Providing a timeline control in a multi-tenant database environment

• US 9,230,224 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2010
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramsey, Michael, Casalaina, Marco S., Krishnan, Arvind, Ellis, Jason A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tuan S
• Application Number:
  US12/977,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20110283224A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,839 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and method for providing a timeline control in a multi-tenant database system. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a plurality of entitlement processes and milestones that are to be enforced, where each entitlement process includes one or more actions, and where each action is associated with a corresponding milestone. The method further includes displaying a timeline control window that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process, and updating the timeline control window as the status of the entitlement process changes.

Claims

1. A method for providing timeline control of entitlement processes in a multi-tenant database system, the method comprising:

storing, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, one or more service level agreements that are defined for one or more tenants in the multi-tenant database system to provide support services to customers, wherein the one or more service level agreements are associated with one or more entitlement processes and milestones and wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones are created using an entitlement template and an associated set of service level definitions;

identifying, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, the one or more entitlement processes and milestones associated with a tenant in the multi-tenant database system from the one or more service level agreements, wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones include one or more defined actions to be taken upon reaching a corresponding milestone, and wherein the identifying automatically occurs when at least one of an asset is created and a contract line item is created in the one or more service level agreements;

receiving, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, a request to view one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the request is generated from an interface displayed on a display;

identifying, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, the one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones;

retrieving, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the information includes instructions to generate a visual representation of a timeline;

sending, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, the information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones to a client device to be rendered in a timeline control window of a display that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

sending, by a processor of the multi-tenant database system, an update to the information as the status of the entitlement process changes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising color coding the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a case milestone window associated with at least one milestone, wherein the case milestone window includes information associated with a status of a particular milestone.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an eligible user of a first entitlement process from users of the multi-tenant database system, and

wherein the displaying the timeline control window comprises displaying the timeline control window to the eligible user that shows one or more milestones for the first entitlement process.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions thereon for providing a timeline control of entitlement processes, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

storing, by the multi-tenant database system, one or more service level agreements that are defined for one or more tenants in the multi-tenant database system to provide support services to customers, wherein the one or more service level agreements are associated with one or more entitlement processes and milestones and wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones are created using an entitlement template and an associated set of service level definitions;

identifying, by the multi-tenant database system, the one or more entitlement processes and milestones associated with a tenant in the multi-tenant database system from the one or more service level agreements, wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones include one or more defined actions to be taken upon reaching a corresponding milestone, and wherein the identifying automatically occurs when at least one of an asset is created and a contract line item is created in the one or more service level agreements;

receiving, by the multi-tenant database system, a request to view one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the request is generated from an interface displayed on a display;

identifying, by the multi-tenant database system, the one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones;

retrieving, by the multi-tenant database system, information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the information includes instructions to generate a visual representation of a timeline;

sending, by the multi-tenant database system, the information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones to a client device to be rendered in a timeline control window of a display that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

sending, by multi-tenant database system, an update to the information as the status of the entitlement process changes.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to color code the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to display a case milestone window associated with at least one milestone, wherein the case milestone window includes information associated with a status of a particular milestone.

14. An apparatus for providing a timeline control of entitlement processes, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing one or more stored sequences of instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

storing, by the multi-tenant database system, one or more service level agreements that are defined for one or more tenants in the multi-tenant database system to provide support services to customers, wherein the one or more service level agreements are associated with one or more entitlement processes and milestones and wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones are created using an entitlement template and an associated set of service level definitions;

identifying, by the multi-tenant database system, the one or more entitlement processes and milestones associated with a tenant in the multi-tenant database system from the one or more service level agreements, wherein the one or more entitlement processes and milestones include one or more defined actions to be taken upon reaching a corresponding milestone, and wherein the identifying automatically occurs when at least one of an asset is created and a contract line item is created in the one or more service level agreements;

receiving, by the multi-tenant database system, a request to view one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the request is generated from an interface displayed on a display;

identifying, by the multi-tenant database system, the one of the one or more entitlement processes and milestones;

retrieving, by the multi-tenant database system, information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones, wherein the information includes instructions to generate a visual representation of a timeline;

sending, by the multi-tenant database system, the information about the requested entitlement processes and milestones to a client device to be rendered in a timeline control window of a display that shows one or more milestones for an entitlement process; and

sending, by multi-tenant database system, an update to the information as the status of the entitlement process changes.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein tile timeline control window comprises a time indicator that indicates the current time of the entitlement process.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to indicate in the timeline control window whether a given milestone has been completed or not by displaying a completion indicator.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to color code the milestone indicators to distinguish between milestones that have not yet been completed and those that have been completed.