Patent ID: 7519917

Claim:
A method for graphically presenting compatible workflow steps to a user through a graphical user interface, the method on an information processing system comprising: graphically displaying in a workspace a plurality of steps in a workflow that is to be performed across a plurality of distributed participants in a distributed processing environment, wherein a participant is at least one of an application, an information processing system, and a hardware set communicatively coupled to an information processing system for performing at least one of the steps in the workflow; receiving a user's selection for at least one step within the workspace in plurality of steps to denote at least one selected step and at least one non-selected step; determining if at least one of a set of one or more output parameters of the selected step is acceptable as an input of the non-selected step of the workflow and in response to the set of one or more output parameters of the selected step being acceptable, graphically changing an appearance of the non-selected step independent of a location distance between the selected step and the non-selected step within the workspace; and a set of one or more output parameters of the non-selected step is acceptable as an input of the selected step and in response to the set of one or more output parameters of the non-selected step being acceptable, graphically changing an appearance of the non-selected step independent of a location distance between the selected step and the non-selected step within the workspace; wherein the graphically changing the appearance comprises at least changing a color of a graphic representing the non-selected step, wherein the changing the color comprises: using different colors to indicate different types of compatibility and different strengths of compatibility between at least one of the output parameter of the selected step and an input acceptable by the non-selected step and the output parameter of the non-selected step and an input acceptable by the selected step.