Managing Structured and Unstructured Data within Electronic Communications

• US 20090157812A1
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Heller, Jonathan, Bavly, Guy, Waizer, Ehud
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

This disclosure provides various embodiments of systems, methods, and software for managing structured and unstructured data within electronic communications. In one implementation, software identifies an electronic communication associated with a user in an enterprise application; creates a link between an unstructured data element associated with the electronic communication and a structured data element associated with the enterprise application, where the link created at least partially based on one or more attributes of the electronic communication and an active process of the enterprise application; and stores the link in a link repository.

Claims

1. Software for managing structured and unstructured data, the software comprising computer readable instructions embodied on tangible media and operable when executed to:

identify an electronic communication associated with a user in an enterprise application;

create a link between an unstructured data element associated with the electronic communication and a structured data element associated with the enterprise application, the link created at least partially based on one or more attributes of the electronic communication and an active process of the enterprise application; and

store the link in a link repository.

2. The software of claim 1, the link repository comprising at least one link index and the link index comprising a plurality of links.

3. The software of claim 1 further operable to:

query the link repository to identify a subset of links associated with a query term, the query term comprising one of;

a business entity;

a supplier;

a customer;

a product; and

a product component; and

present the subset of queried links to the user.

4. The software of claim 3 further operable to present the subset of queried links to the user via the enterprise application.

5. The software of claim 1, the structured data element comprising a business object related to a business entity and the unstructured data element comprising at least one of:

the electronic communication; and

an electronic document associated with the electronic communication.

6. The software of claim 1, the software comprising a client agent that identifies the electronic communication by monitoring the active process, the active process comprising one or more client-side processes.

7. The software of claim 1, the electronic communication comprising at least one of:

an electronic mail communication;

an electronically logged physical communication;

a text message communication; and

an instant message communication.

8. The software of claim 1, the one or more electronic communication attributes comprising:

a date of the electronic communication;

a subject of the electronic communication;

a content of the electronic communication; and

a recipient of the electronic communication.

9. The software of claim 1, the active process comprising:

a procurement process;

a complaint process;

a scheduling process;

a database module; and

a sales process.

10. The software of claim 1 further operable to create the link between the unstructured data element and the structured data element upon instigation of the electronic communication by the user, the link creation based on a recipient of the electronic communication and a role of the user in the active process.

11. Software for managing structured and unstructured data, the software comprising computer readable instructions embodied on tangible media and operable when executed to:

query one or more links stored in a link repository, each link associating one or more unstructured data elements of an electronic communication with a structured data element of an enterprise application, the association at least partially based on one or more attributes of the electronic communication and an active process of the enterprise application;

present at least a subset of the queried links to a client; and

access the one or more unstructured data elements of the electronic communication through the queried links in response to a selection by the client.

12. The software of claim 11 further operable to present the subset of the queried links to the client via the enterprise application and to access the one or more unstructured data elements by the automatic selection of the client through the enterprise application.

13. The software of claim 11 further operable to:

prohibit the query based on a link policy;

identity a second electronic communication from the user in the enterprise application; and

prohibit creation of a link between a second unstructured data element associated with the second electronic communication and a second structured data element associated with the enterprise application based on the link policy.

14. The software of claim 13, the link policy comprising:

a sensitivity of at least one of the second structured data element or the second unstructured data element;

a relevance of at least one of the second structured data element or the second unstructured data element;

a user role; and

the active process of the enterprise application.

15. The software of claim 11 further operable to present the one or more queried links to the user in a hierarchal order based on at least one of:

the active process of the enterprise application;

at least one attribute of the electronic communication;

the unstructured data element; and

the structured data element.

16. The software of claim 15, the attribute of the electronic communication comprising:

a date of the electronic communication;

a subject of the electronic communication;

a content of the electronic communication; and

a recipient of the electronic communication.

17. The software of claim 11, the query comprising one or more terms, at least one query term consisting of:

a business entity;

a supplier;

a customer;

a product;

a service; and

a product component.

18. The software of claim 13, the link policy comprising:

a sensitivity of at least one of the structured or unstructured data elements;

a relevance of at least one of the structured or unstructured data elements;

a user role; and

the active process of the enterprise application.

19. A system for managing structured and unstructured data, comprising:

at least one memory, the memory storing;

a data link module;

at least one data link policy; and

at least a portion of an enterprise application; and

one or more processors adapted to execute the data link module such that the data link module is operable to;

identify an electronic communication from a user in the enterprise application;

create a link between an unstructured data element associated with the electronic communication and a structured data element associated with the enterprise application at least partially based on one or more attributes of the electronic communication and an active process of the enterprise application; and

store the link in a link repository.

20. The system of claim 19, the data link module further operable to:

identify a second electronic communication from the user in the enterprise application; and

prohibit creation of a link between a second unstructured data element associated with the second electronic communication and a second structured data element associated with the enterprise application based on a link policy.

21. The system of claim 20, the link policy comprising:

a sensitivity of at least one of the second structured data element or the second unstructured data element;

a relevance of at least one of the second structured data element or the second unstructured data element;

a user role; and

the active process of the enterprise application.

22. The system of claim 19, the unstructured data element comprising at least one of:

the electronic communication; and

an electronic document associated with the electronic communication.

23. The system of claim 19, the electronic communication comprising at least one of:

an electronic mail communication;

an electronically logged physical communication;

text message communication; and

an instant message communication.

24. The system of claim 19, the link repository at least partially stored in the memory.

25. The system of claim 19, the attribute of the electronic communication comprising:

a date of the electronic communication;

a subject of the electronic communication; and

a recipient of the electronic communication.