Currently available business software solutions, such as for example enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, generally do not offer users a convenient mechanism to obtain an overview of or to even navigate through the multiple feature sets of such a system guided by a sequence of process steps, tasks, sub-processes, and the like necessary to complete a specific instance of a business process with which the user is associated (e.g. as a supervisor, party responsible for one or more tasks, etc.). Many users miss guidance and orientation, often they are not even aware that they are participating in a concrete process and, hence, can easily become disoriented lost in a feature-rich system. This inability to “see the forest for the trees” can hinder resolution of issues that might cause an instance of the business process to stall or otherwise deviate from a standard template for the business process. As used herein, the term “instance of a business process” and similar descriptive terminology is intended to refer to a specific execution of the business process. For example, for a business process relating to sale of a product, each order taken and filled for that product can be considered as an instance of the business process.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds