Distributed business process tracking

• US 20090228546A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Software AG USA Incorporated (Software AG)
• Original Assignee: Software AG Incorporated (Software AG)
• Inventors: Yendluri, Prasad
• Granted Patent: US 10,467,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A system for distributed business process tracking includes a client adapted to receive a first notification and a second notification, a first provider adapted to perform a distributed business process using a first process, generate a first notification based on the first process, and send the first notification to the client, a second provider adapted to perform a distributed business process using a second process, generate a second notification based on the second process, and send the second notification to the client, and wherein the first provider sends the first notification to the client independently of the second provider or the first provider sends the first notification to the client using the second provider.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer system causes the computer system to perform operations for distributed business process tracking, the computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions for sending to a client a list comprising a plurality of processes available for tracking;

instructions for receiving from the client a selected process from the plurality of processes available for tracking;

instructions for sending to the client an end point reference for the selected process;

instructions for receiving from the client a subscription request for the selected process at the end point reference;

instructions for sending to the client a confirmation of receipt of the subscription request for the selected process; and

instructions for sending to the client a notification for the selected process, wherein the notification is based on communication with another computer system.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

instructions for collecting a log entry from a process log; and

instructions for generating the notification based on the log entry.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

instructions for generating the list of processes available for tracking from a process definitions repository.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving from the client a subscription request and sending to the client a confirmation of receipt of the subscription request are performed by a subscription manager.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim of claim 1, wherein sending to the client a notification for the selected process is performed by a notification manager.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein sending and receiving uses a platform independent protocol.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein sending and receiving are performed by a Web Service-Process Tracking Web Service.

8. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer system causes the computer system to perform operations for distributed business process tracking, the computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions for receiving from a provider a list comprising a plurality of processes available for tracking;

instructions for selecting a process from the plurality of processes available for tracking to obtain a selected process;

instructions for sending to the provider the selected process;

instructions for receiving from the provider an end point reference based on the selected process;

instructions for sending to the provider at the end point reference a request for a subscription for the selected process;

instructions for receiving from the provider a confirmation of receipt of the subscription request for the selected process;

instructions for receiving from the provider a notification for the selected process, wherein the notification is based on communication between the provider and another computer system;

instructions for correlating the notification for the selected process with the status of the selected process, wherein the status of the selected business process is updated based on the notification; and

instructions for tracking a distributed business process based on the status of the selected process.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein sending and receiving uses a platform independent protocol.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein instructions for correlating the notification for the selected process with the status of the selected process comprise:

instructions for extracting an informational content of the notification for the selected process; and

instructions for updating the status of the selected process based on the informational content.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein sending and receiving are performed by Web Service-Process Tracking Client.

12. A system for distributed business process tracking, comprising:

a process definition repository including a process available for tracking;

a process log including a log entry; and

a Web-Service-Process Tracking Web Service adapted to generate a list of processes available for tracking from the process definition repository, send the list of processes available for tracking to a client, receive a selection of a process to track from the client, send end point references based on the selection of the process to track to the client, and comprising;

a subscription manager adapted to receive a subscription request for the process to track from the client at the end point reference, send a confirmation of receipt of the subscription request to the client, and set up a subscription based on the subscription request on a notification manager; and

the notification manager adapted to determine if the log entry in the process log is for the process to track based on the subscription, and if the log entry in the process log is for the process to track, collect the log entry from the process log, generate a notification based on the log entry, and send the log entry to the client.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a process engine, adapted to perform the distributed business process using the process from the process definition repository, and write the log entry to the process log based on using the process to perform the distributed business process.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the Web Service-Process Tracking Web Service, the notification manager and the subscription manager are adapted to send and receive using a platform independent protocol.

15. A system for distributed business process tracking, comprising:

a client adapted to receive a first notification and a second notification;

a first provider adapted to perform a distributed business process using a first process, generate a first notification based on the first process, and send the first notification to the client;

a second provider adapted to perform a distributed business process using a second process, generate a second notification based on the second process, and send the second notification to the client; and

wherein the first provider sends the first notification to the client independently of the second provider or the first provider sends the first notification to the client using the second provider.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first provider sends the first notification to the client using the second provider comprises:

the first provider sending the first notification to the second provider;

the second provider receiving the first notification from the first provider; and

the second provider sending the first notification to the client.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second provider sending the first notification to the client comprises:

the second provider sending the first notification and the second notification to the client as a bulk message.

18. The system of the claim 15, wherein the client is further adapted to correlate the first notification with the status of a first process and the second notification with the status of a second process, update the status of the first process based on the first notification and the second process based on the second notification, and track a distributed business process based on the status of the first process and the second process

19. The system of claim 15, wherein at least two of the first provider, the second provider, and the client are heterogeneous computer systems.