Patent ID: 8682752

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to integrate a financial close management system with an external application, the integrating comprising: creating an integration type in the financial close management system, wherein the integration type comprises a reusable definition that describes an action involving a service or user interface of the external application, and wherein the integration type further comprises a set of parameters that are used to call the service or user interface of the external application; creating a task type based on the integration type in the financial close management system, wherein the task type defines a type of task that can be performed by the financial close management system, and wherein the task type inherits the set of parameters that are used to call the service or user interface of the external application from the integration type; creating a task that is based on the task type in the financial close management system, wherein the task is a component of a financial close process, and wherein the task inherits one or more attributes or one or more parameters from the task type; and executing the task in the financial close management system, wherein the task interfaces with the external application by calling the service or user interface of the external application using the integration type.