Method and computing device for facilitating review of a document

• US 9,442,908 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Workiva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Workiva Inc.
• Inventors: Siegel, Stephen M.
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US14/305,172
• Publication Number:
  US 20150365298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 715/229
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

A method, carried out by a computing device, includes displaying a summary of the sections of a document, identifying one or more sections that have been previously reviewed by a particular reviewer, but has changed since the reviewer last reviewed it, indicating the availability of a blacklined version of the section, and identifying the revision against which the blacklined version has been compared. The computing device may also identify sections that have not been reviewed, sections that have been reviewed and approved by the reviewer (including which revision was approved), and sections that have been reviewed but not approved.

Claims

1. A method, on a computing device, for facilitating the review of a document comprising a plurality of sections, the method comprising:

receiving at least two sets of edits to a particular section of a document, resulting in a first version of the section, a second version of the section, and a third version of the section, the third version being the most current version, the third version being different from both the first and second versions;

receiving a first reviewer'"'"'s input of an approval of the second version;

identifying that the second version is the most recent version of the section that the first reviewer reviewed;

assembling a first individualized status summary of the document, wherein the first individualized status summary comprises an entry for the section within a list of the plurality sections, wherein the entry for the section identifies

the number of the second version, which was approved by the first reviewer,

the number of the third version of the section, and

the availability of a first blacklined version of the section showing the changes between the second version of the section and the third version of the section,

identifying that the first version is the most recent version of the section that the second reviewer reviewed;

assembling a second individualized status summary of the document, wherein the second individualized status summary comprises an entry for the section within a list of the plurality sections, wherein the entry for the section identifies

the number of the first version of the section,

the number of the third version of the section, and

the availability of a second blacklined version showing the changes between the first version of the section and the third version of the section;

transmitting the first individualized status summary to the first reviewer; and

transmitting the second individualized status summary to the second reviewer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the first individualized status summary, the first reviewer'"'"'s selection of the previously-approved but changed section;

in response to the first reviewer'"'"'s selection, transmitting the first blacklined version of the section to the first reviewer;

receiving, via the second individualized status summary, the second reviewer'"'"'s selection of the previously-approved but changed section; and

in response to the second reviewer'"'"'s selection, transmitting the second blacklined version of the section to the second reviewer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the first individual status summary, the first reviewer'"'"'s approval of the third version;

receiving, via the second individual status summary, the second reviewer'"'"'s approval of the third version;

updating the first individualized status summary to reflect the first user'"'"'s approval; and

updating the second individualized status summary to reflect the second reviewer'"'"'s approval.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein updating the first individualized status summary or the second individualized status summary comprises one or more of:

filling a checkbox next to a title of the section, displaying an icon representing a review status of the section, displaying graphics representing a review status of the section, and displaying graphics representing the approval status of the section.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second individualized status summaries further comprises, for each of the plurality of sections, a title of the section displayed in a manner that corresponds to the approval status of the section.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the title of the section is displayed using a font, color, or text effect that corresponds to the approval status of the section.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein an icon or graphics representing the approval status of the section is displayed near the title of the section.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, on each of the first and second individualized status summaries, the number of the revision against which the blacklined version is compared is displayed in the vicinity of the title of the section.

9. A method for facilitating review of a document comprising a plurality of sections, the method comprising, on a server:

receiving an indication from an editor of the document that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting a first message to a first reviewer of the document indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting a first message to a second reviewer of the document indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

receiving, from a computing device of the second reviewer, but not from a computing device of the first reviewer, an indication that a first revision of a section of the plurality of sections has been reviewed, wherein the first revision is represented by a first data structure;

receiving a first set of edits to the section from the editor;

creating a second revision of the section, which includes the first set of edits, wherein the second revision is represented by a second data structure that is distinct from the first data structure;

generating a first blacklined version of the section based on a comparison between the second revision and the first revision;

transmitting a second message to the first reviewer indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting a second message to the second reviewer indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting, to the computing device of the first reviewer, a user interface comprising a summary of the plurality of sections, wherein the summary

indicates the availability of the first blacklined version; and

identifies the second revision to be the revision against which the first blacklined version is compared;

receiving, from the computing device of the first reviewer, but not from the computing device of the second reviewer, an indication that the second revision has been reviewed;

receiving a second set of edits to the section from the editor;

creating a third revision of the section, which includes the second set of edits, wherein the third revision is represented by a third data structure that is distinct from the first data structure and distinct from the second data structure;

generating a second blacklined version of the section based on a comparison between the first revision and the third revision;

transmitting a third message to the first reviewer indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting a third message to the second reviewer indicating that the document is ready to be reviewed;

transmitting, to the computing device of the first reviewer, a user interface comprising a summary of the plurality of sections, wherein the summary

indicates the availability of the first blacklined version; and

identifies the second revision to be the revision against which the second blacklined version is compared;

transmitting, to the computing device of the second reviewer, a user interface comprising a summary of the plurality of sections, wherein the summary

indicates the availability of the second blacklined version; and

identifies the first revision to be the revision against which the second blacklined version is compared;

receiving, via the user interface of the summary from the computing device of the first reviewer, an approval of the third revision of the section; and

receiving, via the user interface of the summary from the computing device of the second reviewer, an approval of the third revision of the section.

10. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a network interface communicatively linked to a network,

wherein the processor carries out actions to make different blacklined versions of the same section available to different reviewers, each of whom has reviewed different versions of the section, each version of the section being stored in different data structures, the actions comprising;

creating a first version of a section of the document;

receiving a first set of edits to the section from an editor, resulting in a second version of the section;

receiving a second set of edits to the section, including edits to the second version of the section, resulting in a third version of the section;

creating a first user interface for the first reviewer, the first user interface comprising a list of section titles, including

a first section title that indicates, with information accompanying the title, that the section represented by the first section title has not yet been reviewed by the first reviewer,

a second section title that indicates, with information accompanying the title, that the second version is the most recent version that has been previously reviewed by the first reviewer, that the third version is available for review, and that a blackline comparing the second and third versions of the section is available;

creating a second user interface for the second reviewer, the second user interface comprising a list of section titles, including

a first section title that indicates, with information accompanying the title, that the section represented by the first section title has not yet been reviewed by the second reviewer,

a second section title that indicates, with information accompanying the title, that the first version is the most recent version that has been previously reviewed by the second reviewer, that the third version of the section is available for review, and that a blackline comparing the first and third versions of the section is available;

receiving, via the first user interface, an input from the first reviewer on the second section title and, in response to the input, transmitting the blackline comparing the second and third versions of the section to the first reviewer;

receiving, via the second user interface, an input from the second reviewer on the second section title and, in response to the input, transmitting the blackline comparing the first and third versions of the section to the second reviewer.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor executes instructions for carrying out actions comprising:

receiving, via the first user interface, the first reviewer'"'"'s approval of the third version;

receiving, via the second user interface, the second reviewer'"'"'s approval of the third version;

updating the second section title on the first user interface to reflect the first user'"'"'s approval;

updating the second section title on the second user interface to reflect the second user'"'"'s approval.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the title of the second section is updated using a font, color, or text effect that corresponds to the availability of a blacklined version.

13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the title of the second section is updated with an icon or graphics representing the approval status of the section.

14. The computing device of claim 11,

wherein the processor visually indicates the availability of the blacklined version of the second section on the first user interface by changing the color of the font of the title of the second section on the first user interface and adding the identity of the versions being compared in blacklined version in the vicinity of the title of the second section,

wherein the processor visually indicates the availability of blacklined version of the second section on the second user interface by changing the color of the font of the title of the second section on the second user interface and adding the identity of the versions being compared in the blacklined version in the vicinity of the title of the second section.