Coordination of collaboration partners

• US 9,269,071 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2012
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Stollberg, Michael, Fleischhauer, Rene, Meijler, Theo Dirk, Winkler, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Uzma
• Application Number:
  US13/439,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods for coordination of collaboration partners are described herein. Data from a plurality of collaboration partners is received during a collaboration process. The collaboration process involves one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process. The data comprises process data relevant to the collaboration process. The received data is stored in one or more collaboration objects. In response to a request from a collaboration partner, a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects is generated and provided to the requesting collaboration partner based on access controls. The customized view includes information about the process data that is allowed to be viewed according to the access controls associated with the requesting collaboration partner.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to tangibly store instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners during an inter-organizational collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data is relevant to the collaboration process and operations performed by the plurality of collaboration partners;

categorize the received data to static data and process data, wherein the static data remains constant and unchanged throughout the collaboration process, and wherein the process data comprises details associated with progress of the collaboration process;

store the categorized data in one or more collaboration objects;

receive access controls defining restricted access to the stored categorized data for one or more collaboration partners of the plurality of collaboration partners, wherein the restricted access is based on one or more agreements between the plurality of collaboration partners; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner of the plurality of collaboration partners, generate and provide a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects for the requesting collaboration partner based on the access controls, wherein the customized view includes a first part of the static data and a second part of the process data, and wherein the first part of the static data and the second part of the process data are allowed to be provided to the requesting collaboration partner according to one or more of the access controls.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the plurality of collaboration partners during the one or more stages of the collaboration process.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein a host collaboration partner from the plurality of collaboration partners defines the access controls for the categorized data.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive the data from the plurality of the collaboration partners, further comprises instructions to:

extract the data from backend systems of the plurality of the collaboration partners.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive the data from the plurality of the collaboration partners, further comprises instructions to:

receive the data that is provided by users of the plurality of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the process data and the static data are stored in the one or more collaboration objects in an encapsulated manner.

7. A computer-implemented method for collaboration, the method comprising:

receiving data from a plurality of collaboration partners during an inter-organizational collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data is relevant to the collaboration process and operations performed by the plurality of collaboration partners;

categorizing the received data to static data and process data, wherein the static data remains constant and unchanged throughout the collaboration process, and wherein the process data comprises details associated with progress of the collaboration process;

storing the categorized data in one or more collaboration objects;

receiving access controls defining restricted access to the stored categorized data for one or more collaboration partners of the plurality of collaboration partners, wherein the restricted access is based on one or more agreements between the plurality of collaboration partners; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner of the plurality of collaboration partners, generating and providing a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects for the requesting collaboration partner based on access controls, wherein the customized view includes a first part of the static data and a second part of the process data, and wherein the first part of the static data and the second part of the process data are allowed to be provided to the requesting collaboration partner according to one or more of the access controls.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the process data and the static data are stored in the one or more collaboration objects in an encapsulated manner.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a host collaboration partner from the plurality of collaboration partners defines the access controls for the categorized data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the plurality of the collaboration partners during the one or more stages of the collaboration process.

11. The method of claim 7, receiving data from the plurality of collaboration partners further comprising:

extracting the data from backend systems of the plurality of the collaboration partners.

12. The method of claim 7, receiving data from the plurality of collaboration partners further comprising:

receiving the data that is provided by users of the plurality of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.

13. A computer system for collaboration, comprising:

a computer memory to store program code; and

a processor to execute the program code to;

receive data from a plurality of collaboration partners during an inter-organizational collaboration process involving one or more of the collaboration partners at one or more stages of the collaboration process, wherein the data is relevant to the collaboration process and operations performed by the plurality of collaboration partners;

categorize the received data to static data and process data, wherein the static data remains constant and unchanged throughout the collaboration process, and wherein the process data comprises details associated with progress of the collaboration process;

store the categorized data in one or more collaboration objects;

receive access controls defining restricted access to the stored categorized data for one or more collaboration partners of the plurality of collaboration partners, wherein the restricted access is based on one or more agreements between the plurality of collaboration partners; and

in response to a request from a collaboration partner of the plurality of collaboration partners, generate and provide a customized view of the one or more collaboration objects for the requesting collaboration partner based on the access controls, wherein the customized view includes a first part of the static data and a second part of the process data, and wherein the first part of the static data and the second part of the process data are allowed to be provided to the requesting collaboration partner according to one or more of the access controls.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the process data and the static data are stored in the one or more collaboration objects in an encapsulated manner.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein a host collaboration partner from the plurality of collaboration partners defines the access controls for the categorized data.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein an activity is performed by at least one of the plurality of the collaboration partners during the one or more stages of the collaboration process.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the program code to receive data from the plurality of collaboration partners, further comprises program code to:

extract the data from backend systems of the plurality of the collaboration partners.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the program code to receive data from the plurality of collaboration partners, further comprises program code to:

receive the data that is provided by users of the plurality of the collaboration partners via one or more user interfaces.