Patent ID: 7457793

Claim:
A computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable medium for customizing a computer-executed business process for a particular business enterprise, the computer program product comprising: a generic component that includes generic data attributes and instructions that, when executed, cause generic 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 a 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 a rule protocol data structure storing rule protocol data wherein: a protocol entry in the rule protocol data structure includes a rule identifier to identify an entry in the rule data structure, a data object identifier to identify a particular data object, an indication whether a condition portion associated with the entry in the rule data structure was met, and an execution status indicating results when the condition portion was met; and the instructions that, when executed, cause the rule handling component to perform steps comprising: determining whether a condition portion of a rule condition entry in the rule condition data structure is met, in response to a determination that the condition portion is met, performing an execution portion of a rule entry in the rule data structure that is related to the rule condition entry, and generating and storing a protocol entry in the rule protocol data structure that corresponds to the rule condition entry.