Multidimensional metrics-based annotation

• US 8,261,181 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2006
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tien, Ian, Lim, Chen-I, Hulen, Corey, Tang, Zhenyu
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CHAU T
• Application Number:
  US11/393,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20070234198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,350 Days
• Field of Search: 715/230, 705/7.29, 705/7.39
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Persistent annotations are created on a scorecard that combines multi-dimensional as well as fixed value data. The annotations uniquely defined by the scorecard view definition and by the retrieved scorecard data, are independent of the data'"'"'s dimensionality enabling persistence of the annotations with the data and definition even when the scorecard is reconfigured. The annotations may include a “bubble-up” feature, where a hierarchical structure of the scorecard is inherited by the annotations. Threaded discussions and updated document lists are enabled around the annotations with appropriate permissions and/or credentials.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium device having computer-executable instructions which when executed perform a method for recording and presenting annotations in a scorecard, the method executed by the computer-executable instructions comprising:

receiving a plurality of annotations corresponding to an associated scorecard element, each of the plurality of annotations including a dimension parameter;

storing the plurality of annotations based on the associated scorecard element and the dimension parameter such that the plurality of annotations are independent from a configuration of the scorecard;

receiving a selection of multiple elements of the scorecard, wherein receiving the selection of multiple elements of the scorecard comprises receiving a request to view any annotations associated with the selected elements; and

providing the plurality of annotations associated with the selected elements of the scorecard for a report view presentation based on a filtering of the dimension parameter, wherein providing the plurality of annotations for the report view presentation based on the filtering of the dimension parameter comprises;

combining each selected element'"'"'s corresponding annotations,

sorting the combined annotations based on the dimension parameter, and

presenting the combined and sorted annotations in the report view presentation.

2. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 1, wherein the filtering of the dimension parameter includes a filtering of at least one from a set of:

time, product, geographic configuration, and organizational structure.

3. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 1, further comprising confirming a permission attribute based on a subscriber credential and the scorecard element.

4. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 1, further comprising filtering individual entries of a discussion thread prior to the report view presentation based on a predefined set of conditions.

5. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 4, wherein filtering based on the predefined set of conditions comprises filtering based on the predefined set of conditions that:

is determined by one of a subscriber and an administrator, and includes at least one from a set of selection by geography, selection by subscriber credential, and selection by time.

6. A system for using persistent scorecard annotations in a business logic system, the system comprising:

a scorecard application, operatively associated with at least one computing system comprising a memory storage and a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, configured to compute scorecard metrics and provide a scorecard presentation based on the computed scorecard metrics; and

an annotation module, operatively associated with the at least one computing system, configured to;

record at least one annotation associated with a scorecard element in a scorecard, the at least one annotation associated with the scorecard element being further associated with at least one time value,

restrict the at least one annotation if the annotation was not received from a permitted source allowed to annotate a cell of the scorecard,

provide an indication of the at least one annotation within the associated scorecard element in the scorecard, the indication comprising a displayed icon within the scorecard element,

receive a request to view, simultaneously, any annotations associated with multiple scorecard elements in the scorecard;

combine each annotation associated with the multiple scorecard elements in the scorecard;

filter the combined annotations based on a filtering parameter, the filtering parameter comprising a temporal parameter, and

provide the combined and filtered annotations for a report view presentation, the combined and filtered annotations being provided in multiple time values based on the temporal parameter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation module is further configured to provide a preview of the at least one annotation as part of the scorecard presentation.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation module is further configured to enable a subscriber to perform at least one action from a set of read, create, delete, and update actions associated with the at least one annotation based on a permission attribute assigned to the subscriber.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation module is configured to filter the recorded at least one annotation dynamically when at least one of an element and a configuration of the scorecard is modified.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation module is further configured to combine a plurality of annotations associated with distinct cells of the scorecard employing a logic operation.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the annotation module is integrated with the scorecard application.

12. A method for recording and presenting annotations in a scorecard system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer, a plurality of annotations corresponding to a scorecard element of a scorecard, each of the plurality of annotations including a dimension parameter;

storing the plurality of annotations based on the scorecard element and the dimension parameter such that the plurality of annotations are independent from a configuration of the scorecard;

receiving a selection of multiple elements of the scorecard, wherein receiving the selection of multiple elements of the scorecard comprises receiving a request to view any annotations associated with the selected elements of the scorecard; and

providing the plurality of annotations associated with the selected elements of the scorecard for a report view presentation based on a filtering of the dimension parameter, wherein providing the plurality of annotations for the report view presentation based on the filtering of the dimension parameter comprises;

combining each selected element'"'"'s corresponding annotations,

sorting the combined annotations based on the dimension parameter, and

presenting the combined and sorted annotations in the report view presentation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the filtering of the dimension parameter includes a filtering of at least one from a set of:

time, product, geographic configuration, and organizational structure.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising confirming a permission attribute based on the element of the scorecard.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising confirming a permission attribute based on a subscriber credential.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising filtering individual entries of a discussion thread prior to the report view presentation based on a predefined set of conditions.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein filtering based on the predefined set of conditions comprises filtering based on the predefined set of conditions that is determined by a subscriber and includes at least one from a set of selection by geography, selection by subscriber credential, and selection by time.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein filtering based on the predefined set of conditions comprises filtering based on the predefined set of conditions that is determined by an administrator and includes at least one from a set of selection by geography, selection by subscriber credential, and selection by time.