Customization Abstraction

• US 20100169844A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Wolf, Markus, Schaefer, Andrens, Podbleanin, Almer, Bugert, Joachim, Behrens, Marcus, Hartmann, Karsten, Hoff, Roland, Keil, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 8,209,638 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Which one of a plurality of customization levels of a customizable operation of a software application is to be provided to a customizing user of the customizable operation may be determined, wherein each of the plurality of customization levels represents a different level of customization abstraction for customizing the customizable operation at an associated level of complexity. A maintenance view including a visual representation of the customizable operation may be provided, the visual representation corresponding to the determined customization level. A customization to the customizable operation may be received and applied to the customization to the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the customization during an execution thereof.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an abstraction engine configured to determine which one of a plurality of customization levels of a customizable operation of a software application to provide to a customizing user of the customizable operation, wherein each of the plurality of customization levels represents a different level of customization abstraction for customizing the customizable operation at an associated level of complexity;

a view generator configured to provide a maintenance view including a visual representation of the customizable operation, the visual representation corresponding to the determined customization level; and

a customization engine configured to receive, via the maintenance view, a customization to the customizable operation and apply the customization to the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the customization during an execution thereof.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a monitor configured to determine an authorization level of the customizing user, wherein the abstraction engine is configured to determine which one of the plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation correspond to the authorization level.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the monitor is configured to determine the authorization level based on a usage of the system by the customizing user.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:

the monitor is configured to update the authorization level based on the usage; and

the view generator is configured to provide the maintenance view including the visual representation of the customizable operation corresponding the updated authorization level.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the abstraction engine is configured to select a customization level from the plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation such that the selected customization level corresponds to the authorization level and wherein each customization level corresponds to at least one of a plurality of authorization levels.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the abstraction engine is configured to determine which one of a plurality of visual templates associated with the software application corresponds to the determined customization level, wherein each visual template includes an arrangement of visual icons representing one or more portions of the software application.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the view generator is configured to generate the visual representation based on the determined visual template.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the customization engine is configured to receive a toggle corresponding to a portion of the visual representation represented by a first visual template of a plurality of visual templates representing the portion; and

the view generator configured to provide the visual representation including the toggled portion of the visual representation, wherein the toggled portion is represented by one of the plurality of visual templates, other than the first visual template, as corresponding to the toggle.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the abstraction engine is configured to determine visual templates for the visual representation corresponding to the customization levels, including a first visual template of visual icons corresponding to all customizable features of the customizable operation, and one or more ordered templates following the first visual template, wherein each subsequent template in the order includes an abstraction of the visual icons included in a previous visual template.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the abstraction engine is configured to determine visual templates for the visual representation corresponding to the customization levels, including at least, a first visual template including an arrangement of visual icons of the customizable operation arranged at a first level of complexity, and a second visual template including an abstraction of the first visual template at a second level of complexity that is less complex than the first level of complexity.

11. A method comprising:

determining an authorization level of a customizing user of a software application, the authorization level for determining a level of complexity at which to represent at least one customizable operation of the software application to the customizing user;

determining which of a plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation corresponds to the authorization level;

determining a visual representation of the customizable operation at the desired level of complexity based on determined customization level, wherein the determined customization level includes an arrangement of visual icons representing the customizable operation at the desired level of complexity;

providing, to the customizing user, the visual representation within a maintenance view, configured to allow for a customization of the customizable operation;

receiving, via the maintenance view, the customization to the customizable operation; and

configuring the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the customization during execution thereof.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the determining an authorization level comprises determining the authorization level based on one or more customizations performed by the customizing user.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the determining a visual representation comprises determining which of a plurality of visual templates including arrangements of visual icons at varying levels of complexity corresponds to the desired level of complexity based on the determined customization level.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the determining an authorization level comprises receiving the authorization level from the customizing user.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

providing results of the execution of the software application including the customization to the customizing user.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving a further customization to the customizable operation based on the results of the execution; and

configuring the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the further customization during execution thereof.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the providing comprises:

receiving a toggle for switching between determined level of complexity and a new level of complexity;

determining an updated visual representation of the customizable operation at the new level of complexity; and

providing, to the customizing user, the updated visual representation within the maintenance view.

18. A device configured to:

determine a customization level of customizable operation of a software application corresponding to an authorization level of a customizing user of the software application, wherein the customization level corresponds to a first visual template for providing a visual representation of the customizable operation at a desired level of complexity;

provide the visual representation to the customizing user via a maintenance view configured to receive a customization to the customizable operation for implementation with the software application;

receive a toggle of at least a portion of the visual representation, the toggle corresponding to changing the level of complexity to a lesser level of complexity;

determine, based on the toggle, a second visual template corresponding to the lesser level of complexity, wherein the second visual template is an abstraction of the first visual template; and

provide the visual representation of the customizable operation of the software application to the customizing user via the maintenance view, the visual representation being based on the second visual template at the lesser level of complexity.

19. The device of claim 18 configured to receive the toggle to change to a greater level of complexity of a third visual template, wherein the first visual template is an abstraction of the third visual template.

20. The device of claim 18 configured to update the authorization level based on the toggle.