Subprocesses and user interactions for a business process management integration server

Abstract

A process may be executed at an integration server adapted to provide a messaging service for at least two business applications in an enterprise system. According to some embodiments, a subprocess may be called during execution of the process (and other processes may also call the subprocess). According to other embodiments, input may be received from a user (and further execution of the process may be based at least in part on the received input).

1 . A method, comprising: 
 executing a first process at an integration server adapted to provide a messaging service for at least two business applications in an enterprise system; and    during execution of the first process, calling a subprocess to perform a task, wherein the subprocess may also be called by a second process at the integration server.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein execution of the first process is blocked while the subprocess performs the task, and further comprising: 
 continuing execution of the first process after the subprocess performs the task.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said calling includes submitting parameters to the subprocess, and further comprising: 
 receiving response data from the subprocess.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 defining the first process in a repository containing a set of design-time business messaging service processes; and    defining the subprocess in the repository.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said defining includes: 
 declaring a signature associated with the first process, the signature being associated with inbound and outbound messages.    
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said defining includes: 
 setting a value of a configurable parameter based on the subprocess.    
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 creating a configured first process service in a directory; and    creating a configured subprocess service in the directory, wherein the configured subprocess service includes enterprise-specific message routing information.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein information associated with the signature and the configurable parameter are passed from the repository to the directory.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 activating the configured first process service in a runtime engine associated with the integration server, wherein said executing and calling are performed by the runtime engine.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the subprocess calls another subprocess.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the subprocess is called semantically synchronously and performs the task asynchronously.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 canceling the subprocess before the subprocess completes the task.    
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the subprocess is a first subprocess and further comprising: 
 cascading the cancellation to a second subprocess called by the first subprocess.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 mapping exceptions associated with the subprocess to the first process.    
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging service is associated with at least one of: (i) a logical routing of a message, (ii) a mapping of a message from a first business application to a second business application, or (iii) a physical address resolution of a business application.  
   
   
       16 . A system, comprising: 
 an integration repository storing enterprise system design-time descriptions of at least two business applications, the design-time descriptions including (i) a set of design-time business processes and (ii) at least one design-time business subprocess;    an integration directory storing enterprise system configuration-specific descriptions of the business applications, the configuration-specific descriptions including (i) configuration-specific business processes to be executed between the business applications and (ii) at least one configuration-specific business subprocess to be called by multiple configuration-specific business processes; and    an integration server including a business process management runtime engine to execute a configuration-specific business process that calls the configuration-specific business subprocess.    
   
   
       17 . A medium storing processor-executable process steps, the process steps comprising: 
 executing a first process at an integration server adapted to provide a messaging service for at least two business applications in an enterprise system; and    during execution of the first process, calling a subprocess to perform a task, wherein the subprocess may also be called by a second process at the integration server.    
   
   
       18 . A method, comprising: 
 executing a process at an integration server adapted to provide a messaging service for at least two business applications in an enterprise system; and    during execution of the process, receiving input from a user, wherein further execution of the process is based at least in part on the received input.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 displaying to the user a set of potential selections, wherein said receiving comprises receiving from the user an indication associated with at least one of the potential selections.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 defining the process in a repository containing a set of design-time business messaging service processes.    
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said defining includes: 
 declaring a configurable parameter associated with the user.    
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising: 
 creating a configured process service in a directory, wherein the configured process service includes enterprise-specific message routing information.    
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the configurable parameter is replaced with at least one of (i) a user identifier, or (ii) an organization identifier.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein information associated with the configurable parameter is passed from the repository to the directory.  
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising: 
 activating the configured process service in a runtime engine associated with the integration server, wherein said executing is performed by the runtime engine.    
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said receiving is associated with a container element.  
   
   
       27 . A system, comprising: 
 an integration repository storing enterprise system design-time descriptions of at least two business applications, the design-time descriptions including a set of design-time business processes;    an integration directory storing enterprise system configuration-specific descriptions of the business applications, the configuration-specific descriptions including configuration-specific business processes to be executed between the business applications;    an integration server including a business process management runtime engine to execute a configuration-specific business process; and    a user input device to provide a response to the integration server during execution of the configuration-specific business process.    
   
   
       28 . A medium storing processor-executable process steps, the process steps comprising: 
 executing a process at an integration server adapted to provide a messaging service for at least two business applications in an enterprise system; and    during execution of the process, receiving input from a user, wherein further execution of the process is based at least in part on the received input.