Patent ID: 7657541
Filing Date: 2010-02-02
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a set of related documents representing a business process to facilitate efficient analysis of the business process, the method comprising: at a master computer having a processor and a memory, storing in a document header document linkages for each document of the set of related documents, the set of related documents representing the business process, and the document linkages representing types of business process relationships between linked documents of the set of related documents; storing information in the document header for each document of the set of documents which describes a function in the business process for each document; responsive to a first input command received via a network from a user computer, selecting the set of documents relevant to the business process; graphically displaying on the user computer the set of documents; responsive to a second input command received via the network from the user computer selecting a set of linkages between the set of documents; graphically displaying on the user computer the set of linkages as a document chain illustrating the business process, wherein document linkages for each type of business process relationship are represented by different document link icons, and wherein the business process relationship type includes a change process relationship and a binary relationship, wherein a chance process relationship is characterized by a chronological progression from a predecessor document to a successor document, and wherein a binary relationship is characterized by documents that are related and independent; receiving specifications for filtering the document chain submitted by the user computer; and responsive to the specifications, filtering the document chain to display a subset of documents.