US 11256708

Patent Overview — US11256708B2

Title: Method of creating process protocols

Patent number / application: US11256708B2; application US16/256,380

Inventors: Martin Klenk; Alexander Rinke

Assignee (as listed): Celonis SE

Key dates (as listed): Priority/filing date 2019-01-24; publication of application US20200242114A1 on 2020-07-30; grant/publication of US11256708B2 on 2022-02-22.

Purpose and plain-language scope (per the supplied text):
The invention "relates to a method of creating process protocols, wherein the data for which the process protocols are to be created, is stored in a distributed IT infrastructure, i.e., on different computer systems." The problem described is that real processes (business processes such as an order process, or technical processes such as a coating process) may span multiple computer systems, with each system storing only its own partial-process data. Analyzing each system separately is possible under the prior art, but "an analysis of the overall process, thereby, is not possible."

The described solution is a computer-implemented method, in a local computer system having a processor and a storage device, that:

• imports selected data tables from multiple external computer systems (e.g., a first and a second external system);
• reconstructs relationships between the imported tables, including determining the attributes by which tables relate (e.g., identical or similar attribute names such as "Customer" and "Customer Number"/"Customer No.");
• determines and selects a first data table meeting one or more conditions, and selects second data tables related to it;
• stores information about the selected second tables and their relationships to the first table; and
• creates an executable transformation in which data sets are read from the first and second tables using determined attributes and stored as a process protocol, where "each data set stored in the process protocol represents a process step (a process step represents an event of a process)" of a process executed across the external systems.

The data structure of the stored protocol is described as "predetermined" and comprising at least certain elements, but those elements are not included in the excerpt.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US11256708](/patent/US11256708)/en

What the excerpt does not establish:
The supplied text is an excerpt and omits the claims and much of the specification (the listed data-structure elements, conditions, and full step details are cut off). It therefore does not establish the exact claim scope, the full list of conditions or protocol fields, embodiments, or the complete prosecution history. Consistent with instructions, no litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or prior-art findings are addressed here.