DISTRIBUTED TASK HANDLING

• US 20090037912A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Scheidl, Stefan, Stoitsev, Todor
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Various embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, software, and data structures that may be used in distributed task handling. Some embodiments include a generic architecture for loosely coupled associations of globally managed tasks and artifacts within user defined task descriptions. As a result, such embodiments provide a flexible and adaptable task model.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a task model update request via a task management front-end interface;

forwarding the task model update request to a task management server;

receiving a success confirmation of the task model update request from the task management server; and

updating the front-end interface with at least some data received in the success confirmation of the task model update request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the task model update request is sent to the task management server via a web service call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the task management front-end interface is an interface within a groupware client application including one or more displayable user interfaces.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a representation of the task model of the task model update request in a local task model cache.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein storing the representation of the task model in the local task model cache includes storing the task model representation in a persistent task model cache repository.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first task model includes one or more subtasks.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more subtasks each include a standalone task model associated to the first task by a reference to each subtask task model within the first task model.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the task model update request includes an artifact update request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein an artifact is an electronic file stored in an artifact repository and associated with one or more task models.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the association of an artifact with one or more task models is a stored mapping of the artifact to each of the one or more task models.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving an artifact update request and sending the artifact update request to the task management server;

receiving a success confirmation of the artifact update request; and

updating the front-end interface to include a mapping of the artifact of the artifact update request to the task model.

12. A system comprising:

a task management front-end module including;

a user interface client to allow human interaction;

a task client to provide task model data services to the user interface client; and

an artifact client to provide artifact data services to the user interface client;

a task management back-end module including;

a task interface to provide task model data services to the task client of the task management front-end module;

an artifact interface to provide artifact data services to the artifact client of the task management front-end module; and

a task-artifact mapping interface to provide artifact mapping services related to mappings of artifacts to task models.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a task model repository to store task models;

an artifacts repository to store artifact data;

a task-artifact mapping repository to store associations of artifacts stored in the artifact repository to task models stored in the task model repository.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the task interface is operable to store and retrieve task models to and from the task repository in response to requests from the task client; and

the artifact interface is operable to store and retrieve artifacts to and from the artifact repository in response to requests from the artifact client.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the task management front-end module further includes:

a local task model cache to store task models retrieved from the task interface of the task management back-end module; and

a local artifact cache to store artifacts retrieved from the artifact interface of the task management back-end module.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein one or both of the local task model cache and the local artifact cache are located on a non-volatile memory device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the task interface, the artifact interface, and the task-artifact mapping interface are web services available to the task management front-end module over a network.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the task management front-end module is a groupware client add-on.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the groupware client includes Microsoft Outlook.

20. A computer-readable medium with instructions encoded thereon, which when executed by a suitably configured computing device cause the computing device to:

receive a request to display a task model;

retrieving the requested task model if the task model is not stored locally in a task model cache; and

display the task model.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 including further instructions, which when executed by the suitably configured computing device further causes the computing device to:

display a listing of one or more artifacts associated with a task model;

receive a selection of at least one of the one or more artifacts associated with the task model;

retrieving each of the one or more requested artifacts if the respective artifact is not stored locally in an artifact cache; and

displaying the one or more selected artifacts.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions to display a listing of the one or more artifacts associated with a task model includes instructions to cause the computing device to:

retrieve the listing of one or more artifacts mapped to the task model.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein retrieving the requested task model includes retrieving the requested task model utilizing a web service.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the request to display a task model is received within a groupware client application and the task model is displayed within the groupware client application.

25. A data structure to hold a representation of a task, the data structure comprising:

a task identifier to hold a unique task identifier;

a task description to hold a description of the task;

an assigned to field to hold data representing an entity the task is assigned to; and

zero to many task identifiers of other tasks designated as sub-tasks of the task.

26. The data structure of claim 25, further comprising:

one or more artifacts associated with the task.

27. The data structure of claim 26, wherein at least one artifact is a text document.

28. The data structure of claim 25, wherein the data structure is a record of a database table.