Graphical representations of corporate networks

• US 8,937,618 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2012
• Issued: 01/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sap Portals Israel Ltd (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Sap Portals Israel Ltd (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Erez, Tamir, Himmelreich, Evgeny
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Xiao
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTTRAM, ALAN T
• Application Number:
  US13/463,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20130293551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 715/215, 705/7.11, 705/7.13, 705/7.15, 705/7.17, 705/7.27
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Systems and methods for graphical representation of corporate networks are provided. The graphical representation may be used to present corporate information, e.g., corporate reporting structure, employee keywords, etc. The graphical representation may include nodes whose sizes are based on the corporate data, such as the number of direct reports, or frequencies of keywords appearances. The graphical representation may also include multi-layer corporation information. Further, the graphical representation may present a subset of corporate data in response to user inputs.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for corporate data analysis, comprising:

receiving, by a processor and from a computer-readable memory that stores corporate data storing information about a corporation, a set of data that identifies employees of the corporation, the set of data including information about keywords defined by employees;

in response to input, transforming, by the processor, the set of data into a first graphical representation including nodes whose properties are based on the set of data, wherein the nodes represent respective employees of the corporation;

displaying, by the processor, the graph representation including the nodes, wherein a first node representing a first employee is connected to a second node representing a second employee who directly reports to the first employee under a corporate structure of the corporation, and wherein a size of the first node corresponds to a number of employees that directly report to the first employee;

in response to input, transforming, by the processor, the set of data into a second graphical representation including nodes whose properties are based on the set of data, wherein a subset of nodes in the second graphical representation represent the keywords associated with the employees and another subset of nodes in the second graphical representation represent employees; and

displaying the second graphical representation including the nodes, wherein a fourth node representing a keyword is connected to a fifth node representing a fifth employee who has defined the keyword, wherein the keyword represents a role in the corporation, and wherein a size of the fourth node corresponds to a frequency with which employees define the keyword represented by the fourth node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation includes at least one visible organizational anomaly.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one visible organizational anomaly includes a subset of nodes that are not connected to any other node in the graph representation indicating that a subset of employees represented by the subset of nodes do not directly report to any other employee of the corporation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one visible organizational anomaly includes a third node representing a third employee having a significantly larger size relative to other nodes representing other employees indicating that significantly more number of employees directly report to the third employee relative to other employees to whom employees report.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation includes multi-layer corporate information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the multi-layer corporate information includes employee reporting information and employee keywords information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the set of data comprises retrieving the set of data from a corporate database internal to the corporation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation is a first graphical representation, wherein the set of data includes information about keywords defined by employees, and wherein the method further comprises:

in response to input, transforming the set of data into a third graphical representation including nodes, wherein a subset of nodes in the second graphical representation represent the keywords associated with employees and another subset of nodes in the second graphical representation represent employees; and

displaying the third graphical representation including the nodes, wherein a sixth node representing a keyword is connected to a seventh node representing a seventh employee who has defined the keyword, and wherein the seventh node is connected to an eighth node representing an eighth employee to whom the seventh employee directly reports.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the input for a particular graphical representation prior to transforming the set of data into the graphical representation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the input comprises receiving the input through a user interface in which the graphical representation is displayed.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a set of data including information about employees of a corporation and keywords defined by the employees; and

in response to input, transforming the set of data into a graphical representation including a first subset of nodes that represent the employees of the corporation and a second subset of nodes that represent the keywords defined by the employees, wherein a first node in the first subset that represents a first employee is connected to a second node in the second subset that defines a first keyword defined by the first employee, wherein a keyword represents a role in the corporation, and wherein a size of a particular node in the second subset represents a frequency with which employees define a keyword represented by the particular node.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the graphical representation includes at least one visible organizational anomaly.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one visible organizational anomaly includes one or more nodes that represent the employees and that are not connected to any other node in the first subset of nodes indicating that the one or more employees represented by the one or more nodes do not directly report to any other employee of the corporation.

14. The medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one visible organizational anomaly includes a node in the first subset having a significantly larger size relative to other nodes in the first subset indicating that significantly more number of employees directly report to an employee represented by the node in the first subset having the significantly larger size.

15. The medium of claim 11, wherein the graphical representation includes multi-layer corporate information.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the multi-layer corporate information includes employee reporting information and employee keywords information.

17. The medium of claim 11, wherein receiving the set of data comprises retrieving the set of data from a corporate database internal to the corporation.

18. The medium of claim 11, wherein the graphical representation is a first graphical representation, and wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to input, transforming the set of data into a second graphical representation including the first subset of nodes and the second subset of nodes; and

displaying the second graphical representation including the first subset of nodes and the second subset of nodes, wherein a third node representing a second keyword is connected to fourth node representing a second employee who has defined the second keyword, and wherein the fourth node is connected to a fifth node representing a third employee to whom the second employee directly reports.

19. The medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising receiving the input for a particular graphical representation prior to transforming the set of data into the graphical representation.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein receiving the input comprises receiving the input through a user interface in which the graphical representation is displayed.

21. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a set of data including information about employees of a corporation and keywords defined by the employees; and

in response to input, transforming the set of data into a graphical representation including a first subset of nodes that represent the employees of the corporation and a second subset of nodes that represent the keywords defined by the employees, wherein a first node in the first subset that represents a first employee is connected to a second node in the second subset that defines a first keyword defined by the first employee, wherein a keyword represents a role in the corporation, and wherein a size of a particular node in the second subset represents a frequency with which employees define a keyword represented by the particular node.