Patent ID: 8370858

Claim:
A computer program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for interfacing with an application program, the method comprising: receiving, by a maintenance tool and from an application program that has an interface and that is configured to display a list of steps that are to be performed by a user of the application program, an interface description defining how to use the interface to input, into the application program, a step description that defines a step that is to be added to the list of steps, wherein the interface description specifies that a step name and a type of step are to be defined for the step, wherein the application program is included in an enterprise resource planning system or a module of an enterprise resource planning system; generating, by the maintenance tool and using the interface description that was received from the application program, a screen that enables a user of the maintenance tool to define at least the step name and the type of step; receiving, by the maintenance tool, user input that defines the step name and the type of step; generating, by the maintenance tool and based at least in part on the received user input that defines the step name and the type of step, the step description; and forwarding, by the maintenance tool, the step description for receipt by the application program so as to cause the application program to add the step to the list of steps and display the added step, the step being defined according to the received user input that defines the step name and the type of step, the display of the step including a display of the step name that was defined by the user input.