COMMUNITY NETWORK

• US 20090106434A1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synergy Services, Inc. (Mytech Partners, Inc.), Synergy Services
• Original Assignee: Synergy Services
• Inventors: Miller, Timothy Jay, Zirbel, Scott W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The community network may be configured to deliver relevant, informative, and useful content regarding the client to individual users of the community. Further, individual users may be provided an opportunity to communicate with one another and to invite new users into their community. Additionally, users may collaborate with one another and with the sponsoring client. The community network system includes a set of software applications designed to support multiple clients through domains set up by a system administrator. The domains are secure partitions within the system which are accessible to unique communities of users and configured with specific tools and user roles for each client'"'"'s purposes. Further, each user is assigned a role in the system based on the features and privileges that the client wishes to make available to that user in the system.

Claims

1. A community network system accessed through a first community portal and a second community portal the community network system comprising:

a tool set including software applications that provide portal functionality within the community network system;

a role set defining user roles, each user role being defined by a permission set, each permission set specifying a level of access to the tool set within the community network system;

a first permission list selectively designating software applications and user roles accessible through the first community portal;

a second permission list selectively designating software applications and user roles accessible through the second community portal;

a web server that serves the software applications and the user roles accessible through the first community portal and the second community portal, the software applications and user roles designated by the first permission list as accessible through the first community portal being different than that the software applications and user roles designated by the second permission list accessible through the second community portal.

2. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the tool set includes at least one customized software application providing functionality specified for the first community portal.

3. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the tool set includes at least one customized software application providing functionality specified for the first community portal, the first permission list designating the at least one customized software application as being accessible through the first community portal, and the second permission list designating the at least one customized software application as being inaccessible through the second community portal.

4. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the role set includes at least one customized user role having a level of access to the tool set.

5. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the role set includes at least one customized user role having a level of access to the tool set, the first permission list designating the at least one customized user role as being available through the first community portal, and the second permission list designating the at least one customized user role as being unavailable through the second community portal.

6. The community network system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first community storage partition storing user profiles associated with individual users accessing the community network system through the first community portal.

7. The community network system of claim 1, further comprising:

shared storage accessible through the first community portal and storing user profiles defining individual users accessing the community network system through the first community portal.

8. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the role set includes a system administrator with complete access to the software applications and the user roles within the community network system.

9. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the role set includes a client administrator with complete access to the software applications and user roles designated by the first permission list.

10. The community network system of claim 1, wherein the role set includes a candidate user with limited access to the software applications and user roles designated by the first permission list.

11. A method for providing access to a tool set of software applications and a role set of user roles through a first community portal and a second community portal in a community network system, the method comprising:

selectively designating software applications of the tool set and user roles of the role set based on a first permission list;

selectively designating software applications of the tool set and user roles of the role set based on a second permission list;

serving through the first community portal the software applications and user roles designated by the first permission list;

serving through the second community portal the software applications and user roles designated by the second permission list, wherein the software applications and user roles served through the second community portal differ from the software applications and user roles served through the first community portal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

creating at least one customized software application of the tool set.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

creating at least one customized user role of the role set.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a user profile through the first community portal;

storing the user profile within a first community storage partition.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a user profile through the first community portal;

storing the user profile within a shared storage accessible through the first community portal.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a user profile defining a user through the first community portal;

editing the user profile using information provided through the first community portal regarding the user.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein one of the selectively designated software applications of the tool set comprises:

a compliance test application configured to send a user a survey, evaluate the survey based on the user'"'"'s responses, and output a score based on the evaluation.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process that provides access to a tool set of software applications and a role set of user roles through a first community portal and a second community portal in a community network system, the computer process comprising:

selectively designating software applications of the tool set and user roles of the role set based on a first permission list;

selectively designating software applications of the tool set and user roles of the role set based on a second permission list;

serving through the first community portal the software applications and user roles designated by the first permission list;

serving through the second community portal the software applications and user roles designated by the second permission list, wherein the software applications and user roles served through the second community portal differ from the software applications and user roles served through the first community portal.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer process further comprises:

creating at least one customized software application of the tool set.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer process further comprises:

creating at least one customized user role of the role set.