Claims
- 1. A method for managing a composite business process comprised of a plurality of individual business processes using a state machine, said state machine having a plurality of states, said method comprising the step of:
designating an end state of at least one of said individual business processes as a conversion state, wherein a transition from said conversion state is a conversion transition that creates a new business object of a type required by a next individual business process in said composite process.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said composite business process is a multi-round process comprised of a repetition of one of said individual business processes.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said composite business process is a multi-stage process comprised of a combination of different individual businesses in a sequence.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said business object is a contract.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said business object is an auction.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said business object is a request for quotes.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said business object is associated with a trading mechanism.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said individual business processes are maintained as independent processes.
- 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining upon entering said conversion state which of said individual business processes to use next if said business object is being managed by a composite flow.
- 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of copying relevant data that must be carried forward from a previous object record to said next individual business process.
- 11. A system for managing a composite business process comprised of a plurality of individual business processes using a state machine, said state machine having a plurality of states, comprising:
a memory that stores computer-readable code; and a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to implement said computer-readable code, said computer-readable code configured to:
designate an end state of at least one of said individual business processes as a conversion state, wherein a transition from said conversion state is a conversion transition that creates a new business object of a type required by a next individual business process in said composite process.
- 12. The system of claim 11, wherein said composite business process is a multi-round process comprised of a repetition of one of said individual business processes.
- 13. The system of claim 11, wherein said composite business process is a multi-stage process comprised of a combination of different individual businesses in a sequence.
- 14. The system of claim 11, wherein said business object is a contract.
- 15. The system of claim 11, wherein said business object is an auction.
- 16. The system of claim 11, wherein said business object is a request for quotes.
- 17. The system of claim 11, wherein said individual business processes are maintained as independent processes.
- 18. The system of claim 11, further comprising the step of determining upon entering said conversion state which of said individual business processes to use next if said business object is being managed by a composite flow.
- 19. The system of claim 11, further comprising the step of copying relevant data that must be carried forward from a previous object record to said next individual business process.
- 20. An article of manufacture for managing a composite business process comprised of a plurality of individual business processes using a state machine, said state machine having a plurality of states, comprising:
a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising:
a step to designate an end state of at least one of said individual business processes as a conversion state, wherein a transition from said conversion state is a conversion transition that creates a new business object of a type required by a next individual business process in said composite process.
- 21. A method for connecting a first individual business process to a second individual business process to form a composite business process using a state machine, said state machine having a plurality of states, said method comprising the step of:
designating an end state of said first individual business process as a conversion state, wherein a transition from said conversion state is a conversion transition that creates a new business object of a type required by said second individual business process.
- 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said composite business process is a multi-round process comprised of a repetition of one of said first and second individual business processes.
- 23. The method of claim 21, wherein said composite business process is a multi-stage process comprised of a combination of said first individual business process and a different second individual business.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention is related to U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Automatic Transitioning Between States in a State Machine That Manages a Business Process,” (Attorney Docket Number SOM920010005US1), U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Managing The Versioning of Business Objects Using a State Machine,” (Attorney Docket Number SOM920010006US1), U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Execution of a Business Process Managed Using a State Machine,” (Attorney Docket Number SOM920010008US1), U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Managing and Displaying User Authorizations for a Business Process Managed Using a State Machine,” (Attorney Docket Number SOM920010009US1) and U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Managing a User Group List For a Business Process Managed Using a State Machine,” (Attorney Docket Number SOM9200100010US1), filed contemporaneously herewith, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.