SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING CONTACTS AS USERS OF A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE AND APPLICATION SYSTEM

• US 20110238760A1
• Filed: 01/06/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Knight, David, Sanikommu, Samatha, Kuruganti, Aditya, Lai, Sanjaya
• Granted Patent: US 9,053,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409

Abstract

A system and method of identifying users of a multi-tenant database and application service is provided. The system and method is configured to generate a list of contacts from a contact database of a multi-tenant database and application service. Each contact in the list of contacts is sent a message that includes a link to web site that includes a query. Specifically, each contact visiting the web site is queried to determine if the contact is a user of a multi-tenant database and application service. Additionally, contacts are queried to determine if they are an administrator user, and if not, who is an associated administrator user. The contact database is updated to indicate contacts that are users of the multi-tenant database and application service when approved of by the associated administrator.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a server communicatively connected to the memory, the server providing a multi-tenant database and application service, the server configured to;

generate a list of contacts;

send a message to each contact in the list of contacts;

query each contact responding to the message to determine if the contact is a user of the multi-tenant database and application service; and

update a contact database to indicate contacts that are users of the multi-tenant database and application service.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the message to each contact includes a link to a web site, the web site configured to perform the query of each contact responding to the message by visiting the web site.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the server is further configured to query each contact responding to the message to determine if the contact is an administrator user of the multi-tenant database and application service.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the server is further configured to query each contact responding to the message to determine an associated administrator user of the multi-tenant database and application service.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the server is further configured to seek permission from an associated administrator user to update the contact database for users that are not administrator users.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the server is further configured to generate a new contact for an associated administrator user to update the contact database for users that are not administrator users.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the server is configured to generate the list of contacts from the contact database.

8. A method for identifying contacts that use a multi-tenant database and application service, comprising:

generating a list of contacts;

sending a message to each contact in the list of contacts;

querying each contact responding to the message to determine if the contact is a user of the multi-tenant database and application; and

updating a contact database to indicate contacts that are users of the multi-tenant database and application service

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the message to each contact includes a link to a web site, the web site configured to perform the query of each contact responding to the message by visiting the web site.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of querying each contact responding to the message to determine if the contact is an administrator user of the multi-tenant database and application service.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of querying each contact to determine an associated administrator user of the multi-tenant database and application service.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of seeking permission from an associated administrator user to update the contact database for users that are not administrator users.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of generating a new contact for an associated administrator user to update the contact database for users that are not administrator users.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of generating the list of contacts comprises generating the list of contacts from the contact database.

15. A multi-tenant database system comprising:

a memory; and

a server communicatively connected to the memory, the server providing a multi-tenant database and application service, the server configured to;

generate a list of contacts from a contact database in the multi-tenant database and application service;

send a message to each contact in the list of contacts, the message including a link to a first web site;

query each contact visiting the first web site;

to determine if the contact is a user of the multi-tenant database and application; and

to determine if the contact is an administrator user of the multi-tenant database and application service; and

to determine an associated administrator user for contacts that are users of the multi-tenant database and application service and are not administrator users; and

update the contact database to indicate contacts that are users of the multi-tenant database and application service.

16. The multi-tenant database system of claim 15 wherein the server is further configured to seek permission from the associated administrator user to update the contact database for users that are not administrator users.