Software system for managing information in context

• US 20060074726A1
• Filed: 09/13/2005
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Contextware Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Contextware Incorporated
• Inventors: Flank, Sharon, Forbes, David Ian, Austin, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A software system that uses the rigor and rules of business process automation to capture and structure organizational expertise, processes, and procedures—the non-automatable activities and actions of an organization—into a single, common, enterprise-wide, information framework. The capture function is engineered for usability and structured to reflect the patterns and semantics of business users rather than imposing software or process terminology. The produced framework generates a process-driven, centralized taxonomy of information and resources as business requirements are captured. The framework delivers users an organization-specific context to activities and information to be used for learning, training, reference, improvisation, collaboration, and operations. Said system has application in disseminating policies, procedures and compliance; business continuity; improved productivity and culture; training and learning; increasing the return on existing and requirements gathering for future IT investments; employee attrition, retention, and onboarding; capturing and managing knowledge and intellectual capital; and continuous improvement and process reengineering.

Claims

1. A method for use by an organization for learning, training, reference, testing, collaboration, project management, continuous improvement, compliance, or other business tasks, the method comprising the steps of:

using process logic to describe an organizational process;

defining a first taxonomy of processes based on the process logic, said taxonomy consisting of at least a hierarchical relationship of the is-a or a-kind-of type and containing at least six nodes;

defining a second taxonomy of business objects; and

using software, connecting the second taxonomy to the first taxonomy by relating the business objects to the processes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the business object taxonomy is used to categorize and reference specific instances of assets, the method comprising the steps of:

describing asset attributes and metadata, which may include but are not limited to, location, name, definition, format, and author; and

updating other mentions of the same asset whenever the first mention is updated.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein an object in the business object taxonomy relates to a first process and a second process, the method comprising the steps of:

relating the object to the first process;

relating the same object to the second process;

maintaining a view of the object separately as relating to the first process and the second process, but still managed as a single object; and

modifying the object'"'"'s attributes and metadata in tandem across the first and second process.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein recommendations are provided to a user textually and graphically using software, the method comprising the steps of:

providing hard rules (requirements);

providing soft rules (suggestions);

including but not limited to such techniques as the following;

alt-tags or title tags to provide help suggestions, tutorials, or prompts, when moused over or otherwise summoned; and

limiting field names to nouns, process names to verbs;

color, shape, quantity, length, and other factors that can all be enforced by the user interface.

5. The method of claim 1 where segments of a taxonomy are reused using software, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting an object from a taxonomy;

associating the object with a node of a process taxonomy;

the associated object is inherited by any sub-activities or sub-sub-activities of the selected process; and

an optional approval step, in which the object may be refined or eliminated.

6. The method of claim 1 in which taxonomy objects that might be similar (e.g. schoolchild, student), are identified using software, the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether their metadata match up; and

using the match-up information to clean up the taxonomy by removing or merging duplicates and linking similar objects.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the process or object taxonomies are edited, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a first node to be moved;

selecting a second node as a new root for the first node;

eliminating inherited attributes from the first node that were derived from its previous root(s);

inheriting attributes from the second node; and

preserving attributes that were associated with the first node that the first node passed on to its sub-nodes.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein attributes or metadata are extracted from a business object for use as a training set to relate similar objects.

9. The method of claim 2, where the business objects are used to achieve enterprise infrastructure integration (including, but not limited to, links to advertisements, business objects, libraries, and software).

10. The method of claim 3 in which there are more than two processes relating to the same object.

11. The method of claim 5, in which a textual or graphical user interface (GUI) for inheritance approval is used.

12. A method for use in retrieval, learning, interaction and collaboration using software, the method comprising the steps of:

navigating a process taxonomy;

selecting business objects within the context of the process taxonomy;

retrieving assets referenced by a business object taxonomy; and

performing at least one of the following actions;

reviewing and providing feedback on the process taxonomy;

adding to the business object taxonomy; and

modifying, sending or performing an action on the asset.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein a visual representation of a process is created in software without requiring explicit modeling from users.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein natural language is used as a mechanism for searching and navigating business process and objects by incorporating synonyms and related terms, or a taxonomy, to do a fuzzy match on the process terms.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein software is used for monitoring individual, group and organization effectiveness, by capturing information on who performs what processes, and on what objects are utilized.

16. The method of claim 12, for use in providing links in advertisements and for business intelligence.

17. A method for documenting, modeling, codifying, or capturing, a process, the method comprising the steps of:

using a Web browser;

employing textual or graphical means; and

imposing limitations on process incorporated into the user interface, using techniques including, but not limited to;

color,

semantics, including use of verb-noun syntax,

limiting or including recommendations limiting the number of steps, shape, or prompts to reuse existing business objects, or differentiate them explicitly from new ones, or

graphical or textual recommendations or prompts.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein process logic is used to develop an HTML graphical user interface in order to codify a business process using software.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein a graphical user interface is used for capturing IDEF or IDEF-like models, including, but not limited to, using HTML, said method burying the logic and rules and enabling the user to focus on the business, not the process methodology.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein graphical icons are used to capture repeating functionality into a logical set, so that the user can concentrate on the business text, for example, but not limited to, icons showing first name, middle name, and last name by darkening the corresponding first, middle, and last sections.