Patent ID: 8810844

Claim:
A workflow construction apparatus, comprising: a memory; a unit process register to store and register settings of unit processes that are workflow components classified by functions, in said memory, each of the unit processes having one or more process conditions; a constructer to construct a workflow by combining indications that each specifies one of said registered settings of unit processes, and wherein said constructer analyzes registered workflows to register a combination of a plurality of unit processes by one indication in said unit process register, and wherein said unit process register registers a process condition as one component of an already registered unit process, if a unit process is exactly the same as the already registered unit processes except for the process condition, and wherein said constructer automatically analyzes the registered workflows for each combination of two or more unit processes, and wherein each combination of two or more unit processes are automatically registered by one indication in said unit process register; a workflow register to store and register said constructed workflow with the indications that specify said combination, in said memory; and wherein said unit process register registers said combination of a plurality of the unit processes by one indication, if it is used in more than a predetermined number of workflows, based on an analysis of the registered workflows.