Access to Line-of-Business Databases in Declarative Workflow

An electronic computing system comprising:

• a processing unit;
• and
• a data storage system, the data storage system storing:
• a first database;
• a second database, the first database having a different schema than the second database;
• and
• a set of computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processing unit, cause the electronic computing system to:
• initialize a workflow instance, the workflow instance being an instance of a workflow that facilitates performance by an enterprise of a business process, the business process being a structured set of tasks routinely performed by the enterprise to accomplish a specific business goal, the workflow instance comprising a plurality of activities, each activity in the plurality of activities comprising a set of computer-executable code that when executed facilitates performance of a task in the business process;
• initialize a list object, the list object being a software object enabling access to a list, each data item in the list comprising an item key field specifying an item key, no two data items in the list having item key fields specifying a shared item key, each data item in the list comprising a set of additional fields, each field in the set of additional fields having a value derived from the first database or each field in the set of additional fields having a value derived from the second database, the list object implementing an interface, the interface being the same regardless of whether fields in the set of additional fields have values derived from the first database or the second database, the item keys being of a same data type regardless of whether fields in the set of additional fields have values derived from the first database or the second database;
• initiate, after initializing the workflow instance and the list object, execution of the workflow instance;
• access, during execution of the workflow instance in response to executing one of the activities in the workflow instance, a data item in the list by invoking an access method of the list object, the access method being a member of the interface;
• and
• complete execution of the workflow instance, thereby completing a cycle of the business process.

A computer-readable data storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing unit of an electronic computing system, cause the electronic computing system to:

• store a first database at a data storage system;
• store a second database at the data storage system, the second database having a different schema than the first database;
• display a workflow design user interface containing a catalog of available activities, the catalog of available activities including names of activities;
• receive activity selection input from a user via the workflow design user interface, the activity selection input indicating a selected activity selected by the user from the catalog of available activities,
• display, in response to receiving the activity selection input, a natural language sentence in the workflow design user interface, the natural language sentence describing a business process task facilitated by the selected activity, the natural language sentence including an input feature, the input feature enabling the user to bind data to an input property of the selected activity;
• display a lookup dialog user interface containing a catalog of available lists, the available lists including a first list and a second list,
• the first list comprising a first data item collection, each data item in the first data item collection comprising an item key field, no two data items in the first data item collection having item key fields specifying a shared item key, each data item in the first data item collection comprising a first set of additional fields, each field in the first set of additional fields having a value stored in or derived from the first database,
• the second list comprising a second data item collection, each data item in the second data item collection comprising an item key field, no two data items in the second data item collection having item key fields specifying a shared item key, each data item in the second data item collection comprising a second set of additional fields, each field in the second set of additional fields having a value stored in or derived from the second database;
• receive list selection input from the user via the workflow design user interface, the list selection input indicating a selected list, the selected list being one of the available lists;
• receive target field selection input from the user via the workflow design user interface, the target field selection input indicating a target field of the selected list;
• receive criterion field selection input from the user via the workflow design user interface, the criterion field selection input indicating a criterion field of the selected list;
• receive criterion value selection input from the user via the workflow design user interface, the criterion value selection input indicating a criterion value;
• after receiving the list selection input, the target field selection input, the criterion field selection input, and the criterion value selection input, store the workflow file at a data storage system, the workflow file containing a plurality of activity elements, each activity element indicating an activity in a workflow that facilitates performance by an enterprise of a business process, the business process being a structured set of tasks routinely performed by the enterprise to accomplish a specific business goal, the plurality of activity elements including a selected activity element that indicates the selected activity, the selected activity element having an attribute associated with the input property of the selected activity, the attribute specifying the target list, the target field, the criterion field, and the criterion item key;
• initialize a workflow instance, the workflow instance comprising a plurality of activities, each activity in the plurality of activities being indicated by an activity element in the plurality of activity elements in the workflow file;
• initialize a list object, the list object being a software object enabling access to the selected list, the list object implementing an interface, the interface being the same regardless of whether the selected list is the first list or the second list;
• initiate execution of the workflow instance;
• during execution of the workflow instance, invoke a query method of the list object in response to executing the selected activity, the query method being a member of the interface;
• during execution of the workflow instance, receive, in response to invoking the query method, a target value, the target value being the value of the target field of a first data item in the selected list, the criterion field of the first data item specifying the criterion value;
• during execution of the workflow instance, use the target value in response to executing the selected activity;
• and
• complete execution of the workflow instance, thereby completing a cycle of the business process.