Workflow Execution Framework Standardizes Portal Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current infrastructure management workflows face duplication of effort and lack of standardization across different portals, as each portal requires separate user interface development, input validation, logging, and retry logic, leading to inefficiencies when interfacing with multiple portals.
Innovation Solution
A workflow execution framework that generates a standardized graphical user interface for input parameter values and handles workflow invocations, providing a shared validation framework and centralized logging, thereby simplifying the integration of workflows across multiple portals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If each portal develops its own user interface, input validation, logging, and retry logic, then each portal can provide customized interface capabilities, but there is duplication of effort and lack of standardization across portals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal workflow execution framework that serves multiple portals through a standardized interface. The framework includes a common user interface generator that creates consistent UIs across different portals, a shared validation framework that handles input validation centrally, and a unified logging mechanism that records workflow execution across all portals. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for each portal to develop its own validation and logging logic while maintaining customization capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The workflow execution framework acts as an intermediary layer between portals and workflows. It receives workflow invocation requests from various portals, generates standardized user interfaces, validates inputs through a common validation framework, executes workflows, and handles logging and retry logic centrally. This intermediary position allows different portals to interact with the same workflow through a standardized interface without requiring portal-specific customization of core functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If workflows interface to multiple portals with different mechanisms, then workflows can be accessed through various portals, but there is a lack of standardization and increased complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The framework provides a universal interface that works across multiple portals. The user interface generator creates standardized UIs that can be displayed in any portal, and the validation framework provides consistent input validation regardless of which portal is used. This universal approach maintains workflow accessibility across different portals while ensuring operational consistency through standardized interfaces.
3Reliability
If each portal provides separate validation and logging capabilities, then each portal can enforce its own validation rules, but there is duplication of effort and maintenance complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges validation and logging functionality into a single shared framework that is common across all portals. The validation framework centrally handles input validation with consistent rules, and the logging mechanism centrally records all workflow execution details. This consolidation reduces development effort by eliminating duplicate validation and logging code in each portal while maintaining reliable and consistent validation across all portals.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for executing workflows is provided. The method includes querying a workflow engine regarding an input parameter of a workflow, responsive to a selection from a portal to execute the workflow. The method includes generating a graphical user interface requesting a value of the input parameter and transmitting the graphical user interface to the portal for display. The method includes sending a workflow invocation request, with the value of the input parameter from the graphical user interface, to the workflow engine, wherein at least one method operation is performed by a processor. In some embodiments, a workflow execution framework is provided.