Integration framework for enterprise content management systems

• US 8,620,724 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2010
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Adhiraju, Shrikrishna, Kanakaraj, Sudhakar, Yambal, Sachin
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US12/820,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20110258136A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742, 709201-223, 717100-120, 719313-328
• US Class Current: 705/7.36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

Integration framework for enterprise content management systems, in which a request related to performing an operation associated with enterprise content management is received from a customer relationship management application. In response to the request, a standard user interface is provided and user input that is entered into the standard user interface and that requests performance of an enterprise content management operation is received. In response to the user input, a particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation is identified from among multiple, different enterprise content management systems and a particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system is selected from among multiple, different connector components. The particular connector component is used to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor having stored thereon;

at least one user interface component configured to provide a user interface;

multiple, different connector components configured to interface with multiple, different enterprise content management systems;

one or more webservices components configured to perform functionalities of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems; and

instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a customer relationship management application, a request related to performing an operation associated with enterprise content management;

in response to the request, providing, using the at least one user interface component, a standard user interface that includes a set of user interface elements that apply to operations performed by each of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems serviced by the computer system and that abstract out details of operations of any one of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems;

receiving user input that is entered into the standard user interface and that requests performance of an enterprise content management operation;

in response to the user input, identifying, from among the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, a particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation;

selecting, from among the multiple, different connector components, a particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system identified; and

using the particular connector component to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation,

wherein providing the standard user interface comprises launching one or more user interface components based on one or more services in the customer relationship management application being invoked, further comprising;

enabling the one or more services invoked in the customer relationship management application to consume web services offered by the particular enterprise content management system, wherein the one or more services perform enterprise content management functionality by consuming the web services offered by the one or more webservices components.

2. A computer-implemented method of integrating a customer relationship management application with an enterprise content management system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system and from a customer relationship management application, a request related to performing an operation associated with enterprise content management;

in response to the request, providing, by the computer system, a standard user interface that includes a set of user interface elements that apply to operations performed by each of multiple, different enterprise content management systems serviced by the computer system and that abstract out details of operations of any one of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems;

receiving, by the computer system, user input that is entered into the standard user interface and that requests performance of an enterprise content management operation;

in response to the user input, identifying, from among the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, a particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation;

selecting, from among multiple, different connector components configured to interface with the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, a particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system identified; and

using, by the computer system, the particular connector component to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation,

wherein providing, by the computer system, the standard user interface comprises launching one or more user interface components based on one or more services in the customer relationship management application being invoked, further comprising;

enabling the one or more services invoked in the customer relationship management application to consume web services offered by the particular enterprise content management system, wherein the one or more services perform enterprise content management functionality by consuming web services offered by one or more webservices components configured to perform functionalities of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems.

3. The method of claim 2:

wherein identifying, from among the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation comprises identifying, from among the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, at least two enterprise content management systems to perform the enterprise content management operation;

wherein selecting, from among multiple, different connector components configured to interface with the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, the particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system identified comprises selecting, from among the multiple, different connector components configured to interface with the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, at least two connector components, each connector component being configured to interface with one of the at least two enterprise content management systems identified; and

wherein using, by the computer system, the particular connector component to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation comprises using, by the computer system, the at least two connector components to interface with the at least two enterprise content management systems and control the at least two enterprise content management systems to perform the enterprise content management operation.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

handling an event that results in a request to store data from the customer relationship management application in one or more of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems; and

in response to the event, logging, in electronic storage separate from the customer relationship management application and the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, the event to identify the data from the customer relationship management application and the one or more of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems requested to store the data from the customer relationship management application.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

based on the logging, auditing the one or more of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems to determine whether the data from the customer relationship management application was properly stored in each of the one or more of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

in response to a determination that the data from the customer relationship management application was not properly stored in each of the one or more of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems;

identifying at least one enterprise content management system in which the data from the customer relationship management application was not properly stored; and

taking corrective action with respect to the at least one enterprise content management system to cause proper storage of the data from the customer relationship management application in the at least one enterprise content management system.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

calculating, based on the logging and auditing, integration statistics related to storage operations requested for each of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems and success or failure of the storage operations;

generating a report that reflects the calculated integration statistics; and

outputting, using an output device, the report.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving user input related to a new enterprise content management system to integrate with the customer relationship management application;

adding a new connector component configured to interface with the new enterprise content management system based on the user input;

updating integration rules to account for the new enterprise content management system based on the user input; and

handling integration of the customer relationship management application with the new enterprise content management system based on the new connector and the updated integration rules.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

maintaining an existing connector component and existing integration rules for an existing enterprise content management system previously integrated with the customer relationship management application such that addition of the new enterprise content management system does not impact integration of the customer relationship management application with the existing enterprise content management system.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system and from the customer relationship management application, a second request related to performing an operation associated with the new enterprise content management system; and

in response to the second request, providing the standard user interface used for the multiple, different enterprise content management systems to enable a user to provide input requesting performance of the operation associated with the new enterprise content management system using the same standard user interface used for the multiple, different enterprise content management systems prior to the addition of the new enterprise content management system.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving user input defining one or more rules to apply in integrating the customer relationship management application with the particular enterprise content management system; and

defining, in electronic storage, the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system based on the received user input, the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system being applicable to integration operations associated with the particular enterprise content management system and inapplicable to integration operations associated with other of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying an integration operation that relates to the particular enterprise content management system;

applying the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system to the integration operation based on the identification of the integration operation as relating to the particular enterprise content management system; and

performing the integration operation that relates to the particular enterprise content management system based on the application of the one or more rules.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule and the particular enterprise content management system is a first enterprise content management system, further comprising:

receiving user input defining a second rule to apply in integrating the customer relationship management application with a second enterprise content management system, the second enterprise content management system being different than the first enterprise content management system and the second rule being different than the first rule;

defining, in electronic storage, the second rule for the second enterprise content management system based on the received user input;

identifying a target enterprise content management system for an integration operation;

determining whether the target enterprise content management system is the first enterprise content management system or the second enterprise content management system;

in response to a determination that the target enterprise content management system is the first enterprise content management system, applying the first rule for the first enterprise content management system to the integration operation; and

in response to a determination that the target enterprise content management system is the second enterprise content management system, applying the second rule for the second enterprise content management system to the integration operation.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule that identifies types of documents to be transferred to the particular enterprise content management system, further comprising:

handling a request to store a document in the particular enterprise content management system by;

determining a type of the document included in the request;

comparing the determined type of the document to the types of documents identified by the first rule;

determining whether the determined type of the document is included in the types of documents identified by the first rule based on the comparison;

in response to a determination that the determined type of the document is included in the types of documents identified by the first rule, transferring the document to the particular enterprise content management system; and

in response to a determination that the determined type of the document is not included in the types of documents identified by the first rule, handling the request without transferring the document to the particular enterprise content management system.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule that defines metadata handling for storing documents in the particular enterprise content management system, further comprising:

receiving a request to store a document in the particular enterprise content management system, the document having a first set of metadata;

converting the first set of metadata for the document to a second set of metadata appropriate for the particular enterprise content management system based on the first rule; and

storing the document in the particular enterprise content management system in association with the second set of metadata appropriate for the particular enterprise content management system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule that defines mapping of user privileges for access to documents in the particular enterprise content management system and the customer relationship management application, further comprising:

handling user access to the customer relationship management application and the particular enterprise content management system based on the first rule that defines mapping of user privileges for access to documents in the particular enterprise content management system and the customer relationship management application.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule that identifies a storage location in the particular enterprise content management system for storing documents from the customer relationship management application, further comprising:

receiving a request to store a document in the particular enterprise content management system;

determining a location to store the document in the particular enterprise content management system based on the first rule that identifies the storage location in the particular enterprise content management system for storing documents from the customer relationship management application; and

controlling the particular enterprise content management system to store the document in the determined location.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more rules for the particular enterprise content management system comprise a first rule that identifies file name conventions for naming documents from the customer relationship management application that are stored in the particular enterprise content management system, further comprising:

receiving a request to store a document in the particular enterprise content management system, the document having a first file name;

renaming the document to a second file name based on the first rule that identifies file name conventions, the second file name being different than the first file name; and

controlling the particular enterprise content management system to store the document in the particular enterprise content management system using the second file name to identify the document.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more services in the customer relationship management application, in response to being invoked, launch the one or more user interface components and begin consuming the web services offered by the one or more webservices components.

20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a customer relationship management application, a request related to performing an operation associated with enterprise content management;

in response to the request, providing a standard user interface that includes a set of user interface elements that apply to operations performed by each of multiple, different enterprise content management systems serviced by the computer system and that abstract out details of operations of any one of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems;

receiving user input that is entered into the standard user interface and that requests performance of an enterprise content management operation;

in response to the user input, identifying, from among the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, a particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation;

selecting, from among multiple, different connector components configured to interface with the multiple, different enterprise content management systems, a particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system identified; and

using the particular connector component to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation,

wherein providing, by the computer system, the standard user interface comprises launching one or more user interface components based on one or more services in the customer relationship management application being invoked, further comprising;

enabling the one or more services invoked in the customer relationship management application to consume web services offered by the particular enterprise content management system, wherein the one or more services perform enterprise content management functionality by consuming web services offered by one or more webservices components configured to perform functionalities of the multiple, different enterprise content management systems.