METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING ENTERPRISE CONTENT

• US 20090249446A1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Open TEXT SA (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Open TEXT SA (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Sumner-Smith, Martin, Jenkins, Paul Thomas, Mckinnon, Cheryl Lynne, Timmermans, Matthew David George, Barkley, Daniel Wray, Morton, Willard Carter JR., Boender, Robert W., Howatson, Adam Murray, Muller, Florian
• Application Number:
  US12/256,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20090249446A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method and system for providing a consistent flow documents and data content across different organizational units of a company or agency where the documents and data come from different enterprise systems and data stores but are related to linked processes that share models for organizing the content in the business context and in a format that enables a user to relate the content to the process step or steps they are performing. The system includes a network service that enables a configuration utility to automatically discover the objects and metadata and provides for a mapping of selected fields of the metadata to regions displayed in the user interface view with provision for filtering the data by mapping selected fields to a user input form. Thereby, a business analyst can create solutions without writing and maintaining complex program logic for each combination of presentation environment, enterprise system and data store.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing, over a network, a user interface managing content of a plurality of different types, comprising:

a metadata mapping component configured to perform actions comprising;

determining a model metadata configured for provisioning in a presentation framework, wherein the presentation framework is based on a role of a user and a process step within a business process;

determining a first mapping of a key field of a content metadata of a requested content to a key field of the model metadata;

determining a second mapping of an object property of the content metadata to an object property of the model metadata, wherein the object properties comprises at least one of a user interface object property, an event object property, or a service object property; and

providing a interactive version of the content within the presentation framework based on the first and second mapping.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a network service configured to provide interfaces over the network that comprises;

an interface for receiving the role of the user and the process step;

an interface for receiving a request for the content; and

an interface for providing the presentation framework within a specific application associated with the content.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the model metadata comprises a dynamic folder model for organizing a visualization of a portion of the content within the presentation framework based on the first mapping and ordered by the second mapping, and wherein the content comprises a document.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a content connection component configured to perform actions comprising;

sending a discovery query for the content metadata for the content to a plurality of content repositories configured to store the content of the plurality of different types; and

receiving the content metadata from a responding content repository.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a content services component configured to perform actions comprising;

determining a user-interface control provided through the presentation framework based on the model metadata and the content metadata, wherein the user interface control provides a generic content service or a custom content service.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a workflow component configured to perform actions comprising;

providing an event to a workflow process for automating a flow of the content between steps of the business process, based on the model metadata and the content metadata and an application specific event from a specific application managing the content.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an auditing and reporting component configured to perform actions comprising;

recording usage audit records for actions performed on the content within the presentation framework; and

providing an optimization suggestion about a usage of the content within the business process based on the recorded usage audit records.

9. A computer-implemented method for managing content of a plurality of different types, comprising:

receiving a request for visualizing a content;

determining a model metadata configured for provisioning in a presentation framework, wherein the presentation framework is configured to interpret a user interface model (UI model) for rendering the content;

sending a discovery query for the content to a plurality of content repositories configured to store the content of the plurality of different types;

receiving a content metadata for the content from a responding content repository;

determining a attribute-to-attribute mapping of a key field of the content metadata to a key field of the model metadata;

determining an property-to-property mapping of an object property of the content metadata to an object property of the model metadata, wherein the object properties comprises at least one of a user interface object property, an event object property, or a service object property; and

providing an interactive instance of a portion of the content within the presentation framework based on the property-to-property mapping and ordered by the attribute-to-attribute mapping.

7. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

an authentication component configured to perform actions comprising;

limiting access to the content or events for the content based on an authentication of the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the UI model comprises platform independent user interface instructions, and wherein the UI model is configured to provide the content within the presentation framework based on the model metadata

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the attribute-to-attribute mapping further comprises:

filtering the key field of the content metadata using a metadata filter that restricts the key fields in order to limit the selection of objects displayed under the user interface object property.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata filter is at least one of:

a static filter defined at design time, a filter entered by a user, or an inherited filter based on the presentation framework, wherein the framework is a hierarchical view, and wherein the filter of a parent view is inherited to a child view of the parent view.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the content is a hierarchical business object with embedded objects configured to display information about at least one step of a business process.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the presentation framework is a hierarchical folder view that is configured to display content based on configured facet classifications.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a service-to-service mapping of a service object property defined in the model metadata and a service object property defined in the content metadata;

providing a user-interface control through the presentation framework based on the service-to-service mapping.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface control provides an action comprising at least one of:

a foreign service provided by another content repository,

a transformational service for transforming the content of a first type to another content of a second type,

a creation service for creating a new content of the first type of the content,

a rendition service for rendering the content,

a enrichment-annotation service for changing the content metadata or associating another metadata with the content, wherein the other metadata comprises a tag to classifying the content,

a tag to annotate the content, or a tag configured to be usable by a records management application,

an archiving service,

a records management service for managing the content within the records management application,

a mash-up service, or

any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining an event-to-event mapping of an event object property defined in the model metadata and an event object property defined in the content metadata; and

providing an event to a workflow process for automating a flow of the content between steps of the business process, based on the event-to-event mapping and an application specific event received from a specific application managing the content.

20. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform the steps of claim 9.

18. A system for configuring for managing contents of a plurality of different types over a network, comprising:

a plurality of content repositories configured to store the contents of the plurality of different types;

a client configured to perform actions comprising;

sending a request for a content configured to be managed by a user having a role;

displaying within a presentation framework, a displayable and controllable version of the content; and

a flow manager server configured to perform actions comprising;

receiving a content metadata for the content from a responding content repository;

harmonizing the content metadata to a model metadata; and

providing the presentation framework comprising the displayable and controllable version of the content based on the harmonized metadata.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the displayable and controllable version further comprises a user interface control based on the harmonized metadata, wherein the user interface control comprising at least one of a menu or a menu-bar.