Business Process Path Mapping for Software Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software development organizations face challenges in releasing frequent, meaningful updates, avoiding wasteful development efforts, reacting to changing environments, and ensuring software quality due to ineffective handover between parties, with existing methodologies like Agile being insufficient to address these issues simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A software development tool that utilizes business process paths as the central focus, mapping them across multiple models (business, functional, and technical) to enable rapid, incremental delivery, effective prioritization, and quality assurance, while ensuring functional integrity and avoiding functionality bloat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If Agile development model is used with iterative approach within fixed period, then adaptability to changing needs is improved, but productivity and delivery speed are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the software delivery process into independent business process paths that can be developed, tested, and delivered separately. Each business process path represents a discrete unit of functionality that can be incrementally released, enabling both rapid delivery and adaptability to changing requirements without requiring complete re-planning of the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic development approach where business process paths can be prioritized, added, or removed based on changing customer needs. The system allows flexible re-prioritization of business process paths without fixed timebox constraints, enabling the development team to adapt to changing requirements while maintaining steady progress through automated mapping and incremental delivery.
2Reliability
If comprehensive software development is performed to ensure quality, then reliability is improved, but loss of time and development cost are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary mapping of business process paths to technical requirements and functional specifications before actual development begins. This upfront mapping ensures that quality requirements are defined and validated early, reducing the need for rework later while maintaining comprehensive quality assurance. The automated mapping process establishes clear traceability from business requirements to implementation details in advance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses automated mapping to create copies of business process path definitions across multiple models and representations. By maintaining consistent mappings between business requirements, functional specifications, and technical implementations, the system ensures quality through automated consistency checking without requiring manual verification of each detail, thereby reducing development time while maintaining reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If frequent updates and releases are implemented, then adaptability is improved, but loss of time for re-planning and coordination is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the software system into discrete business process paths that can be independently prioritized and delivered. This segmentation allows the team to release frequent updates by selecting and delivering specific business process paths without requiring re-planning of the entire system. Each business process path is a self-contained unit that can be developed and released independently, eliminating coordination overhead for frequent updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables frequent updates by allowing dynamic changes to the priority and selection parameters of business process paths. Rather than requiring re-planning of the entire development schedule, the system allows stakeholders to adjust which business process paths are prioritized for upcoming releases. This parameter-based control enables flexible adaptation to changing needs while maintaining stable, predictable delivery rhythms.
4Manufacturing precision
If detailed mapping and modeling is performed across multiple models, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal mapping framework that works across multiple models (business process models, functional models, technical models) using a common structure and methodology. The business process path mapping approach serves as a universal language that can represent requirements, functions, and technical specifications consistently across different modeling layers, reducing the complexity that would otherwise arise from managing multiple separate modeling systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces business process paths as an intermediary layer between high-level business requirements and detailed technical specifications. This intermediary mapping structure provides precise traceability and accuracy while abstracting away the complexity of direct mappings between all possible model elements. The business process path acts as a mediator that simplifies the overall system architecture while maintaining detailed mapping accuracy where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A software development tool for developing software that implements a customer's business processes. The software development tool determines a plurality of models to define the software to be developed, wherein at least one model of the plurality of models is a business model that comprises at least one business process, and the at least one business process is a set of interrelated business process paths that accomplish a business goal. The software development tool defines at least one business process path, wherein the at least one business process path is a route through the at least one business process taken during a single execution of the at least one business process, and the at least one business process path comprises at least one step. The software development tool maps the defined at least one business process path to a second model different than the business model, wherein the mapping identifies at least one part of the second model that implements the at least one step of the business process path. The software development tool builds the at least one business process path based on results of the mapping. The software development tool delivers the at least one business process path that has been built.