EMBEDDED EXPERIENCE THROUGH BIDIRECTIONAL INTEGRATION OF CRM APPLICATIONS AND SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS

• US 20140380139A1
• Filed: 06/21/2013
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mondri, Ron, Natu, Madan
• Application Number:
  US13/924,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20140380139A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services

Abstract

Technologies are generally provided for providing an embedded experience through integrating a spreadsheet application with a customer relationship management (CRM) application to enable bi-directional functionality such that access to at least some of the functionality and data of the CRM application may be provided through the spreadsheet application, and spreadsheet application functionality for manipulating CRM application data may be provided within the CRM application. A spreadsheet application may be opened within the CRM application and columns and fields may be customized, columns may be sorted, new columns and fields may be created, data may be changed, and calculations may be performed automatically employing native spreadsheet capabilities to analyze CRM data. Similarly, an external spreadsheet application may be automatically populated with synchronized CRM data, and data manipulated in the spreadsheet application may be continuously updated at the CRM application.

Claims

1. A method executed on a computing device for integrating a spreadsheet application with a customer relationship management (CRM) application, the method comprising:

displaying one or more views related to a CRM stored entity managed within the CRM application;

detecting selection of a spreadsheet functionality associated with at least one of the displayed views;

activating a spreadsheet application from within the CRM application;

automatically loading CRM data associated with a selected view into the spreadsheet application; and

activating one or more spreadsheet application functionalities for interacting with the loaded CRM data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the one or more views related to the CRM stored entity further comprises:

displaying one or more of;

a chart, a table, and a graph related to an opportunity on a spreadsheet application user interface, wherein the CRM stored entity includes at least one of;

the opportunity, a proposal, a product, and a contract.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the spreadsheet application from within the CRM application further comprises:

displaying one or more of;

a table, a graph, and a chart enabled with spreadsheet application functionalities within the CRM application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically loading CRM data associated with a selected view into the spreadsheet application further comprises:

creating one or more sheets of data comprising columns and rows; and

creating one or more charts based on the data, wherein the data includes one or more of;

contacts, financial information, products, sales information, sales history, and calendar information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in a value displayed in a table presented within a spreadsheet application user interface; and

automatically updating at least one other related field based on the changed value, wherein the at least one other related field includes a formula that uses the changed value when performing a calculation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in a value displayed in a table presented within a spreadsheet application user interface; and

automatically adjusting one of;

a chart or a graph displayed on a CRM application user interface based on the changed value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling customization of one of a table, a graph, and a chart displayed on a spreadsheet application user interface, wherein the customization includes;

customization of displayed rows and columns of a table, sorting of columns, creation of new fields, creation of new columns, modification of data contained in one or more fields of a table, and input of formula for performing custom calculations; and

automatically updating underlying data at the CRM application.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting selection of a hypothetical analysis option;

detecting a change to one or more values displayed on a table presented on the spreadsheet application; and

automatically saving the changed one or more values as a tracked hypothetical analysis at the CRM application.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying CRM stored entity metadata in response to a modification to a spreadsheet layout, wherein the CRM stored entity metadata includes at least one of an attribute set and a structure.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting selection of a field displayed on a table presented on a spreadsheet application user interface; and

providing CRM information and functionalities related to content contained in the selected field.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying CRM information and functionalities related to content contained in the selected field by:

providing contextual information associated with the content contained in the selected field, wherein the contextual information includes one or more of;

key people, financial information including budget and revenue, products associated with an opportunity, dates, and recent activities; and

providing collaborative functionalities associated with the content contained in the selected field, wherein the collaborative functionalities include one or more of;

sharing CRM information with one or more other users, creating tasks, assigning tasks, creating reminders, and taking notes.

12. A computing device for integrating a spreadsheet application with a customer relationship management (CRM) application, the computing device comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a CRM module integrated with the spreadsheet application, the CRM module configured to;

display one or more views related to a CRM stored entity managed within the CRM application;

detect selection of a spreadsheet option associated with at least one of the displayed views;

activate a spreadsheet application from within the CRM application;

automatically load CRM data associated with a selected view into the spreadsheet application;

activate one or more spreadsheet application functionalities for interacting with the loaded CRM data;

enable customization of one of a table, a graph, and a chart displayed on a spreadsheet application user interface; and

automatically update underlying data at the CRM application.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the CRM module is further configured to:

present a CRM view pane while displaying a spreadsheet application user interface.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the CRM module is further configured to:

present one or more CRM functionalities in the CRM view pane; and

enable synchronization of changes to underlying data bi-directionally between on the spreadsheet application user interface and the CRM view pane.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the CRM module is further configured to:

enable one or more of initiation of an approval process, a communication session with a context of displayed data, and a real time communication session through the spreadsheet application user interface.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the CRM module is further configured to:

enable execution of a “

What If”

analysis through the spreadsheet application user interface; and

enable storing of analysis results in the CRM application.

17. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the CRM module is further configured to:

enable an external calculation engine functionality through the spreadsheet application by automatically entering data into a computation field and synchronizing results with the CRM application.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for integrating a spreadsheet application with a customer relationship management (CRM) application, the instructions comprising:

displaying one or more views related to a CRM stored entity managed within the CRM application;

detecting selection of a spreadsheet option associated with at least one of the displayed views;

activating a spreadsheet application from within the CRM application;

automatically loading CRM data associated with a selected view into the spreadsheet application;

activating one or more spreadsheet application functionalities for interacting with the loaded CRM data;

enabling customization of one of a table, a graph, and a chart displayed on a spreadsheet application user interface; and

automatically updating underlying data at the CRM application.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

presenting a CRM view pane while displaying the spreadsheet application user interface; and

displaying one or more of tabulated data, a chart, and a spreadsheet functionality control on the spreadsheet application user interface based on a selection of a presented item on the CRM view pane.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprising:

enabling one or more of chart generation, chart comparison, data aggregation, and information drill down on the spreadsheet application user interface.