Generating a combined entity workflow

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11017342-B2
Application number	US-201515753255-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2015
Priority date	Aug 31, 2015
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

Example implementations relate to generating a combined entity workflow. For example, a method for generating a combined entity workflow may include defining, using a workflow engine, a business logic block for each of a plurality of information technology (IT) entity types within an IT system, wherein the business logic block comprises a non-scripted declarative business rule, defining, for each of the plurality of entity types and using the workflow engine, a relationship between the business logic block and a model workflow for the respective entity type, and generating, using the workflow engine, a combined entity workflow for each of the plurality of entity types, by combining the business logic block and the model workflow.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
accessing, by a hardware processor, a storage medium storing a plurality of model workflows associated with different entity types of entities within an information technology (IT) system, wherein each model workflow of the plurality of model workflows is a representation of a process to fulfill a service, including states in the process and transitions between the states;
storing, by the hardware processor, in the storage medium, business logic blocks associated with the different entity types, wherein each business logic block of the business logic blocks includes instructions to produce a part of one of the plurality of model workflows;
receiving, by the hardware processor, an entity;
determining, by the hardware processor, that the received entity is of a first entity type selected from among the different entity types;
in response to determining that the received entity is of the first entity type, obtaining, by the hardware processor, from among the plurality of model workflows stored in the storage medium, a first model workflow associated with the first entity type, and obtaining, from among the business logic blocks stored in the storage medium, a first business logic block associated with the first entity type, wherein the first business logic block includes a first non-scripted declarative business rule, wherein the first non-scripted declarative business rule is a rule written in a non-imperative format of computer-executed instructions in which a specific result for the first entity type is recited without listing specific steps to be performed to generate the specific result;
defining, by the hardware processor, a relationship between the first business logic block and the first model workflow for executing the first business logic block in relation to the first model workflow;
adding, by the hardware processor, the first non-scripted declarative business rule of the first business logic block to the first model workflow based on the defined relationship to generate a combined entity workflow for the first entity type; and
executing, by the hardware processor, the combined entity workflow on the received entity.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the hardware processor, a further entity;
identifying, for the further entity, a second entity type from among the different entity types;
in response to the identifying of the second entity type, obtaining, from among the plurality of model workflows stored in the storage medium, a second model workflow associated with the second entity type, and obtaining, from among the business logic blocks stored in the storage medium, a second business logic block including a second non-scripted declarative business rule associated with the second entity type; and
adding, by the hardware processor, the second non-scripted declarative business rule of the second business logic block to the second model workflow to generate a further combined entity workflow for the second entity type.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
executing, by the hardware processor, the further combined entity workflow on the further entity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defining of the relationship between the first business logic block and the first model workflow includes defining the first business logic block to execute at states of the first model workflow.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defining of the relationship between the first business logic block and the first model workflow includes defining the first business logic block to execute before execution of the first model workflow.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defining of the relationship between the first business logic block and the first model workflow includes defining the first business logic block to execute after execution of the first model workflow.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each business logic block of the business logic blocks is associated with a corresponding event type of different event types and is executed during execution of a respective model workflow associated with the corresponding event type.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the different entity types comprise a request entity type corresponding to a request received from a user, and an incident entity type corresponding to an incident in the IT system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the different entity types further comprise a change request entity type corresponding to a change of a device setting.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the executing of the combined entity workflow comprises executing the combined entity workflow for each of multiple entities based on the first entity type.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing machine-readable instructions that upon execution cause a processor to:
access a storage medium storing a plurality of model workflows associated with different entity types of entities within an information technology (IT) system, wherein each model workflow of the plurality of model workflows is a representation of a process to fulfill a service, including states in the process and transitions between the states;
store, in the storage medium, business logic blocks associated with the different entity types, wherein each business logic block of the business logic blocks includes instructions to produce a part of one of the plurality of model workflows;
receive an entity;
identify that the received entity is of a first entity type selected from among the different entity types;
in response to identifying that the received entity is of the first entity type, obtain, from among the plurality of model workflows stored in the storage medium, a first model workflow associated with the first entity type, and obtain, from among the business logic blocks stored in the storage medium, a first business logic block associated with the first entity type, wherein the first business logic block includes a first non-scripted declarative business rule, wherein the first non-scripted declarative business rule is a rule written in a non-imperative format of computer-executed instructions in which a specific result for the first entity type is recited without listing specific steps to be performed to generate the specific result;
define a relationship between the first business logic block and the first model workflow for executing the first business logic block in relation to the first model workflow;
add the first non-scripted declarative business rule of the first business logic block to the first model workflow based on the defined relationship to generate a combined entity workflow; and
execute the combined entity workflow on the received entity.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the different entity types comprise at least two selected from:
a support request entity type;
an incident report entity type;
a change request entity type; and
a problem report entity type.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the first business logic block is executable at states of the first model workflow.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the states of the first model workflow represent one of:
an entity logged;
an entity performed; and
an entity closed.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the machine-readable instructions upon execution cause the processor to:
receive a further entity;
identify, for the further entity, a second entity type from among the different entity type

Assignees

• Entit Software Llc
• Micro Focus Llc

Inventors

• Chen Rotem
• Babay Adi Hava
• Chovel Shlomi
• Biron Ran

Classifications

• G06Q10/06

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

• G06F8/70

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title

• G06F9/44505

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title

• G06Q10/0633 Primary

  Workflow analysis · CPC title

• G06F9/542

  Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications · CPC title