Generating attribute-specific electronic documents

• US 7,962,498 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Bechmann, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi; Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilcox; James J
• Application Number:
  US12/345,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related

Abstract

Described are methods and systems for generating an attribute-specific document for a business scenario. Attributes necessary for generating the attribute-specific document are selected. Based upon the business scenario, a global document and corresponding metadata are determined. The global document includes generic information about the business scenario. Based upon the global document and corresponding metadata, sections associated with the business scenario are determined. Based upon the attributes selected, parameters are determined to overwrite the generic information in the global document. The sections and the parameters are compiled along with the global document, to create the attribute-specific document.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for generating an attribute-specific electronic document for a business scenario, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of one or more attributes for the business scenario, wherein the attributes describe one or more characteristics for generating the attribute-specific document;

determining a global document and corresponding metadata associated with the business scenario, wherein the global document includes generic information and one or more parameters of the business scenario;

determining one or more sections of reusable information available for the global document, based upon the selected attributes;

converting the global document into a specific document based upon the selected attributes, wherein the specific document includes the sections of reusable information, the generic information and the parameters;

parameterizing the specific document by determining the parameters associated with the attributes; and

overwriting one or more values of the parameters in the specific document with one or more values associated with the attributes and compiling the specific document, to create the attribute-specific document.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sections are determined by a user.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more auxiliary sections based upon the attributes; and

determining one or more mandatory sections based upon the attributes.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the auxiliary sections and the mandatory sections are appended to the determined sections.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the auxiliary sections and the mandatory sections are retrieved from a metadata file.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the auxiliary sections are determined based upon a dependency with the determined sections.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the specific document is stored as a template.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the global document exists in a hierarchical set of documents.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising determining the parameters based upon a dependency that exists between one or more documents in the hierarchical set of documents and the global document.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the parameters based upon the selected sections.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the global document comprises the sections of reusable information associated with the business scenario.

12. An article of manufacture, comprising machine readable instructions which when executed by a machine causes the machine to execute a method for generating an attribute-specific document for a business scenario, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of one or more attributes for the business scenario, wherein the attributes describe one or more characteristics for generating the attribute-specific document;

determining a global document and corresponding metadata associated with the business scenario, wherein the global document includes generic information and one or more parameters of the business scenario;

determining one or more sections of reusable information available for the global document, based upon the selected attributes;

converting the global document into a specific document based upon the selected attributes, wherein the specific document includes the sections of reusable information, the generic information and the parameters;

parameterizing the specific document by determining the parameters associated with the attributes; and

overwriting one or more values of the parameters in the specific document with one or more values associated with the attributes and compiling the specific document, to create the attribute-specific document.

13. A computer system for generating an attribute-specific document for a business scenario comprising:

a processor operable for reading and executing instructions stored in one or more memory elements; and

the one or more memory elements storing instructions related to;

an attribute reader for reading and receiving an attribute selection performed on one or more attributes, wherein the attributes describe one or more characteristics for generating the attribute-specific document;

a metadata repository in communication with the attribute reader, for

storing a global document and corresponding metadata associated with the business scenario, wherein the global document includes generic information and one or more parameters of the business scenario,

storing one or more sections of reusable information available for the business scenario determined based upon the selected attributes, and

storing a specific document that is created based upon the attributes, wherein the specific document includes the sections of reusable information, the generic information and the parameters;

a parameter repository in communication with the metadata repository and the attribute reader, for storing a parameterized specific document

a business scenario builder for

determining the global document and corresponding metadata associated with the business scenario,

determining the one or more sections of reusable information available for the global documents, based upon the selected attributes,

parameterizing the specific document by determining the parameters associated with the attributes and

overwriting one or more values of the parameters in the specific documents with one or more values associated with the attributes and compiling the specific document to create the attribute-specific document.

14. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising a metadata file for determining and storing one or more auxiliary sections and one or more mandatory sections, based upon the attributes.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the metadata file determines a specific document available for a given business scenario and a given attribute.