Filtering of custom attributes of computer objects for display

• US 8,725,747 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Clark, John Jr., Kumar, Shailesh, Spencer, Chuck, Toukhanian, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US12/912,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20120109984A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 707/754, 705/9, 705/35
• US Class Current: 707/754
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A computer-readable medium, computer-implemented method, and system are provided for filtering of custom attributes. A custom attribute is an attribute of an object defined by a user. Once a user has defined one or more custom attributes, the user can filter a set of objects based on a criteria that includes a value for one or more custom attributes. The filtering can be dynamic so that when the set of objects is modified (such as creating a new object, deleting an existing object, or modifying an existing object), the filter is automatically updated. Furthermore, a filtering criteria can be based on the set of objects present in the system, so that any filter that is defined returns at least one object. In addition, once a filter is applied, any additional filter applied to the original filter can have a filtering criteria based on the subset of objects returned by the original filter.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to filter objects based on a custom attribute, the filtering objects comprising:

defining a custom attribute, wherein the custom attribute is an attribute defined by a user of a financial close management system, and comprises a name, a value, and a value type;

associating the custom attribute with an object in the financial close management system;

defining a dynamic filter, wherein the dynamic filter defines a subset of objects based on a filtering criteria when applied to a set of objects in the financial close management system, wherein the set of objects comprises a task type, a task, a template, and a schedule, wherein the dynamic filter automatically updates the defined subset of objects based on one or more changes to the set of objects in the financial close management system, and wherein the one or more changes to the set of objects comprises at least one of;

adding a new object to the set of objects, deleting an existing object from the set of objects, or modifying an existing object of the set of objects; and

filtering the set of objects using the dynamic filter, wherein the custom attribute is used as the filtering criteria, wherein the dynamic filter displays the subset of objects within a user interface of the financial close management system, and wherein the dynamic filter automatically updates the display of the subset of objects in response to the one or more changes to the set of objects.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the filtering further comprising:

determining attributes associated with each object of the set of objects in the financial close management system; and

providing an option to filter on an attribute associated with at least one object of the set of objects.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the filtering further comprising:

defining one or more additional filters, wherein the one or more additional filters define a second subset of objects based on a second filtering criteria, when applied to the subset of objects displayed by the filter; and

filtering the subset of objects displayed by the filter using the one or more additional filters.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, the filtering further comprising:

removing one or more filters; and

re-filtering the set of objects into a new subset of objects based on the remaining filters.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the second filtering criteria is based on the subset of objects returned by the original filter.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the filtering further comprising displaying a number of objects displayed by the filter.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the value type of the custom attribute comprises a list value type;

and

wherein the custom attribute further comprises a list of possible values that can be selected as the value of the custom attribute.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user interface of the financial close management system comprises a business intelligence display.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user interface of the financial close management system comprises a dashboard.

10. A computer-implemented method for filtering objects based on a custom attribute, the method comprising:

defining, by a processor, a custom attribute, wherein the custom attribute is an attribute defined by a user of a financial close management system, and comprises a name, a value, and a value type;

associating, by the processor, the custom attribute with an object in the financial close management system;

defining, by the processor, a dynamic filter, wherein the dynamic filter defines a subset of objects based on a filtering criteria when applied to a set of objects in the system, wherein the set of objects comprises a task type, a task, a template, and a schedule, wherein the dynamic filter automatically updates the defined subset of objects based on one or more changes to the set of objects in the financial close management system, and wherein the one or more changes to the set of objects comprises at least one of;

adding a new object to the set of objects, deleting an existing object from the set of objects, or modifying an existing object of the set of objects; and

filtering, by the processor, the set of objects using the dynamic filter, wherein the custom attribute is used as the filtering criteria, wherein the dynamic filter displays the subset of objects within a user interface of the financial close management system, and wherein the dynamic filter automatically updates the display of the subset of objects in response to the one or more changes to the set of objects.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining attributes associated with each object of the set of objects in the financial close management system; and

providing an option to filter on an attribute associated with at least one object of the set of objects.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

defining one or more additional filters, wherein the one or more additional filters define a second subset of objects based on a second filtering criteria, when applied to the subset of objects displayed by the filter; and

filtering the subset of objects displayed by the filter using the one or more additional filters.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

removing one or more filters; and

re-filtering the set of objects into a new subset of objects based on the remaining filter.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising displaying a number of objects displayed by the filter.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10,

wherein the value type of the custom attribute comprises a list value type;

and

wherein the custom attribute further comprises a list of possible values that can be selected as the value of the custom attribute.

16. A financial close management system, comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions stored on the memory;

wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the instructions stored on the memory, to;

define a custom attribute, wherein the custom attribute is defined by a user of the financial close management system, and comprises a name, a value, and a value type;

associate the custom attribute with an object in the financial close management system;

define a dynamic filter, wherein the dynamic filter defines a subset of objects based on a filtering criteria when applied to a set of objects in the financial close management system, wherein the set of objects comprises a task type, a task, a template, and a schedule, and the dynamic filter automatically updates the defined subset of objects based on one or more changes to the set of objects in the financial close management system, and wherein the one or more changes to the set of objects comprises at least one of;

adding a new object to the set of objects, deleting an existing object from the set of objects, or modifying an existing object of the set of objects; and

filter the set of objects using the dynamic filter, wherein the custom attribute is used as the filtering criteria, wherein the dynamic filter displays the subset of objects within a user interface of the financial close management system, and wherein the dynamic filter automatically updates the display of the subset of objects in response to the one or more changes to the set of objects.

17. The financial close management system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the instructions stored on the memory, to:

determine attributes associated with each object of the set of objects in the system; and

provide an option to filter on an attribute associated with at least one object of the set of objects.

18. The financial close management system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the instructions stored on the memory, to:

define one or more additional filters, wherein the one or more additional filters define a second subset of objects based on a second filtering criteria, when applied to the subset of objects displayed by the filter; and

filter the subset of objects displayed by the filter using the one or more additional filters.

19. The financial close management system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the instructions stored on the memory, to:

remove one or more filters; and

re-filter the set of objects into a new subset of objects based on the remaining filters.

20. The financial close management system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured, when executing the instructions stored on the memory, to display a number of objects displayed by the filter.