Patent ID: 8910116

Claim:
A method for instantiating tools within a computer application, comprising: defining a base class, base methods and base properties, wherein the base methods and base properties are associated with the base class; defining a tool class inheriting from the base class, wherein the tool class will include the base methods and properties; instantiating a first tool from the tool class within the computer application, wherein the computer application automates human resource management processes; providing the first tool within the computer application; and instantiating a second tool from the tool class within the computer application, wherein the first tool invokes a method associated with the second tool; wherein each tool instantiated from the tool class is associated with a common user interface display for the automated human resource management processes, and provides runtime logic associated with functionality of the automated human resource management processes, each of the automated human resource management processes including a process workflow, at least one workflow having a validity period indicating whether a process is executable, and further including a data field indicating whether each respective process is executed in parallel with other processes.