System and method to track the status, physical location, and logical location of workflow objects in a workflow cycle

摘要

An invention for tracking the status, physical location, and logical location of a workflow object as an object of a particular process is created and progresses logically through the phases of associated with the lifecycle. The workflow object remains, at all times, physically stored in an object repository. Each workflow object has at least one embedded new technology file system (NTFS) tag, wherein the NTFS tag is extended as the workflow object progresses through the phases of a workflow cycle. The embedded and extended NTFS tags define a state of the object progressing through said phases of said workflow cycle. Such embedded and extended NTFS tags can be extracted to obtain properties, methods, and events associated with a requested object, and a GUI displays the extracted information indicating status, physical location, and logical location of one or more workflow objects in a workflow cycle.

主权项

1. A computer-based method when executed by a computer tracks a status, physical location, and logical location of one or more digital workflow objects in a workflow cycle, said workflow cycle comprising a plurality of phases, said one or more digital workflow objects stored in an object repository, said computer-based method comprising the following steps as executed by said computer:
(a) identifying a digital workflow object of the one or more digital workflow objects in said object repository to be tracked; (b) identifying an existing embedded tag associated with said identified digital workflow object, said existing embedded tag storing properties defining where said identified digital workflow object belongs within a physical storage hierarchy of a file system; (c) extending said existing embedded tag via an extended tag where said extended tag does not store where said identified digital workflow object belongs within said physical storage hierarchy of said file system, but stores workflow properties, methods and events associated with said identified digital workflow object progressing through said plurality of phases of said workflow cycle; (d) receiving a request for a state of said identified digital workflow object in said object repository; (e) extracting said workflow properties, methods, and events associated with said identified digital workflow object; and (f) outputting said status, physical and logical location of said identified digital workflow object based on said extracted workflow properties, methods and events stored in said extended tag of said identified digital workflow object.