Method and system for apportioning opportunity among campaigns in a CRM system

• US 8,577,918 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Collins, Jesse, Debaty, Philippe, Wong, Simon Y., Yang, Bing, Wildt, Andrea P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Application Number:
  US12/584,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• Field of Search: 707/713, 707/765, 707/768, 707/770, 707/776, 707/796, 705/7.29, 705/7.31, 705/7.35, 705/7.36, 705/7.11, 705/7.12, 705/7.25, 705/7.32, 705/7.33, 705/14.13, 705/14.14, 705/14.41, 705/26, 705/35, 705/400, 709/201, 709/203, 735/35, 735/36, 725/35, 725/36, 725/42
• US Class Current: 707/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for providing apportioning of opportunity among campaigns in an on-demand service in a database system. These mechanisms and methods for providing apportioning of opportunity among campaigns can enable embodiments to automatically determine which campaigns are related to an opportunity and provide a filtered set of campaigns that are related to at least one opportunity. The ability of embodiments to apportion opportunity among campaigns can provide marketing information that accurately reflects the true relationship between an opportunity and a plurality of campaigns.

Claims

1. A method for apportioning opportunity among campaigns in an on-demand service in a machine resident host system for a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

receiving at a machine resident host system, a request from a user machine for marketing information;

automatically, by a processor system of the machine resident host system, determining which campaigns are related to an opportunity, based on information related to the campaigns and information about opportunities, the information related to the campaigns and the information about opportunities being stored in one or more one or more tables stored in a memory system of the machine resident host system;

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing an automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity;

and

providing a filtered set of campaigns that are related to at least one opportunity in response to the request, based on the determining.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

sending a manual add campaign feature that allows a user to add additional campaigns to a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity,

receiving from a user machine, a request to add a campaign to the list, via the manual add campaign feature; and

adding the campaign to the list.

3. The method of claim 1, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least automatically associating a campaign with the opportunity when the campaign is related to a contact that is associated with the opportunity.

4. The method of claim 1, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least

automatically associating campaigns with the opportunity based on information stored about the campaigns that is related to information stored about the opportunity, and

determining campaigns that were manually added via a manual add campaign feature.

5. The method of claim 1, the request for marketing information includes a request for a campaign influence report, which shows which campaigns influenced the opportunity;

the method further comprising;

sending the report.

6. The method of claim 1, the providing including at least sending to the user an opportunity related list, which includes a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending to the user a list of opportunities that are related to a particular campaign.

8. The method of claim 1, the providing of a set of filtered campaigns includes providing an indication that one campaign is a primary campaign for the opportunity.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for specifying campaign influence report columns; and

receiving from the user machine, campaign influence report column adjustments.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for enabling and disabling automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity.

12. The method of claim 1, the automatic determining of which campaigns influenced an opportunity includes at least aggregating information from at least

a table containing campaign information;

a table containing information about opportunities; and

a table containing information about contacts.

13. The method of claim 12, the aggregating includes performing a join between the table containing information about campaigns, the table containing information about opportunities, and the table containing information about contacts.

14. The method of claim 12, the aggregating resulting in a table having at least

a foreign key from the table containing information about campaigns,

a foreign key from the table containing information about opportunities, and

a foreign key from the table containing information about contacts.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a table containing information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering information about roles of contacts for an opportunity by at least aggregating information from at least

a table containing information about contacts;

and

a table containing information about opportunities.

11. A method for apportioning opportunity among campaigns in an on-demand service in a machine resident host system for a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

receiving at a machine resident host system, a request from a user machine for marketing information;

automatically determining which campaigns are related to an opportunity;

providing a filtered set of campaigns that are related to at least one o opportunity in response to the request;

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for specifying campaign influence report columns;

receiving from the user machine, campaign influence report column adjustments; and

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for creating, editing, and sorting filters for automatically associating campaigns with an opportunity.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing thereon one or more instructions, which when implemented cause a processor to implement a method for apportioning opportunity among campaigns in an on-demand service in a machine resident host system for a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

receiving at a machine resident host system, a request from a user machine for marketing information;

automatically, by a processor system of the machine resident host system, determining which campaigns are related to an opportunity, based on information related to the campaigns and information about opportunities, the information related to the campaigns and the information about opportunities being stored in one or more one or more tables stored in a memory system of the machine resident host;

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing an automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity;

and

providing, by the machine resident host system, a filtered set of campaigns that are related to at least one opportunity in response to the request, based on the determining.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

sending a manual add campaign feature that allows a user to add additional campaigns to a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity,

receiving from a user machine, a request to add a campaign to the list, via the manual add campaign feature; and

adding the campaign to the list.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least automatically associating a campaign with the opportunity when the campaign is related to a contact that is associated with the opportunity.

21. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least

automatically associating campaigns with the opportunity based on information stored about the campaigns that is related to information stored about the opportunity, and

determining campaigns that were manually added via a manual add campaign feature.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the request for marketing information includes a request for a campaign influence report, which shows which campaigns influenced the opportunity;

the method further comprising;

sending the report.

23. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the providing including at least sending to the user an opportunity related list, which includes a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity.

24. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising sending to the user a list of opportunities that are related to a particular campaign.

25. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the providing of a set of filtered campaigns includes providing an indication that one campaign is a primary campaign for the opportunity.

26. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for specifying campaign influence report columns; and

receiving from the user machine, campaign influence report column adjustments.

27. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for enabling and disabling automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity.

28. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for creating, editing, and sorting filters for automatically associating campaigns with an opportunity.

29. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, the automatic determining of which campaigns influenced an opportunity includes at least aggregating information from at least

a table containing campaign information;

a table containing information about opportunities; and

a table containing information about contacts.

30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 29, the aggregating includes performing a join between the table containing information about campaigns, the table containing information about opportunities, and the table containing information about contacts.

31. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 29, the aggregating resulting in a table having at least

a foreign key from the table containing information about campaigns,

a foreign key from the table containing information about opportunities, and

a foreign key from the table containing information about contacts.

32. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising forming a table containing information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from the one or more table, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

33. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising gathering information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

34. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising gathering information about roles of contacts for an opportunity by at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

and

a table containing information about opportunities.

35. A machine resident host system for providing apportioning opportunity among campaigns to a user of a tenant in a multi-tenant database system, the host system comprising:

a processor system,

a memory system including at least

volatile memory, and

non-volatile memory;

the non-volatile memory including at least one machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which when implemented causes the processor system to implement a method comprising;

receiving at a machine resident host system, a request from a user machine for marketing information;

automatically, by a processor system of the machine resident host system, determining which campaigns are related to an opportunity, based on information related to the campaigns and information about opportunities, the information related to the campaigns and the information about opportunities being stored in one or more one or more tables stored in a memory system of the machine resident host system;

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing an automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity;

and

providing, the machine resident host system, a filtered set of campaigns that are related to at least one opportunity in response to the request, based on the determining.

36. The database system of claim 35, the method further comprising:

sending a manual add campaign feature that allows a user to add additional campaigns to a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity,

receiving from a user machine, a request to add a campaign to the list, via the manual add campaign feature; and

adding the campaign to the list.

37. The database system of claim 35, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least automatically associating a campaign with the opportunity when the campaign is related to a contact that is associated with the opportunity.

38. The database system of claim 35, the automatic determining of which campaigns are related to the opportunity includes at least

automatically associating campaigns with the opportunity based on information stored about the campaigns that is related to information stored about the opportunity, and

determining campaigns that were manually added via a manual add campaign feature.

39. The database system of claim 35, the request for marketing information includes a request for a campaign influence report, which shows which campaigns influenced the opportunity;

the method further comprising;

sending the report.

40. The database system of claim 35, the providing including at least sending to the user an opportunity related list, which includes a list of campaigns that are related to the opportunity.

41. The database system of claim 35, further comprising sending to the user a list of opportunities that are related to a particular campaign.

42. The database system of claim 35, the providing of a set of filtered campaigns includes providing an indication that one campaign is a primary campaign for the opportunity.

43. The database system of claim 35, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for specifying campaign influence report columns; and

receiving from the user machine, campaign influence report column adjustments.

44. The database system of claim 35, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for enabling and disabling automatic association of campaigns with an opportunity.

45. The database system of claim 35, the method further comprising:

in response to the user request for marketing information, providing a feature for creating, editing, and sorting filters for automatically associating campaigns with an opportunity.

46. The database system of claim 35, the automatic determining of which campaigns influenced an opportunity includes at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing campaign information;

a table containing information about opportunities; and

a table containing information about contacts.

47. The database system of claim 46, the aggregating includes performing a join between the table containing information about campaigns, the table containing information about opportunities, and the table containing information about contacts.

48. The database system of claim 46, the aggregating resulting in a table having at least

a foreign key from the table containing information about campaigns,

a foreign key from the table containing information about opportunities, and

a foreign key from the table containing information about contacts.

49. The database system of claim 35, further comprising forming a table containing information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

50. The database system of claim 35, further comprising gathering information about members of a campaign by at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

a table containing information about leads; and

a table containing information about campaigns.

51. The database system of claim 35, further comprising gathering information about roles of contacts for an opportunity by at least aggregating information from the one or more tables, which include at least

a table containing information about contacts;

and

a table containing information about opportunities.