US6938240B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Methods and systems for improving a workflow based on data mined from plans created from the workflow
Assignee: Borland Software Corp
•
Filing: 2001-08-31
•
Granted: 2005-08-30
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Expires: 2021-08-31
Abstract
Abstract Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an integrated process modeling and project planning tool that allows an enterprise affiliate to improve a workflow that models a process. To improve the workflow, the tool initiates execution of a plan created from the workflow such that an instance of the process is at least partially performed, receives a characteristic about the performance of the plan, and modifies the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic.
Inventors
- 👤 Dietrich Charisius
- 👤 Peter Coad
- 👤 Jonathan Kern
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-31 00:30
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/06; G06Q10/063; G06Q10/0633; G06Q10/0631; G06Q10/06311; G06Q10/063116; G06Q10/06312; G06Q10/10; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/06; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99942; Y10S707/99943; Y10S707/99944; Y10S707/99945
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 52
Claim 1
Independent Claim
169 words
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.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
169 words
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.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the duration of the task is within a predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity; and when it is determined that the duration of the task is within the predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity, modifying the duration of the activity to correspond to the duration of the task.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource assigned to perform the role, and wherein the received characteristic is the resource assigned to perform the role.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
63 words
The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user, identifying another role that the manually assigned resource is capable of performing; and replacing the role of the activity with the other role.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
85 words
The method of claim 4 , wherein the role has a skill and a corresponding skill strength and wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user, identifying a skill of the resource that corresponds to that of the role; and modifying the skill strength of the role to be substantially equivalent to a corresponding skill strength of the resource.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task comprises the steps of: determining whether the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task; and when it is determined that the workflow does not have another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, adding another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task to the workflow.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of: when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, modifying the activity to have a new default-successor that corresponds to the other activity.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
83 words
The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of: when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, determining whether the activity has a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity; and when it is determined that activity does not have a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity, removing the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow further comprises the steps of: notifying a user of a recommendation to modify the workflow to reflect the received characteristic; receiving a reply to the notification; determining whether the reply authorizes the recommendation; and when it is determined that the reply authorizes the recommendation, modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
177 words
A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflects instances of the process, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans; determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
177 words
A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflects instances of the process, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans; determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
76 words
The method in claim 11 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new duration for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a duration of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new duration.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
77 words
The method in claim 11 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes a role to perform the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new role for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a role of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new role.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
136 words
The method in claim 11 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes the role to perform the activity and that includes a resource assigned to perform the role, wherein the role of the task is consistent with a role of the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new resource for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the steps of: determining whether the new resource is capable of performing the role; when it is determined that the new resource is not capable of performing the role, identifying another role that the new resource is capable of performing; and modifying the role of the activity to reflect the other role.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method in claim 14 , further comprising the steps of: when it is determined that the new resource has the capability to perform the role, identifying a skill assigned to the new resource that matches a skill assigned to the role of the activity; and modifying the role of the activity to have a corresponding skill strength that is substantially the same as a strength of the skill assigned to the new resource.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method in claim 11 , wherein the number of the modified plans is a percentage of the plurality of the plans that constitute the modified plans, and wherein the predefined threshold is a predefined percentage of the plans.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
206 words
A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflect instances of the process, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has 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, the method comprising the steps of: initiating execution of each plan such that the instances of the process are at least partially performed; receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow; determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent 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 correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
206 words
A method in a data processing system with a workflow that models a process and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow that reflect instances of the process, wherein the workflow includes an activity that has 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, the method comprising the steps of: initiating execution of each plan such that the instances of the process are at least partially performed; receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow; determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent 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 correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method in claim 17 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
164 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the 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 has 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, the 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 does not correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
164 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the 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 has 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, the 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 does not correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
72 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the duration of the task is within a predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity; and when it is determined that the duration of the task is within the predetermined tolerance of the duration of the activity, modifying the duration of the activity to correspond to the duration of the task.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
59 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource assigned to perform the role, and wherein the received characteristic is the resource assigned to perform the role.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
64 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user, identifying another role that the manually assigned resource is capable of performing; and replacing the role of the activity with the other role.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
87 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the role has a skill and a corresponding skill strength and wherein the step of modifying the workflow comprises the steps of: determining whether the resource was manually assigned by a user; and when it is determined the resource was manually assigned by a user, identifying a skill of the resource that corresponds to that of the role; and modifying the skill strength of the role to be substantially the same as a corresponding skill strength of the resource.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
75 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task comprises the steps of: determining whether the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task; and when it is determined that the workflow does not have another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, adding another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task to the workflow.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
58 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of: when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, modifying the activity to have a new default-successor that corresponds to the other activity.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
84 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task further comprises the steps of: when it is determined that the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, determining whether the activity has a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity; and when it is determined that activity does not have a non-default-successor that corresponds to the other activity, removing the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
65 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the step of modifying the workflow further comprises the steps of: notifying a user of a recommendation to modify the workflow to reflect the received characteristic; receiving a reply to the notification; determining whether the reply authorizes the recommendation; and when it is determined that the reply authorizes the recommendation, modifying the workflow to reflect the characteristic.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
171 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans; determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
171 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein the workflow has an activity that has a default-successor, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a modification to a characteristic of at least one of the plans, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new successor for the task that is inconsistent with the default-successor of the activity in the at least one of the plans; determining whether a number of the modified plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold performing the modification on the workflow, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying the default-successor of the activity to reflect the new successor.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
77 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new duration for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a duration of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new duration.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
78 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes a role to perform the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new role for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the step of modifying a role of the activity in the workflow to reflect the new role.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
140 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that includes the role to perform the activity and that includes a resource assigned to perform the role, wherein the role of the task is consistent with a role of the activity, wherein the receiving step includes the step of receiving a new resource for the task in the at least one of the plans, and wherein the step of performing includes the steps of: determining whether the new resource has a capability to perform the role; when it is determined that the new resource does not have the capability to perform the role, identifying another role that the new resource is capable of performing; and modifying the role of the activity to reflect the other role.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
75 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 32 , further comprising the steps of: when it is determined that the new resource has the capability to perform the role, identifying a skill assigned to the new resource that matches a skill assigned to the role of the activity; and modifying the role of the activity to have a corresponding skill strength that is substantially the same as a strength of the skill assigned to the new resource.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
19 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 29 , further comprising the step of receiving the predefined threshold from a user.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
38 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the number of the modified plans is a percentage of the plans where a modification has been received, and wherein the predefined threshold is a predefined percentage of the plans.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
204 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling in a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: initiating execution of each plan such that instances of the process are at least partially performed; receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow; determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent 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 correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
204 words
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling in a data processing system having a workflow and a plurality of plans generated from the workflow, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity, the task of each plan has a successor that is consistent with the default-successor of the activity when the task is created, the method comprising the steps of: initiating execution of each plan such that instances of the process are at least partially performed; receiving a characteristic about the performance of at least one of the plans that is inconsistent with the workflow; determining whether a number of the inconsistent plans exceeds a predefined threshold; and when it is determined that the number exceeds the predefined threshold, modifying the workflow to reflect the inconsistent characteristic of the at least one of the plans so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the inconsistent 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 correspond to the successor of the task, modifying the workflow to reflect the successor of the task.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the workflow has an activity, wherein each of the plurality of plans has a task that performs the activity for a duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
148 words
A data processing system comprising: a secondary storage device further comprising 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 has a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, and wherein the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task; a memory device further comprising a program that activates the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed, that receives a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan, and that modifies the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic; and a processor for running the program.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
148 words
A data processing system comprising: a secondary storage device further comprising 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 has a default-successor and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the received characteristic corresponds to a successor of the task, and wherein the default-successor of the activity does not correspond to the successor of the task; a memory device further comprising a program that activates the plan such that the instance of the process is at least partially performed, that receives a characteristic about the at least partial performance of the plan, and that modifies the workflow to reflect the characteristic so that a subsequent plan created from the modified workflow has the received characteristic; and a processor for running the program.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
40 words
The data processing system of claim 38 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a duration and the plan includes a task that performs the activity for the duration, and wherein the received characteristic is a new duration.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
64 words
The data processing system of claim 38 , wherein the workflow includes an activity that has a role and the plan includes a task that performs the activity, wherein the task has a same role as the activity and has a resource with a capability, wherein the received characteristic is the resource with the capability, and wherein the role does not reflect the capability.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
26 words
The data processing system of claim 40 , wherein the modified workflow includes a new role for the activity that reflects the capability of the resource.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
18 words
The data processing system of claim 38 , wherein the modified workflow reflects the successor of the task.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
22 words
The data processing system of claim 38 , wherein the modified workflow includes another activity that reflects the successor of the task.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
40 words
The data processing system of claim 43 , wherein the workflow has another activity that corresponds to the successor of the task, and wherein the modified workflow includes a new default-successor for the activity that corresponds to the other activity.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
24 words
The data processing system of claim 44 , wherein the modified workflow reflects the removal of the default-successor of the activity from the workflow.
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