Integrated software support for a distributed business application with seamless backend communications

• US 20080126110A1
• Filed: 11/27/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Kotchanovskaia, Lilia, Jansen, Jan, Hoefler, Dorothea, Gerber, Alexander, Schneider, Thomas, Stegmueller, Herbert, Pulkowski, Sebastian, Haeberle, Tilmann, Prigge, Uta, Laicher, Karolin
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2257 using expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

The disclosure provides integrated software for supporting a distributed business application comprising computer readable instructions embodied on media. The integrated support software is operable to automatically monitor the distributed business application for potential incidents. It also facilitates continuous data exchange between the distributed business application and a remote support module based on the automatic monitoring, with the communications in a protocol associated with a plurality of services in the distributed business application and with a plurality of incidents for these services. Upon identification of a potential incident, the software provides integrated incident management in the distributed business application and provides software maintenance management to the distributed business application for one or more identified incidents.

Claims

1. Integrated software for supporting a distributed business application comprising computer readable instructions embodied on media and operable when executed to:

automatically monitor the distributed business application for potential incidents;

facilitate continuous data communications between the distributed business application and a remote support module based on the automatic monitoring, the communications in a protocol associated with a plurality of services in the distributed business application and with a plurality of incidents for these services;

upon identification of a potential incident, provide integrated incident management service in the distributed business application; and

provide a software maintenance management service to the distributed business application for one or more identified incidents.

2. The software of claim 1, the integrated incident management service operable to:

automatically collect system context data associated with the distributed business application at various intervals;

communicate the collected system context data to the remote support module using the continuous data exchange;

automatically collect specific context data upon identification of the potential issue in the distributed business application; and

execute a resolution based on the system context data and the specific context data based on communications with the software maintenance management service.

3. The software of claim 2, at least a portion of the various intervals of the automatic collection of system data occurring on a regular basis established by the remote support module.

4. The software of claim 2, further operable to present the collected specific context data to a user of the distributed business application via an interface where the user adds additional specific context data to the collected specific context data.

5. The software of claim 2, further operable to:

automatically identify a recipient of the specific context data, the recipient comprising the remote support module associated with the distributed business application or one of a plurality of third party support providers; and

communicate the collected specific context data to the support recipient using the protocol.

6. The software of claim 5, the potential issue comprising a business process error and the software further operable to:

receive a solution proposal from the support recipient;

automatically present the solution proposal to a user associated with the business process; and

execute the resolution using user input based on the solution proposal.

7. The software of claim 2, further operable to:

parse the collected system context data into first and second portions; and

wherein communicating the collected system context data to the remote support module comprises communicating the first portion to the remote support module and communicating the second portion to a third party.

8. The software of claim 2, the collected specific context data associated with a service session object.

9. The software of claim 8, further operable to:

generate the service session object;

update the service session object with a confirmed service schedule associated with a support provider;

initiate a service session based on the confirmed service schedule;

collect the specific context data using the service session object; and

communicate the specific context data to the support provider, at least some of the specific context data processed by the service session object.

10. The software of claim 2, the system context data comprising user interface data, portal data, application data, and technology data.

11. The software of claim 1, the software maintenance management operable to:

receive an update from the remote support module based on the collected system context data and prior to identification of a related incident; and

automatically apply the update to one of the services in the distributed business application.

12. The software of claim 11, the update comprising a customer-specific update.

13. The software of claim 1, further operable to present a service desk interface to an administrator of the distributed business application, the interface displaying information associated with a plurality of potential issues.

14. The software of claim 13, the service desk interface communicably coupled with a service desk module operable to:

receive a potential issue report from the remote business application;

automatically classify the potential issue report; and

automatically forward the potential issue to the remote support module.

15. The software of claim 14, the service desk module further operable to determine a service level agreement associated with the potential issue.

16. The software of claim 1, a plurality of the communications between the distributed business application and the remote support module comprising asynchronous communications.