Method for evolving shared to-do lists into business processes

Abstract

A method and apparatus for evolving a shared to-do list into a business process is disclosed. A business process includes one or more business steps and zero or more action rules related to the business steps. Members of a workgroup participate in the business process and are able to view, modify, add and delete business steps and action rules as needed. An action rule is comprised of one or more business actions and one or more events that trigger the actions to be executed. A computer program keeps track of the business steps, interprets the set of rules, and updates states of the business process, notifies the members and validates and accepts modifications by the members to the action rules of a business steps.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of evolving a shared list of business steps into a business process comprising the steps of:
 establishing an action rule, wherein the action rule comprises at least one event and at least one business action; and   if the at least one event occurs, taking the at least one business action;   wherein the business process comprises at least one business step; and   wherein the at least one business step has an associated state; the associated state having at least two state labels.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of taking the at least one business action includes changing at least one of the at least two state label values of the at least one business step; the at least one state label value comprising “done”, and “not done 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of taking the at least one business action includes notifying an entity. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of taking the at least one business action includes changing a date related to the business process. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of taking the at least one business action includes executing at least one operation in a computer software program. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising allowing for addition of at least one business step to the business process while the business process is being executed. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of allowing deletion or modification of the at least one business step while the business process is being executed. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further including the step of adding a new associated state label to the at least one business step. 
     
     
         9 . A method of modifying rules of a business process comprising the steps of:
 accepting a proposed modification;   parsing the proposed modification to determine its validity; and   if the proposed modification is not valid, notifying an entity;   if the proposed modification is valid, modifying a rule using the proposed modification;   wherein the business process comprises a plurality of business steps and a plurality of rules.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the step of modifying rules is executed during execution of the business process. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the proposed modification is represented as a text string. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  11  wherein the text string comprises a business action and a state label. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  11  wherein the text string comprises a person, a business step, and a state. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further including the step of notifying, in response to modifying the rule using the proposed modification, an entity outside the business process. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising the step of altering a sequence of execution of the plurality of business steps in response to the step of modifying the rule. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising the step of storing the proposed modification in a template. 
     
     
         17 . A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to evolve a shared list of tasks to a business process; said computer program product including;
 computer usable program code for establishing an action rule;   computer usable program code for executing an action;   computer usable program code for allowing modification of a business step during execution of the action;   computer usable program code for assigning the action to a user; and   computer usable program code for storing the business process as a template.   
     
     
         18 . The computer readable program of  claim 17  further comprising computer usable program code for storing a representation of the business process in a database.