Patent ID: 7457792

Claim:
A computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable medium for defining a custom computer-executed business process for a particular business enterprise, the computer program product comprising: a generic component that includes instructions that, when executed, cause transaction data to be processed in a manner that is applicable to many different business enterprises; a rule handling component that includes data structures and instructions that, when executed, display a user interface that enables a person to define information stored in the data structures to control the manner of processing transaction data that is applicable to a particular business enterprise, the information defining a custom business process for the particular enterprise, wherein: the data structures comprising: a rule collection data structure storing rule collection data; a rule data structure storing rule data representing a rule for processing transaction data wherein: a rule entry in the rule data structure includes an execution portion that identifies processing of transaction data to be performed when a rule condition associated with the rule entry is met; and at least one entry in the rule data structure relates to at least one entry in the rule collection data structure; and a rule condition data structure storing rule condition data wherein: a rule condition entry in the rule condition data structure includes a condition portion that defines conditions for which the execution portion of a related rule entry is to be executed; and at least one entry in the rule condition data structure relates to at least one entry in the rule data structure; and the instructions that, when executed, cause the rule handling component to perform steps comprising: enabling the person to identify one of multiple pre-defined functions to be included in an execution portion of a rule entry in the rule data structure, and enabling the person to identify one of the multiple pre-defined functions to be included in a condition portion of a rule condition entry in the rule condition data structure.