Patent ID: 7979296

Claim:
A computer readable medium upon which are tangibly embodied computer program instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising: storing work items in a work item storage, wherein a work item is a task generated as part of a workflow process for handling by a user; presenting work items via a graphical interface to the user from the work item storage and accepting input from the user relating to the work items; accepting work items via an interface from a plurality of independent work item providers to be stored in the work item storage, wherein a work item provider comprises a workflow engine and one or more applications; tracking, in an item type registry, handling for work items based on work item type; and retrieving, via a custom attribute retriever for a given work item of a given work item type and according to a staggered synchronization process, custom attributes for the given work item type that are in addition to attributes obtained with the given work item from its work item provider, wherein the custom attributes for the given work item are determined from the item type registry entry or entries for the given work item type, and wherein the custom attributes for the given work item are provided by a first legacy system and a second legacy system, wherein the staggered synchronization process operates during a start of a worklist client to reduce a delay of retrieving the custom attributes, and wherein the staggered synchronization process includes a first pull connector to the first legacy system having a first synchronization timing, and a second pull connector to the second legacy system having a second synchronization timing.