Automatically-generated workflow report diagrams

Abstract

A facility for providing a workflow report document for a number of instances of a business process is described. In connection with information specifying the display of an arrangement of shapes each representing a constituent action of the business process, the facility provides information specifying the display in connection with shapes of the arrangement of at least one business process measure aggregated across all of the instances of the process.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for updating a workflow report document, the method comprising:
 accessing a document depicting a business process workflow having constituent actions, wherein the document comprises a plurality of shapes, each corresponding to a constituent action of the business process, and wherein performance of each constituent action across a plurality of iterations of the business process is tracked resulting in instances of performance-tracking information;   for each of the shapes of the plurality, receiving a reference usable to obtain one or more of the instances of performance-tracking information for the constituent action to which the shape corresponds across the plurality of iterations; and   updating, after the performance of one or more constituent actions, one or more of the shapes that correspond to the performed constituent actions, wherein the updating adds displayable results of calculations, for each of one or more of the shapes, wherein the results are configured to be displayed in connection with each shape, and wherein the calculations are based on the performance tracking information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a refresh signal comprising one of: input indicating a manual refresh and an indication of a timer expiration; and 
 in response to the refresh signal, using the references to obtain the instances of performance-tracking information; 
 
       wherein the updating is in response to both the refresh signal and the obtaining the instances of performance-tracking information. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, from a workflow monitoring system, a refresh signal including an indication that an event corresponding to one or more of the constituent actions of the business process has occurred; and 
 in response to the refresh signal, obtaining the instances of performance-tracking information; 
 
       wherein the updating is in response to the refresh signal and the obtaining the instances of performance-tracking information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving user input specifying an average duration threshold for a task, the task corresponding to a set of one or more of the constituent actions; and 
 determining an average amount of time used to perform the one or more actions corresponding to the task across all iterations of the business process. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 determining that the average amount of time does not exceed the specified average duration threshold; and 
 in response to the determining that the average amount of time does not exceed the specified average duration threshold, displaying, in connection with one or more of the shapes corresponding to the constituent actions of the task, a graphical indication having a positive connotation. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 determining that the average amount of time exceeds the specified average duration threshold; and 
 in response to the determining that the average amount of time exceeds the specified average duration threshold, displaying, in connection with one or more of the shapes corresponding to the constituent actions of the task, a graphical indication having a negative connotation. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received instances of performance-tracking information are expressed at least in part in an XML-based markup language. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a distinguished shape of the document represents a task action performed with the assistance of a human agent, and the calculations producing the displayable results for the distinguished shape are an aggregation across the plurality of instances of the amount of time taken by the human agent to perform the task action. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a distinguished shape of the document represents a task action performed with the assistance of a human agent, and the displayable results for the distinguished shape include an indication of a satisfaction rating for an amount of time taken by the human agent to perform the task action across the instances of the plurality. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a distinguished shape of the document represents a decision action that branches each instance of the business process workflow to one of a plurality of paths, and the displayable results for the distinguished shape include an indication of an aggregation across the plurality of instances of the path to which the instance was branched. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more distinguished shapes contain a link that enables access to additional information about at least a subset of the plurality of instances of performance-tracking information for the constituent actions corresponding to the distinguished shapes. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a shape; 
 receiving a performance value for the selected shape; and 
 applying a test for the selected shape to the attributed performance value. 
 
     
     
         13 . A computer-readable storage device storing instructions configured to, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for updating a workflow report document, the operations comprising:
 accessing a document depicting a business process workflow having constituent actions, wherein the document comprises a plurality of shapes, each corresponding to a constituent action of the business process, and wherein performance of each constituent action across a plurality of iterations of the business process is tracked resulting in instances of performance-tracking information;   for each of the shapes of the plurality, receiving a reference usable to obtain one or more of the instances of performance-tracking information for the constituent action to which the shape corresponds across the plurality of iterations; and   updating, after the performance of one or more constituent actions, one or more of the shapes that correspond to the performed constituent actions, wherein the updating adds displayable results of calculations that are configured to be displayed in connection with a distinguished shape, and wherein the calculations are based on the performance tracking information.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the displayable results comprise one or more of: a colored flag, a total number of instances of a distinguished path from a branch being taken across the plurality of iterations, a total number of successfully completed instances across the plurality of iterations, and a total number of terminated instances across the plurality of iterations. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 13 , wherein a task corresponds to a set of one or more of the constituent actions, and the displayable results comprise one or more of: a green flag indicating that the task was performed satisfactorily, a yellow flag indicating that the task was performed in a borderline fashion, and a red flag indicating that the task was not performed satisfactorily. 
     
     
         16 . A system for updating a workflow report document, the system comprising:
 means for storing a document depicting a business process workflow having constituent actions, wherein the document comprises a plurality of shapes, each corresponding to a constituent action of the business process, wherein:   the document contains, corresponding to each of the plurality of shapes, a reference, each reference usable to obtain, from a data store, one or more instances of performance-tracking information for constituent actions associated with that shape; and   the instances of performance-tracking information are received at the data store from a component tracking performance of each constituent action; and   means for updating, after the performance of one or more constituent actions, one or more of the shapes that correspond to the performed constituent actions, wherein the updating adds displayable results of calculations, that are configured to be displayed in connection with a distinguished shape, and wherein the calculations are based on the performance tracking information.   
     
     
         17 . A system for updating a workflow report document, the system comprising:
 a processor;   a memory comprising a stored document depicting a business process workflow having constituent actions, wherein the document comprises a plurality of shapes, each corresponding to a constituent action of the business process, wherein:   the document contains, corresponding to each of the plurality of shapes, a reference, each reference usable to obtain, from a data store, one or more instances of performance-tracking information for constituent actions associated with that shape; and   the instances of performance-tracking information are received at the data store from a component tracking performance of each constituent action; and   a updater configured to update, after the performance of one or more constituent actions, one or more of the shapes that correspond to the performed constituent actions, wherein the updating adds displayable results of calculations, that are configured to be displayed in connection with a distinguished shape, and wherein the calculations are based on the performance tracking information.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  further comprising: a shape-generating component configured to receive user input, the user input specifying a shape template and an indication of a distinguished reference, wherein the shape-generating component is further configured to, in response to receiving the user input, add a shape to the document based on the shape template and corresponding to a distinguished constituent action, the distinguished constituent action based on the distinguished reference being usable to obtain, from the data store, instances of performance-tracking information for the distinguished constituent action. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the shape template is selected from a set of available templates, the set of available templates comprising: a start template, an end template, a task template, and a decision template. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein:
 user input specifying the start template further comprises an indication of a number of iterations that may be tracked; and   user input specifying the task template further comprises an indication of an expected average duration for a task.