JP2012242954A - Business process generation system and business process generation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business process generation system and a business process generation method for flexibly addressing different requirements of a plurality of users.SOLUTION: A client terminal includes: an input acceptance part for accepting editing of a business process in which tasks are combined for each user who uses a business process generation system; a display part for displaying an execution screen of the business process created on the basis of the business process accepted by the input acceptance part; and a terminal control part for transmitting a task configuring the business process accepted by the input acceptance part to a server, or for receiving the execution screen from the server to display the execution screen on the display part. The server includes: a storage part for storing process information in which the task, an execution file for executing the task, and the execution screen are associated with one another for each user: a file creation part for receiving the task from the client terminal to create the execution file; and a screen creation part for creating the execution screen from the execution file created by the file creation part, and for transmitting the execution screen to the client terminal.

Description

  The present invention relates to a business process generation system for generating a business process used in a network environment based on PaaS (Platform as a Service), for example.

Conventionally, a business process is composed of an approval flow having one or more tasks (services) indicating individual procedures for obtaining approval for a certain process. This approval flow is prepared by, for example, a general general-purpose process or task created in advance by the system administrator or the like, or conforms to the requirements for the user to use the system or approval flow. As you can see, processes and tasks are modified every time the system environment changes. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method in which an administrator or the like generates a Web service suitable for a user environment using a business process.

Special table 2009-524173

  In the future, when the system based on the business process described above is applied to a PaaS environment, not only the requirements for using the system in one user environment but also the requirements for using the system in other multiple user environments are met. In order to cope with this, a mechanism that allows each user to create a business process is required. In Patent Document 1 described above, a method for generating a single Web service is proposed, but a method for creating a combination of a plurality of Web services as a business process by a user is not disclosed.

  In Patent Document 1, since specifications of business processes in the system are fixed, for example, when the user environment of a certain user is changed and the order of some processes in the process is changed, other user environments are changed. It is necessary to modify the program to apply the system. When considering application to PaaS environments that are expected to expand in the future, in order to flexibly respond to the different requirements of multiple users, a mechanism that allows users to construct business processes freely and easily is necessary. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a business process generation system and a business process generation method that can flexibly cope with different requirements of a plurality of users.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a business process generation system according to the present invention is a business process generation system that generates a business process composed of a plurality of tasks, and a client terminal uses the business process generation system. An input receiving unit that accepts editing of a business process that combines the tasks for each user, a display unit that displays an execution screen of the business process created based on the business process received by the input receiving unit, A terminal control unit that transmits a task that constitutes the business process received by the input reception unit to a server, or that receives the execution screen from the server and displays the execution screen on the display unit; For each user, to execute the task and the task A storage unit that stores process information that associates an execution file with the execution screen, a file creation unit that receives the task from the client terminal and creates the execution file, and the file creation unit And a screen creation unit that creates the execution screen from the execution file and transmits the execution screen to the client terminal.

  The present invention is also a business process generation method executed in the business process generation system.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a business process generation system and a business process generation method that can flexibly cope with different requirements of a plurality of users.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a business process generation system in the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a business process list screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a business process creation screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a business process execution screen. It is a figure which shows the example of service information. It is a figure which shows the example of argument information. It is a figure which shows the example of process information. It is a figure which shows the example of a flow information file. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the environment where a BPEL file, a WSDL file, and a business process execution screen are created. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the process list acquisition process performed with a business process generation system. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a business process execution screen creation process. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a business process deletion process.

  Exemplary embodiments of a business process generation system and a business process generation method according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a business process generation system 1000 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the business process generation system 1000 includes an administrator terminal 100, a user terminal 200, a WEB server 300, a DB server 400, and a network N. The network N is a general communication network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network). Further, the administrator terminal 100, the user terminal 200, the WEB server 300, and the DB server 400 have a communication device (not shown) such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) or a modem, and are mutually connected via the communication device. Assume communication. First, the administrator terminal 100 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the administrator terminal 100 includes an input receiving unit 110, a display unit 120, and a control unit 130.

  The input receiving unit 110 is, for example, an input device such as a keyboard, and receives input of various information (designation and arrangement of tasks (services) constituting the business process) for creating a business process.

  The display unit 120 is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a screen (business process list screen) that shows a list of business processes that can be used for each user who uses the business process generation system 1000, and an administrator displays a business process. Various screens such as a screen for creating (business process creation screen) and a screen for a user to execute a business process (business process execution screen) are displayed. Hereinafter, a user (for example, company A) who uses the business process generation system 1000 is referred to as a system user, a manager of a business process used by the system user is a process manager, and a business process used by the system user The user is called a process user.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the business process list screen described above. As shown in FIG. 2, the business process list screen displays a list of processes that can be executed by the system user and a button for accepting an operation on the business process displayed on the business process list screen. This business process list screen displays only the business processes that can be used by the company to which the user logged in to the system belongs. If the business process prepared by default is not edited, the default business process is displayed. When the business process prepared by default is edited, only the edited business process is displayed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, “approval request”, “file edit”, and “submission request” processes are displayed as business processes (in the example shown in FIG. 2, “approval request” is selected) and displayed. An operation button B1 for executing “new creation”, “edit”, and “deletion” operations on the processed process and an operation button B2 for executing the process are displayed. For example, the operation button B1 can be operated only when the process administrator logs in to the system, and the operation button B2 can be operated only when the process user logs in to the system, for example. As will be described later, this business process list screen is displayed on each display unit of the administrator terminal 100 and the user terminal 200 by executing a process list acquisition process. Next, the business process creation screen will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a business process creation screen. As shown in FIG. 3, the business process creation screen displays a service list R1 for selecting a task (service) constituting the business process selected in the process list screen shown in FIG. A flow component R2 indicating the conditions between the tasks and a field R3 for displaying these relationships by dragging and dropping these services and flow components are displayed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, the business process “approval request” is composed of “mail transmission”, “approval”, and “send back” services, and these services are connected by a flow component “branch”. When “Mail transmission” is received, either “Approval” or “Send back” is executed. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the business process execution screen for returning the created business process to the default state, canceling or dragging and dropping each service to execute the created business process, and the business process An operation button B3 for creating various files constituting the execution screen is displayed. Next, returning to FIG. 1, the control unit 130 will be described.

  The control unit 130 includes, for example, a calculation device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the operation of each unit described above or transmission / reception of various types of information via the communication device. Next, the user terminal 200 will be described.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the user terminal 200 includes an input reception unit 210, a display unit 220, and a control unit 230.

  The input reception unit 110 is the same as the input reception unit 110 of the administrator terminal 100 described above, and executes various information (task (service) execution) for executing the business process and each task constituting the business process. Instructions).

  The display unit 120 is the same as the display unit 120 of the administrator terminal 100 described above, and displays the business process execution screen described above.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the business process execution screen described above. As shown in FIG. 4, the business process execution screen displays a list of services constituting the business process and a button for accepting an operation for the service displayed on the business process execution screen.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, for the business process “approval request”, “mail transmission”, “approval”, and “send back” services are displayed (in the example shown in FIG. 4, “mail transmission” is selected). ), An operation button B4 for executing the displayed service is displayed. As will be described later, this business process execution screen is displayed on the display unit of the user terminal 200 by executing a business process execution screen creation process. Next, returning to FIG. 1, the control unit 230 will be described.

  The control unit 230 is the same as the control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 described above, and controls the operation of each unit described above or transmission / reception of various types of information via the communication device. Next, the WEB server 300 will be described. In the present embodiment, the server is described on the assumption that the server is divided into the WEB server 300 and the DB server 400, but it is of course possible to configure these as one server.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the WEB server 300 includes a storage unit 310, a file creation unit 320, a screen creation unit 330, and a server control unit 340.

  The storage unit 310 is a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), for example, and stores a program and a server engine for performing various processes described later.

  The file creation unit 320 creates the flow information described above from the business process created in the administrator terminal 100. Further, the file creation unit 320 refers to the service information and argument information stored in the storage unit 310, and creates a BPEL file and a WDSL file from the created flow information. A specific operation of the file creation unit 320 will be described with reference to a flowchart described later.

  The screen creation unit 330 generates the above-described business process execution screen (FIG. 4) from the flow information created by the file creation unit 320, the service information stored in the storage unit 310, and the argument information. The specific operation of the screen creation unit 330 will be described with reference to a flowchart described later.

  The control unit 340 is the same as the control unit of the administrator terminal 100 or the user terminal 200 described above, and controls the operation of each unit described above or the transmission / reception of various types of information via the communication device. Next, the DB server 400 will be described.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the DB server 400 includes a storage unit 410 and a DB server control unit 420.

  The storage unit 410 is the same as the storage unit 310 of the WEB server 300, and executes various services (service information) for executing the service displayed on the business process creation screen described above and the service information. Argument information indicating parameters necessary for performing, various information (process information) for executing the business process described above, a flow information file, a BPEL file, and a WSDL file are stored.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the service information described above. As shown in FIG. 5, the service information includes a service ID for identifying a service, a service name identified by the service ID, a service overview indicating an overview of the service, and an execution file for executing the service. Are stored in association with each other, a WDSL path indicating the path, a WEB service name indicating the name of the service on the WEB, and an operation name for executing the WEB service using the WEB service name. In FIG. 5, for example, the service “mail transmission” identified by the service ID “1” is executed by executing “http: //xxx.xxx.wsdl” specified by the WSDL path, thereby performing the operation “sendMail”. Indicates that it will be executed. Next, argument information will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of argument information. As shown in FIG. 6, the argument information includes a service ID for identifying a service, an argument name indicating a parameter used in the service, a data type indicating the type of the argument, and the number of times the argument is repeatedly used. Are stored in association with the minimum and maximum values. In FIG. 6, for example, for the service “mail transmission” identified by the service ID “1”, the argument names “address”, “subject”, and “body” having the data type “string” are specified. The number of repetitions is “1”. Next, process information will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of process information. As shown in FIG. 7, the process information includes a process ID for identifying a business process, a company ID indicating a system user who can execute the process, and a process name that can be used by the company identified by the company ID. And a BPEL file name for executing the business process of the process name, a WDSL path indicating a path of the WDSL file for executing the business process, and a display when the business process is executed A screen path indicating the path of the screen file and a flow information file name indicating a procedure actually executed when executing the business process are stored in association with each other.

  In FIG. 7, for example, the company (system user) identified by the company ID “1111” can use the “approval request”, “file edit”, and “submission request” business processes. The BPEL files are “1.orgA.bpel”, “2.orgA.bpel”, “3.orgA.bpel”, and the WSDL path of each business process is “http: //xxx.1.orgA.wdsl”, “Http: //xxx.2.orgA.wdsl”, “http: //xxx.3.orgA.wdsl”, and each screen path is “/bp1_orgA.jsp”, “/bp2_orgA.jsp”, “/ bp3_orgA.jsp ”, indicating that each flow information file is“ 1_orgA_flow.xml ”,“ 2_orgA_flow.xml ”, and“ 3_orgA_flow.xml ”. In the process information shown in FIG. 7, a record identified by the company ID “00000” is registered in advance as a default. When the business process identified by the company ID “00000” is edited, a record edited by the user identified by the logged-in company ID with the same process ID is added to the process information. On the other hand, when a new business process is created, a new process ID is given and a record is added to the process information.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow information file. As shown in FIG. 8, the flow information file indicates a procedure for executing the business process “approval request” created on the business process creation screen shown in FIG. 3. In the example shown in FIG. 8, among the services constituting the business process “approval request” (1.orgA), “send mail” (WEB service name is MailService) is executed by the “SendMail” operation, and the response is If “OK”, the “approve” operation is executed, and if “NG”, the “remand” operation is executed. The BPEL file and the WSDL file are not particularly illustrated, but are not described here because they are files configured in a workflow description language defined in the XML format that has been conventionally known. These BPEL file and WSDL file are created when a business process execution screen creation process described later is executed.

  In addition, the environment in which a BPEL file or a WSDL file is created or a business process execution screen is created is actually a BPEL engine or BPEL stored in the storage unit 310 of the WEB server 300 as shown in FIG. A file creation program or a WSDL file creation program is loaded into a memory (not shown) of the WEB server 300, and the loaded program (module) is executed to create these files and screens. Next, returning to FIG. 1, the DB server control unit 420 will be described.

  The DB server control unit 420 is the same as the control unit of the WEB server 300 described above, and controls the operation of each unit described above or transmission / reception of various types of information via a communication device. Next, various processes performed in the business process generation system 1000 will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of process list acquisition processing performed in the business process generation system 1000. By performing this process list acquisition process, the process list screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display unit of the administrator terminal 100 or the user terminal 200. In the following, it is assumed that the system user is logged in to the business process generation system 1000.

  As shown in FIG. 10, in the process list acquisition process, first, when the input receiving unit of the administrator terminal 100 or the user terminal 200 receives an instruction to access the process information from the process administrator or the process user, The server control unit 340 of the WEB server 300 accesses the process information stored in the storage unit 410 of the DB server 400 (step S1001).

  Then, the server control unit 340 first acquires a record including a company ID that matches the ID logged in by the system user (step S1002). For example, when the company ID is “11111”, the server control unit 340 includes, as process information, a record including a process name “approval request” identified by the process ID “1”, and a process ID “2”. A record including the identified process name “file edit” and a record including the process name “submission request” identified by the process ID “3” are acquired.

  Thereafter, the server control unit 340 acquires all records including the company ID “00000” (default) (step S1003), and repeats the process until the next process is executed for all records including the company ID “00000”. This is performed (step S1004). For example, the server control unit 340 includes a record including the company ID “00000” in the process information and including the process name “approval request” (process ID “1”), the company ID “00000”, and the process. A record including the name “file edit” (process ID “2”) is acquired, and the process is repeated until the next process is executed for each record.

  The server control unit 340 determines whether there is a record with the same process ID in the record acquired in step S1002 (step S1005), and determines that there is a record with the same process ID in the record acquired in step S1002 ( In step S1005; Yes), the process proceeds to step S1007, and the record acquired in step S1002 is added to the process list.

  On the other hand, if the server control unit 340 determines that there is no record with the same process ID in the record acquired in step S1002 (step S1005; No), the server control unit 340 adds the record acquired in step S1003 to the process list (step S1006). The process proceeds to step S1007.

  When the process list (process list of the company ID) is created in steps S1006 and S1007, the screen creation unit 330 of the WEB server 300 creates a screen file for displaying and listing the process list screen, and the process list screen Is transmitted to the administrator terminal 100 or the user terminal 200 (step S1008), and the display unit of the administrator terminal 100 or the user terminal 200 displays the process list screen shown in FIG. 2 (step S1009). When the process of step S1009 ends, all the processes of the process list acquisition process shown in FIG. 10 are ended.

  Next, business process execution screen creation processing performed in the business process generation system 1000 will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the business process execution screen creation processing. In the following description, it is assumed that the administrator of the business process generation system 1000 logs in to the business process generation system 1000 from the administrator terminal 100 and the process list screen illustrated in FIG. 2 is displayed.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when the input receiving unit 110 of the administrator terminal 100 receives a press of either “New” or “Edit” among the operation buttons B1 displayed on the process list screen (Step S1101). ), The control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 determines whether or not the pressed operation button is an “edit” button (step S1102).

  When the control unit 130 determines that the pressed operation button is not the “edit” button (step S1102; No), the control unit 130 determines that the operation button is “new creation”, and transmits that fact to the WEB server 300. The screen creation unit 330 of the server 300 transmits a default business process creation screen registered in advance in the business process generation system 1000 to the administrator terminal 100, and the control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 displays the business process creation screen. Is displayed on the display unit 120 (step S1103).

  On the other hand, if the control unit 130 determines that the pressed operation button is an “edit” button (step S1102; Yes), the control unit 130 transmits that fact to the WEB server 300, and the screen creation unit 330 of the WEB server 300 includes the DB The server 400 is accessed to obtain process information stored in the storage unit 410 (step S1104).

  Then, the screen creation unit 330 creates a business process creation screen from the flow information file with reference to the flow information file name included in the acquired process information, and transmits the created business process creation screen to the administrator terminal 100. Then, the control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 draws and displays the drawing on the display unit 20 (step S1105).

  When the processing of either step S1103 or S1105 is completed, the input reception unit 110 of the administrator terminal 110 receives a drag and drop of each service from the administrator (step S1106), and further, a “Create” button from the business process creation screen The control unit 130 transmits to the WEB server 300 a business process creation screen that has been created by dragging and dropping each service (step S1107).

  After that, when the WEB server 300 receives the business process creation screen, the file creation unit 320 converts the flow of the business process creation screen into the XML format, and the flow information file as shown in FIG. Create (step S1108), refer to the created flow information file, service information, and argument information, create a BPEL file and a WSDL file (step S1109), and store the created BPEL file and the WSDL file in the storage unit of the DB server 400 In step S1110, the information is stored in 410 and de-burred in the WEB server 300 to be executable.

  The screen creation unit 330 of the WEB server 300 refers to the WSDL file and the argument information, acquires the argument information necessary for executing the BPEL process, and includes an input field represented by the argument shown in FIG. Such a business process execution screen is generated (step S1111), and the screen path is registered in the process information (step S1112). At this time, in the case of new creation, if a new record is added and the data before editing is the default business process (company ID “00000”) in the editing process, the company ID is the login user with the same process ID. Add a record that is the company ID. If the data before editing is not the default business process, update the corresponding record.

  Then, the screen creation unit 330 transmits the business process execution screen generated in step S1111 in response to a request from the user terminal 200 (step S1113). When the process of step S1113 ends, all the processes of the business process execution screen creation process shown in FIG. 11 end.

  Next, business process deletion processing performed in the business process generation system 1000 will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for business process deletion processing. In the following description, it is assumed that the administrator of the business process generation system 1000 logs in to the business process generation system 1000 from the administrator terminal 100 and the process list screen illustrated in FIG. 2 is displayed.

  As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the input reception unit 110 of the administrator terminal 100 receives a press of “delete” from among the operation buttons B1 displayed on the process list screen (step S1201), the control of the administrator terminal 100 is performed. The unit 130 transmits to the WEB server 300 a process ID for identifying the process and the selected process, and the screen creation unit 330 of the WEB server 300 accesses the process information stored in the DB server 400. (Step S1202).

  Then, the screen creation unit 330 determines whether there is a record having the same process ID as the business process selected on the process list screen and the company ID “00000” (step S1203). When it is determined that there is a record having the same process ID as the business process selected on the list screen and the company ID “00000” (step S1203; Yes), a message indicating that deletion is not possible is displayed on the administrator The control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 displays the message on the display unit 120 and the deletion process is not executed (step S1204).

  On the other hand, when the screen creation unit 330 determines that there is no record having the same process ID as the business process selected on the process list screen and the company ID “00000” (step S1203; No), the deletion is performed. The process is executed (step S1205), a message indicating that the deletion is completed is transmitted to the administrator terminal 100, and the control unit 130 of the administrator terminal 100 displays the message on the display unit 120, and the deletion process is completed. (Step S1206). When the process of step S1204 or S1206 is completed, all the processes of the business process deletion process shown in FIG. 12 are completed.

  In this way, by automatically generating a BPEL file or WSDL file according to the business flow defined by the user in the GUI, it is possible to build a business process by the user himself, and by using BPEL for building a business process, additional processing is possible.・ Easy editing. In addition, the process execution screen can be generated together with the process execution screen, so that the process can be executed immediately.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the business process in the system can be customized by the user himself, and the user's requirements can be flexibly handled even in the PaaS environment. In addition, by using BPEL that creates a business process by combining Web services, new processing can be easily added and refurbishment in units of processing can be easily performed, thereby improving system expandability and maintainability. It becomes possible.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  As described above, the business process generation system according to the present invention is suitable for a technique for generating a business process by applying a business system including a business process to a PaaS environment, for example.

1000 Business Process Generation System 100 Administrator Terminal 110 Input Accepting Unit (Administrator Terminal)
120 Display (Administrator terminal)
130 Control unit (manager terminal)
200 User terminal 210 Input reception unit (user terminal)
220 Display unit (user terminal)
230 Control unit (user terminal)
300 WEB server 310 storage unit 320 file creation unit 330 screen creation unit 340 server control unit 400 DB server 410 storage unit 420 DB server control unit N network.

Claims (6)

A business process generation system for generating a business process composed of a plurality of tasks,
The client terminal
For each user who uses the business process generation system, an input reception unit that receives editing of a business process that combines the tasks;
A display unit for displaying an execution screen of the business process created based on the business process received by the input receiving unit;
A terminal control unit that transmits a task that constitutes the business process received by the input reception unit to a server or receives the execution screen from the server and displays the execution screen on the display unit;
The server
For each user, a storage unit that stores process information in which the task, an execution file for executing the task, and the execution screen are associated with each other;
A file creation unit that receives the task from the client terminal and creates the executable file;
A screen creation unit that creates the execution screen from the execution file created by the file creation unit and sends the execution screen to the client terminal;
A business process generation system characterized by comprising: The file creation unit creates a flow information file including flow information indicating a relationship between the tasks from the task received from the client terminal,
The screen creation unit creates the execution screen based on the flow information file created by the file creation unit;
The business process generation system according to claim 1. The executable file includes a BPEL file and a WSDL file.
The business process generation system according to claim 1, wherein the system is a business process generation system. The server
The storage unit stores the process information in association with user identification information for identifying the user;
The screen creation unit creates a list screen indicating a list of business processes that can be executed for each user identified by the user identification information, and transmits the list screen to the client terminal.
The client terminal is
The terminal control unit receives the list screen from the server and causes the display unit to display the list screen;
The business process generation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the system is a business process generation system. The business process generation system is executed in a PaaS environment.
The business process generation system according to claim 1, wherein the system is a business process generation system. A client terminal having a display unit that displays a business process execution screen, a task that constitutes a business process for each user, an execution file for executing the task, and the execution screen are associated with each other. A business process generation method that is performed with a business process generation system that generates a business process composed of a plurality of tasks that is performed between a server having a storage unit that stores process information
For each user who uses the business process generation system, an input reception step for receiving editing of a business process that combines the tasks;
A transmission step of transmitting a task constituting the business process received in the input reception step to a server;
A file creation step for receiving the task from the client terminal and creating the executable file;
A screen creation step of creating the execution screen from the execution file created in the file creation step and transmitting it to the client terminal;
A display step of receiving an execution screen of the business process created based on the business process received by the input reception unit from the server and displaying the execution screen on the display unit;
A business process generation method comprising:

Images