Establishing a collaboration environment

• US 20040107249A1
• Filed: 12/02/2002
• Published: 06/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Moser, Martin, Mueller, Stefan, Nester, Christian, Kreyscher, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Establishing an electronic collaboration area includes receiving from an application a collaboration area request that identifies a collaboration area template structure, receiving one or more collaboration area parameters relating to the collaboration area template structure, and establishing a collaboration area having content that is a function of the collaboration area template structure and the received one or more collaboration area parameters, the collaboration area being accessible to a plurality of collaboration area participants.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of establishing a collaboration area, the method comprising:

receiving from an application a collaboration area request that identifies a collaboration area template structure;

receiving one or more collaboration area parameters relating to the collaboration area template structure; and

establishing a collaboration area having content that is a function of the collaboration area template structure and the received one or more collaboration area parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration area request is received using a portal application and the collaboration area is produced as an area in the portal application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the collaboration area comprises a plurality of pages and a plurality of views on one or more of the plurality of pages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration area template structure comprises a plurality of default values, and the collaboration area parameters overwrite one or more of the default values.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the collaboration area parameters specify collaboration services to made available to the collaboration area participants.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the collaboration area parameters specify access roles that are available in the collaboration area.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the collaboration area parameters specify one or more participants and a role to be assigned to each of the one or more participants.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating invitations to one or more of the participants.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving customization commands after establishing the collaboration area to customize the operation of the collaboration area.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the collaboration area customization commands comprise commands to select additional participants for the collaboration area.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating roles with the collaboration area that control access by one or more participants to the collaboration area.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before receiving a collaboration area request, providing a user of the application with a list of collaboration area template structures, and receiving a selection from among the list.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second collaboration area request associated with the first collaboration area that identifies a collaboration area template structure;

receiving one or more collaboration area parameters relating to the collaboration area template structure; and

establishing a second collaboration area within the collaboration area having content that is a function of the collaboration area template structure and the received one or more collaboration area parameters, the second collaboration area being accessible to a subset of the participants in the collaboration area.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second collaboration request is received from a different application than the collaboration request.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration area is accessible to a plurality of collaboration area participants

16. A method for generating a collaboration area in a portal, comprising:

accessing a plurality of stored collaboration area template structures;

receiving through the portal a selection of one structure from the plurality of stored collaboration area template structures;

providing through the portal a parameter list having a plurality of entries associated with the one structure;

receiving values for the plurality of entries; and

mapping the values to the collaboration area template structure to form an instance of a collaboration area in the portal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising identifying a plurality of collaboration area participants, and providing access to the collaboration area to the participants through the portal.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising assigning each of the participants to a role that controls access to the collaboration area.