METHOD FOR GENERATING AN EXECUTABLE WORKFLOW CODE FROM AN UNSTRUCTURED CYCLIC PROCESS MODEL

• US 20080178146A1
• Filed: 03/24/2008
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Koehler, Jana, Hauser, Rainer F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,042,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method for generating an executable workflow code from an unstructured cyclic process model. The method comprises the following steps. First a continuation equation system is generated from the unstructured cyclic process model. Then, the executable workflow code is generated from the continuation equation system, wherein therefore, the continuation equation system is solved by means of transformation rules.

Claims

1. A method for generating an executable workflow code from an unstructured cyclic process model, said method comprising:

generating a continuation equation system from the unstructured cyclic process model; and

generating the executable workflow from the continuation equation system.

2. The method according to claim 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein for generating the continuation equation system variables are assigned to nodes of the process model.

3. The method according to claim 2, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein one of said variables is assigned to a start node and one of said variables is assigned to an end node of the process model, and

wherein one of said variables is assigned to one of said nodes that has more than one incoming or outgoing link.

4. The method according to claim 2, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein for generating the executable workflow code the continuation equation system is solved by means of transformation rules.

5. The method according to claim 4, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein one of said transformation rules is selected such that it is applicable to an equation of the continuation equation system,

wherein the selected transformation rule is applied to the equation and a modified continuation equation system is computed, and

wherein these steps are repeated until a single equation remains.

6. The method according to claim 4, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein with the help of a first transformation rule one variable of a first equation is substituted by an expression of a second equation.

7. The method according to claim 4, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein with the help of a second transformation rule the number of occurrences of the same variable in the equation is reduced.

8. The method according to claim 7, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein at each place where the variable occurs it is replaced by a Boolean variable, and

wherein a conditional statement is introduced in the equation for branching to the variable if the Boolean variable fulfills the condition.

9. The method according to claim 4, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein with the help of a third transformation rule one variable occurring on both sides of the equation is replaced by a repeat-until statement.

10. The method according to claim 9, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the condition for terminating the repeat-until statement is obtained from the negation of the condition that led in the original equation to the variable.

11. The method according to claim 4, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein each transformation rule is assigned to a priority, and

wherein the transformation rule with the highest priority is applied first.

12. The method according to claim 2, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein that variable is eliminated first which occurs most seldom in the continuation equation system.

13. The method according to claim 5, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the single equation is mapped to an XML file.

14. A computer program element comprising computer program code which, when loaded in a processor of a computing device, configures the processor to perform a method comprising:

generating a continuation equation system from the unstructured cyclic process model; and

generating the executable workflow from the continuation equation system.

15. A code generator for generating an executable workflow code from an unstructured cyclic process model, the code being executable by a workflow engine, said code generator comprising:

a computing device for designing the unstructured cyclic process model; and

a transformation engine adapted to generate;

a continuation equation system from the unstructured cyclic process model; and

the executable workflow code from the continuation equation system.