Computer software

Abstract

A business process related computer software that displays a tabular view of a business process. Also, assigning types and / or attributes to worksteps of a business process and filtering the view of the business process based on the workstep types and / or workstep attributes. Also: (i) method for searching for worksteps based on a string pattern; (ii) a method for bulk update of worksteps satisfying search / filter criteria; (iii) a method for combining consecutive tasks into sub-tasks, or elevating sub-tasks to higher level tasks; (iv) a method for automatically setting the successor(s) / predecessor(s) workstep(s) as new worksteps are added or existing worksteps are removed; (v) a method for drilling down through a path in the process flow; (vi) a method for computing estimated duration for reaching a workstep along a path through the process flow; (vii) a method for identifying sequential and parallel worksteps and / or total duration through a timeline diagram; (viii) a method for printing process summary in tabular format; and / or (ix) methods of importing and exporting Microsoft projects.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61 / 099,763, filed on 24 Sep. 2008; all of the foregoing patent-related document(s) are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entirety(ies).BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to computer software for working with business processes and workflows (“business process related computer software”).[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]One conventional piece of software is called MS Project. (Note: the term(s) “MS PROJECT” may be subject to registration-based and / or commonlaw trademark rights in various jurisdictions throughout the world, possibly including the United States.) MS Project is a project management software program which is designed to assist project managers in developing plans, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workloads. MS Project inclu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016](ii) provides an easier way of designing a process that naturally lends itself to breakup of process to tasks and sub-tasks. Using the familiar environment of MS Project, should make Business users feel comfortable defining a complex business process;

[0017](iii) ability to generate a nice looking process diagram directly from the tabular view, without requiring the business user to re-arrange and optimize the layout, or learn about the existing shapes in the drawing toolbar, serves as a tremendous productivity boost;

[0019](v) the extensive filtering and sorting capabilities available in Tabular view, make it the preferred view for enhancing and improving the process flow as it undergoes change.

[0021](vii) provides an easier way of designing a process that naturally lends itself to breakup of process to tasks and sub-tasks; using the familiar environment of MS Project, should make Business users feel comfortable defining a complex business process;

[0022](viii) ability to generate a nice looking process diagram directly from the tabular view, without requiring the business user to re-arrange and optimize the layout, or learn about the existing shapes in the drawing toolbar, serves as a tremendous productivity boost;

Problems solved by technology

For relatively complex business processes, a large amount of time is spent in designing the process layout because it uses graphical icons and shapes and the like.

Images