Patent ID: 8458729

Claim:
A middleware system for managing workflows among computer applications executing on computer hardware device, the system comprising: a common construct unit for retrieving a mapping between a component of a macro workflow of the middleware system and a micro workflow component of a plurality of computer applications and for executing the macro workflow, wherein the macro workflow orchestrates a plurality of micro workflows of the plurality of computer applications, wherein the macro workflow includes a series of steps, each step being one of the plurality of micro workflows, and wherein each of the plurality of micro workflows is performed by one of the plurality of computer applications, and wherein the micro workflow component is selected from the group consisting of: a business object and a function call; wherein the common construct unit comprises a service manager component for: testing an existing connection between the middleware system and at least one of the plurality of computer applications, and creating a new connection between the middleware system and at least one of the plurality of computer applications; an execution unit for executing the macro workflow on at least one of the plurality of computer applications, wherein the execution unit optionally comprises an engine status unit for retrieving the status of the application software environment of the at least one of the plurality of computer applications; a monitoring unit for monitoring the execution of the macro workflow, wherein the monitoring unit comprises an alert engine for obtaining the status of the execution of the macro workflow, and wherein obtaining the status of the execution of the macro workflow is performed by retrieving the output from a common monitoring folder of the alert engine and parsing the output to generate runtime information about the component of the micro workflow that corresponds to the macro workflow of the middleware system; and a workflow export unit for generating an output that enables the common construct to execute the macro workflow by executing at least one of the plurality of micro workflows on one of a plurality of similar computer applications.