Project time and expense

• US 20050203760A1
• Filed: 03/15/2004
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gottumukkala, Ramakanthachary S., Liu, Zhongming, Saadat, Kamran, Forney, Michael Kent, Tolgu, Karl E.A., Dennis, David Michael, Rethy, Victor S.
• Application Number:
  US10/801,198
• Publication Number:
  US 20050203760A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1091 Recording time for administrative or management purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/125 Finance or payroll

Abstract

A system for capturing time and expense information over a network and for processing the information into a project accounting system has a project accounting system adapted to store time and expense data associated with a project. A user interface provides a form accessible over a network by a user via a browser. The form comprises fields for data entry by the user and a button for electronic submission of the form. A services API is adapted to invoke transactions with the project accounting system based on data contained in the submitted form.

Claims

1. A system for capturing cost information over a network and for processing the information into a project accounting system, the system comprising:

a project accounting system adapted to store time and expense data associated with a project;

a user interface provided as a form accessible over a network by a user via a browser, the form comprising fields for data entry by the user and a button for electronic submission of the form; and

a services API adapted to invoke transactions with the project accounting system based on data contained in the submitted form.

2. The system of claim 1 and further comprising:

a server adapted to host the forms and to serve the forms to users according to business rules written in managed code.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the server is an active server page server and wherein the forms are active server page forms.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the web-based forms contain calls to the services API.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the web server is a Microsoft Business Solutions Business Portal.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the services API is called using .NET Web services.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the services API is called using remoting.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the web forms further comprise:

embedded services API calls adapted to invoke business rules for processing data contained within the submitted web-based form.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the project accounting system is a Great Plains Project Accounting system.

10. A method of capturing time and expense data into an accounting database via forms, the method comprising:

hosting forms on a server, each form being accessible to a user over a network via a browser and each form comprising;

data fields for user data entry;

an object adapted to submit the form when completed by the user; and

embedded server controls adapted to invoke business rules upon submission by the user, the business rules being written in managed code; and

processing submitted forms with a services API according to the invoked business rules;

wherein the services API associates data contained in the submitted forms to entities in the accounting database.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the managed code is written to a common language runtime environment.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of hosting comprises:

storing a plurality of web forms on a web server wherein at least one of the plurality of web forms is a timesheet form; and

providing at least one of the plurality of forms to the user over the network for display within a window of the Internet browser.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of processing comprises:

processing data contained in the submitted form according to the business rules; and

interacting with the accounting database according to the processed data and the business rules.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of interacting comprises:

storing data in the accounting database.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of interacting comprises:

querying the accounting database according to the processed data.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of querying returns a value for display in a form within a window of the browser.

17. A system for capturing time and expense information over a network and for processing the information into an accounting system, the system comprising:

an accounting system adapted to store time and expense information;

a plurality of web part forms adapted for user input over a network via a browser; and

a services API adapted to implement and sequence business rules written in managed code to process the user input into the accounting system.

18. The system of claim 17 and further comprising:

a server adapted to host the plurality of web part forms and to serve the forms to users on request.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the services API invokes transactions with the accounting system.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the business rules comprise steps in an approval process.