WO2012172079A1

WO2012172079A1 - A tool for designing a document flow process

Info

Publication number: WO2012172079A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/061506
Authority: WO
Inventors: Klaas Bals; Guy Dehond; Nick Hofstede
Original assignee: Inventive Designers Nv; Inventive Resourses Nv
Priority date: 2011-06-17
Filing date: 2012-06-15
Publication date: 2012-12-20
Also published as: EP2649572A1; BE1019809A3

Abstract

A tool (100) for designing a document flow process for composition of pages and production of documents from these pages, comprising: - a graphical user interface (101 ) enabling a user to link pictograms, each pictogram representing a step in the document flow process; - means for each step in the document flow process to share with a document flow transformation module (102) information indicative for required data by the step, produced data by the step, required data input format by the step, generated data output format by the step, scope of objects whereon the step is working, re-order restrictions imposed by the step, and side-effect indications associated with the step; and - a document flow transformation module (102) for automatically re-ordering the steps (201, 202, 203, 204; 301, 302, 303, 304; 401, 402) within restrictions (103) implied by data usage of the steps, thereby grouping similar steps and/or nearing steps passing data to each other.

Description

A TOOL FOR DESIGNING A DOCUMENT FLOW PROCESS

Field of the Invention

[01] The present invention generally relates to document flow processes, i.e. the processes implemented for generating communication documents in or between organizations for exchange of contracts, purchase orders, invoices, statements, shipping notes, etc. The invention more particularly concerns a user friendly tool for designing a process for composition of pages and production of documents from the pages with improved performance, i.e. with reduced execution time of the document flow and/or reduced usage of memory and processing resources for executing the document flow.

Background of the Invention

[02] Companies in every industry struggle to manage and distribute their documents in an efficient and personalized manner. Government authorities produce and distribute certificates, tax statements, vehicle registrations, regulatory or legislative reports, etc. Financial services desire to reach their customers through high quality, fully personalized account applications, mortgage and investment documents, financial plans, portfolio overviews and forecasts, campaign brochures, etc. Insurance companies automate and personalize the distribution of contracts, claim reports, quotes, bills, renewal notices, etc. In the retail and distribution sector, direct mailings, promotion coupons, purchase and sales orders, shipment notifications, etc. are formatted to interact with the customer in a manner and across channels matching the customers' preferences. This results in increased customer loyalty while reducing costs and time-to-market.

[03] Although existing tools for designing document flows offer some graphical user interface enabling users to link pictograms representing the different steps in a document flow, these state of the art tools are either not user friendly because they require the user to know and take into account intimate details about the processing, or inefficient in terms of execution performance: execution of document flows is time consuming and occupies excessive memory and processing resources.

[04] Apart from document flow processing tools which represent software or computer-implemented tools for automating the production process of large volumes of documents, it is well known that workflow management tools exist. Such a workflow management tool is for instance described in United States Patent Application US 2005/0198025 entitled "Management of Processes Based on Reference Information". A workflow management tool does not produce documents but produces a list of work-items, tasks or activities to be performed. Whereas it is an objective of the present invention to re-order the steps in a document production process for improved performance, it is usually not possible to re-order the tasks in a workflow because of the many implicit dependencies and requirements that typically aren't expressed in workflow systems. It is for instance not possible to approve a document before it is created. Re-ordering the tasks that are executed on documents in a workflow for reasons of performance or efficiency hence is typically not considered, and the person skilled in the art of designing document flow processes does not expect to find inspiration in the domain of workflow management systems. This is so because workflow management software is typically used to organize tasks on a higher level and does not concern the actual production process of documents.

[05] Apart from workflow management tools, also document management tools exist. Such document management tools assist in managing the lifecycle, storage and retrieval of documents, rather than the production of documents which is the subject of the current patent application.

[06] It is an objective of the present invention to disclose a tool for designing a document flow process that overcomes the above mentioned shortcomings of existing solutions. More particularly, it is an objective to define a tool for designing a document flow process with improved execution performance. Even if the document flow is composed intuitively by non-IT specialists using a graphical user interface, the resulting document flow will perform better in execution time and usage of memory and processing resources. Summary of the Invention

[07] According to the present invention, the above defined objectives are realized through a tool for designing a document flow process for composition of pages and production of documents from the pages as defined by claim 1 , the tool comprising:

- a graphical user interface enabling a user to link pictograms, each pictogram representing a step in the document flow process;

- means for each step in the document flow process to share with a document flow transformation module information indicative for required data by the step, produced data by the step, required data input format by the step, generated data output format by the step, scope of objects whereon the step is working, re-order restrictions imposed by the step, and side-effect indications associated with the step; and

- the document flow transformation module being adapted to automatically reorder the steps within restrictions implied by data usage of the steps, thereby grouping similar steps and/or nearing steps passing data to each other.

[08] Thus, the invention concerns a design tool for document flow processes wherein pages are composed and documents are produced from these pages. The tool has a graphical user interface or GUI that enables to graphically design and control the document flow process through drag and drop of linkable pictograms and arrows linking the pictograms. The pictograms typically visualize the required input format and the produced output of each step, as well as the behaviour as will be explained below. Thanks to the GUI, the document flow processes can be designed and altered conveniently and intuitively, without intervention of a technician or IT specialist. The tool according to the invention further has a transformation module that automatically transforms the document flow process to improve its execution performance. Within the restrictions imposed by the different steps and the inter- dependencies between the steps, the transformation module re-orders the steps. Similar steps like for instance different steps representing sort operations are brought together in the document flow process in such a way that these steps can be grouped into a single step and be executed as one thereby improving performance. When for instance multiple sort operations are combined, the required memory accesses for persisting data on disk are reduced, resulting in a faster execution of the entire document flow. Steps that pass information to each other also are brought closer together in the document flow process through the automated re-ordering in order to minimize the time interval during which information that is passed between these steps has to be memorized. This way, usage of memory and processing resources is reduced.

[09] The tool according to the current invention applies streaming. A step in other words is started as soon as a partial result of the previous step(s) is available. There is no need to wait until the previous step has finished all its work. As a result, the process resembles an automated assembly and optimization taking into account the dependencies of steps in the document flow process becomes meaningful.

[10] The different steps shall expose the data they need to the transformation module in order to enable the transformation module to re-order the steps in a manner wherein the information or data required for execution of each step is available when the steps are executed. The different steps shall also expose the data they generate to the transformation module. This way, the transformation module is enabled to re-order steps only in a manner where steps that generate information are executed prior to steps that use such information. A step that adds the zip code, client reference or page number to pages must for instance be executed prior to steps using that information. The different steps shall also expose the required data input format(s) to the transformation module in order to enable the transformation module to ensure that data are available in the proper format(s) for all steps when re- ordering the steps. Similarly, the steps shall expose the output format(s) of data to the transformation module. This way, the transformation module can make sure that steps generating data in a certain format are executed prior to steps requiring the data in that format. If a step requires more than one object, e.g. several pages or images, the step must expose its scope to the transformation module to avoid that the transformation module re-orders, splits, or duplicates steps in a way wherein execution becomes impossible or not idempotent because not all required objects are available at the time and in the correct order for the execution of a following step. A step shall also share information indicative for a re-order restriction, if any. Thus, even if a step does not require any particular input data or format as a result of which the transformation module may intend to re-order the step for performance reasons, re-ordering the step may be explicitly prevented by the creator of the step through an indication. A step that indicates that the document flow process has finished through a message on the screen, shall typically constitute that last step in the flow as constituted by the user. Such step may not be moved forward by the transformation module since it would prematurely indicate that the process is finalized. The restrictions implied by data usage of the step may comprise a side-effect indication of a step. Indeed, although a step does not read any data or produce any data as a result of which the transformation module may tend to delete the step from the process for performance reasons, it may not be allowed to remove such step from the document flow process. The creator of such step may indicate that the step is a side-effect step that cannot be deleted from the process.

[11] Optionally, as defined by claim 2, the document flow transformation module in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the present invention, is further adapted for:

- automatically duplicating at least one of the steps for parallel execution thereof on plural pages or plural documents. [12] Indeed, in addition to re-ordering the steps, the automated document flow transformation according to the invention may duplicate certain steps in order to reduce execution time thereof. In particular time consuming steps, like for instance the scaling and addition of an image to individual pages, may be a bottleneck in the document flow. Duplicating such steps in order to enable parallel execution thereof in different pages enables to reduce the overall execution time of the document flow significantly without affecting the process as perceived by the user. It is noticed that the transformation module must ensure that duplicated steps are not dependent upon each other, i.e. the duplicated step may not need information from pages other than the one it is treating, and the order of the pages must be maintained or re-established after parallel processing of the pages.

[13] Further optionally, as defined by claim 3, the document flow transformation module in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the present invention, may be adapted for: - automatically splitting at least one of the steps having predefined sub-steps.

[14] Thus, in addition to re-ordering steps and/or duplicating steps, the transformation module has the ability to split a step into sub-steps when such sub- steps are predefined by the user. Splitting a step into sub-steps may be useful if the sub-steps can be re-ordered and grouped with other steps for performance reasons, if a sub-step can be duplicated enabling performance increase through parallel processing, or if a sub-step can be deleted without impacting the overall document flow process. The transformation module in other words is knowledgeable on the concept of sub-steps that are predefined by the creator of a step. The transformation module uses the concept of sub-steps when further optimization of the execution time or usage of resources is obtainable.

[15] According to another optional aspect defined by claim 4, the document flow transformation module in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the current invention, is adapted for:

- automatically deleting at least one of the steps.

[16] Indeed, certain steps or sub-steps that have no impact on the result of the document flow process may be deleted automatically to improve efficiency in terms of execution time and resource usage. A step that counts the number of pages in a document may for instance be deleted from the document flow process, if the transformation module realizes that the generated information, i.e. the number of pages, is not used by any of the other steps in the process. In particular steps that operate on multiple objects, and forward these objects only to the next step in the document flow process when the last object is treated, may provide a significant gain in execution time when deleted from the process.

[17] Also optionally, as defined by claim 5, the document flow transformation module in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the current invention, may be adapted for:

- automatically inserting at least one step. [18] Inserting a step may be helpful to enable deletion of data or information that is no longer used, thereby freeing memory space. Insertion of a step may also be considered to facilitate re-ordering steps. [19] According to yet another optional aspect, defined by claim 6, the document flow transformation module in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the present invention, may be adapted for:

- automatically merging plural steps. [20] Thus, in addition to re-ordering steps, duplicating steps, splitting steps into sub-steps, inserting and/or deleting steps, the transformation module may automatically group or merge steps for more efficient execution thereof. Similar steps, like several sort operations may for instance be merged into a single sort step in order to reduce the number of times documents or pages need to be written to / read from disks. Such a merge of steps will improve the execution time of the document flow process. The generation of pages and production of documents from these pages may also be combined into a single step when there is no need for operations on individual pages. This way, the overhead of maintaining individual page information and the time/resources required for transferring the pages to/from disk shall be reduced.

[21] Optionally, as mentioned in claim 7, the pictograms in the tool for designing a document flow process according to the current invention are linkable through arrows and each one of the pictograms is adapted:

- to define and visualize a required input format of a step;

- to define and visualize a produced output format of the step;

- to define customizable properties and behaviour of the step via a separate window.

[22] The required input format or input data source is defined and visualized as part of the step pictogram, preferably near the incoming arrow. [23] The produced output format is defined and visualized, preferably near the start of the outgoing arrow.

[24] Visualizing the required input format and produced output format enables to better understand the document flow process since the type of data at the input and output of each step is indicated. While connecting the pictograms and arrows, a document flow script is automatically generated, enabling non-programmers to visualize and control the document flow process. [25] The pictograms further have customizable properties and behaviour, i.e. parameters and functionality that are configurable through a separate window.

[26] It is noticed that the concept of pluggable steps represented by pictograms that are connectable through arrows is known from business process modelling or BPM, a method to visualize graphically corporate business processes. Known BPM methods however do not specify or visualize required input formats and produced output formats for the different steps, neither does it specify the data that are left unused by the steps. [27] According to a further optional aspect of the document flow process according to the present invention, defined by claim 8, the produced documents may be paper documents and/or digital documents in different printer languages.

[28] In addition to a tool for designing a document flow process as defined by claim 1 , the present invention also relates to a corresponding method for designing a document flow process for composition of pages and production of documents from the pages, as defined by claim 9, the method comprising:

- linking via a graphical user interface pictograms, each pictogram representing a step in the document flow process;

- each step in the document flow process sharing with a document flow transformation module information indicative for required data by the step, produced data by the step, required data input format by the step, generated data output format by the step, scope of objects whereon the step is working, re-order restrictions imposed by the step, and side-effect indications associated with the step; and - transforming the document flow process by the document flow transformation module through automatically re-ordering the steps within restrictions implied by data usage of the steps, thereby grouping similar steps and/or nearing steps passing data to each other.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[29] Fig. 1 is a functional block scheme of a first embodiment of the tool for designing a document flow according to the present invention;

[30] Fig. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D illustrate a first scenario wherein the embodiment of Fig. 1 is used for designing a first document flow process; [31] Fig. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D illustrate a second scenario wherein the embodiment of Fig. 1 is used for designing a second document flow process; and

[32] Fig. 4A and 4B illustrate a third scenario wherein the embodiment of Fig. 1 is used for designing a third document flow process.

Detailed Description of Embodiment(s)

[33] Fig. 1 shows two components of a tool for designing a document flow process in accordance with the principles of the present invention: graphical user interface 101 or GUI, and transformation module 102 or TRANSFORM. The transformation module 102 contains a step re-ordering function 121 or RE-ORDER, a step duplicating function 122 or DUPLICATE, a step splitting function 123 or SPLIT, a step deleting function 124 or DELETE, a step inserting function 125 or INSERT, and a step merging function 126 or MERGE.

[34] The tool illustrated by Fig. 1 enables to compose pages, personalize the pages, produce documents from the pages and distribute the documents. [35] Composition of pages consists in designing and generating templates such as letters, reports, tables, intelligent electronic forms, etc. The intelligent e-forms are forms that run in any browser and enable interaction by allowing business users to modify the pages in their web browser.

[36] Personalization concerns advanced data and content integration in the page templates. This involves extracting variable data from a data source, e.g. person names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and inserting or using the information in the page templates in order to produce sophisticated, personalized pages.

[37] The production is done by a server that is able to simultaneously generate a high volume of documents in various formats. The documents may for instance be generated in PDF, PS, AFP, ZPL, PCL, RTF, TIFF, JPEG, SVG, PNG or even other formats.

[38] Distribution involves distributing the documents through the preferred channel, e.g. printed paper, e-archive, e-mail, fax, online web communication, etc. If a customer for instance provided an e-mail address, the system shall automatically detect it needs to send out a contract in pdf. When a customer only entered a street address, the contract will get printed and sent through postal mail. When the customer also provided his cell phone number, it becomes possible to send a text message announcing arrival of the contract. [39] The GUI 101 enables the user to design a document flow process through drag and drop of steps that are represented by pictograms linked through arrows. The pictograms enable a non-technician to fool-proof design a document flow process in an intuitive, user-friendly manner. [40] The steps that form part of the so generated document flow process 1 1 1 then share certain information 103 with the transformation module 102 in order to enable the transformation module 102 to transform the document flow process for more efficient execution thereof. The information 103 that is shared with the transformation module 102 entails required information by the different steps, produced information by the different steps, input formats required by the different steps, output formats generated by the different steps, scope of objects whereon each step is working, reorder restrictions imposed on certain steps, and/or side effect indications associated with certain steps. In Fig. 1 , these different types of information are named DATA REQUIRED, GENERATED DATA, DATA INPUT FORMAT, DATA OUTPUT FORMAT, SCOPE, RE-ORDER RESTRICTION, SIDE-EFFECT INDICATION. All or part of this information may be available and shared with the transformation module, a selection or combination of information that is the same or different for the various steps in a document flow process, and that may vary for different document flow processes. This information will be distributed to the different functions in the transformation module 102 in order to enable them to decide on the re-ordering of steps, duplication of steps, splitting into sub-steps, deletion of steps, insertion of steps and/or merging of steps. [41] Re-ordering steps will be decided by function 121 when similar steps like a sort operation based on name and a sort operation based on ZIP code can be brought together and grouped into a single step that is executed more efficiently, i.e. faster due to reduced memory accesses. Re-ordering of steps my also be decided by function 121 when dependent steps can be brought closer together in the document flow process. A dependent step uses information that is generated by another step (whereon it is dependent). In between execution of the step that generates the information and the step that uses the information, the information has to be memorized, thus occupying memory space and reducing available memory capacity for execution of other steps. By bringing dependent steps closer together, the time during which information has to be memorized is reduced. This reduces the overall memory usage, enabling faster execution of document flow processes and/or parallel execution of plural processes. An example could be a first step counting the number of pages in a document flow process, and a later step in the process inserting a picture on page 3 of a document and therefor requiring the information generated by the first step.

[42] Duplicating steps will be decided upon by function 122 when a rather slow step, like for instance the addition of a figure to each page, has to be executed on multiple objects. Through duplication of the step, the rather slow step can be executed in parallel on multiple objects, thereby substantially reducing the overall execution time of the document flow process. Typically, the order wherein the objects were residing prior to the duplicated step, will have to be re-established after the parallel execution of the duplicated step. Duplicating or multiplying a step for parallel execution on multiple objects hence may involve some overhead.

[43] Splitting steps will be decided upon by function 123 when the creator of the step has indicated that the step consists of sub-steps. Splitting steps into sub-steps may be useful when the sub-steps can be re-ordered to get closer to steps where they are dependent on or to be grouped/merged with other steps. Splitting also may be useful when a sub-step can be deleted from the document flow process or a sub- step can be duplicated for more efficient, parallel execution.

[44] Function 124 will decide upon deletion of steps that do not produce any useful information in the document flow process. A step that counts the number of pages in a document for instance can be deleted without impacting the document flow process when this information is not used elsewhere in the process.

[45] Function 125 shall decide upon the insertion of certain steps. A step that deletes certain information may for instance be inserted to optimize memory usage without impacting the overall process. Although an additional step is inserted in the process, the process may become faster executable by freeing memory space.

[46] Function 126 shall decide upon the merge of similar steps. The merge shall typically become possible as a result of re-ordering steps as performed by function 121 . Similar steps, like sort operations, can be merged into a single sort operation that is executed much faster and consequently positively contributes to the execution performance. [47] Fig. 2A shows a document flow that is composed using the drag and drop facilities of the GUI 101 . In a first step 201 pages are created. These pages are sorted on ZIP code in a second step 202. A barcode is added to each of the pages in step 203, and the pages are then sorted on customer ID in a fourth step 204. At last, the output documents are generated in step 205. [48] Each of the steps holds sufficient information enabling the transform module 102 to uncover the different dependencies. This is illustrated by Fig. 2 where arrow 21 1 indicates that the step 203 wherein barcodes are added to the pages need as input the pages that are generated in step 201 . Similarly, the step 204 sorting the pages on customer ID requires as input the pages generated by step 201 and sorted by ZIP code in step 202. This is indicated by respective arrows 212 and 213 in Fig. 2B. Step 205 generating the output documents needs as input the pages sorted on customer ID as sourced by step 204, and the information contained in the barcodes added by step 203. This is reflected in Fig. 2B by arrows 214 and 215.

[49] Taking into account the dependencies between the steps, the re-order function 121 can re-order the steps in order to bring the sorting steps 202 and 204 together. This is shown in Fig. 2C where the step 204 sorting the pages on customer ID and the step 203 adding barcodes to the pages are interchanged.

[50] Thanks to the re-ordering, the sorting steps 202 and 204 can be grouped into a single new step 206 that immediately sorts the pages on ZIP code and customer ID. This step is much more efficient in execution than the separate steps 202 and 204 because the pages have to be transferred only once to disk reducing the number of memory accesses and consequently the execution time of the entire document flow process substantially without impacting the overall effect of the document flow.

[51] The transformation module 102 according to the present invention hence transforms the document flow process of Fig. 2A into the equivalent document flow process of Fig. 2D that can be executed more efficiently, i.e. faster and with reduced usage of memory resources.

[52] Fig. 3A shows the steps of a second document flow that is created by drag and drop of pictograms in GUI 101 . In the first step 301 , data A is retrieved from pages. In a second step 302, the pages are sorted on data A. In the third step 303, data B is retrieved from the pages. In the fourth step 304, the pages are second-level sorted on data B. [53] Pages or documents may for instance be sorted and eventually grouped to optimize the distribution thereof. The documents may for instance be sorted by name, zip code, city, etc. and documents addressed to a single destination may for instance be grouped to be combined into a single envelope.

[54] The sorting may comprise sorting for optimal postal delivery. By sorting the documents on city name or zip code, the distribution through postal delivery will be optimized. [55] The sorting may alternatively or additionally comprise sorting for optimal imposition. Indeed, by sorting the documents or pages that will be printed on a single page, the generation of for instance booklets will be optimized.

[56] Fig. 3B shows that the different steps again contain sufficient information enabling the transformation module 102 to learn the interdependencies. Step 302 sorting the pages on data A is obviously dependent on step 301 retrieving data A in the pages. This is indicated by arrow 31 1 . Step 304 sorting the pages on data B needs as input the pages sorted on A as sourced by step 302, and data B as retrieved from the pages in step 303. This is indicated by respective arrows 312 and 313 in Fig. 3B.

[57] The re-ordering function 121 of transformation module 102 takes into account the dependencies reflected in Fig. 3B to re-order the steps. The re-ordering function changes the order of steps 302 and 303 in order to bring the similar steps 302 and 304 together. This results in the re-ordered document flow drawn in Fig. 3C.

[58] The sort operations of steps 302 and 304 now can be grouped and combined into a single new step 305 that immediately sorts the pages according to data A and data B. This single sort step 305 can be executed more efficiently than the two separate steps 302 and 304 because the data need to be transferred only once to disk reducing the execution time substantially. The transformation module 102 hence automatically transforms the document flow process of Fig. 3A, intuitively composed by the user, into the equivalent document flow process of Fig. 3D that performs better in execution. [59] Fig. 4A shows a third document flow that is composed using the GUI 101 of Fig. 1 . This third document flow contains a first step 401 wherein pages are created, a second step 402 wherein an image is added to the pages, and a third step 403 wherein output documents are generated from the pages. The second step 402 wherein images are added to the pages is a relatively slow step because the images need to be scaled in size before they can be added to the pages. This step obviously constitutes the bottleneck for the composed document flow.

[60] Assuming that the step 402 wherein the images are added to the pages does not use or require any additional information but the page that it is handling, the duplicate function 122 in transformation module 102 will realize that the document flow process can be made more efficient through parallel execution of step 402 on multiple pages. The duplicate function 122 therefore shall generate 3 copies of step 402, i.e. step 402A, 402B, and 402C. These copies of step 402 can handle different pages simultaneously. In order to divide the pages over the three steps 402A, 402B and 402C, the insertion function 125 shall insert a step 404 that routes the pages sourced by step 401 to the parallel steps 402A, 402B and 402C. Similarly, insertion function 125 shall insert step 405 to collect the pages with added image from the steps 402A, 402B, and 402C. Step 405 shall re-establish the correct order of the pages and pass the sorted pages to the output document creating step 403.

[61] Although two steps 404 and 405 have been inserted as a result of which the document flow process becomes more lengthy, transformation module 102 has turned the document flow process of Fig. 4A into a more efficient document flow process with higher throughput because the slow step 402 can be executed in parallel on multiple pages. The scaling of images and addition of images is spread over three steps that operate simultaneously on different pages, reducing the overall execution time of the document flow substantially without any other impact for the user.

[62] It is noticed that the tool for designing a document flow process according to the current invention may also comprise means to define post-processing of the generated documents. [63] The tool may for instance add barcodes to the documents specifying the postprocessing that needs to be applied. The post-processing may for instance comprise one or more of:

- enveloping the documents;

- binding the documents; and

- stitching the documents.

[64] Although this list is not exhaustive, common post processing actions are enveloping the documents addressed to a single destination, binding documents to generate booklets, and stitching together plural documents.

[65] Although the present invention has been illustrated by reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, and that the present invention may be embodied with various changes and modifications without departing from the scope thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. In other words, it is contemplated to cover any and all modifications, variations or equivalents that fall within the scope of the basic underlying principles and whose essential attributes are claimed in this patent application. It will furthermore be understood by the reader of this patent application that the words "comprising" or "comprise" do not exclude other elements or steps, that the words "a" or "an" do not exclude a plurality, and that a single element, such as a computer system, a processor, or another integrated unit may fulfil the functions of several means recited in the claims. Any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the respective claims concerned. The terms "first", "second", third", "a", "b", "c", and the like, when used in the description or in the claims are introduced to distinguish between similar elements or steps and are not necessarily describing a sequential or chronological order. Similarly, the terms "top", "bottom", "over", "under", and the like are introduced for descriptive purposes and not necessarily to denote relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and embodiments of the invention are capable of operating according to the present invention in other sequences, or in orientations different from the one(s) described or illustrated above.

Claims

1 . A tool (100) for designing a document flow process for composition of pages and production of documents from said pages, said tool (100) comprising:

- a graphical user interface (101 ) enabling a user to link pictograms, each pictogram representing a step in said document flow process;

- means for each step in said document flow process to share with a document flow transformation module (102) information indicative for required data by said step, produced data by said step, required data input format by said step, generated data output format by said step, scope of objects whereon said step is working, reorder restrictions imposed by said step, and side-effect indications associated with said step; and

- said document flow transformation module (102) being adapted to automatically re-order said steps (201 , 202, 203, 204; 301 , 302, 303, 304; 401 , 402) within restrictions (103) implied by data usage of said steps, thereby grouping similar steps (202, 204; 302, 304) and/or nearing steps passing data to each other.

2. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to claim 1 , wherein said document flow transformation module (102) is further adapted for:

- automatically duplicating at least one of said steps (402) for parallel execution thereof on plural pages or plural documents.

3. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said document flow transformation module (102) is further adapted for:

- automatically splitting at least one of said steps having predefined sub-steps.

4. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said document flow transformation module (102) is further adapted for:

- automatically deleting at least one of said steps.

5. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said document flow transformation module (102) is further adapted for:

- automatically inserting at least one step (404, 405).

6. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said document flow transformation module (102) is further adapted for:

- automatically merging plural steps (202, 204; 302, 304).

7. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said pictograms are linkable through arrows and each one of said pictograms is adapted:

- to define and visualize a required input format of a step;

- to define and visualize a produced output format of said step;

- to define customizable properties and behaviour of said step via a separate window.

8. A tool (100) for designing a document flow process according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said documents are paper documents and/or digital documents in different printer languages.

9. A method for designing a document flow process for composition of pages and production of documents from said pages, said method comprising:

- linking via a graphical user interface (101 ) pictograms, each pictogram representing a step in said document flow process;

- each step in said document flow process sharing with a document flow transformation module (102) information indicative for required data by said step, produced data by said step, required data input format by said step, generated data output format by said step, scope of objects whereon said step is working, re-order restrictions imposed by said step, and side-effect indications associated with said step; and

- transforming said document flow process by said document flow transformation module (102) through automatically re-ordering said steps (201 , 202, 203, 204; 301 , 302, 303, 304; 401 , 402) within restrictions (103) implied by data usage of said steps, thereby grouping similar steps (202, 204; 302, 304) and/or nearing steps passing data to each other.