Maintaining individual object data

• US 7,900,151 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2005
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Gebhard, Gerhard, Horndacher, Steffen, Kuntz-Mayr, Christiane
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Iturralde; Enrique W
• Application Number:
  US11/033,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20050197852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,241 Days
• Field of Search: 715/825, 715/810, 715/770, 715/764, 705/1
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A tool and graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided for a customer relationship management (CRM) system that enables a user to create, maintain, display and use individual object (iObject) data that relates to a unique asset in a family of assets. A tool or GUI for maintaining information that relates to individual objects may be referred to herein as an “individual object workbench” (workbench). In general, a workbench may include a selection area for selecting an individual object to be defined, and a definition area in which a user may define information to be associated with the selected individual object. Each individual object may be associated with a unique identifier (e.g., a particular car is associated with a vehicle identification number) as a consistent identifier of an individual asset throughout that asset'"'"'s lifecycle, which may span multiple owners, for example.

Claims

1. A computer program product (CPP) tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the CPP including instructions that, when executed by a processor, generate on a display device a graphical user interface (GUI) for defining attributes associated with an individual object stored in a data repository for a customer relationship management application that stores product master data, business partner master data, and individual objects, the GUI comprising:

an object selection area in which an individual object to be defined is selected, the selected individual object representing a unique tangible asset whose attributes and business partner relationships change, in response to temporal events, over a lifecycle of the unique tangible asset; and

a definition area that displays user input fields which are used to define attributes to be associated with the selected individual object, wherein each individual object comprises data that a) corresponds to a unique asset within an asset family, b) is associated with an object family corresponding to the asset family, c) includes, when first created, a unique identifier value, and d) is associated with a particular product master record and a particular business partner master record,

wherein the selected individual object is associated with a first product master record and a first business partner master record that identifies a first business partner that has a type of relationship with the unique tangible asset;

wherein the definition area includes a tabstrip that includes activatable tabs for selecting different views of attributes associated with the selected individual object, the activatable tabs correspond to types of attributes defined by the object family of the selected individual object, are configured to cause display of attributes of the corresponding type when activated, and are dynamically defined based on the object family of the selected individual object such that a first set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a first object family are different than a second set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a second object family when the second object family is different than the first object family,

wherein, when an additional business partner attribute is added to the selected individual object in response to a change in business partner, from the first business partner to a second business partner that is different than the first business partner, for the type of relationship with the unique tangible asset, a representation of the additional business partner attribute is displayed in a view associated with and selected by an activatable tab that corresponds to business partners added to the selected individual object and the first business partner is displayed as having a previous relationship with the unique tangible asset for the type of relationship,

wherein attributes and corresponding attribute values are added to the individual object in response to temporal events having an impact on the unique tangible asset to which the individual object pertains, and

wherein the GUI is adapted over time as events occur during the lifecycle of the selected individual object.

2. The CPP of claim 1, wherein individual objects are retrieved from a database for display in the object selection area in response to user input in one or more user input fields displayed in the object selection area.

3. The CPP of claim 2, wherein the selected individual object is selected from among one or more individual objects being displayed in the object selection area.

4. The CPP of claim 1, wherein the definition area further displays a plurality of user-selectable links, each link corresponding to a viewset, such that in response to user selection of one of the links, attribute information associated with the selected individual object is sent for display in the viewset corresponding to the selected link.

5. The CPP of claim 4, wherein at least one of the user-selectable links corresponds to a viewset that displays stored information that describes historical events associated with the selected individual object.

6. The CPP of claim 5, wherein the described historical events include information about transactions involving the selected individual object.

7. The CPP of claim 4, wherein one of the user-selectable links corresponds to a viewset that displays user input fields that receive user input to define one or more attributes related to historical events associated with the selected individual object.

8. The CPP of claim 4, wherein one of the user-selectable links corresponds to a viewset that displays user input fields that receive user input to define one or more attributes related to business partners associated with the selected individual object.

9. The CPP of claim 1, wherein:

the object family identifies the attributes that are permitted to be added to each individual object associated with the object family, and

the user input fields in the definition area are configured to allow an attribute to be defined in association with the selected individual object only if the object family identifies the attribute as a permitted attribute.

10. The CPP of claim 1, wherein each individual object in the data repository includes an attribute value for each attribute of the individual object.

11. The CPP of claim 1, wherein the unique asset comprises a product.

12. The CPP of claim 1, wherein the unique asset comprises a service.

13. The CPP of claim 1, wherein the stored information is stored in a plurality of memory locations in an enterprise computing system.

14. The CPP of claim 1, wherein, in response to a predetermined user input, the GUI further comprises a search area for receiving user input that defines search criteria for searching for information associated with individual object data.

15. The CPP of claim 1, the GUI further comprising one or more user input controls configured to receive user input to create an individual object.

17. The CPP of claim 1, wherein a representation of the additional business partner attribute is displayed, with a representation of the first business partner, in a business partner history area that lists current and previous relationships that business partners have had with the selected individual object.

16. A method of defining attributes that are associated with individual objects, the method comprising:

inputting attribute information into user input fields displayed in a definition area of a graphical user interface (GUI) being displayed on a display device, the attribute information pertaining to a selected individual object being displayed in an object selection area, wherein the selected individual object comprises data that a) corresponds to a unique asset within an asset family, b) is associated with an object family corresponding to the asset family, c) includes, when first created, a unique identifier value, and d) is associated with a particular product master record and a particular business partner master record, the selected individual object representing a unique tangible asset whose attributes and business partner relationships change, in response to temporal events, over a lifecycle of the unique tangible asset,

wherein the selected individual object is associated with a first product master record and a first business partner master record that identifies a first business partner that has a type of relationship with the unique tangible asset;

wherein the definition area includes a tabstrip that includes activatable tabs for selecting different views of attributes associated with the selected individual object, the activatable tabs correspond to types of attributes defined by the object family of the selected individual object, are configured to cause display of attributes of the corresponding type when activated, and are dynamically defined based on the object family of the selected individual object such that a first set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a first object family are different than a second set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a second object family when the second object family is different than the first object family,

wherein, when an additional business partner attribute is added to the selected individual object in response to a change in business partner, from the first business partner to a second business partner that is different than the first business partner, for the type of relationship with the unique tangible asset, a representation of the additional business partner attribute is displayed in a view associated with and selected by an activatable tab that corresponds to business partners added to the selected individual object and the first business partner is displayed as having a previous relationship with the unique tangible asset for the type of relationship;

wherein the GUI is adapted over time as events occur during the lifecycle of the selected individual object; and

retrieving individual objects from a database for display in the object selection area in response to user input in one or more user input fields displayed in the object selection area.

18. A computer program product (CPP) tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the CPP including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

displaying an object selection area in which an individual object to be defined is selected, the selected individual object representing a unique tangible asset whose attributes and business partner relationships change, in response to temporal events, over a lifecycle of the unique tangible asset;

displaying a definition area that displays user input fields which are used to define attributes to be associated with the selected individual object, wherein each individual object comprises data that a) corresponds to a unique asset within an asset family, b) is associated with an object family corresponding to the asset family, c) includes, when first created, a unique identifier value, and d) is associated with a particular product master record and a particular business partner master record, and wherein the selected individual object is associated with a first product master record and a first business partner master record that identifies a first business partner that has a type of relationship with the unique tangible asset;

displaying a tabstrip that includes activatable tabs for selecting different views of attributes associated with the selected individual object, the activatable tabs correspond to types of attributes defined by the object family of the selected individual object, are configured to cause display of attributes of the corresponding type when activated, and are dynamically defined based on the object family of the selected individual object such that a first set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a first object family are different than a second set of activatable tabs included in the tabstrip for a second object family when the second object family is different than the first object family;

displaying, when an additional business partner attribute is added to the selected individual object in response to a change in business partner, from the first business partner to a second business partner that is different than the first business partner, for the type of relationship with the unique tangible asset, a representation of the additional business partner attribute in a view associated with and selected by an activatable tab that corresponds to business partners added to the selected individual object and the first business partner is displayed as having a previous relationship with the unique tangible asset for the type of relationship; and

adapting the definition area over time as events occur during the lifecycle of the selected individual object,

wherein attributes and corresponding attribute values are added to the individual object in response to temporal events having an impact on the unique tangible asset to which the individual object pertains.

19. The CPP of claim 18 wherein the operations further comprise identifying a triggering event that results in a change in configuration of the item.

20. The CPP of claim 18 wherein identifying a triggering event that results in a change in configuration of the item comprises using a repository of allowable states for the selected individual data object and allowable transitions between states for the selected individual data object to update a state of the selected individual data object based on the triggering event.