COORDINATION OF COLLABORATION PARTNERS

• US 20130268599A1
• Filed: 04/05/2012
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: Michael Stollberg
• Inventors: Meijler, Theo Dirk, Winkler, Matthias, STOLLBERG, MICHAEL, Fleischhauer, Rene
• Granted Patent: US 9,269,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods for coordination of collaboration partners are described herein. Data from a plurality of collaboration partners is received during a collaboration process. The collaboration process involves one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process. The data comprises process data relevant to the collaboration process. The received data is stored in one or more collaboration objects. In response to a request from a collaboration partner, a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects is generated and provided to the requesting collaboration partner based on access controls. The customized view includes information about the process data that is allowed to be viewed according to the access controls associated with the requesting collaboration partner.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture including a computer readable storage medium to tangibly store instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners during a collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data comprises static data that is accessible by the collaboration partners and process data relevant to the progress of the collaboration process;

store the received data in one or more collaboration objects;

receive access controls for the stored data, wherein one or more of the collaboration partners define the access controls for the stored data; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner, generate and provide a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects to the requesting collaboration partner based on the access controls, wherein the customized view includes the static data and information about the process data that is allowed to be viewed according to the access controls associated with the requesting collaboration partner.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the collaboration partners during one or more stages of the collaboration process.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein a host collaboration partner defines the access controls for the process data.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive the data from a plurality of the collaboration partners, further comprises instructions to:

extract the data from backend systems of the collaboration partners.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive the data from a plurality of the collaboration partners, further comprises instructions to:

receive the data that is provided by users of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.

6. A computerized method for collaboration, the method comprising:

receiving data from a plurality of collaboration partners during a collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data comprises process data relevant to the collaboration process;

storing the received data in one or more collaboration objects; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner, generating and providing a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects to the requesting collaboration partner based on access controls, wherein the customized view includes information about the process data that is allowed to be viewed according to the access controls associated with the requesting collaboration partner.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data further comprises static data that is accessible by the collaboration partners and the process data and the static data are stored in the one or more collaboration objects in an encapsulated manner.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving the access controls for the stored process data, wherein one or more of the collaboration partners define the access controls for the stored process data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a host collaboration partner defines the access controls for the process data.

11. The method of claim 6, receiving data from a plurality of collaboration partners further comprising:

extracting the data from backend systems of the collaboration partners.

10. The method of claim wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the collaboration partners during one or more stages of the collaboration process.

12. The method of claim receiving data from a plurality of collaboration partners further comprising:

receiving the data that is provided by users of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.

13. A computer system for collaboration, comprising:

a computer memory to store program code; and

a processor to execute the program code to;

receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners during a collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data comprises process data relevant to the collaboration process;

store the received data in one or more collaboration objects; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner, generate and provide a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects to the requesting collaboration partner based on access controls, wherein the customized view includes information about the process data that is allowed to be viewed according to the access controls associated with the requesting collaboration partner.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data further comprises static data that is accessible by the collaboration partners

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the process data and the static data are stored in the one or more collaboration objects in an encapsulated manner.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor further executes the program code to:

receive the access controls for the stored process data, wherein one or more of the collaboration partners define the access controls for the stored process data.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein a host collaboration partner defines the access controls for the process data.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the collaboration partners during one or more stages of the collaboration process.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the program code to receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners, further comprises program code to:

extract the data from backend systems of the collaboration partners.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the program code to receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners, further comprises program code to:

receive the data that is provided by users of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.