System and Method for Supporting Software

• US 20080263404A1
• Filed: 04/20/2007
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Vidiyala, Vijay
• Granted Patent: US 7,757,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

This disclosure provides various embodiments of software for supporting a business application. In one aspect, the software determines that a technical error associated with the business application has occurred, automatically communicates the technical error and dynamic context information to a remote support site, the dynamic context information at least partially identifying the particular execution point of the business application, receives one or more potential solutions for the technical error, the one or more potential solutions determined using at least the communicated technical error, dynamic context information, and static information collected at the support site; and presents the one or more potential solutions to a user of the business application via an interface. In some implementations, the software is further operable to prioritize the one or more presented potential solutions at least according to metrics associated with the one or more potential solutions.

Claims

1. Software for supporting a business application, the software comprising computer readable instructions and operable when executed to:

determine that a technical error associated with the business application has occurred;

automatically communicate the technical error and dynamic context information to a remote support site, the dynamic context information at least partially identifying the particular execution point of the business application;

receive one or more potential solutions for the technical error, the one or more potential solutions determined using at least the communicated technical error, the dynamic context information, and static information collected at the support site; and

present the one or more potential solutions to a user of the business application via an interface,

2. The software of claim 1 further operable to prioritize the one or more presented potential solutions at least according to metrics associated with the one or more potential solutions.

3. The software of claim 1 further operable to receive from the user metrics associated with one or more potential solutions

4. The software of claim 3 further operable to:

present a feedback screen with the interface;

automatically communicate received metrics to the remote support site for recalculation of the metrics; and

recalculate metrics for the presented potential solutions.

5. The software of claim 1 further operable to:

receive manual search criteria from the user;

automatically communicate the received manual search criteria from the user to the support site; and

receive at least one additional potentials solution for the technical error, the additional potential solution determined using at least the received manual search criteria, the communicated technical error, the dynamic context information, and the static information collected at the support site.

6. The software of claim 1 further operable to:

connect the user to a remote support provider through the interface; and

provide the remote support provider with the technical error and the dynamic context information.

7. The software of claim 1 further operable to:

receive a user-recommended solution associated with the technical error; and

automatically communicate the user-recommended solution to the remote support site for subsequent storage and presentation.

8. The software of claim 1, wherein the software operable to present the one or more potential solutions to the user of the business application comprises software operable to distinguish the one or more solutions presented to the user that are user-provided solutions.

9. Software for supporting a business application, the software comprising computer readable instructions and operable when executed to:

receive a technical error and dynamic context information associated with a business application from a first client, the dynamic context information at least partially identifying the particular execution point of the business application;

access static context information associated with the business application;

query a solution repository for a first set of one or more potential solutions, the query determined using at least the received technical error, the dynamic contest information, and the accessed static context information; and

automatically communicate the first set of one or more potential solutions returned by the query to the business application.

10. The software of claim 9 further operable to:

receive specific search criteria from the business application;

query the solution repository for the first set of one or more potential solutions, the query determined using at least the received specific search criteria, the received technical error, the dynamic context information, and the accessed static information associated with the business application; and

automatically communicate the first set of one or more potential solutions returned by the query to the business application for a first client,

11. The software of claim 10 further operable to receive feedback associated with the first set of one or more potential solutions from the first client.

12. The software of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the feedback comprises a user ranking.

13. The software of claim 9 further operable to:

receive a technical error and dynamic context information associated with a business application from a second client unassociated with the first client, the dynamic context information at least partially identifying the particular execution point of the business application;

access static context information associated with the business application;

query a solution repository for a second set of one or more potential solutions, the solutions determined using at least the received technical error, the dynamic contest information, and the accessed static context information; and

automatically communicate the second set of one or more potential solutions to the business application for the second client.

14. The software of claim 13, wherein the second set of one or more potential solutions communicated to the second client are sorted according to metrics.

15. The software of claim 14, further operable to:

receive feedback from the first client; and

recalculate the metrics, prior to sorting the metrics for the second client, at least partially based on the received feedback.

16. The software of claim 15, wherein the second set of potential solutions comprises a differently sorted instance of the same potential solutions as the first set of potential solutions.

17. A system comprising:

means for receiving a technical error and dynamic context information associated with a business application from a first client, the dynamic context information at least partially identifying the particular execution point of the business application;

means for accessing static context information associated with the business application;

means for querying a solution repository for a first set of one or more potential solutions, the query determined using at least the received technical error, the dynamic contest information, and the accessed static context information; and

means for automatically communicating the first set of one or more potential solutions returned by the query to the business application.