Patent ID: 8495558

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for retrieving values for properties of elements within a process model, the method comprising: performing via one or more processors, the steps of: identifying an element; identifying an object containing the element; and retrieving a value for a property of the element to yield a retrieved value, wherein the retrieved value is selected from stored values available in element modifiers applied to the element, object modifiers applied to the object, a set of object default values specified by the object, and a set of element default values specified by the element, wherein the stored values available from the element modifiers, the object modifiers, the set of object default values, and the set of element default values has a relative priority with respect to each other according to a pre-defined set of priority rules for the process model for all of the elements, the set of priority rules specifying the relative priority between element modifiers and object modifiers, the relative priority between element default values and object default values, and the relative priority order for the element default values and the object default with respect to modifier values, and wherein the retrieving comprises selecting as the retrieved value a one of the stored values associated with the relative priority that is highest.