Method and apparatus for processing jobs on an enterprise-wide computer system

• US 20080034369A1
• Filed: 08/13/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hyperion Solutions Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Burton, Peter, Murphy, Anthony, Hippenmeyer, William, Ewry, Jeffrey, Polizzi, Kathleen, Bick, Robert, Yedwab, Gadi, Godbeer, Gail, Norris, Jack
• Granted Patent: US 8,261,271 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing jobs on an enterprise-wide computer system. The computer system uses a portal architecture to allow a user to view a wide variety of content retrieved from a variety of different computer systems. The computer system is configured such that a plurality of users can access the system at the same time through a computer network such as the Internet. Users may access the computer system by using a standardized browser program, thus simplifying the user interface. The computer system may also be connected to one or more back-end databases that correspond to the different computer systems within the enterprise. The computer system is configured to run predefined jobs to process data. These jobs can perform a variety of tasks such as retrieving data from a back-end database, preparing a report based upon retrieved data, processing data already resident within the portal system, or notifying a user when a particular condition occurs within the portal system. These jobs can be executed on a predefined schedule or on an ad-hoc basis at the request of a user. The computer system also allows users to subscribe to the job. A user that subscribes to a job receives a notification whenever the job is executed by the computer system. The portal system also allows a user to configure one or more exception conditions for a job that indicate when some element of the output report is outside of a predefined range. A user can subscribe to exceptions and thus be notified when an exception condition is found.

Claims

1. A method of processing a job in an enterprise-wide computer portal system comprised of a job server configured to execute a job and to process a set of input data corresponding to the job, a job repository including computer memory encoded with a plurality of objects including at least one job and at least one set of job properties corresponding to said at least one job, wherein said set of job properties includes a set of input data to be provided to a job server when a corresponding job is executed, and wherein the enterprise-wide computer portal system is electrically connected to a plurality of enterprise computer systems and configured for communication with at least one enterprise user through a network interface, the method comprising:

receiving a request to execute a job from an enterprise user connected to the enterprise-wide computer portal system through a computer network;

retrieving the requested job and a corresponding set of input data from the job repository;

dispatching the requested job and the corresponding set of input data for processing on a corresponding job server;

processing the requested job with the corresponding set of input data in the job server so as to produce an output report; and

transmitting the output report to the enterprise user through the network interface.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one set of job properties further includes a list of enterprise users to be notified when a corresponding job has been executed, the method further comprising:

processing said at least one set of job properties and providing a notification to each user in the list of enterprise users when a corresponding job is executed.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one set of job properties further includes an exception condition and a list of enterprise users subscribing to the exception condition, the method further comprising:

comparing the output report to a corresponding exception condition to determine the existence of an exception event;

providing a notification to each user in the corresponding list of enterprise users when the exception event occurs.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one job is a secure Structured Query Report (SQR job), the method further comprising:

receiving a set of user identification data from the enterprise user;

generating a secure bursted output report comprised of a master file and a plurality of HTML pages, wherein the master file includes a plurality of containers, each of which corresponds to one of said plurality of HTML pages, wherein each of said plurality of HTML pages includes a set of permissions defining the ability of said at least one enterprise user to view that page;

for each of said plurality of containers in the secure bursted output report, performing the following steps i) and ii);

i) comparing the set of user identification data to the set of permissions for a corresponding HTML page to determine the ability of the enterprise user to view that page; and

ii) placing a view flag in the container if the enterprise user has permission to view the corresponding HTML page;

for each container in the secure bursted output report that contains a view flag, retrieving a corresponding HTML page;

assembling the retrieved HTML page(s) into an user-specific output report; and

transmitting the user-specific output report to the corresponding enterprise user.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the job server is connected to at least one enterprise back-end database, the method further comprising:

retrieving a set of data corresponding to the requested job from an enterprise back-end database; and

processing the requested job in the job server with the set of data retrieved from the enterprise back-end database and the corresponding set of input data so as to produce an output report.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one set of job properties further includes a list of enterprise users to be notified when a corresponding job has been executed, the method further comprising:

processing said at least one set of job properties and providing a notification to each user in the list of enterprise users when a corresponding job is executed.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one set of job properties further includes an exception condition and a list of enterprise users subscribing to the exception condition, the method further comprising:

comparing the output report to a corresponding exception condition to determine the existence of an exception event;

providing a notification to each user in the corresponding list of enterprise users when the exception event occurs.

8. A method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one job is a secure Structured Query Report (SQR) job, the method further comprising:

receiving a set of user identification data from the enterprise user;

generating a secure bursted output report comprised of a master file and a plurality of HTML pages, wherein the master file includes a plurality of containers, each of which corresponds to one of said plurality of HTML pages, wherein each of said plurality of HTML pages includes a set of permissions defining the ability of said at least one enterprise user to view that page;

for each of said plurality of containers in the secure bursted output report, performing the following steps i) and ii);

i) comparing the set of user identification data to the set of permissions for a corresponding HTML page to determine the ability of the enterprise user to view that page; and

ii) placing a view flag in the container if the enterprise user has permission to view the corresponding HTML page;

for each container in the secure bursted output report that contains a view flag, retrieving a corresponding HTML page;

assembling the retrieved HTML page(s) into an user-specific output report; and

transmitting the user-specific output report to the corresponding enterprise user.