BUSINESS SOFTWARE APPLICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20100185968A1
• Filed: 12/11/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sugarcrm Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Sugarcrm Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Roger, Gupta, Ajay, Wu, Andrew, Lee, Collin, Tretikov, Lila Alexei, Aagaard, Rob, Hsu, Yun-Ping, Itani, Majed
• Granted Patent: US 10,467,633 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A business software application system and method are provided that include a feed system for distributing changes about the application/module to a group of users and a cloud connector system that links external data sources to the business software application system and method.

Claims

1. A business software application system, comprising:

a computing device with a processing unit;

a store that stores data associated with an application;

the application having a plurality of lines of computer code wherein the plurality of lines of computer code are executed by the processing unit of the computing device to generate a user interface of the application based on the store;

the application having one or more modules associated with the application; and

a feed portion that displays changes to a particular module that has enabled the feed portion to a group of users of the application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the feed portion further comprises one of the one or more modules associated with the application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the feed portion further comprises a feed dashlet displayed on the user interface of the application, wherein the feed dashlet automatically notifies a set of user when changes to a particular set of data occur.

4. A computer implemented method for a business software application system on a computing device with a processing unit, the method comprising:

storing, in a store associated with the computing device, data associated with an application;

executing a plurality of lines of computer code by the processing unit of the computing device to generate a user interface of the application based on the data in the store, wherein the application has one or more modules associated with the application; and

displaying, using a feed portion associated with the application, changes to a particular module that has enabled the feed portion to a group of users of the application.

5. The method claim 4, wherein displaying changes further comprises using a feed dashlet displayed on the user interface of the application wherein the feed dashlet automatically notifies a set of user when changes to a particular module occur.

6. A business software application system, comprising:

a computing device with a processing unit;

an application having a plurality of lines of computer code wherein the plurality of lines of computer code are executed by the processing unit of the computing device to generate a user interface of the application;

the application having one or more connectors for the one or more external data sources wherein each connector retrieves one or more data fields of the external data source over the link and maps the one or more data fields from the external data source into a data field associated with the application;

the application having a data structure representing relationships between fields and objects under the management of thereof connectors;

the application employing one or more algorithms for managing data and relationships between fields and objects under the management of thereof connectors.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising a cloud connector portion that includes the one or more connectors for the one or more data sources and an administrative interface to control and configure the one or more connectors.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the administrative interface sets a priority of each data source.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the cloud connector portion further comprises a data merging portion that interrelates complementary data from the one or more data sources and removes redundant data from the one or more data sources.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein each connector further comprises a hot field that designates a data field that is automatically retrieved from the data source.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the cloud connector portion further comprises a healing mechanism when data from a particular data sources changes.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the healing mechanism further comprises an explicit healing mechanism that triggers an alert when the data from a particular data sources changes.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the healing mechanism further comprises an implicit healing mechanism to resolve the data changes from a particular data sources.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein each connector further comprises a data factory class that returns a source instance from a source identifier, a data source class that encapsulates the data from the data source in a single data record and a data formatter class that renders display elements based on the data source.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each connector further comprises a mapping file that maps one or more data fields of the data source to one or more data fields of the application.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein the cloud connector portion further comprises a hover widget user interface element that is placed onto the user interface of the application to display the one or more data sources.

17. A computer implemented method for a business software application system on a computing device with a processing unit, the method comprising:

executing a plurality of lines of computer code by the processing unit of the computing device to generate a user interface of the application based on the data in the store;

providing one or more data sources capable of being connected to the computing device over a link; and

providing one or more connectors for the one or more data sources wherein each connector retrieves one or more data fields of the data source over the link and maps the one or more data fields from the data source into a data field associated with the application.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising providing an administrative interface to control and configure the one or more connectors.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising setting, using the administrative interface, a priority of each data source.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising interrelating complementary data from the one or more data sources and removing redundant data from the one or more data sources.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising automatically retrieving data from the data source based on a hot field.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising healing the application when data from a particular data sources changes.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the healing further comprises triggering an alert when the data from a particular data sources changes.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the healing further comprises resolving, using an implicit healing mechanism, the data changes from a particular data sources.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising an extrapolation mechanism to identify relationships between data nodes.

26. The system of claim 25 further comprising an aging mechanism to alter the relevance of one or more data source based on activity and lapsed time.

27. The method of claim 18 further comprising generating a hover widget user interface element that is placed onto the user interface of the application to display the one or more data sources.