US Patent 8229964 Ad hoc workflow

A collaboration system providing a guided procedure framework for handling business workflows which include non-persistent data. Data is copied from a business object linked to a database to a temporary business object that is independent from the database. Fields of a form are populated with data from the temporary business object. A workflow object including the populated form and guided procedures is provided to the user who initiated the workflow. After the user makes changes to the workflow and the data, the workflow object is relayed to a next recipient specified as having a task for the workflow. When all of the tasks necessary for the workflow are complete, data from the workflow object is integrated into the database.