Social network system with correlation of business results and relationships

• US 9,619,845 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kershaw, Andrew, Chakraborty, Sayan
• Primary Examiner(s): MCCORMICK, GABRIELLE A
• Application Number:
  US13/716,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,576 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system that generates a social network and correlates business results within that social network receives, from an enterprise application, a business object, an associated system of record and corresponding enterprise members. The system generates a social object for the social network, where the social object corresponds to the business object. The system assigns social members to the social object and receives any changes to the business object. The system then correlates the change in the business object to each of the enterprise members and social members via the social object.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to correlate business results within a social network, the correlating comprising:

receiving from an enterprise application a business object, associated business object data and corresponding enterprise members, wherein the enterprise members comprise an enterprise team assigned to the business object, and wherein the enterprise application comprises a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and the business object comprises a sales opportunity within the CRM system;

generating a social object for the social network, wherein the social object corresponds to the business object and the business object data and comprises related conversations;

assigning social members to the social object, wherein the social members comprise the enterprise team and additional members of the social network and wherein a set of the social members is different than a set of the enterprise members and at least one of the social members is not a user of the CRM system;

receiving a change in the business object, wherein the change comprises a change to the associated business object data comprising an outcome of the sales opportunity; and

correlating the change in the business object to each of the enterprise members and to each of the social members so that each of the social members are associated with the outcome;

wherein the change to the business object data of the enterprise application on a first server is received by the social network on a second server through an application programming interface, and the social network modifies the social object to incorporate the change;

wherein changes to the social object are sent to the first server through the application programming interface, and the business object data of the enterprise application is modified to incorporate the changes.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an enterprise social graph comprising a plurality of enterprise social members comprised of a set of both the enterprise members and the social members and comprising a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to an enterprise social member or an object, and a connection between each of the nodes, wherein the connection reflects a strength of a relationship between the nodes.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of interaction between the corresponding enterprise social members within the social network.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of emails between the corresponding enterprise social members.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of business opportunities that are won and that are correlated with the corresponding enterprise social members.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the strength is further based on a value of the business opportunities.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 2, further comprising generating an image of the enterprise social graph, wherein the strength is represented by a thickness of the connection.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the outcome of the sales opportunity comprises either the sales opportunity is won or lost.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the social object further comprises a wall that shows a history of all changes of the social object.

10. A method of correlating business results within a social network, the correlating comprising:

receiving from an enterprise application a business object, associated business object data and corresponding enterprise members, wherein the enterprise members comprise an enterprise team assigned to the business object, and wherein the enterprise application comprises a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and the business object comprises a sales opportunity within the CRM system;

generating a social object for the social network, wherein the social object corresponds to the business object and the business object data and comprises related conversations;

assigning social members to the social object, wherein the social members comprise the enterprise team and additional members of the social network and wherein a set of the social members is different than a set of the enterprise members and at least one of the social members is not a user of the CRM system;

receiving a change in the business object, wherein the change comprises a change to the associated business object data comprising an outcome of the sales opportunity; and

correlating the change in the business object to each of the enterprise members and to each of the social members so that each of the social members are associated with the outcome;

wherein the change to the business object data of the enterprise application on a first server is received by the social network on a second server through an application programming interface, and the social network modifies the social object to incorporate the change;

wherein changes to the social object are sent to the first server through the application programming interface, and the business object data of the enterprise application is modified to incorporate the changes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the outcome of the sales opportunity comprises either the sales opportunity is won or lost.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating an enterprise social graph comprising a plurality of enterprise social members comprised of a set of both the enterprise members and the social members and comprising a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to an enterprise social member or an object, and a connection between each of the nodes, wherein the connection reflects a strength of a relationship between the nodes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of interaction between the corresponding enterprise social members within the social network.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of emails between the corresponding enterprise social members.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of business opportunities that are won and that are correlated with the corresponding enterprise social members.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the strength is further based on a value of the business opportunities.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating an image of the enterprise social graph, wherein the strength is represented by a thickness of the connection.

18. A social network comprising:

a processor;

a storage device coupled to the processor and storing instructions, the instructions when executed by the processor implementing modules;

a business object, associated business object data and corresponding identities of enterprise members received from an enterprise application and stored on the storage device, wherein the enterprise members comprise an enterprise team assigned to the business object, and wherein the enterprise application comprises a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and the business object comprises a sales opportunity within the CRM system;

a social object generation module implemented by the processor that generates a social object for the social network, wherein the social object corresponds to the business object and the business object data and comprises related conversations and assigns identities of social members to the social object, wherein the social members comprise the enterprise team and additional members of the social network and wherein a set of the social members is different than a set of the enterprise members and at least one of the social members is not a user of the CRM system;

a correlation module implemented by the processor that receives a change in the business object, wherein the change comprises a change to the associated business object data comprising an outcome of the sales opportunity, and correlates the change in the business object to each of the enterprise members and to each of the social members so that each of the social members are associated with the outcome;

wherein the change to the business object data of the enterprise application on a first server is received by the social network on a second server through an application programming interface, and the social network modifies the social object to incorporate the change;

wherein changes to the social object are sent to the first server through the application programming interface, and the business object data of the enterprise application is modified to incorporate the changes.

19. A social network of claim 18, further comprising:

a graph generator that generates an enterprise social graph comprising a plurality of enterprise social members comprised of a set of both the enterprise members and the social members and comprising a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to an enterprise social member or an object, and a connection between each of the nodes, wherein the connection reflects a strength of a relationship between the nodes.

20. The social network of claim 19, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of interaction between the corresponding enterprise social members within the social network.

21. The social network of claim 19, wherein the strength is based on a frequency of business opportunities that are won and that are correlated with the corresponding enterprise social members.

22. The social network of claim 18, wherein the outcome of the sales opportunity comprises either the sales opportunity is won or lost.

23. The social network of claim 18, wherein the social object further comprises a wall that shows a history of all changes of the social object.