Patent ID: 7441249

Claim:
A method applied to a business process integration system which is equipped with a first and a second information processing systems and a message switching system, the method comprising the steps of: associating each of a plurality of messages exchanged between the first and the second information processing systems through the message switching system in the performance of an implicit business process with a respective event in a progress model of a said implicit business process, said implicit business process being a process which is performed by at least one legacy application not managed by a workflow system, each message of said plurality of messages being generated by said at least one legacy application to perform a function in relation to a respective task in said implicit business process; monitoring execution of said implicit business process for occurrences of messages of said plurality of messages, said step of monitoring execution being performed by a process separate from said at least one legacy application, and without modification to said at least one legacy application; responsive to each occurrence of a message of said plurality of messages detected by said monitoring step, generating a respective associated event in said progress model of said implicit business process, said step of generating a respective associated event being performed by a process separate from said at least one legacy application, and without modification to said at least one legacy application; and judging the progress of said implicit business process based on said events generated in said progress model.