Extensibility of business process and application logic

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9697042-B2
Application number	US-84714210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2010
Priority date	Jul 30, 2010
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A core system including different program components performing distinct tasks in a workflow sequence that are initiated through status field updates of objects in database may be modified to define a new status triggering additional processes in an action management system. Once the additional processes are completed, the status field may be changed to an original status provided by the core system to trigger a second program component in the workflow sequence. The action management system may contain user customized processes that may be modified and changed independent of the functionality provided by the core system.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for executing a third program between a first program and a second program of an existing computer process workflow without changing the workflow, the method comprising:
receiving over a communications network a first update indicating a full completion of the first program in a first computing system;
modifying, through a processing device, the received first update indicating the full completion to indicate a partial completion of the first program;
storing the modified first update indicating the partial completion in a status field indicating a completion status of the first program, wherein the existing computer process workflow is configured to preclude the second program from executing until after the status field indicates the full completion of the first program and wherein the modification to indicate the partial completion of the first program precludes the second program from executing;
transmitting the completion status indicating the partial completion of the first program to a second computing system, wherein the third program is executed at the second computing system to process data relating to the first program, the first and second computing systems communicatively independent of each other, the first and second programs executing independently such that they do not communicate directly with each other; and
responsive to receiving over the communications network a second update indicating that the second computing system has completed executing the third program, updating the status field to indicate the full completion of the first program, wherein the second program is executed after the status field is updated to indicate the full completion of the first program according to the configuration of the existing computer process workflow,
wherein the third program includes a plurality of extension steps, at least one of the extension steps includes approving an activity performed during execution of the first program.

2. The method of claim 1 , the processing function further comprising:
determining, through user-supplied processing logic, whether further approval for the activity is necessary;
submitting an approval request for the activity to an entity according to the processing logic when approval is necessary, otherwise, updating the status field of the object to indicate no approval needed; and
after electronically receiving an answer to the approval request from the entity, updating the status field to reflect the answer.

3. The method of claim 2 , the processing function further comprising:
if the answer indicates that the approval request has been approved, determining, through user-supplied processing logic, whether additional approval is needed;
when additional approval is needed, iteratively submitting additional approval requests to entities in a hierarchical order after receiving approvals from subordinate entities;
updating the status field to reflect rejection after receiving a first rejection; and otherwise updating the status field to reflect approval after receiving approvals from each entity in the hierarchy.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user-supplied processing logic includes use of a lookup table.

5. The method of claim 1 , the processing function further comprising:
extracting data relating to the activity;
restructuring the data into a format compatible with a third party computing system;
sending the extracted data to the third party computing system to obtain a result of further processing of the extracted data; and
after receiving the result from the third party computing system, storing the result.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising updating the status field based on the received result.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and the second computing systems are connected to a same network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first computing system is a core system and the second computing system is an action management system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first computing system collectively includes separate computing systems for each program.

10. A computing infrastructure for executing a third program between a first program and second program of an existing computer process workflow without changing the workflow, the computing infrastructure comprising:
a core system including at least one processor;
instructions executable on the at least one processor adapted to cause the core system to:
receive over a communications network a first update indicating a full completion of the first program,
modify the first update indicating the full completion to indicate a partial completion of the first program and storing the partial completion in a status field indicating a completion status of the first program, wherein the existing computer process workflow is configured to preclude the second program from executing until after the status field indicates the full completion of the first program and wherein the modification to indicate the partial completion of the first program precludes the second program from executing, and
transmit the completion status indicating the partial completion of the first program and updating the status field to indicate the full completion of the first program responsive to receiving a second update indicating a completion of the third program; and

an action management system including at least one processor and instructions executable on the at least one processor adapted to cause the action management system to receiving the transmitted completion status indicating the partial completion of the first program, thereafter executing the third program on data relating to the first program, and transmitting the second update after completing execution of the third program, the core system and the action management system communicatively independent of each other, the first and second programs executing independently such that they do not communicate directly with each other;
wherein the execution of the third program includes extracting the data, restructuring the data into a format compatible with a third party computing system, transmitting the restructured data to the third party computing system over the communications network, obtaining a result of further processing of the extracted data from the third party computing system; and after receiving the result from the third party computing system, storing the result.

11. The computing infrastructure of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the systems is connected to the communications network through a firewall system.

12. The computing infrastructure of claim 10 , wherein an upgrade to one of the action management system and the core system is performed without having to modify the other system.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions for executing a third program between a first program and second program of an existing computer process workflow without changing the workflow that when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:
receive over a communications network a first update indicating a full completion of the first program;
modify the received first update indicating the full completion to indicate a partial completion of the first program;
store the modified first update indicating the partial completion in a status field indicating a completion status of the first program, wherein the existing computer process workflow is configured to preclude the second program from executing until after the status field indicates the full completion of the first program and wherein the modification

Assignees

• Stein Tobias
• Nottbohm Klaus
• Mock Frank
• Kusterer Stefan
• Dentzer Ralf
• Bohlmann Karsten
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Stein Tobias
• Nottbohm Klaus
• Mock Frank
• Kusterer Stefan
• Dentzer Ralf
• Bohlmann Karsten

Classifications

• G06F16/2358

  Change logging, detection, and notification (replication G06F16/27) · CPC title

• G06F9/4843 Primary

  by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system · CPC title

• G06F9/52

  Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores · CPC title

• G06F17/30368

  Physics · mapped topic