Patent ID: 7343382

Claim:
A data processing apparatus for establishing a tracking profile for selective monitoring and reporting of process state data pertaining to a displayed workflow representation of a business process comprising: at least one data storage device having stored thereon a workflow representation of the business process; a display for displaying said workflow representation of the business process; at least one user input device; and a processor operatively connected to said storage device(s), said display and said user input device; wherein the at least one data storage device has stored thereon on a set of instructions which, when executed, configure said processor: to permit a user to select, with said at least one input device, at least one portion of the displayed workflow representation of the business process, and to associate the selected portion(s) with receptive process part labels; and to generate a tracking profile based on the selected workflow representation portion(s), said profile establishing parameters for monitoring and writing to a queryable database process state data pertaining to instances of said business process; to compare an average duration of a first process state data with an average duration of a second process state data pertaining to instances of said business process; to run the selected workflow representation portions of the business process in parallel when the average duration of the first process state data is substantially similar to the second process state data; to set a predetermined time limit for an action to occur pertaining to instances of said business process; and to generate a critical alert event in response to said action when said process state pertaining to the instances of the business process exceeds said predetermined time limit so that informed financial business decisions can be made.