Method and apparatus for managing and displaying user authorizations for a business process managed using a state machine

A system for managing business processes, the system comprising:

• a memory storing computer readable code;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to implement the computer readable code, wherein the computer readable code comprises instructions for:
• supporting a plurality of trading mechanisms for a plurality of organizations;
• defining a plurality of flow types for each of the plurality of trading mechanisms;
• defining one or more business processes for each of the plurality of flow types, each of the one or more business processes of each flow type including a start state and one or more transitions from the start state to one or more additional states, wherein each of the one or more transitions from the start state includes at least one associated control guard;
• and
• using the at least one control guard of each of the one or more transitions to restrict access of a user to the one or more additional states of the corresponding business process, wherein using the at least one control guard to restrict access includes referencing the at least one control guard in each of the one or more transitions from the start state of each of the one or more business processes of each flow type to determine an access ability of the user to access the trading mechanisms, the flow types, and the one or more business processes of each flow type, wherein the restricting access of the user is based on the determined access ability of the user, and wherein the access ability of the user is determined at least in part based on referencing data describing which particular ones of the trading mechanisms, the flow types, and the business processes are used and allowed by a particular organization to which the user belongs of the plurality of organizations.

A computer readable medium encoded with computer readable code for managing business processes, the computer readable code comprising instructions implemented by a computer system for:

• supporting a plurality of trading mechanisms for a plurality of organizations;
• defining a plurality of flow types for each of the plurality of trading mechanisms;
• defining one or more business processes for each of the plurality of flow types, each of the one or more business processes of each flow type including a start state and one or more transitions from the start state to one or more additional states, wherein each of the one or more transitions from the start state includes at least one associated control guard;
• and
• using the at least one control guard of each of the one or more transitions to restrict access of a user to the one or more additional states of the corresponding business process, wherein using the at least one control guard to restrict access includes referencing the at least one control guard in each of the one or more transitions from the start state of each of the one or more business processes of each flow type to determine an access ability of the user to access the trading mechanisms, the flow types, and the one or more business processes of each flow type, wherein the restricting access of the user is based on the determined access ability of the user, and wherein the access ability of the user is determined at least in part based on referencing data describing which particular ones of the trading mechanisms, the flow types, and the business processes are used and allowed by a particular organization to which the user belongs of the plurality of organizations.