Patent ID: 7469406

Claim:
A method comprising: determining a task of a process model, wherein the task is associated with a potential suspension; providing at least one suspension task in parallel with the task to form a parallel combination thereof within the process model, including providing the at least one suspension task within a suspension branch and including an exception outcome notification task that is configured to receive a notification that an exception has been resolved, providing the at least one suspension task within the suspension branch and including an exception outcome action task that is triggered by completion of the exception outcome notification task, and that is configured to perform an action based on the completion, including providing the exception outcome notification task and the exception outcome action task within an isolated task that is configured, once triggered, to execute to completion without interleaving with the task; and providing a first control task prior to the parallel combination and configured to activate the task and the at least one suspension task during execution of the process model, and a second control task subsequent to the parallel combination and configured to join results of the task and the at least one suspension task during execution of the process model, wherein the determining the task, the providing at least one suspension task, and the providing the first control task and the second control task include providing a graphical user interface for designing the process model; and providing at least one design tool for visually arranging elements of the process model, the elements including tasks, control tasks, and pointers.