Method and system for object-oriented workflow management of multi-dimensional data

• US 20050114243A1
• Filed: 07/19/2004
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Serena Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Pacific Edge Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Kelkar, Suhas, Hill, Jeff, Kreal, Vorun, Scumniotales, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing and analyzing multi-dimensional data are provided. Example embodiments provide a Meta-Object Data Management System “MODMS,” which enables users to arrange and to rearrange the hierarchical relationships of the data on an ad-hoc basis and allows the data to be analyzed using any set of attributes (dimensions) while the system is running. The MODMS represents heterogeneous data in a normalized (standardized) fashion using an object type management system that allows the coercion of one type of object into another different type of object and automatically resolves attribute dependencies. The MODMS supports object transitions for transforming an object from one type to another based upon meeting a defined set of criteria and subject to approval by designated entities. In one embodiment, the MODMS is used to implement an enterprise portfolio management system.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for managing a plurality of types of enterprise portfolio data as investment items, each investment item having an investment type and associated with a transition from a source investment type to a destination investment type, comprising:

presenting on a presentation device associated with the computer system a representation of a one of the investment items including a representation of the associated transition;

receiving an indication to perform the associated transition to transform the one of the investment items from the source investment type to the destination investment type; and

transparently performing the indicated transition to transform the one of the investment items to the destination investment type such that the one of the investment items now appears as the destination type of investment item.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the source investment type is the same as the destination investment type and the transition associated with the one of the investment items specifies a target location, and wherein the transparently performing the indicated transition to transform the one of the investment items to the destination investment type comprises moving the one of the investment items to the specified target location.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the source investment type is different than the destination investment type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving approval of the transition from at least one entity prior to transparently performing the transition of the one of the investment items to the destination investment type.

5. The method claim 4 wherein the receiving approval of the transition from at least one entity, further comprises:

when a list of entities needing to approve the transition is associated with the transition, notifying entities specified by the list to request approval of the transition; and

receiving responses from the notified entities that the transition is approved.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein responses need to be received from all of the notified entities before the transition is approved.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein responses need to be received from a subset of the entities specified by the list before the transition is approved.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the entities specified by the list to request approval are notified sequentially.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the receiving approval of the transition from at least one entity further comprises receiving approval from at least one entity identified by a security role.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the transition is associated with at least one criterion to be evaluated;

when it is determined that the transition is associated with at least one criterion to be evaluated, evaluating the criterion prior to performing the transition.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the evaluating the criterion prior to performing the transition determines whether to permit initiation of the transition.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the evaluating the criterion to prior to transparently performing the transition further comprises:

evaluating the criterion to determine if the criterion is met, and, when the evaluated criterion is met, indicating that the potential transition is available to be initiated.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

when the evaluated criterion is not met, preventing the transition from being initiated.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one criterion comprises a Boolean expression to be evaluated.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one criterion specifies a comparison of a value of an attribute of the investment item to another value.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one criterion specifies a comparison between at least two attributes of the investment item.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the presenting the representation of the one of the investment items including the representation of the transition further comprises:

presenting a transition path having an indication of a source investment type and a destination investment type.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the presenting the transition path further comprises an indication of any criteria to be met before initiation of the transition is permitted.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the presenting the transition path further comprises an indication of whether there is a list of entities to approve the transition and whether the transition has been approved.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving the transitioned investment item to a different location in a containment hierarchy associated with the enterprise portfolio data.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the investment items are at least two of financial investments, project management, collections of projects, products, programs, assets, human resources, portfolios, initiatives, applications, operations, processes, and activities.

22. The method of claim 1, the enterprise portfolio data comprising at least two of engineering, marketing, product management, manufacturing, sales, information technology, finance, human resources, research, development, and professional services portfolios.

23. A memory medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor to manage a plurality of types of enterprise portfolio data as investment items, each investment item having an investment type and associated with a transition from a source investment type to a destination investment type, by:

presenting a representation of a one of the investment items including a representation of the potential transition on a presentation device associated with the computer system;

receiving an indication to perform the transition to transform the one of the investment items from the source investment type to the destination investment type; and

transparently performing the transition of the one of the investment items to the destination investment type such that the one of the investment items now appears as the destination type of investment item.

24. The memory medium of claim 23 wherein the source investment type is the same as the destination investment type and the transition associated with the one of the investment items specifies a target location, and wherein the instructions further control the computer processor by moving the one of the investment items to the specified target location.

25. The memory medium of claim 23 wherein the source investment type is different than the destination investment type.

26. The memory medium of claim 23, further containing instructions that control the computer processor to receive approval of the transition from at least one entity prior to performing the transition of the one of the investment items to the destination investment type.

27. The memory medium claim 26 further containing instructions that control the computer processor to notify a plurality of entities specified by a list to request approval of the transition.

28. The memory medium of claim 27 further containing instructions that control the computer processor to perform the transition only after approval is received from the at least one entity.

29. The memory medium of claim 23 further containing instructions that control the computer processor by:

determining whether the transition is associated with at least one criterion to be evaluated;

when it is determined that the transition is associated with at least one criterion to be evaluated, evaluating the criterion prior to performing the transition.

30. The memory medium of claim 29 wherein the at least one criterion is evaluated to determine whether to permit initiation of the transition.

31. The memory medium of claim 29 wherein, when the evaluated criterion is met, indicating that the potential transition is available to be initiated, and when the evaluated criteria is not met, indicating that the potential transition is not available to be initiated.

32. The memory medium of claim 29 wherein the at least one criterion comprises a Boolean expression to be evaluated.

33. The memory medium of claim 29 wherein the at least one criterion specifies a comparison of a value of an attribute of the investment item to another value.

34. The memory medium of claim 23 wherein the presented representation of the transition comprises a transition path having an indication of a source investment type and a destination investment type.

35. The memory medium of claim 34 wherein the transition path further comprises an indication of any criteria to be met before initiation of the transition is permitted.

36. The memory medium of claim 34 wherein the transition path further comprises an indication of whether the transition has been approved.

37. The memory medium of claim 23, further containing instructions that control the computer processor by:

moving the transitioned investment item to a different location in a containment hierarchy associated with the enterprise portfolio data.

38. A computer-implemented portfolio management system, comprising:

a plurality of investment items of an organization displayed in a portfolio containment hierarchy, each item having an investment type and associated with a transition from a source investment type to a destination investment type;

a portfolio management component that is structured to

display a representation of a one of the investment items including a representation of the transition associated with the one of the investment items on a display device;

receive an indication to perform the transition to transform the one of the investment items from the source investment type to the destination investment type; and

as a result of the received indication, transition the one of the investment items to the destination investment type such that the one of the investment items now appears on the display as the destination type of investment item.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the source investment type is the same as the destination investment type and the transition associated with the one of the investment items specifies a target location, and wherein the portfolio management component is further structured to move the one of the investment items to the specified target location.

40. The system of claim 38 wherein the source investment type is different than the destination investment type.

41. The system of claim 38 wherein the portfolio management component is further structured to:

receive approval of the transition from at least one entity prior to transitioning the one of the investment items to the destination investment type.

42. The system claim 41 wherein a list of entities that need to approve the transition is associated with the transition and wherein the portfolio management component is structured to notify the entities specified by the list to request approval of the transition and to receive responses from the notified entities.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the entities specified by the list are notified sequentially.

44. The system of claim 41 wherein the at least one entity is identified by a security role.

45. The system of claim 38 wherein the portfolio management component is further structured to:

determine whether the transition is associated with a set of criteria; and

when it is determined that the transition is associated with the set of criteria, evaluate the criteria prior to transitioning the one of the investment items.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the criteria is evaluated to determine whether to permit initiation of the transition.

47. The system of claim 45 wherein when the evaluation indicates that the criteria has been met, indicating that the potential transition is available to be initiated.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein when the evaluation indicates that the criteria has not been met, preventing the transition from being initiated.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the criteria comprises at least one Boolean expression to be evaluated.

50. The system of claim 45 wherein the criteria specifies a comparison between a value of an attribute of the investment item and another value.

51. The system of claim 45 wherein the criteria specifies a comparison between at least two attributes of the investment item.

52. The system of claim 38 wherein the displayed representation of the transition associated with the one of the investment items displays a transition path that indicates a source investment type and a destination investment type.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein the displayed transition path indicates any criteria to be met before initiation of the transition is permitted.

54. The system of claim 52 wherein the displayed transition path indicates whether there is a list of entities to approve the transition and whether the transition has been approved.

55. The system of claim 38 wherein the portfolio management component is further structured to:

move the transitioned investment item to a different location in the containment hierarchy.

56. A method in a computer system for managing a plurality of types of enterprise portfolio data, the portfolio data having a plurality of investment items, the computer system defining an object type to correspond to each type of investment item, comprising:

for each investment item, instantiating an object as an instance of the object type that corresponds to the type of the investment item, wherein at least two of the instantiated objects have different object types;

receiving an indication to transition one of the investment items of a first type of investment item into a second type of investment item; and

transforming the instantiated object of a first object type that corresponds to the one of the investment items into a second object type that corresponds to the second type of investment item to effectuate the transition of the one of the investment items into the second type of investment item.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the transforming is performed without recompiling code or instantiating a new object.

58. The method of claim 56 wherein the transforming is performed while representations of the enterprise portfolio data including the one of the investment items are displayed on a display screen of the computer system.

59. The method of claim 56, each object type defining a plurality of attributes, and the instantiated object containing a plurality of attributes whose values are set based upon data associated with the one of the investment items, wherein the transforming is performed by adjusting the attributes of the instantiated object to correspond to the attributes defined for the second object type.

60. The method of claim 59 wherein additional attributes are added to the instantiated object.

61. The method of claim 59 wherein attributes are removed from the instantiated object.

62. The method of claim 56 wherein the transforming the instantiated object of a first object type that corresponds to the one of the investment items into a second object type that corresponds to the second type of investment item is performed after at least one criterion has been met.

63. The method of claim 56 wherein the criterion specifies a comparison of a value of an attribute of the instantiated object to another value.

64. The method of claim 56 wherein the criterion specifies a comparison between at least two attributes of the instantiated object.

65. The method of claim 56 wherein the transforming the instantiated object of a first object type that corresponds to the one of the investment items into a second object type that corresponds to the second type of investment item is performed when at least one entity on an approval list has approved the transition.

66. The method of claim 56 wherein the at least one entity on the approval list is notified by email to request approval of the transition.

67. The method of claim 56 wherein the approval list comprises a plurality of entities defined by at least one security role.

68. The method of claim 56 wherein at least one of the investment items is a financial investment item that reflects financial investment data and at least another one of the investment items is a project management item that reflects project related data.

69. A memory medium that contains instructions for controlling a computer process to manage a plurality of types of enterprise portfolio data, the portfolio data having a plurality of investment items, by:

for each investment item, instantiating an object as an instance of the object type that corresponds to the type of the investment item, wherein at least two of the instantiated objects have different object types;

receiving an indication to transition one of the investment items of a first type of investment item into a second type of investment item; and

transforming the instantiated object of a first object type that corresponds to the one of the investment items into a second object type that corresponds to the second type of investment item to effectuate the transition of the one of the investment items into the second type of investment item.

70. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the transforming is performed without recompiling code or instantiating a new object.

71. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the transforming is performed by adjusting a plurality of attributes of the instantiated object to correspond to attributes defined for the second object type.

72. The memory medium of claim 71 wherein additional attributes are added to the instantiated object.

73. The memory medium of claim 71 wherein attributes are removed from the instantiated object.

74. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the transforming is performed after evaluating criteria associated with the transition and determining that the criteria has been met.

75. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the criteria specifies an expression to be evaluated.

76. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the transforming is performed when at least one entity on an approval list has approved the transition.

77. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the at least one entity on the approval list is notified by email to request approval of the transition.

78. The memory medium of claim 69 wherein the approval list comprises a plurality of entities defined by at least one security role.

79. A computer system for managing a plurality of types of enterprise portfolio data, the portfolio data having a plurality of investment items, comprising:

an object type management system that contains an object type that corresponds to each type of investment item; and

an investment item management system that is structure to;

for each investment item, instantiate an object as an instance of the object type that corresponds to the type of the investment item, wherein at least two of the instantiated objects have different object types;

receive an indication to transition one of the investment items of a first type of investment item into a second type of investment item; and

transform the instantiated object of a first object type that corresponds to the one of the investment items into a second object type that corresponds to the second type of investment item.

80. The system of claim 79 wherein the transformation is performed without recompiling code or instantiating a new object.

81. The system of claim 79 wherein the transformation is performed while representations of the enterprise portfolio data including the one of the investment items are displayed on a display screen of the computer system.

82. The system of claim 79 wherein the transformation is performed by adjusting a plurality of attributes of the instantiated object to correspond to attributes defined for the second object type.

83. The system of claim 82 wherein additional attributes are added to the instantiated object.

84. The system of claim 82 wherein attributes are removed from the instantiated object.

85. The system of claim 79 wherein the transformation is performed after evaluating criteria associated with the transition and determining that the criteria has been met.

86. The system of claim 79 wherein the criteria specifies Boolean expressions to be evaluated.

87. The system of claim 79 wherein the transformation is performed when at least one entity on an approval list has approved the transition.

88. The system of claim 79 wherein the at least one entity on the approval list is notified by email to request approval of the transition.

89. The system of claim 79 wherein the approval list comprises a plurality of entities defined by at least one security role.