Patent ID: 7275039

Claim:
A workflow management process, said process comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of workflow rule entries for determining dispositions of a population of entities wherein said dispositions correspond to a status of an entity among said population of entities, wherein at least some of said dispositions indicate that an action is scheduled; within some of said rule entries, utilizing a plurality of variables, wherein each variable corresponds to a characteristic of said entity; within some of said rule entries, defining specifications for assigning and combining constants and said plurality of variables; within some of said rule entries including pointers for directing said operation to another one of said rule entries; within some of said rule entries, including conditional connectors containing one or more Boolean expression that compares said specifications, said conditional connectors employing a corresponding one of said pointers referencing an associated workflow rule entry based on the outcome of said Boolean expression; navigating said workflow rule entries by employing said pointers based on a corresponding rule for each one of said entries and if a disposition type entry is reached, ending said navigation, wherein the value specified for said disposition type entry is assigned as the disposition of a corresponding entity; and defining temporary variable workflow entries each containing one of said specifications and pointers, such that during said navigating step when said temporary variable workflow is encountered, a value is assigned to said temporary variable based on the corresponding specification, wherein said temporary variable is available during subsequent navigation.