Methods and a computing device for carrying out data collection

• US 9,367,854 B1
• Filed: 05/27/2015
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Workiva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Workiva Inc.
• Inventors: Plazas, Christian, Caban-Tomski, Jacob, Sanders, Matthew, Keller, Matthew, Ritz, Dean Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): McIntosh, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/722,456
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/212 with details for data modelling support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/8373 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

According to an implementation, a host computing device receives, from a first computing device, a data collection request of a first user. The data collection request indicates a data point (whose characteristics are defined in a mark-up language schema) that is to be the subject of the data collection and identifies a second user as provider of a value for the data point. The host computing device notifies the second user of the data collection request and receives, from a second computing device, a request of the second user for the data point to be assigned a plurality of categories. In response to the request of the second user, the host computing device extends the mark-up language schema to characterize the plurality of categories within the mark-up language schema.

Claims

1. A method for carrying out data collection by a host computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device, a data collection request of a first user, wherein the data collection request indicates a data point that is to be the subject of the data collection and identifies a second user as provider of a value for the data point,

wherein characteristics of the data point are defined in a mark-up language schema;

notifying the second user of the data collection request;

receiving, from a second computing device and in response to the data collection request, a request of the second user for the data point to be assigned a plurality of categories;

in response to the request of the second user, extending the mark-up language schema to characterize the plurality of categories within the mark-up language schema;

receiving, from the second computing device, a request of the second user to forward the data collection request, wherein the forwarding request identifies a third user and indicates a category of the plurality of categories for which the third user is to be a provider for the data collection request; and

in response to the forwarding request notifying the third user of the forwarded request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first computing device, an input of the first user indicating a placeholder in a document;

receiving, from a third computing device, a value of the indicated category from the third user in response to the forwarded request;

notifying the second user of the receipt of the value;

receiving an approval of the value from the second user; and

in response to the approval, populating the placeholder with the value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

receiving the input of the first user comprises receiving the first user'"'"'s selection of one or more cells of a spreadsheet;

and

populating the placeholder comprises populating the one or more cells with the value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a third computing device, a value of the indicated category from the third user in response to the forwarded request;

notifying the second user of the receipt of the value;

receiving an approval of the value from the second user;

in response to the approval, persisting the value in data entity corresponding to the data point in a memory accessible to the host computing device; and

notifying the first user of the approval.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising tagging the value in accordance with the extended mark-up language schema.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, a denial of approval of the received value; and

notifying the third user of the denial.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, a note regarding the denial; and

notifying the first user of the denial and the note.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising restricting the first user from accessing the value until an approval of the value is received from the second user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the third user, a value in response to the forwarded request;

gating the response of the third user conditioned on the approval of the second user;

if the host computing device receives an approval of the value from the second user, then providing the value to the first user; and

if the host computing device receives a denial of approval of the value from the second user, then withholding the response from the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the data collection request, updating a permission of a data entity corresponding to the first data point to allow the second user to edit the data entity; and

in response to the forwarding request, updating the permission of the data entity to allow the third user to edit the data entity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying the second user of the data collection request comprises:

posting a message on a data collection dashboard of the second user; and

providing the data collection dashboard to the second computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying the second user of the data collection request comprises:

posting a message on a data collection dashboard of the second user;

emailing a link to the data collection dashboard to the second user; and

providing the data collection dashboard to the second computing device in response to the second user activating the link.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second computing device, a visual representation of a first data collection template;

in response to the forwarding request, creating a second data collection template that is based on the first data collection template; and

transmitting a visual representation of the second data collection template to the third user via a third computing device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising creating the first data collection template based on the mark-up language schema.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarding request further identifies a fourth user and indicates a second category of the plurality of categories that the fourth user is to be a provider for the forwarded request, the method further comprising:

transmitting, to the second computing device, a visual representation of a first data collection template that shows the category of data for which the third user is to be a provider, but not the category of data for which the fourth user is to be a provider;

in response to the forwarding request, creating a second data collection template that is based on the first data collection template; and

transmitting, to the fourth user via a fourth computing device, a visual representation of the second data collection template that shows the category of data for which the fourth user is to be a provider, but not the category of data for which the third user is to be a provider.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark-up language schema is an extensible business reporting language schema.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein extending the mark-up language schema comprises adding a new neighbor element to the mark-up language schema based on at least one of the plurality of categories.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein extending the mark-up language schema comprises adding, to the mark-up language schema, a new child element that refines an existing element of the mark-up language schema based on at least one of the plurality of categories.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein extending the mark-up language schema comprises adding, to the mark-up language schema, a new element that groups together a plurality of existing elements of the mark-up language schema based on at least one of the plurality of categories.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein extending the mark-up language schema comprises adding, to the mark-up language schema, an additional semantic relationship between two or more elements of the mark-up language schema.

21. The method of claim 20,

wherein the forwarded request further identifies a fourth user and indicates a second category of the plurality of categories that the fourth user is to be a provider for the forwarded request,

wherein the additional semantic relationship is a semantic for calculating a compound value for the data point,

the method further comprising:

notifying the fourth user of the forwarded request;

receiving, from a fourth computing device, a value from the fourth user in response to the forwarded request; and

calculating a compound value of based on the value from the third user and the value from the fourth user in accordance with the semantic relationship.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the compound value is a sum of the value from the third user and the value from the fourth user.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the compound value is an average of the value from the third user and the value from the fourth user.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the data collection request indicates a second data point for which the second user is to provide a value, the method further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, an indication that the second user has declined the data collection request as to the second data point.

25. A computing device comprising a memory and a hardware processor that carries out a data collection method, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device, a data collection request of a first user, wherein the data collection request indicates a data point that is to be the subject of the data collection and identifies a second user as provider of a value for the data point,

wherein characteristics of the data point are defined in a mark-up language schema;

notifying the second user of the data collection request;

receiving, from a second computing device and in response to the data collection request, a request of the second user for the data point to be assigned a plurality of categories;

in response to the request of the second user, extending the mark-up language schema to characterize the plurality of categories within the mark-up language schema;

receiving, from the second computing device, a request of the second user to forward the data collection request, wherein the forwarding request identifies a third user and indicates a category of the plurality of categories for which the third user is to be a provider for the data collection request; and

in response to the forwarding request, notifying the third user of the forwarded request.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for carrying out a method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device, a data collection request of a first user, wherein the data collection request indicates a data point that is to be the subject of the data collection and identifies a second user as provider of a value for the data point,

wherein characteristics of the data point are defined in a mark-up language schema;

notifying the second user of the data collection request;

receiving, from a second computing device and in response to the data collection request, a request of the second user for the data point to be assigned a plurality of categories;

in response to the request of the second user, extending the mark-up language schema to characterize the plurality of categories within the mark-up language schema;

receiving, from the second computing device, a request of the second user to forward the data collection request, wherein the forwarding request identifies a third user and indicates a category of the plurality of categories for which the third user is to be a provider for the data collection request; and

in response to the forwarding request, notifying the third user of the forwarded request.