Computer implemented system for facilitating configuration, data tracking and reporting for data centric applications

• US 8,904,555 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ramesh, Rajini, Janardhanan, Vishnupriya, Garlapati, Madhavi, P, Dhinakaran
• Primary Examiner(s): Gee, Jason
• Application Number:
  US13/410,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20120304307A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A computer implemented system for facilitating configuration, data tracking and reporting for data centric applications and a method for performing the same have been disclosed. The system enables an enterprise to quickly move from paper based tracking to web based mode by configuring metadata. Also, the system hosts multiple tenants on a single server and enables creation of workspace to enable users within a tenant to securely view the data based on his/her permission levels. Additionally, the system classifies the resources as ‘Human’ and ‘Non-Human’ resources and further as static resources which are shared metadata across tenants and non-static resources which are applicable only to a particular tenant. Thus, the system enables common information to be shared easily across various organizations while securing the data via workspaces. Furthermore, the system includes report creation and dashboard generation capability using data from within the system as well as from external databases.

Claims

1. A computer implemented system for facilitating configuration, data tracking and reporting for data centric applications, comprising:

a metadata driven database server comprising application data repository and system data repository, wherein said system data repository is adapted to host metadata, said application data repository is adapted to host application data for a plurality of tenants, said application data is divided into resources and said resources are further divided into attributes;

a data security unit processor co-operating with said database server adapted to provide object level, attribute level and record level security for said application data;

a plurality of processors co-operating with said data security unit processor to access said database server and adapted to provide data configuration, tracking and reporting functionalities; and

a web based browser co-operating with said database server, said data security unit processor and said plurality of processors adapted to authenticate users and derive their portal role information and further adapted to display personalized workspace for authenticated users and still further adapted to provide authenticated users secure access to said plurality of processors based on said portal role;

wherein said database server further includes;

importing means adapted to import external application data from multiple data sources including spread sheets and flat files;

data partitioning means adapted to securely partition data of different tenants based on their tenant identification number and group identification number; and

first triggering means adapted to trigger a formula recalculation action in the event that value of a formula based attribute changes.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said resources are selected from the group of resources consisting of human resources, non-human resources, static resources and non-static resources.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said attributes are selected from the group of attributes consisting of derived attributes, direct value attributes.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data security unit processor is further adapted to receive portal role information for a user from said browser, said data security unit processor further includes:

object level checking means adapted to check if a user is authorized to get access to a particular resource based on predefined resource permissions and said portal role information;

record level checking means adapted to restrict display of application data based on predetermined workspace associated with a user and predefined rules for a resource for said portal role; and

attribute level checking means adapted to restrict display of an attribute value for a user based on said portal role.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system includes registration means adapted to register an enterprise and its member companies with the system and further adapted to assign unique tenant identification number and group identification number to each of the enterprises and its member companies in the event that the registration is successful.

6. A computer implemented system for facilitating configuration, data tracking and reporting for data centric applications, said system comprising:

a metadata driven database server computer comprising an application data repository and a system data repository, wherein said system data repository is adapted to host metadata, said application data repository is adapted to host application data for a plurality of tenants, said application data is divided into resources and said resources are further divided into attributes;

a data security unit processor co-operating with said database server computer adapted to provide object level, attribute level and record level security for said application data;

a plurality of processors co-operating with said data security unit processor to access said database server computer and adapted to provide data configuration, tracking and reporting functionalities, wherein at least some of the plurality of processors include a search engine, a workflow unit, a reporting unit and a configuration unit; and

a web based browser, executing on a computer and co-operating with said database server computer, said data security unit processor and said plurality of processors adapted to authenticate users and derive their portal role information and further adapted to display personalized workspace for authenticated users and still further adapted to provide authenticated users secure access to said plurality of processors based on said portal role;

wherein;

the search engine is adapted to dynamically create indexes for said resources and further adapted to provide faceted search results for said resources;

the reporting unit co-operates with said database server computer having means for creation of customized drill down able reports and dashboards using data from said database server computer and external data sources;

the workflow unit co-operates with said database server computer having a rules repository to store time-based workflow rules and corresponding actions for each of the resources, said workflow unit adapted to add actions for a particular resource and trigger said actions at a predetermined time based on said work-flow rules.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said configuration unit is adapted to create at least one personalized workspace for a user based on user'"'"'s portal role information in an enterprise, said configuration unit further adapted to enable configuration of personalized forms with validation rules for manual entry of data and graphical interfaces based on said metadata.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the workflow unit further includes:

action creation means adapted to enable a user to add a particular time-based action to a resource based on said workflow rules;

second triggering means adapted to trigger an action at a predetermined time; and

an action detail repository adapted to record the actions triggered by said second triggering means.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said workflow unit is adapted to add actions selected from the group of actions consisting of email reminders, task reminders and attribute/resource updates to a particular resource.

10. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the search engine further includes:

index management means adapted to dynamically create indexes on creation of resources and further adapted to re-index and/or delete the index in the event that the resource is updated or deleted;

searching means adapted to accept a search criteria from a user and further adapted to retrieve data corresponding to said search criteria from said database server computer; and

search display means co-operating with said data security unit processor, said search display means adapted to display retrieved data on said browser based on the portal role information of the user.

11. A method for providing multitenant data configuration, tracking and reporting, said method comprising the following steps:

creating a metadata driven database for hosting system data and application data for a plurality of tenants, wherein the application data of discrete tenants is partitioned based on a unique identification number assigned to the tenants and the application data is divided into resources and resources are further divided into attributes;

providing object level, attribute level and record level restrictions for security of said application data;

providing a plurality of processors for securely accessing said database for providing data configuration, tracking and reporting functionalities;

authenticating a user logged in via a remote web based interface;

determining the user'"'"'s portal role and tenant; and

displaying a personalized workspace for the user and providing the user access to said plurality of processors;

wherein the step of providing a plurality of processors includes the steps of providing a search engine for dynamically creating indexes for resources and providing faceted search results for said resources.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of providing object level security includes the steps of:

determining permissions assigned to resources; and

checking if a user is authorized to get access to a particular resource based on the resource permissions and the portal role of the user.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of providing record level security includes the following steps:

determining the workspace and corresponding tenant of a user;

determining rules if any defined for a particular resource; and

verifying if the data can be displayed for a particular user based on predetermined workspace and the predefined rules for a resource for the portal role of the user.

14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of providing attribute level security includes the steps of verifying if an attribute is restricted from being displayed for a particular portal role and denying access to that attribute data.

15. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of providing a plurality of processors includes the steps of providing a workflow unit for adding time-based actions for a particular resource, triggering the action at the predetermined time, recording the actions in a repository.

16. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step of providing a plurality of processors includes the steps of providing a reporting unit for creating custom reports, charts and dashboards for a user for selected resources including the steps of:

creating a query to retrieve all the instances and attributes of selected resources;

creating a procedure to run said query and update a snapshot table;

running a flat query on the snapshot table at run time;

running filters on the snapshot table based on the portal role information of the user; and

displaying the data to the user as custom reports and/or charts.