System, method and computer program product for sharing tenant information utilizing a multi-tenant on-demand database service

• US 8,478,782 B1
• Filed: 05/07/2009
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Kuruganti, Aditya S., Doshi, Kedar, Bhatt, Chaitanya, Lai, Sanjaya
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Wilson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Jessica N
• Application Number:
  US12/437,459
• Time in Patent Office: 1,517 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for sharing tenant information utilizing a multi-tenant on-demand database service. These mechanisms and methods for sharing tenant information utilizing a multi-tenant on-demand database service can allow automatic sharing of information owned by a first tenant with other tenants of the multi-tenant on-demand database service. In this way, collaboration among tenants of the multi-tenant on-demand database service may be enabled via the sharing of the tenant information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, from a first tenant an indication of permission to share a portion of first tenant information with a second tenant, the first tenant information managed using a multi-tenant on-demand database service, wherein the second tenant is otherwise blocked from accessing the portion of first tenant information absent the indication of permission, wherein the first tenant information includes at least one of custom objects, tables, tasks, accounts, contacts, products, opportunities, cases, and comments; and

permitting, by the processor, the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information based on the indication of permission by permitting the second tenant to store the portion of first tenant information in association with information of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein an operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is stored in association with the information of the second tenant is based on a configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant, wherein the configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant includes determining whether to;

store the portion of the first tenant in association with the information of the second tenant by inserting the portion of the first tenant information in an existing parent record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

or

store the portion of the first tenant information in association with the information of the second tenant by storing the portion of the first tenant information as a new record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein the indication of permission to share the portion of the first tenant information with the second tenant is received by the first tenant, selecting an identifier of the second tenant using user control elements displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the multi-tenant on-demand database service; and

wherein, after receiving the indication of permission, the graphical user interface (GUI) allows the first tenant to subsequently block the second tenant from accessing the portion of first tenant information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tenant and the second tenant include different tenants of the multi-tenant on-demand database service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the access to the portion of first tenant information is provided utilizing a mark-up language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tenant information is stored in a database of the multi-tenant on-demand database service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tenant information includes a plurality of records.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein indicating permission to share a parent record automatically includes an indication of permission to share child records of the parent record.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein permitting the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information includes permitting the second tenant to view the portion of first tenant information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein permitting the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information includes permitting the second tenant to update the portion of first tenant information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the second tenant another indication of permission to share a portion of the information of the second tenant with the first tenant, wherein the first tenant is otherwise blocked from accessing the portion of the information of the second tenant absent the other indication of permission; and

permitting the first tenant to access the portion of the information of the second tenant based on the indication of permission, to provide reciprocity of sharing of tenant information between the first tenant and the second tenant.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first tenant another indication of permission to share the portion of first tenant information with a third tenant.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising permitting the third tenant to access the portion of first tenant information based on the other indication of permission.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein permitting the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information and permitting the third tenant to access the portion of first tenant information are separate such that subsequently blocking one of the permission of the second tenant and the permission of the third tenant prevents an impact on the other one of the permission of the second tenant and the permission of the third tenant.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the first tenant information is a first record of the first tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service, and the first record is a child record of a parent record of the first tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service, and wherein the first tenant is only allowed to provide an indication of permission to share the child record with the second tenant when an indication of permission to share the parent record with the second tenant has been received from the first tenant.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the first tenant information is a first record of the first tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service, and the first record is a child record of a plurality of parent records of the first tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service, and wherein the first tenant is only allowed to provide an indication of permission to share the child record with the second tenant via the graphical user interface (GUI) when an indication of permission to share one of the parent records associated with the graphical user interface (GUI) with the second tenant has been received from the first tenant.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations of:

receiving from a first tenant an indication of permission to share a portion of first tenant information with a second tenant, the first tenant information managed using a multi-tenant on-demand database service, wherein the second tenant is otherwise blocked from accessing the portion of first tenant information absent the indication of permission, wherein the first tenant information includes at least one of custom objects, tables, tasks, accounts, contacts, products, opportunities, cases, and comments; and

permitting the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information based on the indication of permission by permitting the second tenant to store the portion of first tenant information in association with information of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein an operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is stored in association with the information of the second tenant is based on a configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant, wherein the configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant includes determining whether to;

store the portion of the first tenant in association with the information of the second tenant by inserting the portion of the first tenant information in an existing parent record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

or

store the portion of the first tenant information in association with the information of the second tenant by storing the portion of the first tenant information as a new record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein the indication of permission to share the portion of the first tenant information with the second tenant is received by the first tenant, selecting an identifier of the second tenant using user control elements displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the multi-tenant on-demand database service; and

wherein, after receiving the indication of permission, the graphical user interface (GUI) allows the first tenant to subsequently block the second tenant from accessing the portion of first tenant information.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations of;

receiving from a first tenant an indication of permission to share a portion of first tenant information with a second tenant, the first tenant information managed using a multi-tenant on-demand database service, wherein the second tenant is otherwise blocked from accessing the portion of first tenant information absent the indication of permission, wherein the first tenant information includes at least one of custom objects, tables, tasks, accounts, contacts, products, opportunities, cases, and comments; and

permitting the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information based on the indication of permission by permitting the second tenant to store the portion of first tenant information in association with information of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein an operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is stored in association with the information of the second tenant is based on a configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant, wherein the configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant includes determining whether to;

store of the portion of the first tenant in association with the information of the second tenant by inserting the portion of the first tenant information in an existing parent record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

or

store the portion of the first tenant information in association with the information of the second tenant by storing the portion of the first tenant information as a new record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein the indication of permission to share the portion of the first tenant information with the second tenant is received by the first tenant, selecting an identifier of the second tenant using user control elements displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the multi-tenant on-demand database service; and

wherein, after receiving the indication of permission, the graphical user interface (GUI) allows the first tenant to subsequently block the second tenant from accessing the portion of first tenant information.

17. A method for transmitting code for use in a multi-tenant database system stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the method comprising:

transmitting code for receiving, by a processor, from a first tenant an indication of permission to share a portion of first tenant information with a second tenant, the first tenant information managed using a multi-tenant on-demand database service, wherein the second tenant is otherwise blocked from accessing the portion of first tenant information absent the indication of permission, wherein the first tenant information includes at least one of custom objects, tables, tasks, accounts, contacts, products, opportunities, cases, and comments; and

transmitting code for permitting, by the processor, the second tenant to access the portion of first tenant information based on the indication of permission by permitting the second tenant to store the portion of first tenant information in association with information of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein an operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is stored in association with the information of the second tenant is based on a configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant, wherein the configuration provided by the second tenant indicating the operation by which the portion of the first tenant information is to be stored in association with the information of the second tenant includes determining whether to;

store the portion of the first tenant in association with the information of the second tenant by inserting the portion of the first tenant information in an existing parent record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

or

store the portion of the first tenant information in association with the information of the second tenant by storing the portion of the first tenant information as a new record of the second tenant managed using the multi-tenant on-demand database service;

wherein the indication of permission to share the portion of the first tenant information with the second tenant is received by the first tenant, selecting an identifier of the second tenant using user control elements displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the multi-tenant on-demand database service; and

wherein, after receiving the indication of permission, the graphical user interface (GUI) allows the first tenant to subsequently block the second tenant from accessing the portion of first tenant information.