Data ecosystem awareness

• US 20070130182A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Forney, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Information pertaining to human interactions with multiple data systems is collected. At least one of the human interactions occurs outside of an Internet environment. A user is provided with, based at least in part on the collected information, an indication of relevant data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a user with an indication of relevant data, the method comprising:

collecting information pertaining to human interactions with multiple data systems, wherein at least one of the human interactions is not effectuated though the Internet;

providing the user with, based at least in part on said information, the indication of relevant data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable contextual characteristic of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable activity context.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable process context.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially derived from a source of subject matter expertise.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to a determination with regard to a user'"'"'s role within an organization.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of data further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable entity context.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable entity context further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable entity context that is specific to at least one ERP entity.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable entity context further comprises providing the user with the indication based at least in part on an assumption of relevance at least partially related to an applicable entity context that is independent of any connection to an ERP system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information further comprises tracking information within a metadata system that is generally independent from the multiple data systems.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information further comprises collecting information pertaining to human interactions with an ERP system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information further comprises collecting information pertaining to human interactions with data that exists outside of an ERP system but is connected by association to data inside of an ERP system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of relevant data comprises providing in response to an automatically generated query.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the indication of relevant data comprises providing a user interface that includes an indication of data from a variety of different data sources.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information pertaining to human interactions with multiple data systems further comprises collecting information related to time-oriented characteristics.

16. A system configured to provide a user with an indication of relevant data, the system comprising:

a database configured to collect contextual information related to data associated with a variety of different data systems;

an analysis component configured to analyze data contained in the database relative to at least one contextual characteristic of the user; and

a results generation component configured to provide the user with the indication of relevant data, the indication of relevant data being at least partially determined based on information received from the analysis component.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the database contains an indication of at least one people-to-document association.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the database contains an indication of at least one people-to-people association.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the database contains an indication of at least one document-to-document association.

20. A computer-readable medium have computer-readable instructions embedded thereon, the instructions being configured to, when executed, cause a computer to execute a series of steps, the series of steps comprising:

collecting a body of contextual information related to data associated with a variety of different data systems;

obtaining at least one contextual characteristic of a user; and

providing the user with an indication of relevant data based at least in part on assumptions of relevance involving both the contextual characteristic(s) and the body of contextual information.