POPULATION UPDATE FRAMEWORK, SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20090083652A1
• Filed: 03/05/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kennedy, Michael, Talbot, Jennifer Lee, Krasner, Marina, Walker, Vera, Fontaine, Marjolaine
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Tools for updating business objects. The tools include an update utility that can allow a user to identify a selection tool to select a population to be updated. Further, the update utility can provide an interface to allow any of a number of available update tools to be used to update the selected data population. In some cases, the update utility adheres to a framework that employs metadata to identify available update tools, their capabilities, and/or their requirements. This framework can allow the utility to be configured to support new update tools without requiring extensive modification of the underlying framework or its implementing software.

Claims

1. A method of updating data in one or more business objects, the method comprising:

providing, at a computer system, a population update engine for updating data in business objects;

maintaining, at the computer system, a first set of update context metadata for one or more update tools, the set of update context metadata defining a relationship between the one or more update tools and the and the population update engine;

maintaining, at the computer system, a second set of update context metadata for a one or more data populations, each of the data populations comprising a plurality of business objects, the second set of update context metadata comprising information about a structure of business objects in each of the data populations;

providing, from the computer system, a user interface for a user to interact with the population update engine;

receiving, at the population update engine and via the user interface, a first user input;

identifying, based on the first user input, a data population to be updated, the data population comprising one or more business objects;

identifying an update tool for updating the selected data population;

determining, based on update context metadata for the identified data population, one or more data elements that can be modified by the update tool;

displaying for the user, via the user interface, the one or more data elements that can be modified by the update tool;

receiving, via the user interface, a second user input comprising a selection of one or more data elements to be updated and an update value for each of the one or more data elements;

invoking the identified update tool to update the identified data population with the update value for each of the one or more data elements; and

providing an update status indicating a result of invoking the identified update tool.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user input specifies an update tool, and wherein identifying an update tool comprises identifying an update tool based on the first user input.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of update context metadata for the selected data population specifies an update tool, and wherein identifying an update tool comprises identifying an update tool based on the first set of context metadata.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying data population to be updated comprises:

receiving, via the user interface, identification of a first selection tool to be used to select data to be processed with the business application;

identifying a data source comprising the data to be processed with the business application;

invoking, based on at least a portion of the set of metadata, the first selection tool from the population selection engine to select data to be processed with the business application; and

receiving, from the selection tool, a selection of one or more sets of data to be processed with the business application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein invoking the identified selection tool comprises accessing an application programming interface of the identified selection tool.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second set of update context metadata specifies an adapter interface to use in accessing the application programming interface of the identified selection tool.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified data population comprises one or more records in a database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identified update tool is incorporated within a business application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein invoking the identified update tool to update the identified data population comprises inserting, deleting or updating a business transaction in the business application.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the identified update tool is incorporated within a relational database management system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified data population comprises one or more text files or one or more instances of a data storage class in an object-oriented data store.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the update value of at least one of the data elements is specified by a formula, wherein receiving a second user input comprises receiving the formula from the user, and wherein the method further comprises:

evaluating the formula to derive respective update values for the data element in each of the one or more identified business objects.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprises a server computer and a client computer, and wherein the user interface is provided from the client computer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is provided by one or more web pages displayed by a web browser on the client computer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a data source comprises receiving, via the user interface, identification of the data source.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a data population to be updated comprises identifying a data source comprising the data population.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified update tool updates the one or more data elements in each business object collectively with a batch process.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein identified update tool updates the one or more data elements in each business object with an interactive process.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, for the user, a preview of the one or more of the updated portions of the business object.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, at the population update engine, whether the user has sufficient access rights to update the data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein determining whether the user has sufficient access rights comprises relying on an access control scheme of the identified update tool.

22. A computer readable medium having encoded thereon a computer program comprising a set of instructions that are executable by a computer system to perform one or more operations for updating data in one or more business objects, the set of instructions comprising:

instructions for providing, at a computer system, a population update engine for updating data in business objects;

instructions for maintaining, at the computer system, a first set of update context metadata for one or more update tools, the set of update context metadata defining a relationship between the one or more update tools and the and the population update engine;

instructions for maintaining, at the computer system, a second set of update context metadata for a one or more data populations, each of the data populations comprising a plurality of business objects, the second set of update context metadata comprising information about a structure of business objects in each of the data populations;

instructions for providing, from the computer system, a user interface for a user to interact with the population update engine;

instructions for receiving, at the population update engine and via the user interface, a first user input;

instructions for identifying, based on the first user input, a data population to be updated, the data population comprising one or more business objects;

instructions for identifying an update tool for updating the selected data population;

instructions for determining, based on update context metadata for the identified data population, one or more data elements that can be modified by the update tool;

instructions for displaying for the user, via the user interface, the one or more data elements that can be modified by the update tool;

instructions for receiving, via the user interface, a second user input comprising a selection of one or more data elements to be updated and an update value for each of the one or more data elements;

instructions for invoking the identified update tool to update the identified data population with the update value for each of the one or more data elements; and

instructions for providing an update status indicating a result of invoking the identified update tool.

23. A method of updating data in one or more business objects, the method comprising:

providing, at a computer system, a population update framework, the population update framework comprising;

a population update engine configured to receive a data population comprising one or more business objects from one or more data sources, and provide the data population to an update tool appropriate for updating one or more data elements;

a user interface for receiving, from a user, input pertaining to the set of data to be updated;

an adapter interface configured to interact with one or more of a plurality of update tools, the plurality of update tools including the update tool appropriate for the selected set of data, to update the one or more data elements in each of the business objects;

one or more sets of update context metadata, including a first set of update context metadata defining a relationship between the population update engine and each of the plurality of update tools;

receiving, at the population update engine and via the user interface, a first user input;

identifying, based on the first user input, a data population to be updated, the data population comprising one or more business objects;

identifying an update tool for updating the selected data population; and

invoking the identified update tool to update the one or more data elements in each of the one or more business objects in the identified data population.

24. A computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by a computer to implement a framework for updating data in one or more business objects, the framework comprising:

a population update engine configured to receive a data population comprising one or more business objects from one or more data sources, and provide the data population to an update tool appropriate for updating one or more data elements;

a user interface for receiving, from a user, input pertaining to the set of data to be updated;

an adapter interface configured to interact with one or more of a plurality of update tools, the plurality of update tools including the update tool appropriate for the selected set of data, to update the one or more data elements in each of the business objects;

one or more sets of update context metadata, including a first set of update context metadata defining a relationship between the population update engine and each of the plurality of update tools.

25. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer readable medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement a framework for updating data in one or more business objects, the framework comprising;

a population update engine configured to receive a data population comprising one or more business objects from one or more data sources, and provide the data population to an update tool appropriate for updating one or more data elements;

a user interface for receiving, from a user, input pertaining to the set of data to be updated;

an adapter interface configured to interact with one or more of a plurality of update tools, the plurality of update tools including the update tool appropriate for the selected set of data, to update the one or more data elements in each of the business objects;

one or more sets of update context metadata, including a first set of update context metadata defining a relationship between the population update engine and each of the plurality of update tools.