KR20090026478A - Business process management system - Google Patents

Abstract

A business process management system of software as a service which is provided through the internet is provided to provide optimizing environment of a meta file and modeling of the business process without a specialized coding technique. A computer(210) of a service company(200) manages the business process provided from a BPM(Business Process Management) server(100). A business process provided from the BPM server is performed. A participating servers(220, 250) implement the business process provided from the BPM server. A participation server is an ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) server, a CRM(Customer Relationship Management) server(230), a SCM(Supply Chain Management) server(240) or an EAI(Enterprise Application Integration) server. The computer comprises the web browser for interfacing the BPM server.

Description

Software based business process management system provided as a service

The present invention relates to a Business Process Management (BPM) system based on Software as a service (hereinafter referred to as 'SaaS'), which requires BPM from inside the company or with other companies. The present invention relates to a software-based business process management system provided as a service that provides various businesses with BPM-related matters over the Internet, providing absolute savings in BPM construction costs and enhancing collaboration among companies.

The most recent change in the information technology field is the fact that it is rapidly transitioning from the existing data-driven information technology to process-oriented information technology. In other words, the development of information technology based on the file system of the 1960s was further developed with the development of relational database management system in the 1980s, and it is no exaggeration to say that almost all information technologies of today are based on database technology.

However, after analyzing the productivity of business processes within the organization, it was found that only 10% of the total time of business processing was spent on the work itself, and the remaining 90% of the time was spent on the transfer or transfer between tasks. The problem of improving productivity has changed the focus of information technology. These facts have recently focused on improving business productivity through the automation and optimization of business processes. At its core is the business process management system (also referred to as BPM). In other words, BPM can be defined as the integrated management of an intra- or inter-organizational process from an organizational and management perspective.

Traditional BPM implementations, on the other hand, generally follow the sequence of BPM software development, sales, deployment, and maintenance. Specifically, the developer develops BPM software and sells it as a package to a company that wants to build it. The building company will either purchase a hardware server inside its company or install the package on the existing server. The manager of the deployment company then installs a modeling tool on his computer from the BPM packages that he has purchased, and then uses that tool to model business processes for his job. In this case, the modeled result is composed of a so-called metafile (eg, an extensible markup language (XML) file), and the metafile is delivered to a server where BPM is installed. Accordingly, the BPM server executes the business process defined by the metafile.

However, according to the existing BPM system, a huge amount of billions of funds are required when building in the enterprise, and thus, there is a problem that even a small and medium-sized company cannot even build a BPM. In addition, modeling a business process requires a high level of coding technology, which is a burden for SMEs, that is, the business process modeling technology is not adaptive to each enterprise. In addition, even if a business process is built and executed in an enterprise, the company's business characteristics require multiple remodeling processes. The maintenance and repair of the business process is a great burden for the company.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, by providing a web browser-based on-line service to the enterprise that needs to build a business process, the overall matters related to BPM, thereby lowering the cost of the business process Its purpose is to provide a software-based business process management system provided as a service that can be built and operated.

In order to achieve the above object, a software-based business process management system provided as a service of the present invention is connected to a communication terminal that manages a business process or participates in a business process or a participating server that participates in a business process through the Internet. An interface unit for transmitting / receiving data with a communication terminal or the participating server; A user service unit providing an environment for optimizing a web browser based business process modeling and a metafile which is a result of the web browser based business process modeling to the communication terminal; And a process execution unit for executing a business process based on a metafile DB storing the metafile generated by the user service unit and a copy of the metafile received from the metafile DB.

In the above configuration, the user service unit may include: a process modeling unit providing a web browser based business process modeling environment to the communication terminal; A monitoring unit for real-time monitoring of a business process executed in the process execution unit and providing the communication process or result to the communication terminal; Analyzing the results of the monitoring performed by the monitoring unit, and provides a graphic-based application for the communication terminal to participate in the business process running in the analysis unit and the process execution unit for providing the analyzed monitoring results to the communication terminal. It is preferable to comprise the workpiece portal part to provide.

In addition, the process modeling unit preferably provides the communication terminal with an orchestration modeling technique for modeling a business process from a single enterprise side and a colleograph modeling technique for collaborating business processes between companies.

In addition, the process modeling unit, a task definition module for defining a task that is a minimum processing unit constituting a business process; And a document definition module for defining a participation screen form for the task, a form definition module for providing the participation screen form to the communication terminal, and a file format for data to be moved between the tasks. .

The process modeling unit may further include a simulation module for simulating a metafile generated by the task definition module, the form definition module, and the document definition module.

According to the software-based business process management system provided as a service of the present invention, an enterprise can receive all the matters related to the business process through the Internet without having to build the business process management system on its own server. The savings can be expected. In addition, by providing the management of the business process based on the web browser, it is effective to provide an environment for modeling the business process and the resulting metafile without the need for specialized coding technology. In addition, according to the present invention, since the business process is made through the Internet and modeled by a choreograph technique, there is an effect that collaboration can be freely performed between companies.

Hereinafter, a software-based business process management system provided as a service according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the life cycle of business process management (BPM) is described. Briefly describe.

As shown in FIG. 1, the BPM includes a business process modeling step, accessing a metafile in an execution engine, executing a task in a defined process order, monitoring each running task, and the like. Based on the monitoring results, existing processes, that is, analysis steps to optimize (remodel) metafiles, are performed. That is, the present invention may imply that each of the above steps is provided to a user through the Internet based on a so-called 'Software as a Service (hereinafter referred to as' SaaS ')'. This enables users to quickly model and execute business processes anytime, anywhere, via a computer connected to the network.

In this case, the task may be defined as a minimum unit of a task constituting a business process, that is, a minimum unit of a business process processed by the execution engine.

2 is a network diagram of a business process management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the business process management system of the present invention is a service enterprise 200 that receives a service of the business process described through FIG. 1 from the BPM server 100 and the BPM server 100 online. ), The partner company server 300 that cooperates with the service enterprise 200 in relation to the business and the Internet 400 connecting them.

In the above-described configuration, the Internet 400 is a network of networks that connect computer networks scattered around the world via wire / wireless, and generally conforms to a communication protocol called TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). According to the TCP / IP scheme, all clients and servers connected to the Internet 400 are assigned a globally unique IP address from an IP address management agent, that is, an Internet service provider (ISP). do. Here, the IP address is based on the area where the client or server is located. On the other hand, the wireless access method to the Internet 400 is based on a platform such as WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or WIPI, wireless Internet access through a mobile communication network or through a public wireless LAN and an access point (Access Point) And there may be a 'mobile Internet' (WiBro or WiMax), a wireless Internet service that provides high-speed Internet access even while stationary or on the go, at an ADSL level of quality and cost.

The service enterprise 200 manages the business process provided by the BPM server 100 or participates in the execution of the business process provided by the BPM server 100 and the business process provided by the BPM server 100. It comprises a participating server (220 to 250) to participate in the execution of. Here, the participating server may include, for example, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) server 220, a customer relationship management (CRM) server 230, and a supply chain management (SCM) server 240. ) Or an enterprise application integration (EAI) server 250. In addition, the computer 210 has a web browser for interfacing with the BPM server 100 and a communication terminal equipped with a modem connected to the Internet 400 by wire or wirelessly for communication with the BPM server 100. It could be a laptop, desktop or handheld based wireless communication device.

Although the partner company server 300 has been described above, it is in a cooperative relationship with the service enterprise 200, and from the perspective of the BPM server 100, it becomes another service entity or another point of the service enterprise 200 described above. That is, the BPM server 100 of the present invention supports a modeling tool and an execution engine to a service enterprise so that a business to business (AK2B) collaboration aka, multi-enterprise can be performed between each service enterprise registered to the BPM server 100. It is.

3 is a detailed block diagram of a BPM server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the BPM server 100 of the present invention is connected to the service company 200 and the partner company server 300 to transmit / receive data with them, the interface unit described above. Protocol library 140 for providing a communication protocol to the 130, a metafile DB (150) for storing a metafile corresponding to each service provider registered in the BPM server (100), the metafile DB (150) User service that provides web browser-based business process modeling and meta-file optimization (remodeling) environment to process execution unit 120 and computer 210 that executes business process by receiving a copy of metafile from It may be made by including a portion (110).

In detail, the user service unit 110 may include a process modeling unit 111, a monitoring unit 113, an analysis unit 115, a work portal unit 117, and a common library 119.

Here, the process modeling unit 111 provides an application (application) that can be modeled through a web browser to the computer 210, modeling or remodeling the business process based on the data delivered by the computer user by such applications The metafile, which is the result of the modeling, is stored in the metafile DB 150.

Next, the monitoring unit 113 monitors the task executed in the process execution unit 120 in real time, and provides the computer 210 with an application that can check the monitoring process or the result. For example, it monitors which tasks are running when, for how long, and by which users or participating servers.

Next, the analysis unit 115 analyzes the monitoring result performed by the monitoring unit 113, and provides the computer 210 with an application capable of confirming the analysis result. For example, statistics about the data processing time of each task are provided and the statistics are provided to the user in a graphic screen. That is, the existing metafile is remodeled by the statistical data transmitted from the analysis unit 115.

Next, the work portal unit 117 is to provide the computer 210 with a graphic-based application that allows the user to participate in the business process running in the process execution unit 120. That is, the user logs in to the work portal unit 117 and thereby inputs arbitrary data to the corresponding task to which the user participates through the work list and the work item provided to the computer 210.

Next, the common library 119 is a graphic library for implementing the functions of the components of the user service unit 110 is stored. Here, the graphic library is capable of web services, XML viewing, information management of process participants, and Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) processing.

On the other hand, look at the function of the process modeling unit 111 in more detail as follows.

The process modeling unit 111 supports an orchestration modeling technique that enables business process modeling on a single company side, and as described above, a choreograph modeling technique that enables multi-enterprise among companies. Is to support. In other words, modeling tools such as Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studio require specialized coding skills that are difficult for the general user, whereas the above orchestration or core graph is based on a web browser. You can design business processes that are optimized for.

Figure 4 is an exemplary view showing a business process modeling screen using such a choreograph. That is, referring to FIG. 4, reference numeral 20 denotes a metafile of a specific service company, and reference numerals 31 to 35 denote metafiles of partners in collaboration with the specific service company. Also, reference numeral 21 denotes a task described above, for example, a process of processing an arbitrary product order to a partner company.

In addition, FIG. 5 is a module configuration diagram classified by the process modeling unit shown in FIG. 3 by function, and as shown in FIG. 5, the process modeling unit 111 includes a task definition module 111a, a form definition module 111b, It may include a document definition module 111c and a simulation module 111d. Here, the task definition module 111a performs a function of defining a process of each task. Next, the form definition module 111b defines the participation screen form in providing the participation screen form of the task to the computer 210 participating in the task defined in the task definition module 111a. It is to perform the function. For example, if a task is for product order processing, it defines the form of the order form which data items to put in these orders. Next, the document definition module 111c defines a file format of data to be moved between tasks. Finally, the simulation module 111d performs a function of simulating the metafile created by the above-described task, form, and document definition module, and whether the designed business process is actually executed. You can diagnose and resolve any data bottlenecks between tasks. For example, if task I takes 30 minutes to process input data and task II takes 3 hours to process data, data output from task I cannot be processed quickly in task II, and business process is delayed in task II. Will result. Therefore, based on the results of the simulation, the above-mentioned task II can be created and connected in parallel with task I to solve the bottleneck problem mentioned above and to create a faster business process model.

As described above, the SaaS-based business process management system of the present invention has been described in detail. Hereinafter, the business process management method by the system will be described.

6 and 7 are flowcharts for describing a SaaS-based business process management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the process modeling method will be described with reference to FIG. 7. Explain. Here, reference numeral 210 denotes an administrator modeling a process by accessing the BPM server 100 through a computer, and reference numeral 200 denotes a user or participant server that accesses the BPM server 100 through a computer and executes the process ( Hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as 'participants').

As shown in FIG. 6, first, in step S11, the manager 210 is connected to the manager mode provided by the BPM server 100. In this next step S13, the BPM server 100 is based on the provided web browser. Through the modeling screen, you can model business processes that fit your company. The resulting result is configured as a metafile by the process modeling unit 111 in step S15 and stored in the DB 150.

Next, when the manager 210 requests a simulation for the metafile produced by the BPM server 100 (step S17), the BPM server 100 proceeds to steps S19 and S21 to simulate the module 111d. The meta file is loaded from the DB 150 and simulated, and the simulation screen is provided to the manager 210. Accordingly, in step S23, the manager 210 is to remodel the existing business process, so that the BPM server 100 updates the metafile.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 7, the participant 200 participates in a task corresponding to the user in the modeled business process. First, in step S31, the participant 200 is a participant mode provided by the BPM server 100. It connects to the server and requests execution for any modeled business process. In response, in step S33, the BPM server 100 retrieves the metafile DB 150, copies the corresponding metafile requested by the participant 200, and transfers the copy to the process execution unit 120, and to step S35. Go ahead and establish a connection with each participant who will participate in the metafile.

Next, in step S37 the BPM server 100 is to start the business process by the process execution unit 120, accordingly, the corresponding participants in step S39 to participate in the business process running in the process execution unit 120 do. Therefore, in step S41, the BPM server 100 executes the corresponding task of the participant by the process execution unit 120, and then proceeds to step S43 to store the result information of the completed task in a separately prepared database. Afterwards, the stored result information is utilized by the monitoring unit 113 and the analysis unit 115.

Next, in step S45, the BPM server 100 determines whether the process is completed by the process execution unit 120. When the process is not finished, the BPM server 100 repeats the above steps S39 to S43. On the other hand, when the process is terminated, the process proceeds to step S47 to delete the copy of the metafile transferred to the process execution unit 120.

Software-based business process management system provided as a service of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment can be implemented in various modifications within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a life cycle of business process management (BPM),

2 is a network diagram of a business process management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a detailed block diagram of a BPM server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exemplary view showing a business process modeling screen using a choreograph which is a modeling technique of BPM,

FIG. 5 is a module configuration diagram illustrating the process modeling unit shown in FIG. 3 classified according to functions.

6 and 7 are flowcharts for explaining a SaaS-based business process management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

*** Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ***

100: BPM server

110: user service unit 111: process modeling unit

111a: task definition module 111b: form definition module

111c: Document Definition Module 111d: Simulation Module

113: monitoring unit 115: analysis unit

117: Work portal part 119: common library

120: process execution unit 130: interface unit

140: protocol library 150: metafile DB

200: service enterprise

210: computer 220: ERP server

230: CRM server 240: SCM server

250: EAI server

300: partner server 400: Internet

Claims (5)

An interface unit that manages a business process or participates in a business process or a communication terminal participating in a business process or connected to a participant server participating in a business process through the Internet to transmit / receive data with the communication terminal or the participant server; A user service unit providing an environment for optimizing a web browser based business process modeling and a metafile which is a result of the web browser based business process modeling to the communication terminal; A metafile DB in which the metafile generated by the user service unit is stored; Software based business process management system provided as a service comprising a process execution unit for executing a business process based on a copy of the metafile received from the metafile DB. The method of claim 1, The user service unit, A process modeling unit providing a web browser based business process modeling environment to the communication terminal; A monitoring unit for real-time monitoring of a business process executed in the process execution unit and providing the monitoring process or result to the communication terminal; An analysis unit for analyzing a result of monitoring performed by the monitoring unit and providing the analyzed monitoring result to the communication terminal; Software based business process management system provided as a service, characterized in that it comprises a work portal unit for providing a graphical application for the communication terminal to participate in the business process running in the process execution unit. The method of claim 2, The process modeling unit provides an orchestration modeling technique for modeling a business process in a single enterprise and a software based service provided as a service, characterized in that the communication terminal provides a collograph modeling technique for collaborating business processes between companies. Business process management system. The method of claim 3, wherein The process modeling unit, A task definition module that defines a task that is a minimum processing unit constituting a business process; A form definition module for defining a participation screen form for the task and providing the participation screen form to the communication terminal; Software based business process management system provided as a service, characterized in that it comprises a document definition module for defining a file format of data to be moved between the tasks. The method of claim 4, wherein The process modeling unit is software-based business process management system provided as a service, characterized in that further comprises a simulation module for simulating the meta-files generated by the task definition module, the form definition module and the document definition module.

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