Methods and systems for sharing email in a multi-tenant database system

• US 8,521,780 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Arora, Pratima, Walters, Jeanine
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US13/102,905
• Publication Number:
  US 20130041912A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 707/791
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

An email object is provided in a multi-tenant database system that can be related to multiple people (e.g., contact, lead, user) or any object represented for storage in the multi-tenant database system via sharing relationships. The email object follows a sharing model such that an email inherits the sharing model or attributes of a parent record specified via sharing relationships. In various aspects, a sharing model provides users with a true value of a multi-tenant database system as users are more informed about communications concerning people or other objects represented for storage in the multi-tenant database system.

Claims

1. A method for sharing electronic messages in a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

receiving, at one or more computer systems associated with the multi-tenant database system, a plurality of emails;

storing each email in the plurality of emails in a database associated with at least one tenant in the multi-tenant database system as an entity providing a set of relationships between the entity and selected ones of other entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant;

automatically determining, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on at least one email address associated with the email;

storing the set of one or more relationships in the database in the entity corresponding to each email in the plurality of emails;

receiving, at the one or more computer systems, a request to access a first entity stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant; and

retrieving from the database one or more emails based on one or more relationships to the first entity.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, at the one or more computer systems hosting the multi-tenant database system, a plurality of emails comprises receiving at least one email from a user of the multi-tenant database system associated with the at least one tenant.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, at the one or more computer systems hosting the multi-tenant database system, a plurality of emails comprises receiving at least one email generated by the multi-tenant database system on behalf of the at least one tenant.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

associating the at least one email address with at least one user of the multi-tenant database system; and

identifying an entity associated with the at least one user in the database of the at least one tenant.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

retrieving from the database of the at least one tenant a list of contacts; and

associating the at least one email address with at least one contact in the list of contacts.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

retrieving from the database of the at least one tenant at least one of an opportunity, a lead, or an account; and

associating the at least one email address with the at least one opportunity, lead, or account.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a set of permissions associated with a user of the multi-tenant database system; and

generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, information configured to display a graphical user interface based on at least one relationship in the set of one or more relationships stored for at least one email in the plurality of emails and the set of permissions associated with the user of the multi-tenant database system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, one or more threads based on the plurality of emails;

generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, information configured to display a graphical user interface based on the one or more threads.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an association queue for each email address of the plurality of email addresses that is not automatically matched to at least one entity in the database; and

generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, information configured to display a graphical user interface having functionality enabling a user to associate an email address with at least one entity in the database.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for sharing electronic messages in a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

code for receiving a plurality of emails;

code for storing each email in the plurality of emails in a database associated with at least one tenant in the multi-tenant database system as an entity providing a set of relationships between the entity and selected ones of other entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant;

code for automatically determining a set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on at least one email address associated with the email;

code for storing the set of one or more relationships in the database in the entity corresponding to each email in the plurality of emails;

code for receiving a request to access a first entity stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant; and

code for retrieving from the database one or more emails based on one or more relationships to the first entity.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the code for receiving a plurality of emails comprises code for receiving at least one email from a user of the multi-tenant database system associated with the at least one tenant.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the code for receiving a plurality of emails comprises code for receiving at least one email generated by the multi-tenant database system on behalf of the at least one tenant.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the code for automatically determining the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

code for associating the at least one email address with at least one user of the multi-tenant database system; and

code for identifying an entity associated with the at least one user in the database of the at least one tenant.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the code for automatically determining the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

code for retrieving from the database of the at least one tenant a list of contacts; and

code for associating the at least one email address with at least one contact in the list of contacts.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the code for automatically determining the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email comprises:

code for retrieving from the database of the at least one tenant at least one of an opportunity, a lead, or an account; and

code for associating the at least one email address with the at least one opportunity, lead, or account.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising:

code for determining a set of permissions associated with a user of the multi-tenant database system; and

code for generating information configured to display a graphical user interface based on at least one relationships in the set of one or more relationships stored for at least one email in the plurality of emails and the set of permissions associated with the user of the multi-tenant database system.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising:

code for determining one or more threads based on the plurality of emails;

code for generating information configured to display a graphical user interface based on the one or more threads.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising:

code for generating an association queue for each email address of the plurality of email addresses that is not automatically matched to at least one entity in the database; and

code for generating information configured to display a graphical user interface having functionality enabling a user to associate an email address in the association queue with at least one entity in the database.

19. A multi-tenant database system comprising:

a database associated with at least one tenant; and

one or more computer systems configured to;

receive a plurality of emails;

store each email in the plurality of emails in the database associated with at least one tenant as an entity providing a set of relationships between the entity and selected ones of other entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant;

automatically determine a set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on at least one email address associated with the email;

store the set of one or more relationships in the database in the entity corresponding to each email in the plurality of emails;

receive a request to access a first entity stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant; and

retrieve from the database one or more emails based on one or more relationships to the first entity.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein to automatically determine the set of one or more relationships for each email in the plurality of emails between the email and one or more entities stored in the database associated with the at least one tenant based on the at least one email address associated with the email the one or more computer systems are further configured to:

retrieve from the database of the at least one tenant at least one of a user, a contact, an opportunity, a lead, or an account; and

associate the at least one email address with the at least one user, contact, opportunity, lead, or account.