Patent ID: 6938240

Claim:
A method in a data processing system having a workflow that models a process and a plan that reflects an instance of the process and that has been created from the workflow, wherein the workflow includes an activity that gas a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, and wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, method comprising the steps of: initiating execution of the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed; receiving a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan; and modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic, said modifying comprising steps of: determining whether the default-successor of the activity corresponds to the successor of the task; and when it is determined that the default-successor of the activity does not corresponding to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.