IMPLEMENTING ENTERPRISE LEVEL BUSINESS INFORMATION NETWORKING

• US 20110113058A1
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Peter, Mehra, Vinod, Woollen, Rob
• Granted Patent: US 8,738,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and methods for implementing enterprise level social and business information networking are provided. Users can receive relevant information about a database system and its users at an appropriate time. Users can then use this relevant information to reduce errors and limit redundant efforts. For example, an update of a record in the database can be identified, and a story created automatically about the update and sent to the users that are following the record. Which updates have stories created and which stories are to be sent to which users can be configured. Other events besides updating of records can also be tracked. For example, actions of a user that result in an event can be tracked, where such tracking can also be configurable. Subscriptions to follow an object can be automatic, and access checks can be used to ensure that unauthorized users do not see certain data.

Claims

1. A method of tracking events in a database system to provide feeds to users of the database system, the method comprising:

receiving data indicative of a plurality of events;

the database system analyzing each event to determine if the respective event is being tracked; and

if an event is being tracked, adding a new entry into an event history table, the new entry including;

an event identifier that identifies the event; and

an object identifier that identifies an object updated by the event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object updated by a first event is a first record.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first event is a change in a field of the first record, the method further comprising:

storing an old value of the field and a new value of the field.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the old value and new value are stored in a field change table along with the event identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the object updated by a first event is a first user'"'"'s profile, and wherein the first event is a message to first user'"'"'s profile, the method further comprising:

storing text of the message in a second table along with the event identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an event that includes a comment on another event; and

storing the comment into a third table along with the event identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a first tenant, criteria that specifies events that are to be tracked in the event history table.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for an event is being tracked, determining one or more users following the object updated by the event; and

associating the one or more users with the event.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein associating a user with the event includes:

adding a user identifier and the event identifier to a same entry of a table.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each user following the object is added as a separate entry to a news feed table, wherein each separate entry includes the respective user identifier and the event identifier.

11. A method of displaying a feed to a user of database system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user, a request to view a feed of one or more objects;

the database system querying one or more tables for identifiers associated with the one or more objects to obtain a plurality of events providing feed items for the feed;

obtaining one or more feed items for each event; and

displaying the obtained one or more feed items.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the feed is a news feed of the first user, the news feed being an aggregation of feeds of a plurality of objects that the first user is following, wherein the first user is following the one or more objects, and wherein querying the one or more tables includes:

querying a user subscription table with an identifier of the first user to obtain one or more identifiers of the one or more objects that the first user is following; and

using the identifiers to obtain the plurality of events providing feed items for the feed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the request to view a feed of one or more objects is a request to view the news feed.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the feed is a news feed of the first user, the news feed being an aggregation of feeds of a plurality of objects that the first user is following, wherein the first user is following the one or more objects, and wherein querying the one or more tables includes:

querying a first table of the one or more tables with an identifier of the first user to obtain identifiers or pointers corresponding to the plurality of events providing feed items for the feed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first table includes a separate entry for each user identifier for each event identifier.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a processor to perform an operation of tracking events in a database system to provide feeds to users of the database system, the instructions comprising:

receiving data indicative of a plurality of events;

analyzing each event to determine if the respective event is being tracked; and

if an event is being tracked, adding a new entry into an event history table, the new entry including;

an event identifier that identifies the event; and

an object identifier that identifies an object updated by the event.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving, from a first user, a request to view a feed of one or more objects;

querying the event history table for identifiers associated with the one or more objects to obtain a plurality of events providing feed items for the feed;

obtaining one or more feed items for each event; and

displaying the obtained one or more feed items.

18. A database system comprising:

a database;

the computer program product of claim 16; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in the computer program product.