Multiple stakeholders for a single business process

• US 20060074915A1
• Filed: 12/15/2004
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: GrandCentral Communications Incorporated (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dewey, Michael K., Bhandarkar, Mangesh P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,645,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for providing a customized representation of a business process involving one or more organizational entities that are accessible through a network. A user interface that can display a customized representation of a business process is provided. User information, including user privileges associated with the business process, is stored in a central repository that is accessible through the network. A request to view the business process is received from a first user through the user interface. The user privileges for the first user are retrieved from the central repository. A customized representation of the business process is displayed with the user interface. The customized representation is in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the first user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a customized representation of a business process involving one or more organizational entities that are accessible through a network, the method comprising:

providing a user interface operable to display a customized representation of a business process;

storing user information, including user privileges associated with the business process, in a central repository that is accessible through the network;

receiving a request from a first user through the user interface to view the business process;

retrieving the user privileges for the first user from the central repository; and

displaying with the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first user through the user interface to modify the business process;

performing the modification of the business process when the requested modification complies with the retrieved user privileges; and

denying the modification of the business process when the requested modification does not comply with the retrieved user privileges.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is associated with a role and the role has an associated set of user privileges.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the role represents one of:

an individual user, and an organizational entity including two or more individual users.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the role is one of:

a business analyst role, a developer role, an information technology professional role, a quality assurance tester role, a security or business auditor role, and a performance analyst role.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a second user through the user interface to view the business process, the second user collaborating with the first user with respect to the business process;

retrieving the user privileges for the second user from the central repository, the user privileges for the second user being different from the user privileges for the fist user; and

displaying by the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the second user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user privileges include privileges to do one or more of:

creating a new business process, viewing an existing business process, modifying an existing business process, importing elements of one business process into another business process, copying elements from one business process into another business process, and viewing reports generated by the business process.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the business process is defined in an extended markup language.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein storing user information includes:

storing user privileges for a user in a privilege storage area of the central repository, the privilege storage area being associated with a user account for the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user'"'"'s privilege storage area includes one or more sets of user privileges, each set of user privileges corresponding to a particular business process.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the business process includes a description of what types of user privileges are needed in order to view the business process.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is an interoperability network including functionality for routing messages through the interoperability network, and functionality for mediating differences in communication protocol formats between users, services, and computer applications involved in the business process.

13. A computer program product, stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a computer to:

providing a user interface operable to display a customized representation of a business process;

storing user information, including user privileges associated with the business process, in a central repository that is accessible through the network;

receiving a request from a first user through the user interface to view the business process;

retrieving the user privileges for the first user from the central repository; and

displaying with the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the first user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first user through the user interface to modify the business process;

performing the modification of the business process when the requested modification complies with the retrieved user privileges; and

denying the modification of the business process when the requested modification does not comply with the retrieved user privileges.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first user is associated with a role and the role has an associated set of user privileges.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the role represents one of:

an individual user, and an organizational entity including two or more individual users.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the role is one of:

a business analyst role, a developer role, an information technology professional role, a quality assurance tester role, a security or business auditor role, and a performance analyst role.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request from a second user through the user interface to view the business process, the second user collaborating with the first user with respect to the business process;

retrieving the user privileges for the second user from the central repository, the user privileges for the second user being different from the user privileges for the fist user; and

displaying by the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the second user.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the user privileges include privileges to do one or more of:

creating a new business process, viewing an existing business process, modifying an existing business process, importing elements of one business process into another business process, copying elements from one business process into another business process, and viewing reports generated by the business process.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the business process is defined in an extended markup language.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein storing user information includes:

storing user privileges for a user in a privilege storage area of the central repository, the privilege storage area being associated with a user account for the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user'"'"'s privilege storage area includes one or more sets of user privileges, each set of user privileges corresponding to a particular business process.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the business process includes a description of what types of user privileges are needed in order to view the business process.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the network is an interoperability network including functionality for routing messages through the interoperability network, and functionality for mediating differences in communication protocol formats between users, services, and computer applications involved in the business process.

25. A system for providing a customized representation of a business process involving one or more organizational entities that are accessible through a network, the system comprising:

a network connecting a plurality of network nodes, each network node being associated with an organizational entity and representing one or more of;

a user, a service, and a computer application;

a central repository that is accessible through the network and operable to store user information, including user privileges associated with the business process; and

a process design application running at one of the network nodes, the process design application being operable to;

provide a user interface for displaying a customized representation of a business process;

receive a request from a first user through the user interface to view the business process;

retrieve the user privileges for the first user from the central repository; and

display with the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the first user.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the process design application further is operable to:

receive a request from the first user through the user interface to modify the business process;

perform the modification of the business process when the requested modification complies with the retrieved user privileges; and

deny the modification of the business process when the requested modification does not comply with the retrieved user privileges.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the central repository further includes a set of roles, each user being associated with a role and each role being associated with a set of user privileges.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein a role represents one of:

an individual user, and an organizational entity including two or more individual users.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the role is one of:

a business analyst role, a developer role, an information technology professional role, a quality assurance tester role, a security or business auditor role, and a performance analyst role.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the process design application is further operable to:

receive a request from a second user through the user interface to view the business process, the second user collaborating with the first user with respect to the business process;

retrieve the user privileges for the second user from the central repository, the user privileges for the second user being different from the user privileges for the fist user; and

display with the user interface a customized representation of the business process, the customized representation being in compliance with the retrieved user privileges for the second user.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the user privileges include privileges to do one or more of:

creating a new business process, viewing an existing business process, modifying an existing business process, importing elements of one business process into another business process, copying elements from one business process into another business process, and viewing reports generated by the business process.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the business process is defined in an extended markup language.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the central repository includes:

a privilege storage area for storing user privileges for a user, the privilege storage area being associated with a user account for the user.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the user'"'"'s privilege storage area includes one or more sets of user privileges, each set of user privileges corresponding to a particular business process.

35. The system of claim 25, wherein the business process includes a description of what types of user privileges are needed in order to view the business process.

36. The system of claim 25, wherein the network is an interoperability network including functionality for routing messages through the interoperability network, and functionality for mediating differences in communication protocol formats between users, services, and computer applications involved in the business process.