INTEGRATING CUSTOM POLICY RULES WITH POLICY VALIDATION PROCESS

• US 20130073531A1
• Filed: 09/19/2011
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Robinson, Neil, Bruer, Annette, Hoglund, Clifford, Wyganowski, Jarek
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system is provided for integrating custom policy rules with a policy validation process for validating forms within an organization. The system may enable the organization to create new policy rules and to customize existing policy rules for forms according to various specifications. The custom policy rules may be stored in policy database and the policy validation process may be applied to validate submitted forms against the custom policy rules for identifying policy rule violations. The system may automatically apply the policy validation process upon the submission of a form to the organization for identifying violations before posting the form to the organization'"'"'s system. The system may generate a policy violation results list, and may provide a display message for indicating when policy violations have been identified in the submitted form, and may also present options to the user for addressing the policy violation and approving the form.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for integrating custom policy rules with a policy validation process, the method comprising:

enabling a user within an organization to create a policy rule for validating business forms used by the organization;

storing the policy rule in a policy database;

detecting submission of a business form to the organization;

applying a policy validation process to the business form, wherein the policy validation process evaluates the business form against the policy rule stored in the policy database; and

if one or more policy violations are identified in the business form, generating a policy violation results list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to customize the policy rule for one or more sub-entities of the organization and storing the customized policy rule for the sub-entities in the policy database.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

enabling the user to customize the policy rule according to one of;

an affiliated vendor of the organization, a location of the affiliated vendor, and a date of the business form submission.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the policy violation results list in the policy database provided by a policy administrator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to customize a reporting format of the policy violation results list.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to create a plurality of policy rules categorized by at least one of a date and an organization sub-entity.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a message indicating that one or more policy violations have been identified in the business form.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the displayed message identifies at least one of a nature of each policy violation and an item associated with each policy violation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to select among displayed options for processing the business form with one or more policy violations.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preventing the business form from being posted to a workflow system of the organization if one or more policy violations are identified by the policy validation process.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to re-apply the policy validation process to the business form to evaluate the form against a selected policy rule stored in the policy database.

12. A server for integrating custom policy rules with a policy validation process, comprising:

a memory storing instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a policy validation application, wherein the policy validation application is configured to;

enable a user within an organization to create a policy rule for validating business forms used by the organization;

enable the user to customize one or more policy rules for one or more sub-entities of the organization;

store the policy rules in a policy database provided by a policy administrator within the organization;

detect submission of a business form to the organization;

apply a policy validation process to the business form, wherein the policy validation process evaluates the business form against the one or more policy rules stored in the policy database;

if one or more policy violations are identified in the business form, generate a policy violation results list store the policy violation results list in the policy database;

enable the user to customize the policy violation results list to customize how policy violations are reported; and

store the policy violation results list in the policy database.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the policy validation application is further configured to:

automatically apply the policy validation process upon an initial submission of the business form to the organization by one of a user within the organization and an external entity via an external entity portal; and

automatically re-apply the policy validation process to the business form to evaluate the form against a user selected policy rule stored in the policy database.

14. The server of claim 12, wherein the policy validation application is further configured to:

post the business form with one or more policy violations to a workflow system of the organization and flag the posted business form to indicate presence of the one or more policy violations.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein the policy validation application is further configured to:

route the business form with one or more policy violations to a specified user for special approval before posting the business form to the workflow system of the organization.

16. The server of claim 12, wherein the policy validation application is further configured to:

enable the user to one of view, customize, and delete existing a policy rule in the policy database.

17. The server of claim 12, wherein the policy validation application is further configured to:

enable the user to select among displayed options for processing the business form with one or more policy violations, wherein the displayed options include one or more of;

prevent the business form from being posted to the workflow system of the organization if one or more policy violations are identified by the policy validation process;

post the business form with one or more policy violations to the workflow system of the organization and flag the posted business form to indicate presence of the one or more policy violations; and

route the business form with one or more policy violations to a specified user for special approval before posting the submitted business form to the workflow system of the organization.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for integrating custom policy rules with a policy validation process, the instructions comprising:

enabling a user within an organization to create a policy rule for validating business forms used by the organization;

enabling the user to customize one or more policy rules for one or more sub-entities of the organization;

storing the policy rules in a policy database provided by a policy administrator within the organization;

detecting submission of a business form to the organization;

applying a policy validation process to the business form, wherein the policy validation process evaluates the business form against the one or more policy rules stored in the policy database;

if one or more policy violations are identified in the business form, generating a policy violation results list store the policy violation results list in the policy database;

displaying a message indicating that one or more policy violations have been identified in the business form;

enabling the user to customize the policy violation results list to customize how policy violations are reported; and

storing the policy violation results list in the policy database.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

enabling the user to create one of;

a onetime exception and a general exception to a policy rule;

updating the policy rule in the policy database with the created one of the onetime exception and general exception for applying to subsequent policy validation processes; and

enabling the user to re-apply the policy validation process to the business form to evaluate the form against a selected policy rule.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

integrating a user based policy rule creation process, a query-building capability of the policy rule, and a workflow system of the organization as a complete end-user custom solution.