Collaborative conversation channels

• US 8,122,084 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2003
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Beringer, Joerg
• Primary Examiner(s): Swearingen, Jeffrey R
• Application Number:
  US10/649,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20040083265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,100 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 715/751, 715/753
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and techniques to facilitate communications among individuals in an enterprise may use collaborative conversation channels that are associated with specific communities within the enterprise. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes defining communities within an enterprise and providing access to collaborative conversation channels through a user interface. Each collaborative conversation channel is associated with a specific community and has an associated set of message types. A request to send a message of a selected message type within one of the collaborative conversation channels may be received through the user interface. In response to the request, the message may be sent through the collaborative conversation channel.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating communications in an enterprise using a processor, the method comprising:

defining communities within the enterprise;

associating collaborative conversation channels with the communities wherein the collaborative conversation channels are respectively associated with specific ones of the defined communities;

providing a member of a specific one of the defined communities with access to the respective one of the collaborative conversation channels through a user interface, with each one of the collaborative conversation channels having an associated set of message types that is based on a topic of the specific one of the defined communities and a role of the member within the specific one of the defined communities, the associated set of message types corresponding to a plurality of different message templates;

receiving, through the user interface, a request to send a message having a selected message type within a selected one of the collaborative conversation channels, wherein the selected message type is selected at the user interface;

presenting one of the message templates that corresponds to the selected message type;

filtering the message according to the selected message type and according to filter profiles corresponding to the role of the member; and

sending the message having the selected message type through the selected one of the collaborative conversation channels.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying members of a specific community; and

providing the identified members with access to one of the collaborative conversation channels that corresponds to the particular community.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each one of the defined communities includes members with one of a common fortune or a common interest.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising constructing the collaborative conversation channels in accordance with at least one generic channel type.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the generic channel type is selected from a group consisting of an operational channel, a strategic channel, and an educational channel.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of message types includes predefined message templates.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein users obtain an implicit subscription to a collaborative conversation channel by becoming a member of one of the defined communities associated with one of the collaborative conversation channels.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein users obtain an implicit subscription to one of the collaborative conversation channels based on information in personal user profiles.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing filters for filtering the message received through one of the collaborative conversation channels based on at least one of a community type for one of the defined communities associated with one of the collaborative conversation channels and a channel type for one of the collaborative conversation channels.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the filters are pre-configured based on a pre-configured community.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a predefined set of message types based on at least one of a community type for one of the defined communities associated with one of the collaborative conversation channels, a channel type for one of the collaborative conversation channels, and a community role for members of one of the defined communities associated with one of the collaborative conversation channels.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing access to a community place for each one of the defined communities having collaborative components that are based on a community type for each one of the defined communities, wherein access to one of the collaborative conversation channels is provided through the community place.

13. A system, including a memory and at least one processor, for supporting collaboration in an enterprise, the system comprising:

a portal accessible from a plurality of client devices;

a plurality of enterprise base systems; and

a collaborative conversation channel application, running on the processor, for providing members of a community with access through the portal to a plurality of different message templates for a collaborative conversation channel associated with the community, wherein the community relates to a particular topic, and the application;

receives a member selection of a message type associated with the particular topic and a role of the member within the community;

presents one of the message templates that corresponds to the selected message type; and

sends a message having the selected message type to the members of the community,

wherein the message is filtered according to the selected message type and according to filter profiles corresponding to the role of the member within the community.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the enterprise base systems comprise applications for facilitating communications.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the enterprise base systems include a message server for sending messages to the community through the collaborative conversation channel.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the collaborative conversation channel application allows users to list a plurality of available collaborative conversation channels.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the collaborative conversation channel application allows users to search for a collaborative conversation channel.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the collaborative conversation channel application provides a user interface for display on the client devices.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein messages sent through the collaborative conversation channel are received by members of the community in a message center of the portal.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein messages received in the message center have an associated icon to indicate the message type.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein each message received in the message center includes an identification of the community to which the message relates.

22. The system of claim 13 wherein the collaborative conversation channel filters the sending of messages to each member of the community based on a community type.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer-executable program which, when executed by a processor, performs a method comprising:

providing a member of a community with access to collaborative conversation channels through a user interface, each one of the collaborative conversation channels associated with a specific community and having an associated set of message types that is based on a topic of the specific community and a role of the member within the specific community, the associated set of message types corresponding to a plurality of different message templates;

receiving, through the user interface, a request to access one of the message templates for a selected message type within one of the collaborative conversation channels, wherein the selected message type is selected at the user interface and the message is filtered according to the selected message type and according to filter profiles corresponding to the role of the member within the specific community;

presenting the template for the selected message type through the user interface;

receiving user input for the template through the user interface to create a message of the selected message type; and

providing the message to a particular community through the associated collaborative conversation channel.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein filtering of messages is further based on a community type of the particular community.

25. A method for facilitating communications in an enterprise using a processor, the method comprising:

defining communities within the enterprise;

associating collaborative conversation channels with the communities, with the collaborative conversation channels respectively associated with specific ones of the defined communities;

assigning a set of message types to each one of the collaborative conversation channels, the set of message types corresponding to a plurality of different message templates;

receiving a community member selection of a specific message type for a selected collaborative conversation channel, the specific message type being based on a topic of the specific community and a role of the community member within the specific community;

presenting one of the message templates that corresponds to the selected message type;

receiving user input comprising content of a message of the selected message type;

filtering the message according to the selected message type and according to filter profiles corresponding to the role of the community member within the specific community; and

sending the message to at least one member of the specific community associated with the selected collaborative conversation channel.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein filtering the message is further based on a user profile associated with each of the members.

27. The method of claim 25 further comprising automatically associating filtering parameters with each of the members based on a community type for each one of the defined communities and a channel type for each one of the collaborative conversation channels.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein each one of the collaborative conversation channels comprises one of an operational channel and a strategic channel.

29. The method of claim 25 further comprising providing the members of the specific community with the set of message types, wherein the message types in the set are based on a community type for each one of the defined communities, a channel type for each one of the collaborative conversation channels, and a role of the member within each one of the defined communities.