# US 2017/0286207 A1 · Method and apparatus for improved error handling > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2017/0286207 A1 - Document ID: US20170286207A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/086,428 - Filed: 2016-03-31 - Published: 2017-10-05 - Earliest claimed: 2016-03-31 - Assignees: McKesson Financial Holdings - Applicants: McKesson Financial Holdings - Inventors: Brian Campbell; Yana Poliashenko - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170286207A1 ## CPC - G06F 11/0793: {Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40)} - G06F 11/0709: {in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems} - G06F 11/0751: {Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06)} - G06F 11/0772: {Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers} - G06F 16/00: Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor - G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management - G06Q 10/103: {Workflow collaboration or project management} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract A method, apparatus and computer program product provide mechanisms for improved error handling in workflow management systems. An example of the method includes receiving a first content item in an electronic workflow management system, the first content item comprising an electronic document and a set of document metadata, validating the first content item to determine that an error exists within the first content item, the validation performed according to a set of validation rules, in response to determining that an error exists within the first content item, identifying the first content item as an erroneous content item, determining error metadata associated with the first content item, generating a packaged erroneous content item comprising the first content item and the error metadata, and processing the packaged erroneous content item by a workflow engine of the electronic workflow management system. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for providing improved error handling, the method comprising: receiving a first content item in an electronic content management system, the first content item comprising an electronic digital media item and a set of content metadata; validating the first content item, the validation performed according to a set of validation rules, wherein the validation determine that an error exists within the first content item; in response to determining that an error exists within the first content item, identifying the first content item as an erroneous content item; generating error metadata associated with the first content item; generating a packaged erroneous content item comprising the first content item and the error metadata; and processing the packaged erroneous content item by a workflow engine of the electronic content management system. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second content item; validating the second content item according to the set of validation rules; and in response to determining that the second content item passes validation, processing the second content item by the workflow engine of the electronic content management system. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein processing the packaged erroneous content item further comprises: generating an interface for receiving at least one edit to the set of document metadata; receiving, via the interface, the at least one edit to the set of document metadata; applying the edit to the first content item; validating the first content item again subsequent to applying the edit to the first content item; and processing the first content item by the workflow engine in response to successfully validating the first content item. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein processing the packaged erroneous content item further comprises: generating a task for correcting the first content item; and transmitting a notification of the task to at least one user. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, further comprising: receiving at least one correction to the first content item; validating the first content item subsequent to receiving the at least one correction; and deleting the task for correcting the first content item in response to successfully validating the first content item. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the error metadata comprises at least one of an indicator of a metadata field that failed validation, a batch processing identifier, a time at which the first content item was received. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein processing the packaged erroneous content item further comprises: determining that the error metadata of the packaged erroneous content item shares at least one common characteristic with at least one another packaged erroneous content item; grouping the packaged erroneous content item and the at least one another packaged erroneous content item in an error context; and generating a single task for correcting the packaged erroneous content item and the at least one another erroneous packaged content item. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an error type of the error; determining at least one remedial measure based on the error type; applying the remedial measure; and identifying the first content item as an erroneous content item in response to a failure of the remedial measure. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the remedial measure comprises: performing an optical character recognition operation on the electronic document; parsing the electronic document subsequent to the optical character recognition operation to identify one or more text terms; and determining whether the one or more identified text terms include at least one valid value for at least one field of the set of document metadata. ### Claim 10 An apparatus for providing improved error handling, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions that configure the processor to at least: receive a first content item in an electronic content management system, the first content item comprising an electronic digital media item and a set of content metadata; validate the first content item, the validation performed according to a set of validation rules, wherein the validation determine that an error exists within the first content item; in response to determining that an error exists within the first content item, identify the first content item as an erroneous content item; generate error metadata associated with the first content item; generate a packaged erroneous content item comprising the first content item and the error metadata; and process the packaged erroneous content item by a workflow engine of the electronic content management system. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, further configured to: receive a second content item; validate the second content item according to the set of validation rules; and in response to determining that the second content item passes validation, process the second content item by the workflow engine of the electronic content management system. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, further configured to process the packaged erroneous content item by at least: generating an interface for receiving at least one edit to the set of document metadata; receiving, via the interface, the at least one edit to the set of document metadata; applying the edit to the first content item; validating the first content item again subsequent to applying the edit to the first content item; and processing the first content item by the workflow engine in response to successfully validating the first content item. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, further configured to process the packaged erroneous content item by at least: generating a task for correcting the first content item; and transmitting a notification of the task to at least one user. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The apparatus of claim 13, further configured to: receive at least one correction to the first content item; validate the first content item subsequent to receiving the at least one correction; and delete the task for correcting the first content item in response to successfully validating the first content item. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the error metadata comprises at least one of an indicator of a metadata field that failed validation, a batch processing identifier, a time at which the first content item was received. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, further configured to process the packaged erroneous content item by at least: determining that the error metadata of the packaged erroneous content item shares at least one common characteristic with at least one another packaged erroneous content item; grouping the packaged erroneous content item and the at least one another packaged erroneous content item in an error context; and generating a single task for correcting the packaged erroneous content item and the at least one another erroneous packaged content item. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, further configured to: determine an error type of the error; determine at least one remedial measure based on the error type; apply the remedial measure; and identify the first content item as an erroneous content item in response to a failure of the remedial measure. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The apparatus of claim 17, further configured to perform the remedial measure by at least: performing an optical character recognition operation on the electronic document; parsing the electronic document subsequent to the optical character recognition operation to identify one or more text terms; and determining whether the one or more identified text terms include at least one valid value for at least one field of the set of document metadata. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to at least: receive a first content item in an electronic content management system, the first content item comprising an electronic digital media item and a set of content metadata; validate the first content item, the validation performed according to a set of validation rules, wherein the validation determine that an error exists within the first content item; in response to determining that an error exists within the first content item, identify the first content item as an erroneous content item; generate error metadata associated with the first content item; generate a packaged erroneous content item comprising the first content item and the error metadata; and process the packaged erroneous content item by a workflow engine of the electronic content management system. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions that configure the processor to: receive a second content item; validate the second content item according to the set of validation rules; and in response to determining that the second content item passes validation, process the second content item by the workflow engine of the electronic content management system.