No-Code Workflow Builder With Fault-Tolerant Execution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Developing workflows, such as in commerce payment processing systems, is time-consuming and requires trained engineers, leading to delays and resource consumption, as non-technical users must wait for engineers to build and test workflows.
Innovation Solution
A method and system allowing non-technical users to create and execute workflows by dragging and dropping UI components, which are dynamically assembled into a workflow in a domain-specific language (DSL) on a frontend, and executed in a fault-tolerant backend system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If workflows are created from scratch by trained engineers, then workflow reliability and correctness are improved, but development time and engineering resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements workflow templates that store pre-defined, validated workflow configurations. Users can copy these templates to create new workflows, ensuring reliability through template validation while dramatically reducing development time. The system automatically validates copied templates against the same rules as original workflows, maintaining correctness without requiring engineer intervention for each new workflow.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary validation and configuration of workflows through templates before they are needed. All validation rules, error handling logic, and workflow parameters are pre-configured in templates, so when users create workflows from templates, the reliability-assuring validation has already been performed in advance, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual verification.
2Reliability
If workflows are created by trained engineers, then workflow quality and error reduction are improved, but engineering resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates workflow templates with universal applicability across multiple business scenarios. A single validated template can be copied and instantiated multiple times for different workflows, allowing one engineering effort to serve many purposes. This universal template approach maintains high workflow quality through centralized validation while eliminating the need for multiple engineers to independently create and validate similar workflows.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables copying of validated workflow templates to generate new workflows, ensuring that proven, high-quality configurations are reused. This copying mechanism preserves workflow quality by replicating already-validated logic while eliminating the need for additional engineering resources to recreate the same workflows from scratch.
3Reliability
If non-technical users wait for engineers to build workflows, then workflow correctness is ensured, but business agility and response time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent empowers non-technical users to independently create and configure workflows using a visual builder and pre-configured templates. Users can drag-and-drop components, configure parameters, and deploy workflows without engineer intervention. The system maintains correctness through automated validation rules that check user-configured workflows, enabling business users to achieve both self-service agility and workflow correctness simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an automated validation system as an intermediary between non-technical users and workflow execution. This intermediary automatically checks user-configured workflows against business rules and validation criteria, ensuring correctness without requiring human engineer review. The validation intermediary maintains reliability while enabling rapid user-driven workflow creation.
4Measurement precision
If complex workflow validation is performed manually, then validation accuracy is improved, but validation time and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical validation processes with automated computational validation. The system automatically executes validation rules, checks workflow logic, verifies parameter configurations, and detects errors through software-based validation engines. This substitution maintains high validation accuracy through systematic rule checking while reducing validation time from manual review to automated instant validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements automated feedback loops that immediately validate workflow configurations as users create or modify them. The validation system provides real-time feedback on configuration errors, logic issues, and parameter problems, allowing users to correct issues during the creation process rather than during time-consuming manual review cycles. This immediate feedback maintains validation accuracy while dramatically reducing overall validation time.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for defining and executing a workflow are described. the method comprises presenting, on a first section of a user interface (UI), a plurality of UI components associated with a plurality of tasks to be performed, where each UI component is associated with one task. The method further comprises, in response to one or more UI components of the plurality of UI components associated with one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks being moved from the first section of the UI to a second section of the UI, dynamically creating the workflow based on the one or more UI components and an order in which the one or more UI components being positioned in the second section of the UI, and executing the workflow to perform the one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks.