PROVIDING A TIMELINE CONTROL IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110283224A1
• Filed: 12/23/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Krishnan, Arvind, Ellis, Jason A., Ramsey, Michael, Casalaina, Marco S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,230,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and method for providing a timeline control in a multi-tenant database system. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a plurality of entitlement processes and milestones that are to be enforced, where each entitlement process includes one or more actions, and where each action is associated with a corresponding milestone. The method further includes displaying a timeline control window that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process, and updating the timeline control window as the status of the entitlement process changes.

Claims

1. A method for providing a timeline control in a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of entitlement processes and milestones that are to be enforced, wherein each entitlement process includes one or more actions, and wherein each action is associated with a corresponding milestone;

displaying a timeline control window that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

updating the timeline control window as the status of the entitlement process changes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the entitlement processes and milestones are determined from service level definitions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising color coding the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a case milestone window associated with at least one milestone, wherein the case milestone window includes information associated with a status of a particular milestone.

8. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions thereon for providing a timeline control, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

determine a plurality of entitlement processes and milestones that are to be enforced, wherein each entitlement process includes one or more actions, and wherein each action is associated with a corresponding milestone;

display a timeline control window that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

update the timeline control window as the status of the entitlement process changes.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the entitlement processes and milestones are determined from service level definitions.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to color code the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to display a case milestone window associated with at least one milestone, wherein the case milestone window includes information associated with a status of a particular milestone.

15. An apparatus for providing a timeline control, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing one or more stored sequences of instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

determine a plurality of entitlement processes and milestones that are to be enforced, wherein each entitlement process includes one or more actions, and wherein each action is associated with a corresponding milestone;

display a timeline control window that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

update the timeline control window as the status of the entitlement process changes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the entitlement processes and milestones are determined from service level definitions.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to color code the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.