Ensuring atomicity for a collection of transactional work items in a workflow management system

US6009405A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Frank Leymann · Aidlingen, DE
• Dieter Roller · Schenefeld, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 29, 1997
• Grant date: Dec 28, 1999
• Expiry date: Jul 29, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/103
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A computerized transaction execution with a workflow management systems (WFMS) executes a process model consisting of a network of potentially distributed activities including transactional work items. A computerized methodology defines, controls and processes a collection of a transactional work items ensuring the atomicity of the collection of transactional work items. The collection of transactional work items owns a separate commit scope not influenced by a commit scope potentially implemented within said transactional work items. The WFMS is enabled to infer details of the process model of collections of transactional work items which can be processed in the sense of global transactions with a common commit scope. Transactional work items with a common commit scope are combined into atomic spheres. The collection of transactional work items constitute a common atomic sphere in an alternative embodiment.