Method and system for integrating idea and on-demand services

• US 20080281610A1
• Filed: 05/09/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Likuo, Lin, Justin, Yoshida, Norimasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method and system is provided having a webpage for posting ideas integrated with on-demand customer relationship management. The website associated with the page may be stored in a tenant area of a multitenant database to facilitate maintaining multiple websites for different tenants. A webpage may be sent to a client that includes a plurality of sections, each including at least one idea related to an improvement of a product. Votes may be received for at least one of the plurality of sections. A determination may be made of a Total Qualitative Management Criterion (TQMC) for each section of the website, by applying an increasing function of time to newer votes to enable relative weightings of older votes to diminish over time without requiring computing a decaying time function to determine weightings for each vote. A product modification may be determined based on the TQMC for each section.

Claims

1. A method for providing a web page for posting ideas integrated with an on-demand service, the method comprising:

receiving at least one vote for at least one of the plurality of ideas displayed to a user on the webpage for posting ideas;

determining a weighting for the at least one vote based at least in part upon information about the user retrieved from the on demand service;

determining a Total Qualitative Management Criterion (TQMC) for the idea by applying the weighting from the on-demand service to the at least one vote; and

sending a display of the at least one idea ranked based on the TQMC.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a Total Qualitative Management Criteria further includes:

applying an increasing function of time to newer votes to enable relative weightings of older votes to diminish over time without requiring computing a decaying time function to determine weightings for each vote.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing analytical tools for analyzing a relative desirability of items associated with the ideas.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a new idea from a user of the webpage having the ideas; and

posting the new idea on the webpage.

5. The method claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a sponsor of the webpage to remove at least one idea of the plurality of ideas; and

in response removing the at least one idea.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to replace multiple occurrences of a word on the webpage with another word or phrase; and

in response, replacing the multiple occurrences of the word.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for locating the webpage at a particular domain name; and

in response locating the webpage at a URL having that domain name.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending to a user of the webpage tools for reporting to a sponsor of the webpage abuse of the webpage.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage for moderating content on the webpage.

10. The method of claim 1, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from a user to access a part of the webpage that requires logging in;

determining that the user is not logged in; and

sending to the user a login request that is associated with a second website.

11. The method of claim 1, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising

receiving information about a second website;

and

configuring the first website to call a login process that is also called by the second website.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending administrative tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage.

13. The method of claim 11, the administrative tools including one or more instructions for controlling access to the webpage.

14. The method of claim 11, the administrative tools including one or more instructions for controlling an appearance of the webpage.

15. The method of claim 1, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

receiving a request for locating the webpage at a particular domain name;

in response to the request for locating, locating the webpage at a URL having that domain name;

receiving a new idea from a user of the webpage;

posting the new idea on the webpage;

in response to one or more requests received from a sponsor of the first website, analyzing the plurality of sections for information indicating a relative desirability of features of products associated with the plurality ideas;

receiving a request, via tools for moderating content of the first website, from a sponsor of the website to remove at least one idea of the plurality of the ideas;

in response to receiving the request via the tools for moderating, removing the at least one idea;

receiving a request to replace multiple occurrences of a word on the webpage with another word or phrase;

in response to the request to replace, replacing the multiple occurrences of the word;

receiving, via tools for reporting abuse, a report of an abuse of the webpage;

receiving a request from a user to access a part of the webpage that requires logging in;

determining that the user is not logged in; and

sending to the user a login request that is associated with a second website.

16. The method of claim 1, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

sending tools to report abuse of the first website with the first website;

receiving a request for choice of a level of service;

sending administrative tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage;

the administrative tools including at least

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for controlling access to the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for controlling an appearance of the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for moderating user interactions, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for translating text on the webpage from one language to another, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for causing the first website to appear as part of the second website, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks that cause the first website to invoke a login that is invoked by the second website, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for analyzing postings on the webpage to determine modifications of one or more products, if consistent with the choice of the level of service; and

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for downloading data extracted from the postings on the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service.

17. The method of claim 1, the determining of the weighting includes at least retrieving information from a source other than the on-demand service.

18. A machine comprising:

a processor for implementing the method of claim 1; and

a machine readable medium storing thereon one or more instructions for implementing a web application that includes one or more instructions that cause the processor to perform the method.

19. A method for providing a webpage for posting ideas integrated with on-demand customer relationship management, the method comprising:

receiving a webpage at a client from a tenant area of a multi-tenant database, the webpage for posting ideas including at least a plurality of ideas;

sending at least one vote for at least one of the plurality of ideas;

receiving revisions of the webpage including at least an updated vote; and

displaying the webpage having the at least one idea ranked based on a TQMC that is based on the vote and on a weighting of the vote.

20. A machine readable medium storing one or more machine instructions for a method comprising:

receiving at least one vote for at least one of the plurality of ideas displayed to a user on the webpage for posting ideas;

determining a weighting for the at least one vote based at least in part upon information about the user retrieved from the on demand service;

determining a Total Qualitative Management Criterion (TQMC) for the idea by applying the weighting from the on-demand service to the at least one vote; and

sending a display of the at least one idea ranked based on the TQMC.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein determining a Total Qualitative Management Criteria further includes:

applying an increasing function of time to newer votes to enable relative weightings of older votes to diminish over time without requiring computing a decaying time function to determine weightings for each vote.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising providing analytical tools for analyzing a relative desirability of items associated with the ideas.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising receiving a new idea from a user of the webpage having the ideas;

and

posting the new idea on the webpage.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from a sponsor of the webpage to remove at least one idea of the plurality of ideas; and

in response removing the at least one idea.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to replace multiple occurrences of a word on the webpage with another word or phrase; and

in response replacing the multiple occurrences of the word.

26. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising:

receiving a request for locating the webpage at a particular domain name; and

in response locating the webpage at a URL having that domain name.

27. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising:

sending to a user of the webpage tools for reporting to a sponsor of the webpage abuse of the webpage.

28. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising sending tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage for moderating content on the webpage.

29. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from a user to access a part of the webpage that requires logging in;

determining that the user is not logged in; and

sending to the user a login request that is associated with a second website.

30. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising

receiving information about a second website;

and

configuring the first website to call a login process that is also called by the second website.

31. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising sending administrative tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage.

32. The machine readable medium of claim 31, the method the administrative tools including one or more instructions for controlling access to the webpage.

33. The machine readable medium of claim 31, the administrative tools including one or more instructions for controlling an appearance of the webpage.

34. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

receiving a request for locating the webpage at a particular domain name;

in response to the request for locating, locating the webpage at a URL having that domain name;

receiving a new idea from a user of the webpage;

posting the new idea on the webpage;

in response to one or more requests received from a sponsor of the first website, analyzing the plurality of sections for information indicating a relative desirability of features of products associated with the plurality ideas;

receiving a request, via tools for moderating content of the first website, from a sponsor of the website to remove at least one idea of the plurality of the ideas;

in response to receiving the request via the tools for moderating, removing the at least one idea;

receiving a request to replace multiple occurrences of a word on the webpage with another word or phrase;

in response to the request to replace, replacing the multiple occurrences of the word;

receiving, via tools for reporting abuse, a report of an abuse of the webpage;

receiving a request from a user to access a part of the webpage that requires logging in;

determining that the user is not logged in; and

sending to the user a login request that is associated with a second website.

35. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the webpage being part of a first website provided by a first website providing entity, the method further comprising:

sending tools to report abuse of the first website with the first website;

receiving a request for choice of a level of service;

sending administrative tools from a provider of the webpage to a sponsor of the webpage;

the administrative tools including at least

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for controlling access to the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for controlling an appearance of the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for moderating user interactions, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for translating text on the webpage from one language to another, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for causing the first website to appear as part of the second website, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks that cause the first website to invoke a login that is invoked by the second website, if consistent with the choice of the level of service;

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for analyzing postings on the webpage to determine modifications of one or more products, if consistent with the choice of the level of service; and

one or more links for invoking one or more tasks for downloading data extracted from the postings on the webpage, if consistent with the choice of the level of service.

36. The machine readable medium of claim 20, the determining of the weighting includes at least retrieving information from a source other than the on-demand service.

37. A system comprising:

the machine readable medium of claim 20;

a web server for implementing the method stored on the machine readable medium; and

a web database for storing information associated with a website that is associated with the tenant.