Methods for enterprise-level data and process access and presentation

• US 20070016557A1
• Filed: 07/13/2005
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Vogel, Andreas, Moore, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Presentation methods are determined from a work context and/or user preferences. The presentation methods can be combined in any manner with various navigational methods and working modes, to present any type of enterprise data to a user.

Claims

1. A method for presenting enterprise data, comprising:

determining a working mode associated with a software program selected for execution;

selecting a presentation paradigm with which to present an item of enterprise resource programming (ERP) data in a context of the software program, based at least in part on the determined working mode;

providing a navigation mechanism with which to access the item of ERP data; and

presenting the item of ERP data according to the selected presentation paradigm in the context of the software program in response to activation of the navigation mechanism.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the working mode is selected from the group consisting of:

exploration mode, monitor mode, search mode, detailed/decision making mode, process analysis mode, and reporting mode.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the presentation paradigm is selected from the group consisting of:

fish eye display, a project cockpit display, tabular display, chart form, relational diagram, audible voice, semantic network display, process simulation view, and process comparison view.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the item of ERP data is selected from the group consisting of:

master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, and a suggestion.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the presentation paradigm is selected from the group consisting of:

fish eye display, a project cockpit display, tabular display, chart form, relational diagram, audible voice, semantic network display, process simulation view, and process comparison view.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the item of ERP data is selected from the group consisting of:

master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, and a suggestion.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the item of ERP data is selected from the group consisting of:

master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, and a suggestion.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein determining the working mode comprises:

determining user preferences for a user executing the software program; and

determining the working mode based at least in part on the user preferences.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein determining the user preferences comprises:

providing a personalization dialog to the user to receive user input;

associating user preferences received from the personalization dialog with a working mode; and

storing the working mode and user preferences association.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein the software program comprises office productivity software, and wherein determining the working mode further comprises determining an environment of the office productivity software to determine the working mode.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein determining the environment of the office productivity software comprises determining a document type selected by the user for execution.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein determining the environment of the office productivity software comprises determining content of a document selected by the user for execution.

17. A method according to claim 1, wherein determining the working mode further comprises determining a level of relatedness data desired by the user.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the visualization paradigm based on the determined working mode comprises selecting a visualization paradigm associated with the determined working mode in a working mode association table.

19. A method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the visualization paradigm is further based at least in part on an amount of relatedness data associated with the determined working mode to present to the user.

20. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-accessible medium having content, which when accessed provides instructions to result in a machine performing operations including:

determining a working mode associated with a software operation;

selecting a presentation paradigm with which to present enterprise-level data in a context of the software operation, based at least in part on the determined working mode; and

providing a navigation method with which to access the item of ERP data; and

presenting at least an element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm in the context of the software operation in response to a triggering of the navigation method.

21. An article of manufacture according to claim 20, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in selecting the presentation paradigm based on the working mode comprises the content to provide instructions to result in selecting one of a fish eye display, project cockpit display, a tabular display, a chart form, a relational diagram, an audible voice, a semantic network display, a process simulation view, or a process comparison view, based on at least one of an exploration mode, a monitor mode, a search mode, a detailed/decision making mode, a process analysis mode, or a reporting mode.

22. An article of manufacture according to claim 21, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting one or more of master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, or a suggestion.

23. An article of manufacture according to claim 21, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in providing the navigation method comprises the content to provide instructions to result in providing one or more of a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, or a push event.

24. An article of manufacture according to claim 20, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting one or more of master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, or a suggestion, according to one of a fish eye display, a project cockpit display, a tabular display, a chart form, a relational diagram, an audible voice, a semantic network display, a process simulation view, or a process comparison view.

25. An article of manufacture according to claim 24, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in selecting the presentation paradigm based on the working mode comprises the content to provide instructions to result in selecting the presentation paradigm based on one of an exploration mode, a monitor mode, a search mode, a detailed mode, or a reporting mode.

26. An article of manufacture according to claim 24, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in providing the navigation method comprises the content to provide instructions to result in providing one or more of a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, or a push event.

27. An article of manufacture according to claim 20, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm in response to the triggering of the navigation method comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the enterprise-level data according to one of a fish eye display, a project cockpit display, a tabular display, a chart form, a relational diagram, an audible voice, a semantic network display, a process simulation view, or a process comparison view, in response to the triggering of one of a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, or a push event.

28. An article of manufacture according to claim 27, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in selecting the presentation paradigm based on the working mode comprises the content to provide instructions to result in selecting the presentation paradigm based on one of an exploration mode, a monitor mode, a search mode, a detailed mode, or a reporting mode.

29. An article of manufacture according to claim 27, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting one or more of master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, or a suggestion.

30. An article of manufacture according to claim 20, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of enterprise-level data with the presentation paradigm based on the working mode comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting one of master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, or a suggestion, based on one of an exploration mode, a monitor mode, a search mode, a detailed/decision making mode, a process analysis mode, or a reporting mode.

31. An article of manufacture according to claim 30, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of the enterprise-level data according to the selected presentation paradigm comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of enterprise-level data according to one of a fish eye display, a project cockpit display, a tabular display, a chart form, a relational diagram, an audible voice, a semantic network display, a process simulation view, or a process comparison view.

32. An article of manufacture according to claim 30, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in providing the navigation method comprises the content to provide instructions to result in providing one or more of a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, or a push event.

33. An article of manufacture according to claim 20, wherein the content to provide instructions to result in presenting the element of enterprise-level data with the presentation paradigm in response to the triggering of the navigation method comprises the content to provide instructions to result in presenting one of master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, or a suggestion, in response to the triggering of one of a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, or a push event.

34. A method for presenting data, comprising:

associating different types of visual representations with different software working environments;

monitoring a software program to determine which of the software working environments matches an environment of the software program, the software program to provide a navigation item to provide access to enterprise data; and

providing via the type of visual representation associated with the determined software working environment a visual representation of an item of enterprise resource programming (ERP) data accessed with the navigation item.

35. A method according to claim 34, further comprising:

determining an identity of a user executing the software program;

selecting the type of visual representation based at least in part on permissions associated with the user.

36. A method according to claim 34, further comprising:

associating a level of relatedness data with a software working environment;

wherein providing the item of ERP data via the visual representation includes providing a visual representation of an amount of relatedness data corresponding to the level of relatedness data associated with the determined software working environment.

37. A method according to claim 34, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the working mode is selected from the group consisting of:

exploration mode, monitor mode, search mode, detailed/decision making mode, process analysis mode, and reporting mode.

39. A method according to claim 37, wherein the presentation paradigm is selected from the group consisting of:

fish eye display, project cockpit display, tabular display, chart form, relational diagram, audible voice, semantic network display, process simulation view, and process comparison view.

40. A method according to claim 37, wherein the item of ERP data is selected from the group consisting of:

master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, and a suggestion.

41. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a machine to perform operations, including:

associating different types of visualizations with different software program environments;

monitoring a software program to determine which of the software working environments matches an environment of the software program, the software program to provide a navigation item to provide access to enterprise data; and

providing via the type of visualization associated with the determined software working environment a visualization of an item of enterprise resource programming (ERP) data accessed with the navigation item.

42. An article of manufacture according to claim 41, the medium further having instructions to cause the machine to perform instructions including:

associating a level of relatedness data with a software working environment;

wherein providing the item of ERP data via the visual representation includes providing a visual representation of an amount of relatedness data corresponding to the level of relatedness data associated with the determined software working environment.

43. An article of manufacture according to claim 41, wherein the navigation mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

a menu item, an action panel, a smart tag, an object link, a right-button mouse click, and a push event.

44. An article of manufacture according to claim 43, wherein the working mode is selected from the group consisting of:

exploration mode, monitor mode, search mode, detailed/decision making mode, process analysis mode, and reporting mode.

45. An article of manufacture according to claim 43, wherein the presentation paradigm is selected from the group consisting of:

fish eye display, project cockpit display, tabular display, chart form, relational diagram, audible voice, semantic network display, process simulation view, and process comparison view.

46. An article of manufacture according to claim 43, wherein the item of ERP data is selected from the group consisting of:

master data, process metadata, a smart form, an exception, an alert, a project event, a collaboration process, support data, and a suggestion.