Executive reporting

• US 8,239,227 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2007
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Megiddo, Eran, Wolf, Richard J., Dumais, Susan T., Harris, Jensen M., Goodman, Joshua T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B.
• Application Number:
  US11/874,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20090106059A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,756 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/35, 705/36, 705/37, 705/38, 705/39
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Providing for generating an executive report of business or personal activity is described herein. By way of example, such executive report can identify a change and related cause with respect to a prior report. As a particular example, an inference engine can receive an activity report and reference prior reports to identify the change and related cause. A set of results containing such information can be provided to a synthesis component that can include and highlight such information in the executive report. In addition, additional sources of data can be referenced in order to include and/or customize the report to a particular individual, organization, culture, or the like. As described, aspects of the subject innovation can provide an executive report highlighting important aspects of data and tailoring those aspects to interests of one or more users.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates executive reporting, the system comprising:

a computer including at least one processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes the following components;

an inference engine that receives a set of data related to a periodic or event-triggered report and outputs a set of results, the set of results is indicative of a change within the set of data over a prior report or with respect to a predetermined characteristic of a triggering event;

a synthesis component that filters the set of data or the set of results and extracts information pertinent to at least one user, and compiles an executive summary that contains the set of results and the information pertinent to the at least one user;

a community search engine that;

derives an aggregated benchmark based at least in part on data obtained from a community of entities that are associated with data within the set of results; and

performs a comparison of the data within the set of results with the aggregated benchmark;

a notification component that includes a recommended action in the executive summary based at least in part on the comparison; and

a custom visualization engine that formats a presentation or appearance of the executive summary into at least one of a language, alphabet, or dialect and a body of standards associated with a predetermined culture or society.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data analysis component that determines a cause of the change, or a magnitude of the change with respect to at least one additional change identified in the set of data over the prior report, wherein the information contained in the executive summary identifies the cause of the change or distinguishes the change from the additional change at least as a function of magnitude, or both.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data abstraction component that provides the information pertinent to at least one user to the synthesis component by filtering the set of data or the set of results according to recent user activity, a history of user interactions, a source of user interests, a user profile, or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 3, the periodic or event-triggered report and set of results are filtered based on a prior task or scheduled future task contained in a task database, and based on data pertaining to such task.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a synchronization component that interfaces with a data source containing the set of data and revises the set of results according to a change in the set of data executed at the data source.

6. The system of claim 1, the set of data includes an information field comprised of tags, terms, or meta-data associated with an electronic communication of a colleague, employee, team member, supervisor, customer, supplier, social contact, or a member of a buddy list, or a combination thereof, that provides a descriptive name space of business related activities, terminologies, associations, or project results, or a combination thereof, included within the electronic communication.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the custom visualization engine further formats the presentation or appearance with respect to current events, graphical depictions, histories, or news pertinent to the culture or society, or combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user relevancy component that presents additional information in the executive summary or biases the information highlighting the change by cross-referencing a second set of data, the second set of data stores information related to a user'"'"'s contact list, calendar appointment list, client list, professional or social buddy list, a dynamically generated list, or individuals or businesses associated therewith, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote processing component that facilitates receipt of the set of data, periodic or event-triggered report, or prior report, from a remote network data store and facilitates compilation of the executive summary at a local processor of a device.

10. A method for providing an executive summary of an evolving set of data, the method comprising:

employing a processor that executes instructions retained in a computer memory, the instructions executed by the processor implement operations including;

receiving a set of data related to a periodic or event-triggered report of a business or personal activity;

comparing information within the set of data regarding an event with prior information regarding the event;

distinguishing a variation in the information and the prior information;

referencing an external group of entities associated with the variation to determine an aggregated benchmark;

evaluating the information, the prior information and the aggregated benchmark to determine a significance of the variation;

generating an executive summary of information related to the business or personal activity that emphasizes at least the variation and is formatted for or includes information pertinent to a particular user; and

translating the executive summary into at least one of a language, alphabet, or dialect and a body of standards associated with a predetermined culture or society.

11. The method of claim 10, the operations further including at least one of:

evaluating a significance of the variation;

evaluating a cause of the variation;

or

including the significance or the cause of the variation in the executive report.

12. The method of claim 10, the operations further including dynamically filtering the set of data in accordance with user specified information, including recent user activity, a history of user interactions, a source of user interest, or a user contact list, or a combination thereof, to provide the format for or information pertinent to the particular user.

13. The method of claim 10, the operations further including at least one of:

referencing an aggregated benchmark pertinent to the event, the aggregated benchmark is comprised of information pertaining to a plurality of entities, is related to the business or personal activity, and is contained on or compiled from a data network;

including a comparison between the information regarding the event and the aggregated benchmark in the executive report; and

including a recommended action in the executive summary based at least in part on the comparison.

14. The method of claim 10, the operations further including:

synchronizing the executive report and the set of data; and

dynamically updating the executive report in accordance with a change in the set of data.

15. The method of claim 10, the operations further including:

updating a visualization of the executive summary with respect to a current event, graphical depiction, historical event, or news pertinent to the culture or society, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 10, the operations further including:

assembling a collection of tags, associated terms, or meta-data pertaining to an electronic communication or group of communications to or from a colleague, employee, team member, supervisor, customer, supplier, social contact, or a member of a buddy list of a user, or a combination thereof; and

including the collection within the executive summary to provide an overview of current activities or events related to the business or personal activity.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a set of data related to a periodic or event-driven report of a business or personal activity;

comparing information regarding the business or personal activity with prior information regarding the activity;

distinguishing a variation between the information and the prior information;

referencing an external group of entities associated with the variation to determine an aggregated benchmark;

evaluating the information, the prior information and the aggregated benchmark to determine a significance of the variation;

generating an executive report of the business or the personal activity that features at least the variation and is formatted for or includes information pertinent to a user; and

presenting the executive report in at least one of a language, alphabet, or dialect associated with a predetermined culture or society associated with the user.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, further comprising determining a cause of the variation and including at least one of the cause, the significance or the aggregated benchmark in the executive report.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, further comprising dynamically filtering the set of data in accordance with user specified information, including recent user activity, a history of user interactions, a source of user interest, or a user contact list, or a combination thereof;

and

generating the executive report with the format for or information pertinent to the user based on the filtering.