Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20020188597?dq=5708422
Timestamp: 2017-09-21 00:08:12
Document Index: 402301995

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n28', 'art.\n43', 'art.\n56', 'art 6000', 'art 6200', 'art 8300']

Patent US20020188597 - Methods and systems for linking tasks to workflow - Google Patents
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to generate a plan from the workflow that reflects an instance of a process and create a link from the plan to the workflow. Moreover, methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to create a link from a...http://www.google.com/patents/US20020188597?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20020188597 - Methods and systems for linking tasks to workflow
Publication number US20020188597 A1
Application number US 10/165,405
Publication number 10165405, 165405, US 2002/0188597 A1, US 2002/188597 A1, US 20020188597 A1, US 20020188597A1, US 2002188597 A1, US 2002188597A1, US-A1-20020188597, US-A1-2002188597, US2002/0188597A1, US2002/188597A1, US20020188597 A1, US20020188597A1, US2002188597 A1, US2002188597A1
Inventors Jonathan Kern, Mikhail Okrugin
Original Assignee Jonathan Kern, Mikhail Okrugin
Patent Citations (15), Referenced by (163), Classifications (11), Legal Events (2)
Methods and systems for linking tasks to workflow
US 20020188597 A1
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to generate a plan from the workflow that reflects an instance of a process and create a link from the plan to the workflow. Moreover, methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to create a link from a task of the plan to an activity of the workflow.
creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the link with the plan.
receiving an indication of a change to the workflow; and
changing the plan according to the change to the workflow.
receiving an indication of a change to the workflow;
determining whether an indication to change the plan is received; and
if the indication to change the plan is received, changing the plan according to the change to the workflow.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow comprises an activity, and wherein the step of generating the plan comprises the steps of:
generating a task; and
creating a task link from the task to the activity.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of storing the task link with the task.
receiving an indication to add an additional activity to the workflow;
generating an additional task from the additional activity; and
creating an additional task link from the additional task to the additional activity.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow comprises a plurality of activities, and wherein the step of generating the plan comprises the steps of:
for each of the plurality of activities,
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of, for each of the plurality of activities, storing the task link with the corresponding task.
receiving an indication to remove a selected one of the plurality of activities from the workflow;
removing the selected activity from the workflow;
removing the task corresponding to the selected activity; and
removing the task link from the task to the selected activity.
11. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the graphical representation comprises a flow diagram.
13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of displaying a temporal representation of the plan.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the temporal representation comprises a Gantt chart.
receiving an indication to add a non-process related task to the plan;
adding the non-process related task to the plan; and
displaying the revised plan.
receiving a selection of one of the non-process related task and the plurality of tasks;
determining whether the selected task is the non-process related task; and
if it is determined that the selected task is the non-process related task, displaying a message indicating that the selected task is the non-process related task.
17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
receiving an indication of a selected one of the plurality of tasks;
displaying the selected task in a visually distinct manner; and
displaying the corresponding selected activity in a visually distinct manner.
19. A method in a data processing system having a workflow including an activity, the method comprising the steps of:
generating a task from the activity; and
creating a link from the task to the activity.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of storing the link with the task.
22. A method in a data processing system having a workflow comprising a plurality of activities, wherein a logic one of the plurality of activities has a condition, the method comprising the steps of:
creating a plan from the workflow, wherein the step of creating the plan comprises the steps of:
creating a logic task from the logic activity;
creating a logic link from the logic task to the logic activity;
creating a default task from a default one of the plurality of activities; and
creating a default link from the default task to the default activity;
receiving an indication to activate the plan;
activating the plan; and
monitoring the activated plan, wherein the step of monitoring the activated plan comprises the steps of:
when it is determined that the condition is met,
creating a non-default task from a non-default one of the plurality of activities;
creating a non-default link from the non-default task to the non-default activity; and
replacing the default task with the non-default task.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the graphical representation comprises a flow diagram.
26. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of displaying a temporal representation of the plan.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the temporal representation comprises a Gantt chart.
28. The method of claim 26, wherein if it is determined that the condition is met, the method further comprises the step of modifying the temporal representation of the plan to reflect the replacement of the non-default task.
29. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system has a workflow that models a process, the method comprising the steps of:
30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the step of storing the link with the plan.
31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
33. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the workflow comprises an activity, and wherein the step of generating the plan comprises the steps of:
34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises the step of storing the task link with the task.
35. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
36. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the workflow comprises a plurality of activities, and wherein the step of generating the plan comprises the steps of:
37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises the step of, for each of the plurality of activities, storing the task link with the corresponding task.
38. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
39. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the graphical representation comprises a flow diagram.
41. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying a temporal representation of the plan.
42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the temporal representation comprises a Gantt chart.
43. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
45. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
46. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
47. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system has a workflow including an activity, the method comprising the steps of:
48. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the method further comprises the step of storing the link with the task.
49. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
50. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system has a workflow comprising a plurality of activities, wherein a logic one of the plurality of activities has a condition, the method comprising the steps of:
51. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the method further comprises the step of creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
52. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying a graphical representation of the workflow.
53. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the graphical representation comprises a flow diagram.
54. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the method further comprises the step of displaying a temporal representation of the plan.
55. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the temporal representation comprises a Gantt chart.
56. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein, if it is determined that the condition is met, the method further comprises the step of modifying the temporal representation of the plan to reflect the replacement of the non-default task.
a secondary storage device further comprising a workflow including a plurality of activities;
a memory device further comprising a program that, for each of the plurality of activities, generates a task and creates a task link from the task to the activity; and
58. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the program further creates a link from the plan to the workflow.
59. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein, for each of the plurality of activities, the program further stores the task link with the corresponding task.
60. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the program further displays a graphical representation of the workflow.
61. The data processing system of claim 60, wherein the program further displays a temporal representation of the plan.
62. The data processing system of claim 61, wherein the program further receives an indication to add a non-process related task to the plan, adds the non-process related task to the plan, and displays the revised plan.
63. The data processing system of claim 62, wherein the program further receives a selection of one of the non-process related task and the plurality of tasks, determines whether the selected task is the non-process related task, and if it is determined that the selected task is the non-process related task, the program displays a message indicating that the selected task is the non-process related task.
64. The data processing system of claim 62, wherein the program further receives an indication of a selected one of the plurality of tasks, displays the selected task in a visually distinct manner, and displays the corresponding selected activity in a visually distinct manner.
65. A system having a workflow that models a process, comprising:
means for creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled “Methods And Systems For Auto-Instantiation Of Storage Hierarchy For Project Plan,” bearing attorney docket no. TS1007, and filed on the same date herewith.
The present invention relates to a method and system for integrating a business process or workflow with a project plan. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and systems for linking the tasks in the project plan and the workflow that was used to create the tasks.
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to link the tasks in the project plan and the workflow that was used to create the tasks. By maintaining this relationship, users are able to access workflow-related multimedia for training, instructions, etc. In addition, users may examine the execution of project plans over time for data mining or to obtain a statistical analysis of project task performance to permit workflow improvement. Linking the tasks to the workflow also allows a user to dynamically alter the project tasks at various decision points in the workflow to reflect the proper course of action as dictated by the workflow. Furthermore, the link provides a mechanism to keep tasks up-to-date with changing workflows.
In accordance with methods consistent with the present invention, a method is provided in a data processing system. The data processing system has a workflow that models a process. The method comprises the steps of generating a plan from the workflow that reflects an instance of the process and creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
In accordance with methods consistent with the present invention, a method is provided in a data processing system. The data processing system has a workflow that includes an activity. The method comprises the steps of generating a task from the activity and creating a link from the task to the activity.
In accordance with methods consistent with the present invention, a method is provided in a data processing system. The data processing system has a workflow comprising a plurality of activities, where a logic one of the plurality of activities has a condition. The method comprises the steps of creating a plan from the workflow, wherein the step of creating the plan comprises the steps of creating a logic task from the logic activity, creating a logic link from the logic task to the logic activity, creating a default task from a default one of the plurality of activities, and creating a default link from the default task to the default activity. The method further comprises the steps of receiving an indication to activate the plan, activating the plan, and monitoring the activated plan. The step of monitoring the activated plan comprises the steps of determining whether the condition is met and when it is determined that the condition is met, creating a non-default task from a non-default one of the plurality of activities, creating a non-default link from the non-default task to the non-default activity, and replacing the default task with the non-default task.
In accordance with articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method. The data processing system has a workflow that models a process. The method comprises the steps of generating a plan from the workflow that reflects an instance of the process and creating a link from the plan to the workflow.
In accordance with articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method. The data processing system has a workflow that includes an activity. The method comprises the steps of generating a task from the activity and creating a link from the task to the activity.
In accordance with articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method. The data processing system has a workflow comprising a plurality of activities, where a logic one of the plurality of activities has a condition. The method comprises the steps of creating a plan from the workflow, wherein the step of creating the plan comprises the steps of creating a logic task from the logic activity, creating a logic link from the logic task to the logic activity, creating a default task from a default one of the plurality of activities, and creating a default link from the default task to the default activity. The method further comprises the steps of receiving an indication to activate the plan, activating the plan, and monitoring the activated plan. The step of monitoring the activated plan comprises the steps of determining whether the condition is met and when it is determined that the condition is met, creating a non-default task from a non-default one of the plurality of activities, creating a non-default link from the non-default task to the non-default activity, and replacing the default task with the non-default task.
[0021]FIG. 1 depicts a data processing system suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with the present invention;
[0022]FIG. 2 depicts an architectural overview of the workflow modeling and project planning integration tool used to perform methods and systems consistent with the present invention;
[0023]FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram illustrating the high-level process performed by the tool of FIG. 2 in accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention;
[0024]FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary document workflow modeled by an enterprise affiliate using the tool of FIG. 2;
[0025]FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary task workflow modeled by an enterprise affiliate using the tool of FIG. 2;
[0026]FIG. 6 depicts another exemplary workflow modeled by an enterprise affiliate using the tool of FIG. 2;
[0027]FIG. 7 depicts a timeline of the task created from the workflow of FIG. 4;
[0028]FIG. 8 depicts a timeline of the task created from the workflow of FIG. 5;
[0029]FIG. 9 depicts a timeline of the task created from the workflow of FIG. 6;
[0035]FIG. 29 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to begin creating or retrieving a workflow;
[0036]FIG. 30 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter the name of a new workflow group;
[0037]FIG. 31 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to begin creating a new workflow;
[0038]FIG. 32 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter the name of a new workflow;
[0040]FIG. 34 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to manage a workflow;
[0041]FIG. 35 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to add a new role to a workflow;
[0042]FIG. 36 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to select an artifact type;
[0043]FIG. 37 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter condition properties for a document-oriented artifact;
[0044]FIG. 38 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter condition properties for a script-oriented artifact;
[0045]FIG. 39 depicts an exemplary user interface of a script editor for the tool of FIG. 2;
[0046]FIG. 40 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to modify the properties of a workflow activity;
[0047]FIGS. 41A and B depict a flow diagram illustrating the creation of a plan from a workflow;
[0048]FIG. 42 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to create a new plan group;
[0049]FIG. 43 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 displaying the available plan groups;
[0050]FIG. 44 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter a plan name;
[0051]FIG. 45 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter the working schedule;
[0052]FIG. 46 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to enter the scheduled start and end times for the plan;
[0053]FIG. 47 depicts an exemplary workflow definition file produced by the tool of FIG. 2 for the workflow of FIG. 5;
[0054]FIG. 48 depicts an exemplary plan definition file created from the workflow definition file of FIG. 47;
[0055]FIG. 49 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to assign users to a plan;
[0056]FIG. 50 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to edit the properties of a plan;
[0057]FIG. 51 depicts a timeline of the task created from the workflow of FIG. 5;
[0058]FIG. 52 depicts an exemplary timeline of the tool of FIG. 2 used to activate a plan;
[0059]FIG. 53 depicts a flow diagram illustrating the addition of a resource by the tool of FIG. 2;
[0060]FIG. 54 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to add a resource;
[0061]FIG. 55 depicts an exemplary user interface of the tool of FIG. 2 used to receive LDAP access information;
[0062]FIG. 56 depicts an exemplary resource file created by the tool of FIG. 2;
[0063]FIG. 57 depicts a flow diagram illustrating the management of an activated plan;
[0064]FIG. 58 depicts a timeline of the task created from the workflow of FIG. 5;
[0065]FIG. 59 depicts an exemplary plan definition file created from the workflow of FIG. 5;
[0066]FIGS. 60, 62, 64 and 66 depict the actual timeline showing the execution of the plan depicted in FIG. 58;
[0067]FIGS. 61, 63, and 65 depict the properties of the executing tasks of FIGS. 62, 64, and 66;
[0068]FIG. 67 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for creating a link from a plan to a workflow;
[0069]FIG. 68 depicts an exemplary workflow modeled by an enterprise affiliate using the tool of FIG. 2;
[0070]FIGS. 69A and B depict an exemplary workflow definition file corresponding to the workflow of FIG. 68;
FIGS. 70A-D depict an exemplary workflow properties file corresponding to the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0072]FIG. 71 depicts an exemplary link between a project task and a process activity of the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0073]FIG. 72 depicts the relationship between the activities of the workflow of FIG. 68 and the corresponding tasks in the plan during the creation of the plan from the workflow;
[0074]FIG. 73 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for adding a non-process-based task to a plan;
FIGS. 74A-E depict an exemplary plan definition file corresponding to a plan created from the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0076]FIG. 75 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for visually identifying the links between the tasks in a plan and the activities in a workflow;
[0077]FIG. 76 depicts an exemplary user interface illustrating the synchronization between the tasks in a plan and the corresponding activities in the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0078]FIG. 77 depicts an exemplary user interface illustrating the synchronization between a decision block task in a plan and the corresponding activity in the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0079]FIG. 78 depicts an exemplary user interface illustrating the properties of a non-process-based task;
[0080]FIG. 79 depicts another exemplary user interface illustrating the synchronization between a decision block task in a plan and the corresponding activity in the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0081]FIG. 80 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process executed by the tool of FIG. 2 when a decision block is encountered;
[0082]FIG. 81 depicts a portion of the exemplary workflow of FIG. 68;
[0083]FIG. 82 depicts an exemplary user interface illustrating the selection of the non-default path from the decision block in the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0084]FIG. 83 depicts an exemplary user interface illustrating the plan created based on the selection of the non-default path from the decision block in the workflow of FIG. 68;
[0085]FIG. 84 depicts another exemplary user interface illustrating the synchronization between a task in the plan and the corresponding activity in the workflow of FIG. 68; and
[0086]FIG. 85 depicts another exemplary user interface illustrating the synchronization between a task in the plan and the corresponding activity in the workflow of FIG. 68.
[0089]FIG. 1 depicts a data processing system 100 suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with the present invention. Data processing system 100 includes a group of computers 102 a, 104, and 106 that are connected via a network 108. Network 108 may be any known physical or wireless network capable of supporting a data transmission between two computer systems, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, or leased phone lines.
As further explained herein, computer 102 a may actually be one of multiple computers (i.e., computers 102 a and 102 n) used by affiliates of an enterprise or business conglomerate to communicate with one another via network 108. The enterprise affiliates may be employees, managers, administrators, suppliers, customers, other computer applications, other computer systems, or other users within the enterprise who may need to create, view, or receive 10 information regarding an activated project plan in accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention.
The WebDAV protocol defines a WebDAV resource to be a collection (e.g., a directory or folder on WebDAV Storage 142 ) or a collection member (e.g., a file or Web page on WebDAV Storage 142 ). Each WebDAV resource has a content file and properties associated with the content file. The properties include the creation date, the author, and the access rights for the WebDAV resource. The WebDAV protocol specifies the methods to create, delete, move, and copy a WebDAV resource. It also specifies the methods to add, find, or change a property of a WebDAV resource. The WebDAV protocol and the HTTP extensions that comprise the WebDAV protocol are more clearly described in the following reference, which is incorporated herein by reference: HTTP Extensions For Distributed Authoring—WebDAV, RFC 2518, Standards Track, Proposed Standard, February 1999, available at http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/rfc/rfc2518.html.
[0102]FIG. 2 depicts a functional architectural overview of the workflow modeling and project planning integration tool 200 used to integrate workflow modeling and project planning. As shown in FIG. 2, the tool 200 includes the Client Interface 134 as well as the Tool Server 144. Although part of the same tool 200, the Client Interface 134 and the Tool Server 144 may be located on different computer systems, as discussed above.
The Task Tracker Module 214 allows an enterprise affiliate to view the tasks of an activated project plan that are assigned to a specific resource, to activate or start a task of the project plan (e.g., indicate actual start time to Client Interface 134 ), to open or check-out a document artifact needed to accomplish the task, to close or check-in the document artifact after accomplishing the task, and to indicate that the task is completed.
[0122]FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram illustrating the high-level process performed by the workflow modeling and project planning integration tool in accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention. Initially, the tool creates or retrieves a workflow (step 302 ). The tool then displays the workflow (step 304 ). The workflow comprises a set of activities that represents the steps to be performed as part of a plan executed from the workflow. Each activity has an activity description and at least one role responsible for the activity. The activity description indicates what step is to be performed by the role.
[0133]FIG. 17 depicts the state of the plan 1700 while the “Get Parts” task 1702 is executing. FIG. 18 depicts the state of the plan 1800 after the execution of the “Get Parts” task 1802, while the “L Or Rt Handed?” logic task 1804 is executing. The logic task may pop up a dialog (not shown) to prompt the resource assigned to this task to provide an answer for this “left or right-handed” question. In addition, the tool allows the question to be “answered ” by running a logic script. This script may examine properties of an indicated artifact or it may execute a separate program on a separate system to compute the answer. Upon selection of the default path, the plan 1900 shown in FIG. 19 depicts both the “Get Parts” task 1902 and the “L Or Rt Handed?” logic task 1904 in executed states, while the “Right” task 1906 is depicted in an executing state. After the execution of the “Right” task 1906 is complete, the state of the plan 2000 is depicted in FIG. 20 with the “Get Parts” task 2002, the “L Or Rt Handed?” logic task 2004, and the “Right” task 2006 in executed states and with the “Complete Assembly” task 2008 in an executing state. Finally, upon completion of the “Complete Assembly” task 2008, the state of the plan 2100 after execution of the tasks 2102, 2104, 2106, and 2108 is complete is depicted in FIG. 21.
Alternatively, if the non-default path is to be chosen, the execution of the plan is initially the same as when the default path is chosen. Thus, as depicted in FIG. 22, the plan 2200 begins with the execution of the “Get Parts” task 2202. After completion of the “Get Parts” task 2202, the plan 2300 shown in FIG. 23 depicts the “Get Parts” task 2302 in an executed state while the “L Or Rt Handed?” task 2304 is shown in an executing state. At this point, the resource assigned to choose the default or the non-default path chooses the non-default path, thus completing the execution of the “L Or Rt Handed?” task 2404, as indicated in FIG. 24. Upon selection of the non-default path, the tool 200 modifies the plan 2400 to correspond to the non-default path of the corresponding workflow. The plan 2400 depicts the tasks included in the non-default path. Thus, the plan 2400 includes the “Left” and “Left Special” tasks 2406 and 2408 rather than the “Right” task 2306, which is depicted in FIG. 23 before the non-default path was chosen. As shown in FIG. 24, the “Left” task 2406 is executing. FIG. 25 depicts the plan 2500 after the “Get Parts” task 2502, the “L Or Rt Handed?” logic task 2504, and the “Left” task 2506 have been executed, while the “Left Special” task 2508 is executing. Continuing with the execution of the plan, FIG. 26 depicts the state of the plan 2600 after the “Get Parts” task 2602, the “L Or Rt Handed?” logic task 2604, the “Left” task 2606, and the 37 Left Special” task 2608 are done executing, while the “Complete Assembly” task 2610 is executing. Finally, FIG. 27 depicts the state of the plan 2700 after completion of the tasks 2702, 2704, 2706, 2708, and 2710.
Returning to the example workflow 600 depicted in FIG. 6, the name of the first activity 606 is “Get Parts,” which is identified by the element 3322 in the workflow definition file 3300 of FIG. 33. Similarly, the name of the logic activity 608 is “L or Rt Handed?,” which is identified by the element 3324. The name of the activity 610 is “Right,” as identified by the element 3326. The name of the activity 612 is “Left,” as identified by the element 3328. The name of the activity 614 is “Left Special,”0 as identified by the element 3330. Finally, the name of the activity 620 is “Complete Activity,” as identified by the element 3332.
After checking for any on-exit scripts and/or receiving the on-exit scripts, the tool 200 determines whether the activity has any input (i.e., begin or starting) conditions (step 2844). If the activity has an input condition, the tool 200 receives an indication of the input conditions (step 2846). Example input conditions are to expect an artifact required for the task to have a specific status. After checking for any input conditions and/or receiving the input conditions, the tool 200 determines whether the activity has any output (i.e., exit or ending) conditions (step 2848). An example exit condition could be to automatically check the quality of an artifact generated by the task. If the artifact meets quality standards, the task completion occurs; otherwise, the task completion is rejected and the user is informed that more quality is required. If the activity has an output condition, the tool 200 receives an indication of the output conditions (step 2850). The output condition 3391 for the “Get Parts” activity 606 has an ID of “1527” 3392 (FIG. 33B), and is a document-type condition, as indicated by the “linkable 1” identity 3393 in the element 3394 representing the condition 3391. In general, based on the condition 3391, the tool 200 (in particular, the Workflow Engine 222) monitors the state of an artifact for an activated “Get Parts” task created from the “Get Parts” activity 606 until the state of the artifact is the “INITIAL” state 3395 before the tool 200 continues with the next task in the plan. Similarly, the output condition 3396 for the “Right” activity 610 has an ID of “1533” 3397. The output condition 3396 for the “Right” activity 610 is also a document-type condition, as indicated by the “linkable 1” identity 3398. This condition 3396 signals the tool 200 to monitor the state of an artifact until it is in the “RIGHT” state 3399.
[0152]FIG. 36 depicts an exemplary user interface 3600 displayed by the Client Interface 134 to include either a document-oriented 3602 or a script (or logic)-oriented 3604 condition. As shown in FIG. 36, the Client Interface 134 may receive the request to add a condition to the activity via a pull-down menu selection 3606. The enterprise affiliate may, however, use any known data input technique to request that a condition be added to an activity, such as an icon or keyboard input, to indicate the request to the Client Interface 134. If the enterprise affiliate selects a document-oriented condition, the enterprise affiliate may be presented with the user interface 3700 depicted in FIG. 37 to identify the properties of the condition to the Client Interface 134. The condition properties 3702 include condition-name property 3704 for the document-type condition model. In the example shown in FIG. 37, the Client Interface 134 receives the condition-name property 3704 via a keyboard input by the enterprise affiliate. The Client Interface 134 uses the condition-name property 3704 to distinguish the condition model to be created from other condition models stored on WebDAV Storage 142. The Client Interface 134 may store the document-type condition model file on WebDAV Storage 142 having the same name as the condition-name property 3704. In another implementation, the Client Interface 134 may store the condition-name property 3704 as a WebDAV property stored in association with the document-type condition model file on WebDAV Storage 142.
[0158]FIG. 38 depicts an exemplary user interface 3800 displayed by the Client Interface 134 to receive the condition properties 3802 for a logic-type condition model that is to be created by the Client Interface 134. The condition properties 3802 include a condition-name property 3804 for the document-type condition model. In the example shown in FIG. 38, the Client Interface 134 receives the condition-name property 3804 via a keyboard input by the enterprise affiliate. The Client Interface 134 uses the condition-name property 3804 to distinguish the logic-type condition model to be created from other condition models stored on WebDAV Storage 142. As described below, the Client Interface 134 stores a logic-type condition model file on WebDAV Storage 142 that has the same name as condition-name property 3804. In another implementation, the Client Interface 134 may also store condition-name property 3804 as a WebDAV property stored in association with the logic-type condition model file on WebDAV Storage 142.
[0163]FIG. 40 depicts an exemplary user interface 4000 displayed by the Client Interface 134 to receive the properties of an activity of a workflow. As depicted, the name 4002 of the activity (e.g., “Specs Development”), the duration 4004 of the activity (e.g., 1 unit) and the role 4006 responsible for the activity may be entered by the enterprise affiliate responsible for creating or modifying the workflow. In addition, the enterprise affiliate may enter an on-entry script 4008 as well as an on-exit script 4010. If the activity represents an entire other workflow, the properties of the activity also include the location 4012 of the sub-process defining the workflow. This allows an enterprise to save significant resources by providing a mechanism for reusing workflows within other workflows. Thus, workflows may be modularly built from constituent workflows. For example, the defect tracking workflow depicted in FIG. 34 can be used inside many “outer” or “higher-level” processes for software development.
[0169]FIG. 49 depicts an exemplary user interface 4900 displayed by the Client Interface 134 to assign users or resources to the project and to assign these users specific roles related to the roles required by the project. The tool 200 displays a list of available users or resources 4902 (on the left), a list of the assigned users (central), and a list of the roles 4904 (on the right) in a given workflow. In this embodiment, the enterprise affiliate is allowed to selectively add or remove available resources to the project by highlighting the resource and selecting either the “Add” button 4906 or the “Remove” button 4908, respectively. Alternatively, the enterprise affiliate may add or remove the resources to the project by selecting the “Add all” button 4910 or the “Remove all” 4912 button, respectively. For each resource, the user can selectively indicate (checkboxes) which roles the user should play. Thus, the enterprise affiliate may identify to the tool 200 resources that are capable of performing the role when assigned to a task in the plan. As discussed below, the tool 200 may automatically assign a resource to a role of a task in the plan based on the identified, capable resources for the role.
[0175]FIG. 53 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process performed by the Client Interface 134 to add a new resource to the list of available resources. The Client Interface 134 may later assign the resource to a plan in accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention. Initially, the Client Interface 134 receives a request to add a new resource (step 5302). As shown in FIG. 54, the Client Interface 134 may receive the request to add a new resource via a pull-down menu selection 5402 and 5404 that is chosen by an enterprise affiliate. The enterprise affiliate may, however, use any known data input technique, such as an icon or keyboard input, to indicate the request to the Client Interface 134.
If the request is to import the resource information, the Client Interface 134 receives access information for a “Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)” resource directory entry (e.g., a resource profile) on the network 108 of FIG. 1 (step 5308 ). FIG. 55 depicts an exemplary user interface 5500 showing access information 5502 received by the Client Interface 134. Access information 5502 includes an LDAP Server 5504 (e.g., “Frodo”) on the network 108, an LDAP Port 5506 for the Client Interface 134 to communicate with the LDAP Server 5504, and a resource distinguished name (DN) 5508 identifying the location on LDAP Server 5504 where the resource profile may be found. The access information 5502 may be default access information that the Client Interface 134 retrieves from a configuration file (not shown) on the computer 102 a, or it may be access information entered by an enterprise affiliate. In the implementation illustrated in FIG. 55, the access information 5502 may also include: a security distinguished name (DN) 5510, a password 5512, and a login alias 5514. Security DN 5510 identifies to the Client Interface 134 where a security profile for the enterprise affiliate is located. The Client Interface 134 uses the password 5512 and the login alias 5514 to access the resource information on the LDAP Server 5504 in accordance with privileges identified in the security profile.
[0183]FIG. 56 depicts an exemplary resource file 5600 that the Client Interface 134 may use to store resource profiles 5602, 5604, 5606, and 5608 on WebDAV Storage 142. As shown in FIG. 56, the resource profile 5600 includes a unique identifier or URL 5612 where the resource profile 5600 is to be stored on the WebDAV Storage 142. Each resource profile 5602, 5604, 5606, and 5608 may be stored separately by the Client Interface 134 on WebDAV Storage 142. In the implementation shown in FIG. 56, the resource profile 5602 includes resource information 5610 that corresponds to an enterprise affiliate that may be assigned to a task of a plan. In another implementation, the resource information 5610 may be added as properties rather than as the content of the resource profile 5602 on WebDAV Storage 142. This implementation may be advantageous as the Client Interface 134 or the Workflow Engine 222 may use a known WebDAV method to retrieve resource profiles from the WebDAV Storage 142 that have the same property. For example, the WebDAV “PropFind” method may be used by the Client Interface 134 or the Workflow Engine 222 to retrieve the resource profiles having a skill identifier of “Java Programming” so that an available resource having this skill can be assigned to a task in accordance with processes described below.
[0184]FIG. 57 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process performed by the Workflow Engine 222 to manage the execution of an activated plan. The Workflow Engine 222 may execute the process in FIG. 57 for each activated plan stored on WebDAV Storage 142. Thus, the tool manages the execution of multiple plans simultaneously.
Upon activation, the “Serial 1”0 task 6002 begins execution, as depicted by the task 6004 in the Gantt chart 6000 of FIG. 60. Contrary to the plan, however, the “Serial 1” task ends earlier than planned. As depicted in FIG. 61, the actual properties 6100 of the “Serial 1” task 6102 include the actual-start-date 6104 (i.e., year-2001 month-8 day-1 hour-9) and actual-finish-date 6106 (i.e., year-2001 month-8 day-1 hour-14, i.e., 2 p.m.). The actual execution 6204 of the “Serial 1” task 6202 is shown in the Gantt chart 6200 of FIG. 62.
Linking Tasks And Workflows
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to link the tasks in the project plan with the workflow that was used to create the tasks. Thus, an enterprise affiliate may visualize the workflow at any step, i.e., during any task. The enterprise affiliate may also determine the activities preceding and succeeding the activities during a specific task. Moreover, linking the tasks to the workflow allows an enterprise affiliate to dynamically change the project tasks based on selecting different paths out of a decision block in the workflow.
Linking the tasks and the workflow that was used to create the tasks also provides an enterprise affiliate with a link to workflow training material. For example, the workflow designer can provide a list of training artifacts, e.g., movies, documents, help files, instructor names, local experts, etc., for each activity defined in the workflow. In addition, linking the tasks to the workflow allows data mining or a statistical analysis of project task performance to permit workflow improvement. This is a key aspect to business process re-engineering and is required for any serious effort focused on improving an organization's process effectiveness.
The ability to link a task to the workflow process has a tremendous advantage when the workflow definition changes over time. For example, by maintaining a link or reference to the workflow definition, the task can be continuously up-to-date with the latest changes in the workflow design. In the alternative, since there are times when the tasks should remain tied to the original workflow definition and not reflect the latest change, the link can include a “version” of the workflow definition. When using a specific version (versus using the “latest” version), the task can remain linked to the original workflow definition that was in place at the point in time the task was defined. Project plans that have tasks relying on a workflow that has just been changed can also be selectively updated with new design information. Moreover, workflow changes can be categorized by their effect on active tasks or plans. For example, superficial changes include altering associated hyperlinks to multi-media artifacts, text descriptions, etc. Substantial changes involve tasks being added or deleted, path changes, etc., to the workflow design.
[0193]FIG. 67 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for creating a link from a plan to a workflow. Initially, the tool 200 creates or retrieves a workflow (step 6702). The processing performed by the tool 200 for creating or retrieving a workflow is described above in reference to step 302 in FIG. 3 and further described in greater detail in reference to FIGS. 28A-C. Next, the tool 200 displays the workflow (step 6704). A representative workflow 6800 is depicted in FIG. 68. The workflow 6800 is in the form of a typical flowchart or a Unified Modeling Language (“UML”) activity diagram. As described in detail above, the workflow 6800 includes a start element 6802 and an end element 6804, an “Unpack” activity 6806, parallel activities “Assemble (L)” 6808 and “Assemble (R)” 6810, decision block “Assembly OK?” 6812, activity “Repair” 6814 along the non-default path 6816 of the “Assembly OK?” decision block 6812, and activity “Complete” 6818 along the default path 6820 of the “Assembly OK?” decision block 6812. The workflow 6800 also includes two synch bars 6822 and 6824, which, as described above, are used to connect the ends of parallel activities. In particular, the first synch bar is a fork 6822 at the beginning of the parallel activities “Assemble (L)” 6808 and “Assemble (R)” 6810, and the second synch bar is a join 6824 at the end of the parallel activities 6808 and 6810.
As discussed above, workflows are stored in two files. The first file contains the process definition and may be an XML file. The second file contains the properties for displaying each element of the workflow, e.g., the “X/Y” coordinates identifying the location of each element of the workflow, and may be stored as an XML properties file. One implementation of the workflow definition file 6900 a and 6900 b is shown in FIGS. 69A and 69B, and one implementation of a properties file 7000 a-d is shown in FIGS. 70A-D.
The next step performed by the tool 200 is to receive an indication of a plan name from an enterprise affiliate (step 6706). The plan name is used to identify the particular plan created from the workflow. The tool 200 then creates a plan definition file (step 6708). This step corresponds to the creation of a plan from a workflow, as described above in reference to step 306 in FIG. 3 and further described in greater detail in reference to FIGS. 41A-B. At this point, the enterprise affiliate has already selected the workflow, and the plan has or is in the process of being created by the tool 200. Thus, the tool 200 may perform the remaining steps of this process in conjunction with performing the process for creating a plan from the selected workflow. To provide clarity in the discussion to follow, it is assumed that the enterprise affiliate has selected to create a plan from the workflow 6800 depicted in FIG. 68. A link to the workflow is subsequently stored in the plan definition file (step 6710). The link to the workflow may also, or alternatively, be included in each task definition file for each task of the plan created from the workflow. In one implementation, the link is a pointer to the workflow definition file. In another implementation, the link is a URL designating the location of the workflow definition file.
Next, the tool 200 retrieves an activity in the workflow (step 6712). For example, the element 6902 in the process definition file 6900 a of FIG. 69A represents the “Unpack” activity 6806. The element 6902 identifies the “Unpack” activity 6806 via activity id 6904, name 6906, and responsiblerole 6908, as described in detail above. The tool 200 then generates a task based on the activity (step 6714). While generating the task, the tool 200 may also create a task definition file (step 6716). A task link to the activity is subsequently stored in the task definition file (step 6718). Similar to the link to the workflow, the task link to the activity may be a pointer to the activity definition file, or a URL designating the location of the activity definition file. For example, a portion 6910 of the process definition file 6900 that represents the “Unpack” activity 6806 is depicted in FIG. 71. The corresponding portion 7110 in the plan definition file may contain the link 7116 to the workflow. Each task 7112 in the plan may also have a link 7114 to its associated activity 6806. In the implementation depicted, the link 7114 to the activity is an ID corresponding to the activity and the link 7116 to the workflow is a URL pointing to the workflow definition file.
The next step performed by the tool 200 is to determine whether there are any more activities (step 6720). If the tool determines that there are more activities, the tool 200 retrieves the next activity at step 6712. Otherwise, if the tool determines that there are no more activities, the process ends.
[0198]FIG. 72 depicts the relationship between the activities of the workflow 6800 and the tasks of the plan 7200 generated during the creation of the plan 7200. In particular, the tool 200 generates “Unpack” task 7202 from “Unpack” activity 6806. Parallel activities “Assemble (L)” 6808 and “Assemble (R)” 6810 are used to generate “Assemble (L)” task 7204 and “Assemble (R)” task 7206, respectively. The tool 200 then generates “Assembly OK?” task 7208 from “Assembly OK?” decision block 6812, and following the default path 6820, which is followed during plan creation, the tool creates “Complete” task 7210 from “Complete” activity 6818. The “Repair” task does not appear in the plan as it falls in the non-default path 6816 of the decision block 6812.
After the plan 7200 is generated, additional non-process-based tasks may be added to the plan 7200, as depicted in the flow diagram of FIG. 73. The tool 200 initially receives an indication to add a non-process-based task (step 7302). The tool 200 also receives the relevant information to identify the location in the plan where the non-process-based task will be inserted (step 7304). For example, the tool 200 receives either the start time of the task or an indication of the predecessor task, the end time of the task, an indication of a successor task (if applicable), and an indication of the resource assigned to the task. The enterprise affiliate may use any known data input technique, such as an icon or keyboard input, to provide this information to the tool 200. Next, the tool 200 inserts the non-process-based task in the plan in accordance with the identification of the location (step 7306) before the process ends. Thus, as an example, “Non-process-based Task” 7212, having a start time set to the start date and time of the plan and having a duration of two hours, was added to the plan 7200 depicted in FIG. 72. A task list 7214 is also depicted in FIG. 72 to identify the names or identifications of the tasks shown in the Gantt chart representing the plan 7200. One implementation of the plan definition file 7400 a-e is shown in FIGS. 74A-E. Contrary to the process-based tasks, the non-process-based tasks do not have a link 7402 to a process in the plan definition file 7400 a-e. Thus, the link in the plan definition file 7400 e to the corresponding workflow reflects that no originating workflow exists, i.e., the link points to nothing.
[0200]FIG. 75 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for visually identifying the links between the tasks in a plan and the activities in a workflow. Initially the tool 200 receives a selection of a task (step 7502). The tool 200 then displays the selected task in a visually distinct manner (step 7504). For example, FIG. 76 depicts an exemplary user interface 7600 illustrating the workflow 6800, the plan 7200 created from the workflow 6800, and the task list 7214 corresponding to the plan 7200. In this implementation, if an enterprise affiliate selects the “Unpack” task 7202 (either from the Gantt chart representation of the plan 7200 or from the task list 7214), the task 7202 on the plan 7200 becomes highlighted, and the corresponding task name 7602 in the task list 7214 also becomes highlighted. The enterprise affiliate may use any known data input technique, such as a mouse click, to identify the selected task. One skilled in the art will recognize that any visible difference in the appearance of the task, e.g., a change in color, shading, labeling, etc., may be used to represent the selected task.
Next, the tool 200 determines whether the selected task is a non-process-based task (step 7506). If the task is not a non-process-based task, the tool 200 locates the link from the task to its corresponding workflow (step 7508). The tool 200 also locates the link from the task to its corresponding activity (step 7510). The next step performed by the tool 200 is to display the activity in a visually distinct manner (step 7512) before the process ends. Thus, as depicted in FIG. 76, the tool locates the link to the activity corresponding to the “Unpack” task 7202, and alters the visual display of the corresponding “Unpack” activity 6806. In this implementation, the visual display is altered by surrounding the activity with a dotted box 7604. One skilled in the art will recognize that any visible difference in the appearance of the activity, e.g., a change in color, shading, labeling, highlighting, etc., may be used to represent the corresponding activity. In addition, as depicted in FIG. 76, the link to the “Unpack” activity 6806 also allows the enterprise affiliate to view the properties 7606 of the “Unpack” activity 6806. In the example shown, the property 7606 selected is the description 7608 of the activity, which is identified as “First, unpack the raw materials, subassemblies” 7610. The element 6912 of the process definition file 6900 of FIG. 69 reflects this property description 7608. In addition, the properties could contain any number of navigable links to additional multimedia resources (e.g., movies, documents, web pages, video conferencing units, etc.).
Another example of this feature is depicted in the user interface 7700 of FIG. 77. In this example, the enterprise affiliate selects the “Assembly OK?” task 7208. Thus, the task 7208 is highlighted on the Gantt chart representing the plan 7200, and the corresponding task name 7702 is highlighted on the task list 7214. The status 7704 of the task 7208 is also depicted. In this implementation, the status identifies the planned execution time 7706 of the task 7208, and the state 7708 of the task 7208. The tool 200 locates the link to the corresponding activity, i.e., the “Assembly OK?” activity 6812, and alters the visual display of this activity 6812 by surrounding it with a dotted box 7710. The link to the “Assembly OK” activity 6812 also allows the enterprise affiliate to view the properties 7712 of the “Assembly OK” activity 6812. In the example shown, the properties 7712 selected are the general properties 7714 of the activity 6812, which identify the name 7716, the responsible role 7718, the responsible user 7720, the planned event date 7722, the assigned users 7724, and the task control 7726 assigned to the activity 6812.
If, alternatively, at step 7506, the tool 200 determines that the task is a non-process-based task, the tool 200 displays a message indicating that the task is a non-process-related task (step 7514) before the process ends. Thus, if the “Non-process-based Task” 7212 is selected, as shown in user interface 7800 of FIG. 78, the task 7212 is highlighted on the Gantt chart representing the plan 7200, the task name 7802 is highlighted on the task list 7214, and a message “There is no Process Definition available for selected task” 7804 indicates that the task is not a process-based task. The message “this task does not exist in the process.” 7810 in the description 7806 portion of the properties 7808 of the task 7212 also indicates that the task is not a process-based task. One could also replace this message with any other appropriate text or graphic.
The user interface 7900 depicted in FIG. 79 depicts an alternative task list view of the plan 7200. The user interface 7900 illustrates the synchronization of the task list 7902 with the workflow 6800 by showing the appropriate description text 6914 for the “Assembly OK?” activity 6812 from the workflow definition file 6900.
[0205]FIG. 80 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process executed by the tool 200 when a decision block is encountered. This step corresponds to managing the execution of an activated plan, as described above in reference to step 312 in FIG. 3 and further described in greater detail in reference to FIGS. 57A-B. At this point, the tool 200 is already managing the execution of the activated plan. Thus, the tool 200 may perform the remaining steps of this process in conjunction with performing the process for managing the execution of the activated plan. Initially, the tool 200 selects a task (step 8002). The tool 200 then determines whether the task is a decision block (step 8004). If the task is not a decision block, the tool waits until the task is complete (step 8006). If the task is a decision block, the tool 200 determines whether the condition corresponding to the decision block has been met (step 8008). If the condition is not met, the tool 200 retrieves the non-default task(s) (step 8010). The next step performed by the tool 200 is to replace the default task(s) with the non-default task(s) (step 8012). The tool 200 then determines whether there are any more tasks (step 8014). The tool also performs this step after step 8006 (i.e., after the task is complete) and after step 8008 (i.e., after the condition is met). If there are more tasks, the tool 200 returns to step 8002 and continues the process with the next task. Otherwise, the process ends.
[0206]FIG. 81 depicts the “Assembly OK?” decision block 6812 of workflow 6800, with the default path 6820 leading to the “Complete” task 6818, and the non-default path 6816 leading to the non-default task “Repair” 6814 before leading to the “Complete” task 6818. As shown on the user interface 8200 of FIG. 82, an enterprise affiliate assigned to the “Assembly OK?” decision block task 7208 may select the non-default path, for example, by right clicking on the “Assembly OK?” decision block 7208, and selecting the non-default path 8202. Alternatively, when the plan reaches this task 7208, the tool 200 could automatically prompt the enterprise affiliate assigned to this task 7208 to select a default or a non-default option using any known data input technique, such as the selection of a button from a “pop-up” menu. In another implementation, the tool 200 may examine other aspects of the current plan to make the decision. In yet another implementation, the path out of the “Assembly OK?” decision block 6812 could be selected automatically by invoking a “call” to another system or device, and then receiving in return the choice for which path to take. The tool 200 locates the link to the “Assembly OK?” activity 6812 that generated the “Assembly OK?” task 7208 to generate the non-default task(s). The modified Gantt chart 8300 and task list 8304 representing the plan with the non-default task 8302 is depicted in FIG. 83. The new task 8402 is also depicted in the user interface 8400 of FIG. 84. The user interface 8400 illustrates the synchronization of the task list 8404 with the workflow 6800 by showing in a property box 8406 the appropriate description text 6916 for the “Repair” activity 6814 from the workflow definition file 6900. Similarly, the user interface 8500 in FIG. 85 illustrates the synchronization of the task to the process. In particular, as a result to the selection of the “Repair” task (either from the Gantt chart representation of the plan or from the task list), the tool 200 highlights the task 8502 on the plan 8504, the corresponding task name 8506 in the task list 8508, and the corresponding activity 6814 in the workflow 6800.
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Cooperative Classification G06Q10/06, G06Q10/10, G06Q30/06
European Classification G06Q10/10, G06Q10/06, G06Q30/06
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KERN, JONATHAN;OKRUGIN, MIKHAIL;REEL/FRAME:012986/0835;SIGNING DATES FROM 20020603 TO 20020606