Method for generating workflow from business specification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9940327-B2
Application number	US-201214351174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2012
Priority date	Oct 12, 2011
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

To enable visual verification of the suitability of work items that has been recorded, with an application created in accordance with a document centric architecture. The present invention includes: extracting, from a design, a document state that will become a trigger for work activity start and a document state for the result, and, based on matching the triggers and results, diagramming through automatically structuring a flow for the plurality of activities. Specifically, design documents are analyzed and implementations for each activity support system, and extracted the collection of documents that have become the conditions for document states that will become triggers for work start, as well as the document states that will remain as work results.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for creating a graph of a workflow diagram, wherein the workflow diagram spans from a plurality of design drawings of a plurality of work activity support systems to a plurality of corresponding work activities, for designing a plurality of reciprocally independent work items, by using a software architecture on a computer, the method comprising:
preparing, in a computer readable format, a design document for processing, wherein the design document includes a program processing flow describing a plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of a screen design, and a related logic design;
reading, by a computer processor, the program processing flow, which includes a description that specifies a screen item and a reference logic identifier, for each screen item specified by a screen transition;
extracting, by the related logic design of the screen item, a component constituting the design document, and recording the component that constitutes the design document, wherein the design document is an activity result for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to the screen item;
extracting, by the related logic design of the screen item, the component for a document query, and recording the component for a document query as an activity trigger for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to the screen item, wherein the component includes a document state that becomes the activity trigger for the activity that corresponds to the screen transition related to the screen item; and
creating, by a computer processor, the graph of the workflow diagram, wherein the activity is a node, the activity result is a link origin, and the activity trigger is a link terminus.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the related logic design of the screen item describes a specification that is recorded in a natural language; and
the processing that extracts the component constituting the design document and the processing that extracts the component for the document query are both executed by a keyword search using a regular expression.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the program processing flow describing the plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of the screen design, and the related logic design, is recorded by a spreadsheet program.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the activity result and the activity trigger are both recorded by XML.

5. A computer readable non-transitory article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the steps of a method for creating a graph of a workflow diagram, wherein the workflow diagram spans from a plurality of design drawings of work activity support systems to a plurality of corresponding work activities, for designing a plurality of reciprocally independent work items, the method comprising:
preparing, in a computer readable format, a design document for processing, wherein the design document includes a program processing flow describing a plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of a screen design, and a related logic design;
reading, by a computer processor, the program processing flow, which includes a description that specifies a screen item and a reference logic identifier, for each screen item specified by a screen transition;
extracting by the related logic design of the screen item, a component constituting the design document, and recording the component constituting the design document, wherein the design document is as activity result for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to the screen item;
extracting by the related logic design of the screen item, the component for a document query, and recording the component for the document query as an activity trigger for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to a screen item, wherein the component includes a document state that becomes the activity trigger for the activity that corresponds to the screen transition related to the screen item; and
creating by a computer processor a graph of the workflow, which includes the activity as a node, the activity result as a link origin and the activity trigger as a link terminus.

6. The computer according to claim 5 , wherein:
the logic design of the screen item describes a specification that is recorded in natural language; and
the processing that extracts the component constituting the design document and the processing that extracts the component for a document query are both executed by a keyword search using a regular expression.

7. The computer according to claim 5 , wherein the program processing flow describing the plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of the screen design, and the related logic design, is recorded by a spreadsheet program.

8. The computer according to claim 5 , wherein the activity result and the activity trigger are recorded by XML.

9. A computer implemented system for creating a graph of a workflow diagram, wherein the workflow diagram spans from a plurality of design drawings of work activity support systems to a plurality of corresponding work activities, for designing a plurality of reciprocally independent work items by using a software architecture on a computer, the computer implemented system comprising:
a memory;
a processor device communicatively coupled to the memory; and
a logic structure communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor device, wherein the logic structure is configured to perform the steps of a method comprising:
reading data from a design document, wherein the design document comprises a program processing flow describing a plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of the screen design, and a related logic design which has been recorded in a computer readable format;
reading the program processing flow, which includes a description that specifies a screen item and a reference logic identifier, for each screen item specified by a screen transition;
extracting, by the related logic design of the screen item, a component constituting the document, and recording the component constituting the design document, wherein the design document is an activity result for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to the screen item;
extracting, by the logic design of the screen item, the component for a document query and recording the component as an activity trigger for an activity that corresponds to a screen transition related to the screen item, wherein the component includes a document state that becomes the activity trigger for the activity that corresponds to the screen transition related to the screen item; and
creating a graph of the workflow, with the activity as a node, the activity result as a link origin, and the activity trigger as a link terminus.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein:
the related logic design of the screen item describes a specification that is recorded in a natural language; and
the processing that extracts the component constituting the document and the processing that extracts the component for the design document query are both executed by a keyword search using a regular expression.

11. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the program processing flow describing the plurality of screen transition tables, each screen item of the screen design, and the related logic design, is recorded by a spreadsheet program.

12. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the activity result and the activity trigger are both recorded by XML.

Assignees

• Sato Naoto
• Tatsubori Michiaki
• IBM

Inventors

• Sato Naoto
• Tatsubori Michiaki

Classifications

• G06Q10/0633

  Workflow analysis · CPC title

• G06F16/93 Primary

  Document management systems · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

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

• G06F16/258

  Data format conversion from or to a database · CPC title

• G06F40/151

  Transformation · CPC title