Method and apparatus for implementing a corporate directory and service center

• US 6,539,379 B1
• Filed: 08/23/1999
• Issued: 03/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oblix, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramamurthy, Prakash, Joshi, Vrinda S., Vora, Kumar, Stone, Adam C., Moatazedi, Shahram, Swadi, Praveen R., Raman, Rajesh, Shandony, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US09/379,564
• Time in Patent Office: 1,310 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 707/10, 707/100, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/947 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A method and apparatus for implementing a corporate directory and service center is described. The method includes and the apparatus performs querying for common characteristics, displaying information in a varied manner of displays and switching between the manners of displaying, maintaining data integrity and changing data, and defining types of data with forms of display or treatments for handling the data. The method may be embodied in various media as instructions which a machine may execute to perform the method.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining a database of a plurality of data entries, each data entry having a unique identifier, comprising:

changing the unique identifier for a first entry of the plurality of data entries, thereby creating a changed unique identifier for the first entry;

searching the plurality of data entries for a subset of data entries, each data entry of the subset of data entries having a reference to the first entry; and

updating the reference to the first entry of each data entry of the subset of data entries to reflect the changed unique identifier of the first entry, wherein;

each data entry represents something to be tracked;

each unique identifier includes a department name; and

the changing the unique identifier comprises changing the department name associated with the first entry to reflect movement of the first entry from a first department to a second department.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first data entry represents an employee of a company.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first data entry represents a tangible asset of a company.

4. A method of processing changes to a plurality of data entries comprising:

receiving a first request for a change in a data entry of the plurality of data entries, wherein said first request is embodied in a first ticket;

automatically generating a predefined set of corresponding requests, the corresponding requests defined as prerequisites to completing the change for which the first request was received, wherein each request of the set of corresponding requests is embodied in a ticket;

maintaining status indicating whether the requests of the set of corresponding requests have been completed or denied; and

generating a result, the result being either denial of the first request for the change or completion of the first request for the change, completion of the first request for the change including modification of the data entry of the plurality of data entries.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

automatically generating a predefined set of notifications, each notification of the predefined set of notifications corresponding to the change for which the first request was received.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein:

a ticket may have a set of actions associated with the ticket, the request embodied in the ticket being completed when each action of the set of actions has occurred;

a ticket may have a responsible person; and

a ticket may be transferred.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket comprises updating a record of the ticket in one of a pending pool of tickets, a completed pool of tickets, or a cancelled pool of tickets.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket further comprises updating the record of the ticket to reflect a priority of the ticket.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket comprises updating a record of the ticket.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the change requested comprises adding a telephone line; and

the predefined set of corresponding requests include a request to add a new phone line, a request to supply a phone, and a request to update a telephone directory to reflect the new phone line.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the change requested comprises changing a department entry; and

the predefined set of corresponding requests include a request to update the department entry.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the change requested comprises changing an office location; and

the predefined set of corresponding requests include a request to move the contents of the office, a request to update the office location, and a request to update a telephone entry.

13. The method of claim 4 wherein:

each ticket is accessible by a directory server through the use of LDAP.

14. The method of claim 4 further including:

controlling access to said set of data entries, wherein said controlling access includes;

restricting access to a first subset of the set of data entries;

restricting modification requests to a second subset of the set of data entries; and

restricting modification to a third subset of the set of data entries.

15. The method of claim 4 further including:

implementing access control to said set of data entries, wherein said implementing said access control includes;

setting a first access control regime for a first organization, an access control regime being a set of restrictions;

setting a second access control regime for a second organization; and

arbitrating between the first access control regime and the second access control regime for a person, the person being a member of the first organization and a member of the second organization.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the arbitrating comprises utilizing the second access control regime.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the arbitrating comprises utilizing the first access control regime.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the arbitrating comprises utilizing the set of restrictions of the first access control regime in conjunction with the set of restrictions of the second access control regime.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein:

the second organization is a subset of the first organization.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the first access control regime is set by a first individual and the second access control regime is set by a second individual.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the first access control regime is more restrictive than the second access control regime;

the second organization is a subset of the first organization; and

the second access control regime is used for members of the second organization.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the first access control regime is implemented as a set of rules based on a set of attributes associated with the user attempting access.

23. A method of accessing a set of data entries, each data entry including a set of data items, comprising:

providing a set of semantic types of data items, each semantic type having a name and a treatment;

recognizing a data item of a data entry of the set of data entries as having a first semantic type of the set of semantic types; and

handling the data item of the data entry of the set of data entries according to the treatment of the first semantic type, wherein said treatment of the first semantic type includes more than displaying said data item, wherein;

the data entries are accessible by a directory server and use of LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol); and

each data item comprises an attribute and a value.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein:

recognizing a data item comprises matching the attribute of the data item to the first semantic type; and

the set of semantic types are accessible by the directory server.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the set of semantic types may be changed dynamically.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein:

the first semantic type corresponds to a telephone number, which implies the data item has a value that is suitable for use with a telephone system; and

the treatment of the first semantic type includes;

displaying the data item in a format suitable for a telephone number, and

using the value of the data item to initiate a telephone call on the telephone system when requested.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the first semantic type corresponds to a preferred electronic mail address (preferred email), which implies the data item has a value that is suitable for use with an electronic mail system; and

the treatment of the first semantic type includes;

displaying the data item in a format suitable for a preferred email address, and

using the value of the data item to initiate sending an electronic mail message on the electronic mail system when requested.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the first semantic type corresponds to a manager, which implies the data item has a value that is suitable for locating a data entry corresponding to a manager; and

the treatment of the first semantic type includes;

displaying a name from the data entry locatable by the value of the data item, and

using the value of the data item to locate and display the data entry corresponding to the manager upon request.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein:

the first semantic type corresponds to a photograph, which implies the data item has a value that encodes a photograph; and

the treatment of the first semantic type includes displaying the data item as a photograph.

30. A method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, comprising:

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries;

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query;

utilizing the report key to search the set of data entries for the common characteristics, the data entries of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as updated relevant data entries; and

displaying the updated relevant data entries.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein:

the report key is a universal resource locator (URL) and selecting the report key causes the utilizing and the displaying the updated relevant data entries.

32. The method of claim 30 further including:

storing the report key in a persistent memory.

33. The method of claim 32 further including:

displaying a list of a set of report keys, the set of report keys including the report key;

selecting the report key from the list, the selecting causing the utilizing and the displaying the updated relevant data entries.

34. A method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, comprising:

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries;

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query, wherein the report key may be transferred or communicated from a first user to a second user, the second user able to use the report key to cause performance of the searching and the displaying the relevant data entries.

35. A method of determining a set of options given a defined characteristic comprising:

searching a plurality of data entries for each data entry having the defined characteristic, wherein said predefined characteristic is a data item referencing a first data entry;

generating a set of data entries from the searching, the set of data entries comprising each data entry having the defined characteristic, the set of data entries being a subset of the plurality of data entries;

organizing the set of data entries;

extracting from each data entry of the set of data entries a name and a unique identifier;

forming a set of names containing each name extracted from the set of data entries;

forming a set of unique identifiers containing each unique identifier extracted from the set of data entries; and

displaying the set of names in a form perceptible to a user, wherein;

each data entry of the plurality of data entries is accessible by a directory server; and

the searching includes using LDAP to access the plurality of data entries.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the first data entry corresponds to a manager.

37. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of determining a set of options given a defined characteristic, said method comprising:

searching a plurality of data entries for each data entry having the defined characteristic, wherein said predefined characteristic is a data item referencing a first data entry;

generating a set of data entries from the searching, the set of data entries comprising each data entry having the defined characteristic, the set of data entries being a subset of the plurality of data entries;

organizing the set of data entries;

extracting from each data entry of the set of data entries a name and a unique identifier;

forming a set of names containing each name extracted from the set of data entries;

forming a set of unique identifiers containing each unique identifier extracted from the set of data entries; and

displaying the set of names in a form perceptible to a user, wherein;

each data entry of the plurality of data entries is accessible by a directory server; and

the searching includes using LDAP to access the plurality of data entries.

38. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of maintaining a database of a plurality of data entries, each data entry having a unique identifier, said method comprising:

changing the unique identifier for a first entry of the plurality of data entries, thereby creating a changed unique identifier for the first entry;

searching the plurality of data entries for a subset of data entries, each data entry of the subset of data entries having a reference to the first entry; and

updating the reference to the first entry of each data entry of the subset of data entries to reflect the changed unique identifier of the first entry, wherein;

each data entry represents something to be tracked;

each unique identifier includes a department name; and

the changing the unique identifier comprises changing the department name associated with the first entry to reflect movement of the first entry from a first department to a second department.

39. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of processing changes to a plurality of data entries, said method comprising:

receiving a first request for a change in a data entry of the plurality of data entries, wherein said first request is embodied in a first ticket;

automatically generating a predefined set of corresponding requests, the corresponding requests defined as prerequisites to completing the change for which the first request was received, wherein each request of the set of corresponding requests is embodied in a ticket;

maintaining status indicating whether the requests of the set of corresponding requests have been completed or denied; and

generating a result, the result being either denial of the first request for the change or completion of the first request for the change, completion of the first request for the change including modification of the data entry of the plurality of data entries.

40. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 39, wherein said method further includes:

automatically generating a predefined set of notifications, each notification of the predefined set of notifications corresponding to the change for which the first request was received.

41. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 39 wherein:

a ticket may have a set of actions associated with the ticket, the request embodied in the ticket being completed when each action of the set of actions has occurred;

a ticket may have a responsible person; and

a ticket may be transferred.

42. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 41 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket includes updating a record of the ticket in one of a pending pool of tickets, a completed pool of tickets, or a cancelled pool of tickets.

43. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 42 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket further includes updating the record of the ticket to reflect a priority of the ticket.

44. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 41 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket includes updating a record of the ticket.

45. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 39 wherein each ticket is accessible by a directory server through the use of LDAP.

46. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 39, wherein said method further includes:

controlling access to said set of data entries, wherein said controlling access includes;

restricting access to a first subset of the set of data entries;

restricting modification requests to a second subset of the set of data entries; and

restricting modification to a third subset of the set of data entries.

47. One or more processor readable storage devices according to of claim 39, wherein said method further includes:

implementing access control to said set of data entries, wherein said implementing said access control includes;

setting a first access control regime for a first organization, an access control regime being a set of restrictions;

setting a second access control regime for a second organization; and

arbitrating between the first access control regime and the second access control regime for a person, the person being a member of the first organization and a member of the second organization.

48. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of accessing a set of data entries, each data entry including a set of data items, said method comprising:

providing a set of semantic types of data items, each semantic type having a name and a treatment;

recognizing a data item of a data entry of the set of data entries as having a first semantic type of the set of semantic types; and

handling the data item of the data entry of the set of data entries according to the treatment of the first semantic type, wherein said treatment of the first semantic type includes more than displaying said data item, wherein;

the data entries are accessible by a directory server and use of LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol); and

each data item includes an attribute and a value.

49. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 48 wherein:

recognizing a data item includes matching the attribute of the data item to the first semantic type; and

the set of semantic types are accessible by the directory server.

50. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 49 wherein:

the set of semantic types may be changed dynamically.

51. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 50 wherein:

the first semantic type corresponds to a manager, which implies the data item has a value that is suitable for locating a data entry corresponding to a manager; and

the treatment of the first semantic type includes;

displaying a name from the data entry locatable by the value of the data item, and

using the value of the data item to locate and display the data entry corresponding to the manager upon request.

52. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, said method comprising:

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries;

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query;

utilizing the report key to search the set of data entries for the common characteristics, the data entries of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as updated relevant data entries; and

displaying the updated relevant data entries.

53. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 52, wherein the report key is a universal resource locator (URL) and selecting the report key causes the utilizing and the displaying the updated relevant data entries.

54. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 52, wherein said method further includes:

storing the report key in a persistent memory.

55. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 54 further including:

displaying a list of a set of report keys, the set of report keys including the report key;

selecting the report key from the list, the selecting causing the utilizing and the displaying the updated relevant data entries.

56. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, said method comprising:

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries; and

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query, wherein the report key may be transferred or communicated from a first user to a second user, the second user able to use the report key to cause performance of the searching and the displaying the relevant data entries.

57. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of maintaining a plurality of data entries, each data entry having a unique identifier, said method comprising;

changing the unique identifier for a first entry of the plurality of data entries, thereby creating a changed unique identifier for the first entry;

searching the plurality of data entries for a subset of data entries, each data entry of the subset of data entries having a reference to the first entry; and

updating the reference to the first entry of each data entry of the subset of data entries to reflect the changed unique identifier of the first entry, wherein;

each data entry represents something to be tracked;

each unique identifier includes a department name; and

the changing the unique identifier comprises changing the department name associated with the first entry to reflect movement of the first entry from a first department to a second department.

58. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of processing changes to a plurality of data entries, said method comprising;

receiving a first request for a change in a data entry of the plurality of data entries, wherein said first request is embodied in a first ticket;

automatically generating a predefined set of corresponding requests, the corresponding requests defined as prerequisites to completing the change for which the first request was received, wherein each request of the set of corresponding requests is embodied in a ticket;

maintaining status indicating whether the requests of the set of corresponding requests have been completed or denied; and

generating a result, the result being either denial of the first request for the change or completion of the first request for the change, completion of the first request for the change including modification of the data entry of the plurality of data entries.

59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein said method further includes:

automatically generating a predefined set of notifications, each notification of the predefined set of notifications corresponding to the change for which the first request was received.

60. The apparatus of claim 58 wherein:

a ticket may have a set of actions associated with the ticket, the request embodied in the ticket being completed when each action of the set of actions has occurred;

a ticket may have a responsible person; and

a ticket may be transferred.

61. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket includes updating a record of the ticket in one of a pending pool of tickets, a completed pool of tickets, or a cancelled pool of tickets.

62. The apparatus of claim 61 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket further includes updating the record of the ticket to reflect a priority of the ticket.

63. The apparatus of claim 61 wherein:

maintaining status of a ticket includes updating the record of the ticket.

64. The apparatus of claim 58 wherein each ticket is accessible by a directory server through the use of LDAP.

65. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein said method further includes:

controlling access to said set of data entries, wherein said controlling access includes;

restricting access to a first subset of the set of data entries;

restricting modification requests to a second subset of the set of data entries; and

restricting modification to the second subset of the set of data entries.

66. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein said method further includes:

implementing access control to said set of data entries, wherein said implementing said access control includes;

setting a first access control regime for a first organization, an access control regime being a set of restrictions;

setting a second access control regime for a second organization; and

arbitrating between the first access control regime and the second access control regime for a person, the person being a member of the first organization and a member of the second organization.

67. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of accessing a set of data entries, each data entry including a set of data items, said method comprising;

providing a set of semantic types of data items, each semantic type having a name and a treatment;

recognizing a data item of a data entry of the set of data entries as having a first semantic type of the set of semantic types; and

handling the data item of the data entry of the set of data entries according to the treatment of the first semantic type, wherein said treatment of the first semantic type includes more than displaying said data item, wherein;

the data entries are accessible by a directory server and use of LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol); and

each data item includes an attribute and a value.

68. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, said method comprising;

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries;

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query;

utilizing the report key to search the set of data entries for the common characteristics, the data entries of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as updated relevant data entries; and

displaying the updated relevant data entries.

69. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of generating a report, the report including relevant data entries from a set of data entries, said method comprising;

receiving a query, the query specifying common characteristics of the relevant data entries;

searching the set of data entries for the common characteristics, each data entry of the set of data entries having the common characteristics being identified as a relevant data entry;

displaying the relevant data entries; and

generating a report key, the report key encoding the query, wherein the report key may be transferred or communicated from a first user to a second user, the second user able to use the report key to cause performance of the searching and the displaying the relevant data entries.

70. A method for managing a plurality of data entries, said method comprising:

receiving a request related to said plurality of data entries;

generating a set of tickets corresponding to said request, wherein each ticket corresponds to a task necessary to accommodate said request; and

monitoring status of each task corresponding to a ticket in said set of tickets.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein said monitoring status includes:

determining whether said request has been cancelled; and

determining whether all tasks corresponding to said set of tickets have been finished.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein said request corresponds to a change in a data item in a data entry in said plurality of data entries.

73. The method of claim 70, wherein said request corresponds to removing a data entry from said plurality of data entries.

74. The method of claim 73, wherein said request calls for an employee'"'"'s termination.

75. The method of claim 70, wherein said request corresponds to adding a data entry to said plurality of data entries.

76. The method of claim 75, wherein said request call for adding an employee.

77. The method of claim 70, further including:

accessing data entries in said plurality of data entries using LDAP.

78. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of managing a plurality of data entries, said method comprising:

receiving a request related to said plurality of data entries;

generating a set of tickets corresponding to said request, wherein each ticket corresponds to a task necessary to accommodate said request; and

monitoring status of each task corresponding to a ticket in said set of tickets.

79. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 78, wherein said monitoring status includes:

determining whether said request has been cancelled; and

determining whether all tasks corresponding to said set of tickets have been finished.

80. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 78, wherein said request corresponds to a change in a data item in a data entry in said plurality of data entries.

81. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 78, wherein said request corresponds to removing a data entry from said plurality of data entries.

82. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 78, wherein said request corresponds to adding a data entry to said plurality of data entries.

83. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 78, wherein said method further includes:

accessing data entries in said plurality of data entries using LDAP.

84. An apparatus comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method of managing a plurality of data entries, said method comprising;

receiving a request related to said plurality of data entries;

generating a set of tickets corresponding to said request, wherein each ticket corresponds to a task necessary to accommodate said request; and

monitoring status of each task corresponding to a ticket in said set of tickets.

85. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein said monitoring status includes:

determining whether said request has been cancelled; and

determining whether all tasks corresponding to said set of tickets have been finished.

86. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein said request corresponds to a change in a data item in a data entry in said plurality of data entries.

87. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein said request corresponds to removing a data entry from said plurality of data entries.

88. A The apparatus of claim 84, wherein said request corresponds to adding a data entry to said plurality of data entries.

89. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein said method further includes:

accessing data entries in said plurality of data entries using LDAP.