System, method and computer program product for providing a team object in association with an object

• US 9,152,658 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2013
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Tsai, Benjamin, Tang, Michael, Casalaina, Marco
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, LAN DAI T
• Application Number:
  US13/887,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/202, 709/223, 709/243, 709/244
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object. These mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object can allow for centralized management of a team in association with an object. For example, members of the team may be automatically identified (e.g. without manual intervention) for receiving notifications in association with an object.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a system having hardware and software shared by multiple organizations over a network, wherein the system stores an object for one of the organizations of the multiple organizations and wherein a setting of the object indicates that the object is allowed to have a team associated therewith;

receiving, by the system from a user associated with the organization of the multiple organizations, a selection of a predefined team to be added to the object, the predefined team having predefined members and being defined in a predefined team object having identifiers of the predefined members;

configuring in the system a team object for the object that references the predefined team object;

providing in the system a reference between the object and the team object for adding the predefined team to the object;

identifying, by the system, a modification made to the object;

in response to the identification of the modification made to the object, identifying by the system the team object associated with the object;

in response to the identification of the team object associated with the object, identifying by the system the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object; and

after identifying the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object, notifying, by the system, the predefined members of the predefined team using a notification associated with the object, such that the predefined members of the predefined team are notified based on the predefined members of the predefined team being identified using the team object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object includes a data object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined members each includes at least one of a user of the multi-tenant on-demand database service, a contact, and a queue.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the team object defines the team by defining at least one member of the team.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one member of the team is defined in the team object by listing an identifier of the at least one member in the team object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the team object defines the team by assigning a role to the at least one member of the team.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the role defines notification settings for the at least one member.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the notification settings indicate actions associated with the object of which the at least one member is to be notified.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the actions include at least one of email, comments, activities, and status changes associated with the object.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising detecting an action associated with the object.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined team object includes a template of members and roles assigned to each member.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein changes made to the predefined team object are automatically propagated to the configured team object.

13. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer code adapted to be executed by a computer to perform a method comprising:

providing a system having hardware and software shared by multiple organizations over a network, wherein the system stores an object for one of the organizations of the multiple organizations and wherein a setting of the object indicates that the object is allowed to have a team associated therewith;

receiving, by the system from a user associated with the organization of the multiple organizations, a selection of a predefined team to be added to the object, the predefined team having predefined members and being defined in a predefined team object having identifiers of the predefined members;

configuring in the system a team object for the object that references the predefined team object;

providing in the system a reference between the object and the team object for adding the predefined team to the object;

identifying, by the system, a modification made to the object;

in response to the identification of the modification made to the object, identifying by the system the team object associated with the object;

in response to the identification of the team object associated with the object, identifying by the system the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object; and

after identifying the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object, notifying, by the system, the predefined members of the predefined team using a notification associated with the object, such that the predefined members of the predefined team are notified based on the predefined members of the predefined team being identified using the team object.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a system having hardware and software shared by multiple organizations over a network, wherein the system stores an object for one of the organizations of the multiple organizations and wherein a setting of the object indicates that the object is allowed to have a team associated therewith;

the hardware of the system including a processor for;

receiving, from a user associated with the organization of the multiple organizations, a selection of a predefined team to be added to the object, the predefined team having predefined members and being defined in a predefined team object having identifiers of the predefined members;

configuring in the system a team object for the object that references the predefined team object;

providing in the system a reference between the object and the team object for adding the predefined team to the object;

identifying a modification made to the object;

in response to the identification of the modification made to the object, identifying the team object associated with the object;

in response to the identification of the team object associated with the object, identifying the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object; and

after identifying the predefined members of the predefined team using the team object, notifying the predefined members of the predefined team using a notification associated with the object, such that the predefined members of the predefined team are notified based on the predefined members of the predefined team being identified using the team object.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to memory via a bus.