Data modelling and flow engine for building automated flows within a cloud based developmental platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10101972-B1
Application number	US-201815913537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 6, 2018
Priority date	Sep 12, 2017
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

Creating, executing, and managing flow plans by performing at least the following: creating a trigger for a design-time flow plan that activates when one or more computing conditions are met, define a plurality of action instances for the design-time flow plan that execute after the trigger activates, wherein one or more of the action instances comprise a respective sequence of step instances associated with respective inputs and outputs, save the design-time flow plan within a data model, convert the saved design-time flow plan into a run-time flow plan, and execute one or more operations within the run-time flow plan, wherein the execution of the one or more operations within run-time flow plan occurs simultaneously when the data model is updated with a modified design-time flow plan, and wherein the one or more operations includes a dynamic mutable operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory; and
one or more hardware processors configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to the one or more hardware processors to:
create a trigger for a design-time flow plan that activates when one or more computing conditions are met;
define a plurality of action instances for the design-time flow plan that execute after the trigger activates, wherein one or more of the plurality of action instances comprise a respective sequence of step instances associated with respective inputs and outputs;
save the design-time flow plan within a data model;
convert the saved design-time flow plan within the data model into a run-time flow plan; and
call a flow engine to execute one or more operations within the run-time flow plan based at least on a determination that the one or more computing conditions of the trigger are met,
wherein the execution of the one or more operations within the run-time flow plan occurs simultaneously when the data model is updated with a modified design-time flow plan, and
wherein the one or more operations within the run-time flow plan includes a dynamic mutable operation.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more hardware processors to publish the plurality of action instances prior to converting the saved design-time flow plan within the data model into the run-time flow plan.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic mutable operation is a conditional operation, an iteration operation, or an approval operation.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data model is configured to support copying of one of the plurality of action instances by linking an action type table within the data model to an action instance table and preventing the action type table within the data model from linking to a flow table within the data model.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more hardware processors to:
receive an instruction to publish the saved design-time flow plan within the data model from a user interface; and
create a snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan within the data model based on the instruction to publish the saved design-time flow plan within the data model.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan within the data model is unable to be subsequently modified when subsequently creating the modified design-time flow plan.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the data model saves the snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan within a flow base table, a flow table that references a current snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan, and a flow snapshot table that references one or more other snapshot versions of the saved design-time flow plan.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more hardware processors to:
receive a message that satisfies one or more conditions for the dynamic mutable operation;
monitor whether the dynamic mutable operation is ready for execution based at least on a determination that input values for the dynamic mutable operation are ready and receiving the message; and
execute the dynamic mutable operation when the dynamic mutable operation has been identified as ready for execution.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more hardware processors to insert one or more sub-plan operations within the run-time flow plan when the dynamic mutable operation is ready for execution.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more hardware processors to:
check for updates of one or more of the plurality of actions instances after creating the run-time flow plan;
determine that at least one of the plurality of action instances in the saved design-time flow plan within the data model has been updated;
convert the saved design-time flow plan within the data model with the at least one updated action instance into an updated run-time flow plan; and
forward the updated run-time flow plan for execution.

11. A method comprising:
creating, by one or more hardware processors, a trigger for a design-time flow plan that activates when one or more computing conditions are met;
defining, by the one or more hardware processors, a plurality of action instances for the design-time flow plan that execute after the trigger activates, wherein one or more of the plurality of action instances comprise a respective sequence of step instances associated with respective inputs and outputs;
saving, by the one or more hardware processors, the design-time flow plan within a data model;
converting, by the one or more hardware processors, the saved design-time flow plan within the data model into a run-time flow plan; and
calling, by the one or more hardware processors, a flow engine to execute one or more operations within the run-time flow plan based at least on a determination that the one or more computing conditions of the trigger are met,
wherein the execution of the one or more operations within the run-time flow plan occurs simultaneously when the data model is updated with a modified design-time flow plan, and
wherein the one or more operations within the run-time flow plan includes a dynamic mutable operation.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising publishing the plurality of action instances prior to converting the saved design-time flow plan within the data model into the run-time flow plan.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the dynamic mutable operation is a conditional operation, an iteration operation, or an approval operation.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving an instruction to publish the saved design-time flow plan within the data model from a user interface; and
creating a snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan within the data model based on the instruction to publish the saved design-time flow plan within the data model.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the snapshot version of the saved design-time flow plan within the data model is unable to be subsequently modified when subsequently creating the modified design-time flow plan.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
checking for updates of one or more of the plurality of actions instances after creating the run-time flow plan;
determining that at least one of the plurality of action instances in the saved design-time flow plan within the data model has been updated;
converting the saved design-time flow plan within the data model with the at least one updated action instance into an updated run-time flow plan; and
forwarding the updated run-time flow plan for execution.

17. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory; and
one or more hardware processors configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to the one or more hardware processors to:
obtain a run-time flow plan associated with a design-time flow plan saved in a data model, wherein the run-time flow plan comprises a trigger, a first operation, and a second operation, and wherein the first operation precedes the second operation within the run-time flow plan and one or more input values of the second operation are linked to the first operation;
call a flow engine to execute the first operation based at least on a determination that one or more computing conditions of the trigger are met;
receive information that satisfies a condition of the second operation, wherein th

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Nelson Harry Thomas
• Tucker Christopher
• Sarbora Russell Samuel
• Zhang Qian
• Alvarado Jimenez Alberto
• Solaegui Juell
• Solis Carl

Classifications

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06F8/20 Primary

  Software design · CPC title

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title