Self-describing business document collaboration protocols
A computer readable medium having instructions for processing information is provided. The instructions include a business entity module defining the structure of business entities exchanged in an action sequence, an entity action module defining the action sequence of related actions used in a business transaction and a transaction document module creating a corresponding defining documents based on the action sequence and the business entity module.
1 . A computer readable medium having instructions for processing information, the instructions comprising:
a business entity module defining a structure of business entities exchanged in an action sequence;
an entity action module defining the action sequence of related actions that can be performed on the business entities; and
a transaction document module defining transactions documents and creating a corresponding transaction document based on the business entity module and the action sequence.
2 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
a correlation module defining how each of the entities are related and recorded in a history.
3 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
a version identifier identifying a particular version of the business entity module, the action sequence and the transaction document module.
4 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
a routing module defining routing rules for each of the transaction documents.
5 . A method for establishing a communication protocol between a first computer and a second computer, comprising:
identifying a plurality of documents associated with a transaction;
defining an action sequence for the plurality of documents; and
creating one of the plurality of documents based on the action sequence.
6 . The method of claim 5 and further comprising:
checking a version identifier to see if the first computer and second computer include the same version of a process template related to the action sequence.
7 . The method of claim 6 and further comprising;
requesting a copy of the process template with the second computer if the second computer does not include the same version of the process template.
8 . The method of claim 5 and further comprising:
rendering a document based on a set of rendering rules for each of the documents.
9 . The method of claim 5 and further comprising:
defining actions that can be performed on each of the documents.
10 . The method of claim 9 and further comprising:
creating one of the documents based on a relationship between the first computer and the second computer.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the first computer is associated with a supplier and the second computer is associated with a customer.
12 . The method of claim 5 and further comprising:
routing the documents from the first computer to the second computer based on routing rules.
13 . The method of claim 5 and further comprising:
integrating information in each of the documents into an application on one of the first computer and the second computer.
14 . A business network, comprising:
a first computer having a memory including a process template, the process template comprising:
a business entity module defining a structure of business entities exchanged in an action sequence;
an entity action module defining the action sequence of related actions that can be performed on the business entities; and
a transaction document module defining transaction documents and creating a corresponding document based on the business entities module and the action sequence; and
a second computer having a memory including a copy of the process template and performing actions based on the process template and a relationship between the first computer and the second computer.
15 . The network of claim 14 , wherein the process template further comprises:
a correlation module defining how each of the entities are related and recorded in a history.
16 . The network of claim 14 , wherein the process template further comprises:
a version identifier identifying a particular version of the business entity module, the action sequence and the transaction document module.
17 . The network of claim 16 , wherein the second computer is adapted to check the version identifier to see if the particular version of the process template is stored thereon and request a new copy of the particular version of the process template if the second computer does not include the particular version of the process template.
18 . The network of claim 14 , wherein the process template further comprises:
a routing module defining routing rules for each of the transaction documents.
19 . The network of claim 14 , wherein the relationship includes the first computer being associated with a supplier and the second computer being associated with a customer.