System and method for obtaining information from a data management system

• US 20060095415A1
• Filed: 05/09/2005
• Published: 05/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sattler, Juergen, Gaffga, Joachim
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation

Abstract

A system and method are provided for obtaining information from a data management system. The data management system may determine if information from the data management was requested and, if so, may locate a data object containing the requested information and read the requested information from this data object, compile a response to the request with the requested information, and transmit the response to the requestor without an online connection being established between the requestor and the data management system. In some embodiments, a request to provide a user with updates to identified information may be received. A determination may be made whether an event occurs triggering the update of this information and, if so, the updated information may then be read from a data object and transmitted from the data management system to the user without an online connection being established between the user and the data management system. In some embodiments, a request may be received from a user of a groupware application program subscribing to updates of identified information and, if the user later performs an action in the groupware application that triggers a request for an update of the identified information, a request for an update of the identified information may be transmitted from the groupware application to a data management system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a data management system a request for information from a requester, the request comprising a form that comprises identifying information for identifying an item of information requested;

automatically determining at the data management system from the received request whether the request is requesting information from the data management system and, if so, automatically performing the following;

extracting the identifying information from the request form;

locating a data object at the data management system that contains the requested information based on the extracted identifying information;

reading the requested information from the located data object;

compiling a response to the request that comprises the requested information; and

transmitting the response from the data management system to the requester without an online connection being established between the requester and the data management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request form is a document in a word processor format.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received at the data management system as an email message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the response is transmitted to the requestor as an email message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the responsive email message comprises an attached document in Portable Document Format that includes the requested information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request form specifies a communication method for the transmission of a response.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request form requests that an update of the identified information be transmitted to the requestor if the corresponding data object is updated by the data management system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that the data object that contains the requested information is being updated at the data management system with updated information;

compiling an update response that comprises updated information from the updated data object; and

transmitting the update response to the requestor without an online connection being established between the requestor and the data management system.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a request at a data management system to provide a user with updates to identified information;

determining whether an event has occurred to trigger such an update of the identified information and, if so, performing the following;

locating a data object at the data management system that contains the information to be updated;

reading the information to be updated from the located data object; and

transmitting a message comprising the updated information from the data management system to the user without an online connection being established between the user and the data management system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a change in the value of the information in the data management system data object that contains the identified information is an event that triggers an update to the identified information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the user logging on or off from a groupware server is an event that triggers an update to the identified information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein a lapse of a certain time interval is an event that triggers an update to the identified information.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the message comprising the updated information is transmitted to the user as a facsimile.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the request to provide the user with updates to the identified information is received at a data management system as part of an online communication between the user and the data management system.

15. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user of a groupware application program executing on a first computer system requesting a subscription to updates of identified information that is stored in a data object at a data management system;

determining at the first computer system whether the user has performed an action in the groupware application program that triggers a request for an update of the identified information and, if so, performing the following;

transmitting a request from the first computer system to the data management system requesting an update of the identified information; and

receiving a response from the data management system comprising an update to the identified information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein opening a context link to the identified information in the groupware application program is an action that triggers a request for an update.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the groupware application program maintains a plurality of contact information records, and wherein opening a contact information record that contains the identified information is an action that triggers a request for an update.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the request for an update of the identified information is transmitted to the data management system as an email message, and wherein the response from the data management system with the update to the identified information is received from the data management system as an email message.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the request for an update of the identified information is transmitted as an online communication between the first computer system and the data management system.