User interface for conflict resolution management

• US 7,487,471 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Wu, Yuh-Cherng
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu; Sy D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham; Linh K
• Application Number:
  US10/897,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20060020359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• Field of Search: 715/530, 715/764, 715/781, 715/792, 715/866, 715/511, 715/744, 715/762, 715/804, 715/861, 715/743, 715/230, 715/211
• US Class Current: 715/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

One implementation provides a method for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to view proposed modifications to a knowledge entity. The method includes displaying to the user a first representation of a first proposed modification to the knowledge entity, and displaying to the user a second representation of a second proposed modification to the knowledge entity, wherein the second representation is positioned in relation to the first representation to indicate whether a conflict exists between the first and second proposed modifications to the knowledge entity. If there is a visual indication of the conflict, the method further includes displaying a modified representation of the knowledge entity by applying either the first or the second proposed modification according to a user-adjustable decision criterion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of proposed modifications to a knowledge entity stored within a knowledge base on a host server, the proposed modifications being provided by distinct, discrete client devices external from the host server;

displaying in a graphical user interface representations of the proposed modifications, the proposed modifications being spatially positioned to visually indicate that a conflict exists between the proposed modifications;

generating weighted values for each of the proposed modifications based on user-inputted values for a plurality of user-adjustable decision criteria;

comparing the weighted values against a cut-off value to generate a subset of the proposed modifications including first proposed modifications from the plurality of proposed modifications having weighted values above the cut-off value and the subset not including second proposed modifications having weighted values below the cut-off value; and

displaying in the graphical user interface representations of the subset of the proposed modifications, the user-inputted values for the plurality of user-ajustable decision criteria inputted via the graphical user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria comprises experience of users of the client devices, accuracy of users of the client devices, and usage history of proposed modifications of users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the client devices has a local cache of the knowledge base and the proposed modifications are based on modifications to the local cache that are synchronized with the host server by being pushed to the host server from the client devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface includes user interface elements for a user to select to apply one of the subset of the proposed modifications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the proposed modifications are conflicting modifications to the knowledge entity and a user selection of one of the proposed modifications causes a mutually exclusive application of a selected, proposed modification such that other proposed modifications are no longer displayed for consideration for application by a user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying causes displaying an indication of an ordering of the subset of the proposed modifications based on weighted values.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the displaying of the ordering comprises displaying proposed modifications having a higher weighted value as circles within circles representing lesser weighted values that are conflicting.

8. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of proposed modifications to a knowledge entity stored within a knowledge base on a host server, the proposed modifications being provided by distinct, discrete client devices external from the host server;

displaying in a graphical user interface representations of the proposed modifications, the proposed modifications being spatially positioned to visually indicate that a conflict exists between the proposed modifications;

generating weighted values for each of the proposed modifications based on user-inputted values for a plurality of user-adjustable decision criteria;

comparing the weighted values against a cut-off value to generate a subset of the proposed modifications including first proposed modifications from the plurality of proposed modifications having weighted values above the cut-off value and the subset not including second proposed modifications having weighted values below the cut-off value; and

displaying in the graphical user interface representations of the subset of the proposed modifications, the user-inputted values for the plurality of user-adustable decision criteria inputted via the graphical user interface.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the criteria comprises experience of users of the client devices, accuracy of users of the client devices, and usage history of proposed modifications of users.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each of the client devices has a local cache of the knowledge base and the proposed modifications are based on modifications to the local cache that are synchronized with the host server by being pushed to the host server from the client devices.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface includes user interface elements for a user to select to apply one of the subset of the proposed modifications.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the proposed modifications are conflicting modifications to the knowledge entity and a user selection of one of the proposed modifications causes a mutually exclusive application of a selected, proposed modification such that other proposed modifications are no longer displayed for consideration for application by a user.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the displaying causes displaying an indication of an ordering of the subset of the proposed modifications based on weighted values.

14. The computer program product of claim 13,wherein the displaying of the ordering comprises displaying proposed modifications having a higher weighted value as circles within circles representing lesser weighted values that are conflicting.

15. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of proposed modifications to a knowledge entity stored within a knowledge base on a host server, the proposed modifications being provided by distinct, discrete client devices external from the host server, each of the client devices having a local cache of the knowledge base and the client devices pushing the proposed modifications to the host server based on a distributed model of the client devices and the host server;

displaying in a graphical user interface representations of the proposed modifications, the proposed modifications being spatially positioned to visually indicate that a conflict exists between the proposed modifications;

generating weighted values for each of the proposed modifications based on user-inputted values for a plurality of user-adustable decision criteria, the criteria comprising criteria defining metadata of users of the client devices from which to generate the weighted values;

comparing the weighted values against a cut-off value to generate a subset of the proposed modifications including first proposed modifications from the plurality of proposed modifications having weighted values above the cut-off value and the subset not including second proposed modifications having weighted values below the cut-off value; and

displaying in the graphical user interface representations of the subset of the proposed modifications, the user-inputted values for the plurality of the user-adjustable decision criteria inputted via the graphical user interface, the displaying causing display of an indication of an ordering of the subset of the proposed modifications based on weighted values where proposed modifications having a higher weighted value are displayed as circles within circles representing lesser weighted values that are conflicting, and the graphical user interface includes user interface elements for a user to select to apply one of the subset of the proposed modifications to the exclusion of other proposed modifications such that other proposed modifications are no longer displayed for consideration for application by a user.