APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DEFINING AND PROCESSING PUBLICATION OBJECTS

• US 20080208906A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects SA (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Penner, Terry Wayne
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to create a publication object, associate a set of report templates with the publication object, and define a set of recipients for the publication object. A format and a destination for each report template associated with the publication object is defined. A delivery rule for the publication object is also defined, where the delivery rule specifies a condition for delivery of distinct reports to the set of recipients.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

creating a publication object;

associating a plurality of report templates with the publication object;

defining a plurality of recipients for the publication object;

defining a format and a destination for each report template associated with the publication object; and

defining a delivery rule for the publication object, wherein the delivery rule specifies a condition for delivery of distinct reports to the plurality of recipients.

2. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, additionally comprising defining a processing schedule for the publication object.

3. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, additionally comprising processing the publication object, wherein processing the publication object comprises:

evaluating the delivery rule to determine one or more selected report templates to be processed;

fetching data from a data source for the one or more selected report template;

generating distinct reports from the one or more selected report templates;

evaluating the delivery rule for the distinct reports relative to each of the plurality of recipients;

generating the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the selected report templates; and

conditionally delivering the distinct reports to the plurality of recipients according to the delivery rule.

4. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the delivery rule includes a logical condition and wherein the logical condition is defined in a report template.

5. The computer implemented method according to 1, wherein the delivery rule includes a logical condition and wherein the logical condition determines whether a report will be generated from a report template upon processing the publication object.

6. The computer implemented method according to claim 3, additionally comprising:

adding at least one static document to the publication object; and

defining a format and a destination in the publication object for each static document.

7. The computer implemented method according to claim 6, wherein the delivery rule is a first delivery rule, the method additionally comprising:

defining a second delivery rule for the publication object, wherein the second delivery rule specifies a condition for delivery of the static document to a recipient;

evaluating the second delivery rule for a static document relative to each of the plurality of recipients; and

conditionally delivering the static document to the plurality of recipients, according to the second delivery rule.

8. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, additionally comprising defining a personalization filter for the publication object, wherein the personalization filter specifies an attribute associated with a recipient as a value for a parameter defined in a report template.

9. The computer implemented method according to claim 3 wherein generating the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the report templates additionally comprises generating a publication document, wherein the publication document is a merged document including at least a portion of two or more reports, according to the formats and destinations defined for the report templates.

10. The computer implemented method according to claim 3 wherein generating the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the report templates additionally comprises generating a publication document, wherein the publication document comprises a first portion of a report according to a first format and destination defined for the report template, and a second portion of the report according to a second format and destination defined for the report template.

11. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the format is selected from the list comprising:

Crystal Report .rpt, Adobe Acrobat .pdf, Microsoft Word .rtf, rich text format .rtf, Microsoft Word editable .rtf, Microsoft Excel .xls, text .txt, tab separated text .ttx, separated values .csv, XML, and compressed archive file formats.

12. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the destination is selected from the list comprising:

email, ftp, business intelligence dashboard, inbox, system folder and repository, and custom destinations.

13. A computer readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:

create a publication object;

associate a plurality of report templates with the publication object;

define a plurality of recipients for the publication object;

define a format and a destination for each report template associated with the publication object; and

define a delivery rule for the publication object, wherein the delivery rule specifies a condition for delivery of distinct reports to the plurality of recipients.

14. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, additionally comprising executable instructions to define a processing schedule for the publication object.

15. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, additionally comprising executable instructions to process the publication object, wherein the executable instructions to process the publication object comprise executable instructions to:

evaluate a delivery rule to determine one or more selected report templates to be processed;

fetch data from a data source for each of the one or more selected report templates;

generate distinct reports from the one or more selected report templates;

evaluate the delivery rule for the distinct reports relative to each of the plurality of recipients;

generate the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the report templates; and

conditionally deliver the distinct reports to the plurality of recipients according to the delivery rule.

16. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the delivery rule includes a logical condition, and wherein the logical condition is defined in a report template.

17. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the delivery rule includes a logical condition, and wherein the logical condition determines whether a report is generated from a report template upon processing the publication object.

18. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, additionally comprising executable instructions to:

add at least one static document to the publication object; and

define a format and a destination in the publication object for each static document.

19. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the delivery rule is a first delivery rule, additionally comprising executable instructions to:

define a second delivery rule for the publication object, wherein the second delivery rule specifies a condition for delivery of the static document to a recipient;

evaluate the second delivery rule for a static document relative to each of the plurality of recipients; and

conditionally deliver the static document to the plurality of recipients, according to the second delivery rule.

20. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, additionally comprising executable instructions to define a personalization filter for the publication object, wherein the personalization filter specifies an attribute associated with a recipient as a value for a parameter defined in a report template.

21. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the executable instructions to generate the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the report templates additionally comprises executable instructions to generate a publication document, wherein the publication document is a merged document including at least a portion of two or more reports according to the formats and destinations defined for the report templates.

22. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the executable instructions to generate the distinct reports according to the formats and destinations defined by the report templates additionally comprises executable instructions to generate a publication document, wherein the publication document comprises a first portion of a report according to a first format and destination defined for the report template corresponding to the report, and a second portion of the report according to a second format and destination defined for the report template corresponding to the report.

23. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the format is selected from the list comprising:

Crystal Report .rpt, Adobe Acrobat .pdf, Microsoft Word .rtf, rich text format .rtf, Microsoft Word editable .rtf, Microsoft Excel .xls, text .txt, tab separated text .ttx, separated values .csv, XML, and compressed archive file formats.

24. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the destination is selected from the list comprising:

email, ftp, business intelligence dashboard, inbox, system folder and repository, and custom destinations.