Method and apparatus for building business process applications in terms of its workflows

• US 5,734,837 A
• Filed: 01/14/1994
• Issued: 03/31/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Action Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Action Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumar, Manoj, Wong, Harry K. T., Gift, Roy I., Nunez, Manuel Jasso, Winograd, Terry Allen, Flores, Pablo A., Flores, Rodrigo F., Icaza, Raul Medina-Mora, Vasquez, Jaime Garza, McAfee, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, Gail O.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bainbridge, Barton L.
• Application Number:
  US08/182,744
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 364/401, 364/408, 395/207, 395/208, 395/209, 395/211
• US Class Current: 705/7.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The invention is a method and system which provides consultants, business process analysts, and application developers with a unified tool with which to conduct business process analysis, design, documentation and to generate business process definitions and workflow-enabled applications. The invention may be implemented using a software system which has two functional sets. One is a set of graphical tools that can be used by a developer or business analyst to map out business processes. The second is a set of tools that can be used to document and specify in detail the attributes of each workflow definition, including roles, cycle time, conditions, of satisfaction, cost and value, associated text, forms, application data as well as detail the attributes of links between workflows required to complete a business process map, and to generate a business process definition and a workflow-enabled application. In this manner, the invention provides the capability of performing application generation and generation of business process definitions in a definitions database. The invention also includes a workflow language scripting capability.

Claims

1. A computer based system for building business process applications, said system including a computer which executes a program, said program when executed by said computer comprising:

a) means for creating a set of business process definitions for storage in a database and a set of business process applications for execution by a processor, said business process definitions and said business process applications for use with a business process and its associated workflows,

b) means for generating;

i) a component representation of at least a predetermined subset of said business process in terms of its workflows, and

ii) at least a predetermined subset of links between said workflows.

2. The system defined by claim 1 wherein each of said workflows has four phases.

3. The system defined by claim 1 wherein said links are defined by a predetermined set of map rules.

4. The system defined by claim 1 wherein said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process in terms of its workflows and links between said workflows is represented as at least one image displayed on a video display device.

5. The system defined by claim 1 wherein said links each have a corresponding workflow script.

6. The system defined by claim 5 wherein each of said workflow scripts upon execution causes a workflow server to take a predetermined action.

7. The system defined by claim 1 wherein each of said workflows include at least one act and at least one state.

8. The system defined by claim 7 wherein each of said workflow scripts upon execution causes a workflow server to take a predetermined action.

9. The system defined by claim 7 wherein the workflow states are at least one of Preparation, Negotiation, Performance, Acceptance, Satisfied, Negotiation, Cancelled, Declined and Revoked.

10. The system defined by claim 7 wherein a workflow is one of a request workflow and an offer workflow and the predetermined workflow acts for request workflows are at least one of:

Activate

Initiate

Request

Agree

Counteroffer

Report Completion

Decline

Declare Satisfaction

Cancel

Revoke

Decline To Accept

Agree To Counteroffer

Counter

Decline Counteroffer

Comment

and wherein the predetermined workflow states for offer workflows are at least one of;

Activate

Initiate

Offer

Agree to Offer

Counter

Report Completion

Decline Offer

Declare Satisfaction

Cancel

Revoke

Decline To Accept

Agree To Counter

CounterOffer

Decline Counter

Comment.

11. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising checking means for performing consistency checking to assist in the creation of proper business process maps.

12. The system defined by claim 11 wherein said checking means includes a set of business process map rules which are applied to each workflow in said predetermined subset of said business process and are used to determine consistency of said predetermined subset of said business process.

13. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising means for performing a consistency check of said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process to ensure that proper business process definitions are created.

14. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising means for performing a consistency check of said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process to ensure that proper business process applications are created.

15. The system defined by claim 1 wherein each business process application is a workflow enabled application including forms and views.

16. The system defined by claim 15 wherein said views provide predetermined status reports and lists of pending system actions.

17. The system defined by claim 15 wherein said forms are associated with particular workflows and provide to a user fields to enter workflow data.

18. The system defined by claim 17 wherein said fields, include at least one of workflow name, customer, performer, conditions of satisfaction, costs and values, cycle times, application data, forms and type of workflow.

19. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising means for automating the generation of workflow scripts used by said business process applications.

20. The system defined by claim 19 wherein said scripts are generated from said workflows based upon a set of predetermined map rules.

21. The system defined by claim 19 wherein said scripts are generated from said links based upon a set of predetermined map rules.

22. The system defined by claim 19 wherein each of said workflow scripts upon execution causes a workflow server to take a predetermined action.

23. The system defined by claim 1 wherein said workflows include roles and identities.

24. The system defined by claim 1 wherein said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process is a business process map.

25. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising:

tool means for drawing, filing, editing, printing and viewing said predetermined subset of said business process and its associated workflows, and business process application data.

26. The system defined by claim 25 wherein said tool means includes a testing tool which analyses all workflows in the predetermined subset of the business process and generates a report specifying workflows which have at least one of roles, conditions of satisfaction, cycle times and workflow name missing.

27. The system defined by claim 22 wherein said business process application data includes attributes, forms, cycle times, cost and value, roles and identities.

28. The system defined by claim 27 wherein said forms are associated with particular workflows and provide to a user fields to enter workflow data.

29. The system defined by claim 28 wherein said fields, include at least one of workflow name, customer, performer, conditions of satisfaction, costs and values, cycle times, application data, forms and type of workflow.

30. The system defined by claim 1 further comprising scripting means for enabling a user of the system to specify workflow scripts associated with at least one of an act and a state in a workflow and for producing system generated scripts which upon execution implement the links between the workflows of the predetermined subset of the business process.

31. The system defined by claim 24 wherein each of said workflow scripts upon execution causes a workflow server to take a predetermined action.

32. A method for building business process applications utilizing a computer which executes a program, said method comprising the steps of:

a) creating a set of business process definitions for storage in a database and a set of business process applications for execution by a processor, said business process definitions and said business process applications for use with a business process and its associated workflows,

b) generating;

i) a component representation of at least a predetermined subset of said business process in terms of its workflows, and

ii) at least a predetermined subset of links between said workflows.

33. The method defined by claim 32 further comprising the step of performing consistency checking to assist in the creation of proper business process maps.

34. The system defined by claim 32 further comprising the step of performing a consistency check of said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process to ensure that proper business process definitions are created.

35. The method defined by claim 32 further comprising the step of performing a consistency check of said component representation of said predetermined subset of said business process to ensure that proper business process applications are created.

36. The method defined by claim 32 wherein each business process application is a workflow enabled application including forms and views.

37. The method defined by claim 32 further comprising the step of automating the generation of workflow scripts used by said business process applications.