METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATED WORKLISTS

• US 20100114926A1
• Filed: 10/21/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Arora, Rishi, Haecker, Regina L., Dietrich, Walter C., Hazeu, Robert, Agrawal, Prateek, Singh, Saurabh
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for implementing automated worklists are provided. The method includes generating a worklist, which further includes retrieving a worklist template corresponding to the worklist and, via a first query, selecting a listing of members and attributes to be populated in the worklist, the attributes include a status indicator of an action item specified for each of the members of the worklist. The worklist generation also includes building a worklist member table with results of the first query and, via a second query, and using attributes of the worklist member table, identifying up-to-date values of one or more worklist member attributes, and outputting results of the second query to the worklist. The method also includes presenting the worklist to a corresponding assignee. For each of the members in the worklist, the status indicator is editable to update a status of the member.

Claims

1. A method for implementing automated worklists, comprising:

generating a worklist, comprising;

retrieving a worklist template corresponding to the worklist from a storage device;

via a first query, selecting a listing of members and attributes to be populated in the worklist, the attributes including a status indicator of an action item specified for each of the members of the worklist;

building a worklist member table with results of the first query;

via a second query, and using attributes of the worklist member table, identifying up-to-date values of one or more worklist member attributes; and

outputting results of the second query to the worklist; and

presenting the worklist to a corresponding assignee, wherein for each of the members in the worklist, the status indicator is editable by the corresponding assignee to update a status of the member.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating the worklist template that defines the worklist, comprising;

specifying a template ID for the worklist template;

defining the first query; and

defining the second query; and

storing the worklist template in a worklist template table that provides a primary key for worklist templates that is used as a foreign key in other tables that refer to the worklist templates.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the members comprise a database entity and occupy rows of the worklist.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein creating the worklist template further includes specifying a schedule period of worklist generation for the worklist template, the schedule period defined by at least one of frequency of generation and duration of schedule period.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the worklist contains a static listing of members and attributes that is unchanged for the duration of the schedule period, and the values of at least one of the attributes are updateable on demand by the assignee of the worklist

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

specifying a template type for the worklist template;

wherein the results of the first query include members having the template type specified in the worklist template, the template type referencing a group of attributes, each of which relates to a defined subject.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a table that identifies a country to which the worklist template is assigned;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the country identified by the template ID.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a worklist-user table that identifies one or more assignees to which the corresponding worklist template is associated;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the assignee identified by the template ID.

9. A system for implementing automated worklists, comprising:

a host system; and

an automated worklist application executing on the host system, the automated worklist application implementing a method, the method comprising;

generating a worklist, comprising;

retrieving a worklist template corresponding to the worklist from a storage device;

via a first query, selecting a listing of members and attributes to be populated in the worklist, the attributes including a status indicator of an action item specified for each of the members of the worklist;

building a worklist member table with results of the first query;

via a second query, and using attributes of the worklist member table, identifying up-to-date values of one or more worklist member attributes; and

outputting results of the second query to the worklist; and

presenting the worklist to a corresponding assignee, wherein for each of the members in the worklist, the status indicator is editable by the corresponding assignee to update a status of the member.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the automated worklist application further implements:

creating the worklist template that defines the worklist, comprising;

specifying a template ID for the worklist template;

defining the first query; and

defining the second query; and

storing the worklist template in a worklist template table that provides a primary key for worklist templates that is used as a foreign key in other tables that refer to the worklist templates.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the members comprise a database entity and occupy rows of the worklist.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein creating the worklist template further includes specifying a schedule period of worklist generation for the worklist template, the schedule period defined by at least one of frequency of generation and duration of schedule period.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the worklist contains a static listing of members and attributes that is unchanged for the duration of the schedule period, and the values of at least one of the attributes are updateable on demand by the assignee of the worklist

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the automated worklist application further implements:

specifying a template type for the worklist template;

wherein the results of the first query include members having the template type specified in the worklist template, the template type referencing a group of attributes, each of which relates to a defined subject.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a table that identifies a country to which the worklist template is assigned;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the country identified by the template ID.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a worklist-user table that identifies one or more assignees to which the corresponding worklist template is associated;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the assignee identified by the template ID.

17. A computer program product for implementing automated worklists, the computer program product including a computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions embodied thereon, the program instructions causing a computer to implement a method, comprising:

generating a worklist, comprising;

retrieving a worklist template corresponding to the worklist from a storage device;

via a first query, selecting a listing of members and attributes to be populated in the worklist, the attributes including a status indicator of an action item specified for each of the members of the worklist;

building a worklist member table with results of the first query;

via a second query, and using attributes of the worklist member table, identifying up-to-date values of one or more worklist member attributes; and

outputting results of the second query to the worklist; and

presenting the worklist to a corresponding assignee, wherein for each of the members in the worklist, the status indicator is editable by the corresponding assignee to update a status of the member.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising instructions for implementing:

creating the worklist template that defines the worklist, comprising;

specifying a template ID for the worklist template;

defining the first query; and

defining the second query; and

storing the worklist template in a worklist template table that provides a primary key for worklist templates that is used as a foreign key in other tables that refer to the worklist templates.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the members comprise a database entity and occupy rows of the worklist.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein creating the worklist template further includes specifying a schedule period of worklist generation for the worklist template, the schedule period defined by at least one of frequency of generation and duration of schedule period.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the worklist contains a static listing of members and attributes that is unchanged for the duration of the schedule period, and the values of at least one of the attributes are updateable on demand by the assignee of the worklist

22. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising instructions for implementing:

specifying a template type for the worklist template;

wherein the results of the first query include members having the template type specified in the worklist template, the template type referencing a group of attributes, each of which relates to a defined subject.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a table that identifies a country to which the worklist template is assigned;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the country identified by the template ID.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein each worklist template has a unique template ID and the template ID is a key to a worklist-user table that identifies one or more assignees to which the corresponding worklist template is associated;

wherein, generating the worklist includes populating the worklist with members and attributes defined for the assignee identified by the template ID.