Methods and apparatus for designing a workflow process using inheritance

• US 8,010,940 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2006
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintex USA LLC (The Nintex Group Pty Limited)
• Original Assignee: SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. (Nintex Global Ltd.)
• Inventors: du Toit, Wynand, de Jager, Schalk, Raath, Natachya, Janson, Pieter, Fourie, Ben, le Roux, Lenz, Wagner, Olaf, van Wyk, Adriaan
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nahar; Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US11/556,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,762 Days
• Field of Search: 717/105, 717/104, 717/109
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The disclosed system empowers technical and non technical users to author logical business objects, author intelligent business forms, and create automated workflows. The logical business objects include data definitions and methods from existing and new data sources. An object broker interprets the business object definition and brokers data/information and method calls to the data sources. The intelligent business forms are created by an information worker in a rich web-based tooling environment. Each form is intelligent enough to recognize other forms that it might co-exist with on a single page, as well as how to react based on events that occur on these related forms. The automated workflow tools include process discovery features that assist users during the process identification phase. The tools assist both technical and non technical users to identify processes within the organization, including supporting solution artifacts such as forms, rules, actions, outcomes and business objects involved. Process modeling features include the ability to combine defined artifacts into a process model that can be published into a runtime environment where it can be executed and used by business users in the organization.

Claims

1. A method of designing a workflow process, the method comprising:

placing a first object and a second object on a first computer based design canvas on a first client device to create a process map for a global process, the first object being indicative of a first step of the global process, the second object being indicative of a second step of the global process, wherein each step of the global process includes a property of defining a next step in the global process;

connecting the first object to the second object with an arrow, the arrow being indicative of a progression in the global process from the first step to the second step;

copying the global process to create a local process, the local process having a third step corresponding to the first step of the global process and a fourth step corresponding to the second step of the global process, wherein each step of the local process includes a property of defining a next step in the local process; and

performing at least one of;

(i) a modification to a property of a step of the local process without modifying a property of a step of the global process, and (ii) a modification to a property of a step of the local process by modifying a property of a step of the global process.

2. The method of claim 1, including creating a new property for a step of the local process without modifying the global process.

3. The method of claim 1, including adding a step to the local process without modifying the global process.

4. The method of claim 1, including locking a subset of the process map from changes by at least one predetermined user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein locking the subset of the process map from changes by the at least one predetermined user includes determining the at least one predetermined user based on a role associated with the at least one predetermined user.

6. The method of claim 1, including:

sharing at least a portion of the process map with a second different client device via a network;

exchanging messages associated with the portion of the process map between the first client device and the second client device; and

storing data indicative of the messages in association with storing data indicative of the process map.

7. The method of claim 1, including displaying a setup sequence associated with the process map by:

displaying a plurality of thumbnail images in a first area of a display, each of the thumbnail images representing a step in the setup sequence;

displaying a full image in a second area of the display, the full image representing a step in the setup sequence;

detecting a first event associated with a thumbnail image in the plurality of thumbnail images; and

displaying a popup image in response to detecting the first event, the popup image being a larger version of the thumbnail image associated with the first event.

8. The method of claim 1, including displaying a setup sequence associated with the process map by:

displaying a graphical object indicative of a step in the process map;

detecting an event associated with the graphical object;

displaying an animation of the graphical object rotating in three dimensions in response to detecting the event associated with the graphical object;

displaying a setup sequence associated with the step in the process map; and

receiving configuration parameters associated with the step in the process map.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for designing a workflow process, the instructions to cause a computing device to:

place a first object and a second object on a first computer based design canvas on a first client device to create a process map for a global process, the first object being indicative of a first step of the global process, the second object being indicative of a second step of the global process, wherein each step of the global process includes a property of defining a next step in the global process;

connect the first object to the second object with an arrow, the arrow being indicative of a progression in the global process from the first step to the second step;

copy the global process to create a local process, the local process having a third step corresponding to the first step of the global process and a fourth step corresponding to the second step of the global process, wherein each step of the local process includes a property of defining a next step in the local process; and

perform at least one of;

(i) a modification to a property of a step of the local process without modifying a property of a step of the global process, and (ii) a modification to a property of a step of the local process by modifying a property of a step of the global process.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the computing device to create a new property for a step of the local process without modifying the global process.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the computing device to lock a subset of the process map from changes by at least one predetermined user.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein locking the subset of the process map from changes by the at least one predetermined user includes determining the at least one predetermined user based on a role associated with the at least one predetermined user.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the computing device to add a step to the local process without modifying the global process.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the computing device to:

share at least a portion of the process map with a second different client device via a network;

exchange messages associated with the portion of the process map between the first client device and the second client device; and

store data indicative of the messages in association with storing data indicative of the process map.

15. A computing device for designing a workflow process, the computing device comprising a processor:

placing a first object and a second object on a first computer based design canvas on a first client device to create a process map for a global process, the first object being indicative of a first step of the global process, the second object being indicative of a second step of the global process, wherein each step of the global process includes a property of defining a next step in the global process;

connecting the first object to the second object with an arrow, the arrow being indicative of a progression in the global process from the first step to the second step;

copying the global process to create a local process, the local process having a third step corresponding to the first step of the global process and a fourth step corresponding to the second step of the global process, wherein each step of the local process includes a property of defining a next step in the local process; and

performing at least one of;

(i) a modification to a property of a step of the local process without modifying a property of a step of the global process, and (ii) a modification to a property of a step of the local process by modifying a property of a step of the global process.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computing device creates a new property for a step of the local process without modifying the global process.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computing device adds a step to the local process without modifying the global process.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computing device locks a subset of the process map from changes by at least one predetermined user.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein locking the subset of the process map from changes by the at least one predetermined user includes determining the at least one predetermined user based on a role associated with the at least one predetermined user.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computing device:

shares at least a portion of the process map with a second different client device via a network;

exchanges messages associated with the portion of the process map between the first client device and the second client device; and

stores data indicative of the messages in association with storing data indicative of the process map.