Exchanging project-related data between software applications

• US 7,836,103 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2002
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Wei, Xuan, Li, Jimin, Wiegert, Cory D., Zhou, Guoquan, Fong, James Gan, Tse, Kwong Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): STACE, BRENT S
• Application Number:
  US10/334,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20070208765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,878 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/10, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/201, 707/203, 707/809, 707/803, 707/802, 707/790, 707/756, 707/736, 707/705, 707/758, 709/201, 709/204, 709/245, 709/223
• US Class Current: 707/809
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

Techniques are described for exchanging data between software applications, such as project-related data between a project management software application (“PMSA”) and an unaffiliated organizational project tracking software application (“OPTSA”). A mapping and other related information may be defined for the data exchange, such as by defining data fields of the OPTSA database and PMSA data file that correspond, and optionally specifying related information such as additional processing to be performed for various data fields during the data exchange, conditions when a mapping is to be used, ordering information for data fields during import and/or export, preferred data formats for stored values, etc. Also, in some situations round-trip data import/export is performed for a single PMSA data file, which may include tracking whether data entity instances previously existed in the destination in order to support changes to stored inter-relationships between data entity instances.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more processors in a system that comprises a first application and an unaffiliated second application, wherein the first application and the second application correspond to first and second data, respectively, wherein the first data represents a project, wherein the first data is stored in a data file using a format specific to the first application, wherein the first data is modifiable by the first application, wherein the first data comprises values representing multiple instances of project data entities defined for the project by a user of the first application, wherein some of the project data entity instances are related to each other, wherein the second data is stored in a data store in a format specific to the second application, wherein the second data is related to the project wherein the second data is modifiable by the second application, wherein the first application does not include functionality to exchange data directly with the second application, wherein the format of the first data is distinct from the format of the second data, the method comprising:

for a plurality of the project data entity instances, reading values from the data file that stores the first data, wherein

the data store is stored within a first database, and

the first database de-normalizes data of the data store into a single table that the first and second application interface to;

for each of the project data entity instances whose values are read and that do not have a corresponding stored local representation in the data store, storing in the data store a local representation based on some of the values read from the first data for that project data entity instance, wherein the storing is based on a defined mapping that is used to determine how to store in the data store corresponding values for the read values, and

the defined mapping associates the format specific to the first application with the format specific to the second application,

the data file is stored within the first database or within a second database, and

contents of the data file and the data store are transferred to the data store and the data file, respectively, during a data exchange between the first and second applications;

for each of the project data entity instances whose values are read and that do have a corresponding local representation in the data store, updating the stored local representation to reflect the values read for that project data entity instance;

identifying read values that reflect changes to defined relationships between defined project data entity instances, and updating those store local representations to reflect the changes to the defined relationships;

for one of the project data entity instances, modifying stored local representation values of the one or the project data entity instances in the first data to reflect changes indicated by a user of the second application; and

updating the first data in the data file to reflect the modifications to the stored local representations of the one project data entity instance, the updating comprising modifying some of the values stored in the data file, the updating performed in such a manner that the updated data file remains in the format specific to the first application.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the defined mapping provides correspondences between types of values of the data file and data fields of the data store.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising an act of selecting one of multiple possible destination locations of the data store using the mapping at which to store a corresponding value for the read value.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the defined mapping includes preferences for one or more types of values, and wherein the storing of the local representations of the defined project data entity instances based on the values read for those defined project data entity instances and on the defined mapping includes, for each of the read values, selecting a corresponding value for the read value in accordance with the included preferences and a type of the read value.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the defined mapping is created by a user of the second application before any exchange of data related to the project with the first application.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the values read from the data file is associated with a data field of the data file, and wherein the defined mapping provides correspondences between the data fields of the data file and data fields of the data store.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the defined mapping specifies ordering information for one or more of:

the data fields of the data file; and

the data store from which an order is determined in which the corresponding values for the read values of the data fields will be stored in the data store.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the defined mapping specifies indications for at least some of the correspondences of data file data fields and data store data fields of whether the correspondence is for use with values read from the data file.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein at least some of the correspondences between the data fields of the data file and data fields of the data store are between multiple of the data fields of at least one of the data file and the data field such that each of the multiple data fields corresponds to at least one data field of the other of the data file and the data field.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the stored data file to modify values representing defined project data entity instances in order to reflect modifications to stored local representations in the data store is further based on a defined mapping that is used to determine how to store in the data file corresponding values for values read from the data store.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the stored local representations of the defined project data entity instances each include multiple stored values in the data store that are each associated with a data field of the data store, and wherein the defined mapping provides correspondences between the data fields of the data store and data fields of the data file.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the defined mapping specifies ordering information for one or more of:

the data fields of the data file; and

the data store from which an order is determined in which the corresponding values for the read values of the data fields will be stored in the data file.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the defined mapping specifies indications for at least some of the correspondences of data store data fields and data file data fields of whether the correspondence is for use with the updating of the stored data file.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the stored local representations to reflect changes to the defined relationships between defined project data entity instances includes one or more of:

adding one or more relationships between multiple of the project data entity instances; and

deleting one or more relationships between multiple of the project data entity instances.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the stored local representations to reflect changes to the defined relationships between defined project data entity instances includes modifying one or more predecessor and successor relationships between multiple of the project data entity instances.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the stored local representations to reflect changes to the defined relationships between defined project data entity instances includes one or more of:

adding stored local representations for one or more project data entity instances; and

deleting stored local representations for one or more project data entity instances.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing of the local representation in the data store of a defined project data entity instance whose values are read that does not have a stored local representation in the data store is performed only if the defined project data entity instance did not previously have a local representation stored in the data store that was removed by a user of the second application prior to the reading of the values from the stored data file.

18. The method of claim 1 including, after updating the data store to reflect the representations of the defined project data entity instances in the data file, identifying any stored local representations in the data store of defined project data entity instances for the project that no longer are represented in the data file and deleting the identified local representations from the data store.

19. The method of claim 1 including, after updating the data store to reflect the representations of the defined project data entity instances in the data file, identifying any stored local representations in the data store of defined project data entity instances for the project that no longer are represented in the data file and determining whether to retain the identified stored local representations.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the determining of whether to retain the identified stored local representations includes, for each of the identified stored local representations, selecting the stored local representation for retention if it is determined to have any associated activity, time, expense or invoice information.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein associating of the stored local representation with the stored values in the data file for that defined project data entity instance includes using a unique identifier identified for the stored local representation.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the associating of the stored local representation with the stored values in the data file for that defined project data entity instance includes storing in the data file with those stored values an indication of the unique identifier for that stored local representation.

23. The method of claim 1 including managing access to the data file for users of the first and second applications so that incompatible changes are not made simultaneously.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the project data entities include tasks and resources.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the instances of the project data entities are represented with unique values corresponding to unique aspects of that instance.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein for each type of project data entity, each of the instances of that project data entity include values for multiple defined data fields that are associated with that type of project data entity.