Customer-configurable workflow system

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for flexible, configurable job workflow processing. Features and aspects hereof provide for generating workflow models from configurable templates. The workflow models may include one or more phases, each comprising one or more processes, each process comprising one or more steps. The Phases, processes, and steps may all be defined by configuring parameters of corresponding templates. Information defining the workflow models and all job information for jobs to be executed are entries in an integrated database such that creation and update of workflow model information and job information is performed as simple database queries and updates.

1 . A method for managing a workflow processing system, the method comprising:
 storing job information in a database wherein the job information relates to one or more jobs to be processed by the workflow processing system;   generating a workflow model to process one or more jobs relating to the job information in the database wherein the workflow model is stored in the database and wherein the workflow model is generated from configurable templates; and   processing one or more jobs using the workflow model in the database and using the job information in the database.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1   wherein the step of generating further comprises:   configuring one or more phases of the workflow processing system as entries in the database wherein each phase includes one or more processes, wherein each process includes one or more steps and wherein the phases, processes, and steps are all configured from corresponding templates; and   configuring one or more transitions between the one or more steps as entries in the database system.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2   wherein the step of generating further comprises:   defining constraints associated with the one or more steps of the workflow model; and   validating all configured phases, processes, or steps by applying the defined constraints.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1   wherein the step of executing further comprises:   retrieving phase information from the database relating to the one or more phases and the one or more transitions from the database; and   executing the retrieved one or more phases in accordance with the retrieved one or more transitions using the job information in the database   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 presenting progress of execution of the generated workflow model to a user of the workflow processing system. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 stopping further execution of the generated workflow process at an identified point in the execution thereof. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6   wherein the generated workflow model includes one or more phases each comprising one or more steps, and   wherein the step of stopping further comprises:   stopping further execution of the generated workflow process at a transition from one phase to another phase.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 resuming further execution of the generated workflow process. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1   wherein the generated workflow model includes one or more phases each comprising one or more steps,   wherein the workflow processing system includes a plurality of server nodes each adapted to permit execution of one or more steps of one or more phases of one or more workflow models,   wherein each of the one or more steps of the one or more phases includes load attribute information, and   wherein the method further comprises:   balancing the workload of the plurality of server nodes in using the load attribute information.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9   wherein each of the plurality of servers includes a current workload level representing the load of all steps presently executing on said each server, and   wherein the step of balancing further comprises:   starting a next step of a phase of a workload model on a server of the plurality of servers having the lowest current workload level.   
     
     
         11 . A system for workflow processing, the system comprising:
 a database for storing one or more workflow models and for storing job information relating to jobs to be processed in accordance with a corresponding workflow model;   a computing node coupled to the database and adapted to execute jobs using the job information and the workflow model in the database and further adapted to generate and modify workflow models stored in the database wherein the computing node is adapted to generate the workflow models from templates.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11   wherein the computing node is designated as a primary computing node, and   wherein the system further comprises:   one or more secondary computing nodes each adapted to access the job information and the workflow model in the database to execute jobs.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12   wherein the one or more secondary computing nodes are coupled to the primary computing node and access the database indirectly through the primary computing node.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11   wherein a workflow model comprises one or more phases each phase comprising one or more steps and wherein a workflow model further comprises transitions between the one or more steps of each of the one or more phases, and   wherein the templates further comprise:   phase templates for defining a new phase of a workflow model;   process templates for defining a new process of a phase of a workflow model; and   step templates for defining a new step of a process of a phase of a workflow model,   wherein the phase templates and the step templates each include attributes to allow the computing node to configure the new phase and the new step.   
     
     
         15 . A method for workflow processing comprising:
 configuring a workflow model based on configurable templates;   storing the configured workflow model in a database;   generating job information about a job wherein the job is associated with the generated workflow model;   storing the job information in the database; and   executing the job using the job information in the database and using the workflow model in the database.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15   wherein the templates include phase templates and step templates, and wherein the step of configuring further comprises:   configuring one or more phases in the workflow model using one or more configurable phase templates;   configuring one or more processes associated with each configured phase in the workflow model using one or more configurable process templates; and   configuring one or more steps associated with each configured process of each configured phase in the workflow model using one or more configurable step templates.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16   wherein the job is a print job in a printing enterprise,   wherein the workflow model is a print model,   wherein the configurable phase templates represent phases of printing a print job,   wherein the configurable process templates represent processes of one or more phases of printing a print job,   wherein the configurable step templates represent steps in one or more processes of one or more phases of printing a print job, and   wherein the method further comprises:   displaying current status of one or more print jobs using job information in the database wherein the current status is indicated as a current phase for print jobs and a current step for each print job.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17   wherein each phase generated from a configurable phase template is a phase selected from the group consisting of: receive phase, prepare phase, enhance phase, print phase, insert phase, reconcile phase, and complete phase.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17   wherein the printing enterprise includes one or more printers and one or more print job sources, and   wherein the method further comprises:   displaying current status of one or more printers and of one or more print job sources.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising:
 checkpointing the job at any point in execution thereof wherein the step of checkpointing includes:
 saving all modified job information in the database related to the checkpointed job; and 
 saving all modified data files used by the checkpointed job; and 
 
 restoring the checkpointed job to resume execution thereof wherein the step of restoring includes:
 restoring the saved job information to the database; and 
 restoring the saved data files.