Rules-based workflow messaging

• US 10,908,928 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Issued: 02/02/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Inventors: Umapathy, Thangaraj, Nanjundaiah, Madan Kumar Bangalore, Bose, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US14/751,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20160380915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,048 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Techniques for rules-based workflow messaging are described herein. In one or more implementations, user activity with different existing workflows for features of an application is tracked and communicated to a tracking service. Based on analysis of user activity, rules are derived regarding messages to show users with respect to new features that relate to user interaction. For example, activity data indicating heavy usage of a particular legacy workflow is used to recognize that users are not discovering/using a corresponding new feature. Based on such usage patterns, workflow messages and rules for exposing the messages for the new feature are created and distributed to clients. The rules are applied to detect workflow patterns and trigger messages regarding corresponding new features. In response to an indication of interest in a new feature, interactive instructions to guide users step-by-step through the workflow for a new feature are provided.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:

collecting activity data indicative of user interaction with features of a client application;

activating workflow messaging after a designated number of interactions with a legacy workflow corresponding to an available new feature provided by the client application;

processing the collected activity data to recognize underutilization of the available new feature;

generating rules for messaging to clients regarding the available new feature that is recognized as being underutilized;

distributing a workflow message package effective to enable exposure of the available new feature to users via the client application; and

deactivating the workflow messaging after a designated number of uses of the available new feature.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the collected activity data comprises filtering of the collected activity data to obtain usage data for the available new feature that indicates usage of the available new feature is below a threshold level set to control when rules for features are generated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow message package is configured to enable addition of rules for the available new feature dynamically to a rules library implemented by the client application, the rules library configured to include a combination of pre-defined rules integrated with a release of the client application and rules that are built dynamically and added to the rules library after the release of the client application for underutilized features recognized through analysis of the collected activity data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the activity data comprises aggregating activity data from multiple devices to produce a database of usage data for different features of the client application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the usage data includes statistical information for the different features including one or more of frequency of use, percentage usage across multiple users of the users, number of times used collectively by the multiple users of the users, number of uses by individual users of the users, amount of time used, or interaction time before first use.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow message package has message data including mark-up language code that defines message content and visual elements used to expose the workflow messaging for the available new feature via a user interface of the client application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow message package has message data that defines one or more notification messages to inform the users of the client application regarding the available new feature.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow message package has message data that defines multiple sequential messages to provide step-by-step instructions to guide the users through a workflow for the available new feature.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the workflow message package has rules data configured to specify criteria to trigger the workflow messaging for the available new feature in response to detection of user activity indicative of the legacy workflow corresponding to the available new feature.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the criteria to trigger the workflow messaging include at least identification of actions included in the legacy workflow, an indication of whether the available new feature has been previously used, and a number of times of legacy workflow usage specified for activation of workflow messaging.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the client application comprises a page editor application for editing of a mark-up language document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the workflow messaging is exposed via an editing user interface for the page editor application including options to view a document object model (DOM) structure view and a rendered view of the mark-up language document.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause operations to implement workflow messaging for an application of the computing device including:

obtaining a workflow message package containing message data and rules data defining the workflow messaging for informing users regarding an available new feature of the application;

activating the workflow messaging after a designated number of interactions with a legacy workflow corresponding to the available new feature;

exposing the workflow messaging regarding the available new feature as indicated by the message data responsive to recognition of a pattern of interaction with the application; and

deactivating the workflow messaging after a designated number of uses of the available new feature.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 13, wherein the operations to implement the workflow messaging for the application further include obtaining an input indicative of user interest in the available new feature of the application and initiating step-by-step workflow guidance for the available new feature based on the message data.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 13, wherein exposing the workflow messaging comprises causing output of one or more visual elements in a user interface for the application configured to display notifications and instructions regarding the available new feature.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 13, wherein the operations to implement the workflow messaging for the application further include:

generating activity data by tracking user interaction with features of the application;

communicating the activity data to a usage tracking service available via a service provider to facilitate recognition of underutilized features and generation of corresponding rules to implement the workflow messaging for the underutilized features; and

obtaining a workflow client package via a rules service implemented by the service provider, the workflow client package reflecting rules built for the available new feature responsive to recognition of the available new feature as being underutilized by the usage tracking service based on activity data supplied by multiple users of the users; and

dynamically adding the rules for the available new feature to a rules library implemented by the application.

17. A computing system comprising:

one or more processing devices;

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processing devices, cause the computing system to perform operations to implement workflow messaging for a client application including;

collecting activity data indicative of user interaction with features of the client application;

activating the workflow messaging after a designated number of interactions with one or more legacy workflows corresponding to one or more available new features provided by the client application;

processing the collected activity data to recognize underutilization of the one or more available new features;

generating rules for messaging to clients regarding the one or more available new features that are recognized as being underutilized, the rules generated for inclusion in a rules library implemented by the client application and configured to include a combination of pre-defined rules integrated with a release of the client application and rules dynamically built for features recognized as being underutilized after the release;

distributing the rules effective to enable exposure of the one or more available new features to users via the client application; and

deactivating the workflow messaging after a designated number of uses of the one or more available new features.

18. The computing device as described in claim 17, wherein the rules specify criteria to trigger the workflow messaging for the one or more available new features in response to detection of user activity indicative of the one or more legacy workflows corresponding to the one or more available new features.

19. The computing device as described in claim 18, wherein processing the collected activity data to recognize underutilization includes identifying features for which usage across multiple users of the users is below a threshold level set to control when rules for features are generated.

20. The computing device as described in claim 19, wherein distributing the rules comprises communicating the rules as workflow message packages designed to enable dynamic updating of the rules library to account for rules produced subsequent to release of the client application.