Placeholder case nodes and child case nodes in a case model

1. A method of controlling progress of processing of a case in a case management system, the method comprising:

at a computer having a processor and at least one non-transitory memory, the at least one non-transitory memory containing instructions causing the processor to:

load a case model definition of a case model that comprises a hierarchical container model, the case model definition defining a hierarchy of case nodes, wherein each case node is associated with user data and behaviors, wherein the case model includes a non-leaf placeholder container node that is designated as a placeholder in the case model, wherein the placeholder container node includes a definition of attributes content requirements to be satisfied by a container in order to replace the placeholder container node with the container;

receive an indication to create a case instance based on the case model definition;

responsive to receiving the indication to create the case instance, create the case instance by parsing the case model definition to generate runtime data structures representing the hierarchy of case nodes wherein the runtime data structures include placeholder data associated with the placeholder container node, wherein a presence of the placeholder data in the runtime data structures enables controlling replacement of the placeholder data for the placeholder container node with data satisfying a criteria of the case model definition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generated runtime data structures comprise a runtime data struture for at least one node of the case instance, and the runtime data structure for the at least one node of the case instance includes a behavior, defined in the case model definition, that comprises taking an action with respect to the placeholder data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder data comprises a placeholder document.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the case instance includes a behavior, defined in the case model definition, that includes taking an action associated with replacing the placeholder document with a corresponding document associated with the case instance.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the action includes prompting a user to replace the placeholder document with a user document.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder data comprises a placeholder case node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder data comprises metadata associated with the placeholder container node.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving user data to replace the placeholder data.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising replacing the placeholder data with user data.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving and storing the case model definition as an xml file.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein receiving and storing the case model definition includes receiving, via a case model definition interface, an indication to include the placeholder data in the case model definition.

12. A case management system, comprising:

a storage device configured to store a case model definition; and

a processor coupled to the storage device and configured to control progress of processing of a case in a case management system by:

loading the case model definition of a case model that comprises a hierarchical container model, the case model definition defining a hierarchy of case nodes, wherein each case node is associated with user data and behaviors, wherein the case model includes a non-leaf placeholder container node that is designated as a placeholder in the case model wherein the placeholder container node includes a definition of content requirements to be satisfied by a container in order to replace the placeholder container node with the container;

receiving an indication to create a case instance based on the case model definition;

responsive to receiving the indication to create the case instance, creating the case instance by parsing the case model definition to generate runtime data structures representing the hierarchy of case nodes, wherein the runtime data structures include placeholder data associated with the placeholder container node, wherein a presence of the placeholder data in the runtime data structures enables controlling replacement of the placeholder data for the placeholder container node with data satisfying a criteria of the case model definition.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the placeholder data comprises a placeholder document.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the case instance includes a behavior, defined in the case model definition, that includes taking an action associated with replacing the placeholder document with a corresponding document associated with the case instance; and wherein the processor is further configured to take the action as defined in the case model definition.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the action includes prompting a user to replace the placeholder document with a user document.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive user data to replace the placeholder data.

17. A computer program product to control progress of processing of a case in a case management system, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

loading a case model definition of a case model that comprises a hierarchical container model the case model definition defining a heirarchy of case nodes, wherein each case node is associated with user data and behaviors, wherein the case model includes a non-leaf placeholder container node that is designated as a placeholder in the case model wherein the placeholder container node includes a definition of content requirements to be satisfied by a container in order to replace the placeholder container node with the container;

receiving an indication to create a case instance based on the case model definition;

responsive to receiving the indication to create the case instance, create the case instance by parsing the case model definition to generate runtime data structures representing the hierarchy of case nodes, wherein the runtime data structures include placeholder data associated with the placeholder container node, wherein a presence of the placeholder data in the runtime data structures enables controlling replacement of the placeholder data for the placeholder container node with data satisfying a criteria of the case model definition.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the placeholder data comprises a placeholder document.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the case instance includes a behavior, defined in the case model definition, that includes taking an action associated with replacing the placeholder document with a corresponding document associated with the case instance.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the action includes prompting a user to replace the placeholder document with a user document.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder data comprises a placeholder container that includes a non-leaf placeholder node.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder container node includes a placeholder parent node of a respective child node defined by the case model definition.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the case model definition includes a definition of a behavior associated with replacing the placeholder container node with a corresponding container that corresponds to a corresponding parent node of a respective child node defined by the case model definition.