantic contract from the desired party.

19. The system of claim 15, further configured to receive an analysis of known contract definitions with contract usages for each determined semantic contract from the desired party.

20. The system of claim 15, further configured to implement the interface compliant with the generated technical specification.

21. The system of claim 15, further configured to exchange a message with the desired party using the implemented interface.