Patent ID: 7475400

Claim:
An information processing method, comprising the steps of: assigning each of a series of business processes a position in a given sequence in a state transition diagram representing a given workflow process; assigning process codes to results of the processes, each of the process codes being assigned to a respective one of the business processes, and each of the process codes including a first character indicating a status of the business process to which said each of the process codes is assigned, and a second character identifying the process that is next in the given sequence after the business process to which said each of the process codes is assigned, and wherein said process codes determine said given sequence of business processes; recording, in a state transition database, the process codes and state transition data describing states of said business processes; providing a process code management database based on said recorded state transition data; storing in said process code management database i) information identifying each of said business processes, ii) first process code information to determine whether or not to start the processes, and iii) second process code information to represent, after execution of each process, the state of said each executed process; providing a given business application to execute said processes; said business application calling a determination section to determine whether a specified one of said processes is executable; in response to said call, said determination section using said first process code information in the process code management database to determine whether said specified process is executable by said business application; and changing said first process code information thereby changing said given sequence of the business processes and changing said given workflow process.