Distributed Business Process Model Synchronization via Event Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing business process management systems face challenges in integrating and optimizing business process models across different enterprises due to compatibility issues with nomenclature, semantics, and workflow engines, leading to limited collaboration and inflexibility in task assignment and distribution.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a design tool for creating an integrated process model, a partition assigner for assigning tasks to entities, a control transfer identifier for determining control transfer points, and an event flow assignment system for synchronizing distributed process models, allowing independent and synchronized execution across entities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If business process models are integrated across multiple enterprises using conventional methods, then collaboration between enterprises is enabled, but the system becomes inflexible in task assignment and distribution due to compatibility issues with nomenclature, semantics, and workflow engines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the integrated business process model into separate distributed process models for each enterprise participant. Each participant executes only their own process model, which is a subset of the integrated model. This segmentation eliminates compatibility issues by removing the need for different enterprises to share the same nomenclature, semantics, and workflow engine implementations, while maintaining flexibility through independent task assignment within each segmented model.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces event flow coordinators as intermediary elements that mediate between distributed process models of different enterprises. These coordinators handle the synchronization and coordination required for cross-enterprise collaboration without requiring direct compatibility between the participating workflow systems. The event flow mechanism acts as a universal intermediary that works across different nomenclatures and semantics.
2Ease of operation
If tasks are assigned to specific enterprises in a fixed manner, then process execution is simplified, but the system becomes inflexible and cannot adapt to changing collaboration requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic task assignment through the partition assigner, which can dynamically determine which enterprise participant should execute which task based on current conditions. The system supports reassignment of tasks between different process models during runtime, allowing the collaboration structure to adapt to changing requirements while maintaining simple execution within each participant's process model.
3Adaptability or versatility
If enterprises use their own independent workflow engines with different nomenclatures and semantics, then each enterprise maintains operational independence, but integration and coordination between enterprises becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the overall business process into separate process models that each enterprise can execute independently with their own workflow engines, nomenclatures, and semantics. This segmentation preserves operational independence while eliminating integration difficulties by removing the need for direct compatibility between different enterprise systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses event flow coordinators as intermediaries that enable coordination between enterprises with different workflow engines. These coordinators translate and synchronize events across different nomenclatures and semantics without requiring the participating systems to be directly compatible, thus maintaining operational independence while enabling integration.
4Ease of operation
If a unified process model is executed across all enterprises, then coordination is simplified, but the system loses flexibility and becomes difficult to validate and optimize for each individual enterprise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified process model into separate distributed process models for each enterprise, allowing each enterprise to validate and optimize their own process model independently. The segmentation maintains coordination simplicity through event flow mechanisms while enabling enterprise-specific validation and optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where each enterprise's process model execution status and results are communicated back to the overall coordination system. This allows individual enterprises to optimize their processes based on feedback from actual execution while maintaining coordination with other participants through the event flow framework.
Data Source
AI summary
A process modeling tool provides a process designer with the ability to design an integrated business process model that includes a series of tasks for achieving a desired result. The process modeling tool allows the process designer to associate sub-sets of the tasks with entities who will perform the task sub-sets, and to extract distributed process models that each include one of the task sub-sets from the integrated process model for distribution to, and execution, by, the various entities. The distributed process models execute independently and in synchronization with one another, and transfer control therebetween as necessary to achieve the result of the integrated process model. Accordingly, the process designer is allowed to use established techniques for the design, verification, and monitoring of the integrated process model, while the entities are allowed to use local process enactment engines for implementing their portion of the overall process.