Relations between collaboration workspaces

• US 7,634,539 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2004
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Schwarz, Marcus R., Mueller, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US10/990,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20060026235A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,855 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/230, 709/236, 709/249, 709/250
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A collaborative system includes information about an organization. The organization can be a group of users or a collection of groups. Each user in the organization has access to at least one workspace, a graphical portal to the organization'"'"'s information. Each workspace displays at least a subset of the information. A relation is defined for selected pairs of workspaces based on workspace type, user access controls, personal preferences, or any number of other factors. The relation enables navigation from one workspace to another workspace in the pair, automatic document transfer from one workspace to another, analysis and reporting on the organization, and other collaborative functions.

Claims

1. A collaboration system, comprising:

one or more processors that implement functions comprising;

a first workspace having a first user interface and a second workspace having a second user interface, the first user interface providing information to one or more first users of the first workspace and the second interface providing information to one or more second users of the second workspace, the first and the second users being related within an organization structure;

a relation comprising a defined set of rules for routing information between the first and the second workspaces, the relation including a link between the first workspace and the second workspace that establishes and facilitates a collaborative pairing to enable navigation of the first and the second users between the first workspace and the second workspace; and

a key word relation that links the first workspace and the second workspace if the first workspace and the second workspace each contain a same key word as identified by a search engine and/or one or more crawlers.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the relation is based on a semantic associated with the collaborative pairing of the first and the second workspaces.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the relation is graphically represented in the first user interface and/or the second user interface.

4. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the relation is defined according to one of a number of relation types.

5. The system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a workspace content directory having one or more templates, each template defining a workspace type.

6. The system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the workspace content directory includes a plurality of workspace components.

7. The system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a security mechanism applied to the relation that controls whether a specific user of the first and the second users can modify the relation.

8. A method of linking information in a collaborative system, comprising:

providing, by one or more processors, a first workspace having a first user interface that provides a first subset of the linking information to one or more first users of the first workspace and a second workspace having a second user interface that provides a second subset of the linking information to one or more second users, the first and the second users being related within an organization structure; and

defining, by the one or more processors, a relation comprising a defined set of rules for routing information between the first and the second workspaces, and a key word relation that links the first workspace and the second workspace if the first workspace and the second workspace each contain a same key word as identified by a search engine and/or one or more crawlers, the relation including a link between the first workspace and the second workspace that establishes and facilitates a collaborative pairing that enables navigation of the first and the second users between the first workspace and the second workspace.

9. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the relation includes one or more filters according to which information is to be transported between the first workspace and the second workspace.

10. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the relation is defined based on a workspace type applied to the first and the second workspaces.

11. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the link includes one or more rules that define how information is to be transported between the first workspace and the second workspace.

12. The method in accordance with claim 8, further comprising defining a workspace type for each of the first and the second workspaces.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12, wherein the relation is defined based on the workspace type of each of the first and the second workspaces.

14. The method in accordance with claim 12, further comprising defining a set of users that can access each workspace based on the workspace type.

15. The method in accordance with claim 12, wherein a subset of users of the set of users can be selected for having access to the relation.

16. The method in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an input from a user selecting the relation from the first workspace; and

accessing the second workspace via the relation.

17. The method in accordance with claim 16, further comprising generating for the user a list of all other relations linked to the first workspace.

18. The method in accordance with claim 16, further comprising generating for the user a list of all other workspaces that are linked to the first workspace via relations.

19. A collaboration system for an organization having a number of users, the system comprising:

one or more processors

a database storing information about the organization;

a plurality of workspaces provided for the users, wherein each user can access at least one workspace, and wherein each workspace includes a user interface for providing a subset of the information to at least one of the users; and

a plurality of relations defined between pairs of workspaces, each relation comprising a defined set of rules for routing information between two or more paired workspaces of the plurality of workspaces, each relation including a link that establishes and facilitates a collaborative pairing between the two or more paired workspaces, the collaborative pairing to enabling navigation of one or more of the number of users from one workspace to another workspace in each paired workspaces, the plurality of relations comprising a key word relation that links a subset of the plurality of workspaces that each contain a same key word as identified by a search engine and/or one or more crawlers.

20. The system m accordance with claim 19, wherein at least one relation is configured to automatically transfer documents between the two or more paired workspaces according to routing rules defined for the relation.