Decomposition of tasks into extensible and customizable business activities

• US 7,529,757 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2004
• Issued: 05/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thakkar, Jigar, Lewis, Elliot S., Sorokin, Sergey, Hilerio, Israel
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jami; Hares
• Application Number:
  US11/020,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20060136918A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/100, 707/200, 705/1, 705 8- 9
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A method for organizing task data used in customer relationship management systems in which task data is decomposed into a set of business activity classes including a set of business task classes, where the business task classes are combined through association or multiple inheritance to create the business activity class. Each task class can be further decomposed into a base task class and a set of task characteristic classes where task definitions may be modified by associating additional task characteristic classes to the base task class.

Claims

1. A method or orgainizing business task data on a computer-implemented customer relationship management (CMR) system, the method comprising:

creating in the CRM system memory a base task object comprising a set of base parameters;

creating a set of task objects representing a set of business tasks assigned to a user of the CRM system, wherein each task object includes a common base task object and a set of parameters associated with the business task;

forming a plurality of business activity objects, wherein each business activity object is an association of two or more task objects;

associating a task object of the set of task objects with a system application, wherein associating the task object with the system application comprises modifying the task object to include a parameter that is a link to the system application and further wherein the link enables the system application to communicate with the task object;

designating a first task object of the plurality of business activity objects as a first index task object and defining a first set of business activity objects having the same first index task object as a first business activity;

retrieving the first set of business activity object based on the first index task object;

designating a second task object of the plurality of business activity objects as a second index task object and defining a second set of business activity objects having the same second index task object as a business activity, wherein the first and second set of business activity objects include a set of common business activity objects; and

retrieving the second set of business activity objects based on the second index task object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises creating a table for storing the parameters of the set of task objects.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the table for storing the parameters of the set of task objects comprises merging a set of tables of a base task class and a characteristic class.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is an application for creating documents and further wherein the link enables the customer relationship management system to create an information index of content associated with the documents.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying for business activity objects based on associations to the index task object.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying a first task object of the set of task objects by associating a second task object to the base task object of the first task object.

7. A computing appartus, comprising:

a display unit that generates video images;

an input device;

a processing apparatus operatively coupled to said display unit and input device, said processing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory operatively coupled to said processor;

a network interface connected to a network and to the processing apparatus, said processing apparatus being programmed to;

creating a base task object comprising a set of base parameter;

form a set of task objects, each task object associated with a business task to be performed by a user of a customer relationshiop management system;

wherein each task object includes a common base task object and a set of parameters associated with the business task; and

form a plurality of business activity objects, wherein each business activity object is an association of two or more task objects;

associating a task object of the set of task objects with a system application, wherein associating the task object with the system application comprises modifying the task object to include a parameter that is a link to the system application and further whrein the link enables the system application to communicate with task object;

designating a first task object of the plurality of business activity objects as an index task object and defining a first set of business activity objects having the same first index task object as a first business activity;

retrieving the first set of business activity objects based on the first index task object;

designating a second task object of the plurality of business activity objects as a second task object and defining a second set of business activity objects having the same second index task object as a business activity, wherein the first and second set of business activity objects include a set of common business activity objects; and

retrieving the second set of business activity objects based on the second index task object.

8. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein each task object comprises a base task object and a task characteristic object, and further wherein the base task object comprises parameters common to each task object of the set of task objects and a set of parameters associated with the business task.

9. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein a set of parameters of the fundamental task object includes a path to an executable program associated with the business task.

10. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein a set of parameters of the business activity object includes a path to an executable program associated with the business activity.

11. The computing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the path comprises data required to execute the executable program in a manner directed by the business activity object.

12. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the task objects and the business activity objects are represented by database tables and wherein parameters of the task objects and business objects are represented by database table fields.

13. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the task objects are superclasses and the business activity object is a subclass of at least two task objects and inherits the parameters of the at least two task objects.

14. The computing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the business activity objects are formed by associating at least two task objects via relationship parameters.

15. The computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the relationship parameters are contained in the task object.

16. A computer readable storage medium coupled to a processor and having computer-executable instructions for execution by the processor for performing steps comprising:

creating a base task object comprising a set of base parameters;

forming a set of task objects representing a set of business tasks to be performed by a user of a customer relationship management system, each task object of the set of task objects comprising a common base task object and a set of parameters associated with the business task and a set of parameters required to execute a business task;

associating a task object of the set of task objects with a system application, wherein associating the task object with the system application comprises modifying the task object to include a parameter that is a link to the system application and further wherein the link enables the system application to communicate with the task object;

designating a first task object of the set of task objects as a first index task object, the first index task object comprising a fundamental set of parameters required to execute a first business activity, wherein the first business activity includes a first set of business tasks;

designating a second task object of the set of task objects as a second index task object, the second index task object comprising a fundamental set of parameters required to execute a second business activity, wherein the second business activity includes a second set of business tasks;

forming a first set of business activity objects defining the first business activity by associating the first index task object with one or more task objects, wherein each business activity object comprises the fundamental set of parameters of the first index task object and a set of parameters of the associated set of task objects;

forming a second set of business activity objects defining the second business activity by associating the second index task object with one or more task objects, wherein each business activity object comprises the fundamental set of parameters of the second index task object and a set of parameters of the associated set of task objects; and

creating a first view of the first business activity by retrieving all business activity objects having associations with the first index task object and creating a second view of the second business activity by retrieving all business activity objects having associations with the second index task object, wherein the first and second view contain common business activity objects.