TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING FUNCTIONALITY CHANGES OF AN ON-DEMAND DATABASE SYSTEM

• US 20110078213A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Macklem, Walter, Bezar, Eric D., Rajaram, Varadarajan, Ghosh, Sandip, Agrawal, Sonali, Lin, Jill Blue, Gopalan, Sriram
• Granted Patent: US 10,482,425 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided techniques for managing functionality changes of an on-demand database system. The techniques facilitate implementing changes to the database system while minimize work flow reductions to users of the database system. To that end, one embodiment of the present invention delays implementation of the changes to provide users of the system an opportunity to adjust behavioral interaction with the database. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, users may implement the functional changes to determine any adverse impact on work flow, before the functional changes become permanent. In another embodiment, the user may be afforded an opportunity to selectively enable and disable the functionality changes before the duration expires.

Claims

1. A method for managing functionality changes to a portion of a production environment of an on-demand database system, said method comprising:

determining whether said portion includes tenant-specific business logic;

in response to determining said portion includes tenant-specific business logic, providing to a user system associated with a user said portion a console interface including information related to said functionality changes; and

implementing said functional changes after a duration of time.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic before expiration of said duration of time.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface before expiration of said duration of time.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface and disabling said functional changes.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database system in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface and disabling said functional changes in response to instructions from said client through said user interface, before expiration of said duration of time.

9. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for managing functionality changes to a portion of a production environment of an on-demand database system when executed by one or more processors and cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

determining whether said portion includes tenant-specific business logic;

in response to determining said portion includes tenant-specific business logic, providing to a user system associated with a user of said portion a console interface including information related to said functionality changes; and

implementing said functional changes after a duration of time.

10. The machine readable medium of claim 9 further including instructions to carry out a step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 9 further including instructions to carry out a step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 9 further including instructions to carry out a step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic before expiration of said duration of time.

13. The machine readable medium as recited in claim 9 further including instructions to carry out a step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface.

14. The machine readable medium as recited in claim 9 wherein the instructions to carry out the step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface before expiration of said duration of time.

15. The machine readable medium as recited in claim 9 further including instructions for carrying out the step of providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface and disabling said functional changes.

16. The machine readable medium as recited in claim 9 further including providing an additional copy of said portion and said business logic on said on-demand database architecture in response to determining said portion is subject to said functionality changes and executing said functional changes on said additional copy of said portion and said business logic in response to instruction received from said client through said user interface and disabling said functional changes in response to instructions from said client through said user interface, before expiration of said duration of time.

17. An apparatus for managing functionality changes to a portion of a production environment of an on-demand database system, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory space having a sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

determining whether said portion includes tenant-specific business logic;

in response to determining said portion includes tenant-specific business logic, providing to a user system associated with a user of said portion a console interface including information related to said functionality changes; and

implementing said functional changes after a duration of time.

18. A method for transmitting code for managing functionality changes of a portion of a production environment of an on-demand database system, on a transmission medium, the method comprising:

transmitting code to determine whether said portion includes tenant-specific business logic;

in response to determining said portion includes tenant-specific business logic, transmitting code to provide to a user system associated with a user of said portion a console interface including information related to said functionality changes; and

transmitting code to implement said functional changes after a duration of time.