System and method for integrating projects events with personal calendar and scheduling clients

• US 7,584,114 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2003
• Issued: 09/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shalabi, Sami M., Hill, Charles R., Estrada, Antonio
• Primary Examiner(s): Boyce; Andre
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATS, JUSTIN
• Application Number:
  US10/349,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143472A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,414 Days
• Field of Search: 705/9
• US Class Current: 705/7.23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system for integrating project events with personal calendar and scheduling clients, includes a first server including a place database having a member profiles database and an events database; a place server, and an email transport facility including an email application; a client including a calendar and scheduling program; the member profiles database being responsive to member input for storing member subscriptions to the calendar and scheduling program; the place server responsive to said email transport facility receiving a create, update, or delete event from a member of the place database for creating in the events database a project event; the place server responsive to a create, update, or delete event for determining from the member profiles database those members subscribing to each of a plurality of calendar and scheduling programs; said place server further for sending to each member subscribing to a calendar and scheduling program an email notification of the project event personalized to the calendar and scheduling program to which the member has subscribed.

Claims

1. A method for integrating project events on a team collaboration server with personal calendar and scheduling clients, comprising:

establishing for a project a collaboration space, on the team collaboration server, including a plurality of rooms in a hierarchy of rooms and within each of said plurality of rooms a plurality of sub-rooms with single sign on authentication to places within said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a project calendar in each of said plurality of said rooms in said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a personal calendar on one or more of said scheduling clients for a member of said project, said member designated by access control membership within a given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms;

receiving into a member profile indicia indicative of whether to send events published on said project calendar for said given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms to said personal calendar;

providing at least three calendar and scheduling formats, each of the calendar and scheduling formats specific to at least one calendar and scheduling client application, each calendar and scheduling format comprising particular and distinct operations and instructions;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of a selected calendar and scheduling format of the at least three calendar and scheduling formats used by said member for said personal calendar; and

responsive to creation of a created event in said project calendar for said given sub-room for said member having membership in said given sub-room, forwarding said created event from the team collaboration server to said personal calendar of said member in said selected calendar and scheduling format;

performing the above operations for a plurality of members of said project;

thereby automatically integrating and coordinating a project event between the personal calendars of the plurality of members of said project, wherein said personal calendars of said plurality of members include at least a first calendar and scheduling format and at least a second calendar and scheduling format distinct from the first calendar and scheduling format.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the team collaboration server for establishing and maintaining said project calendar; and

displaying to each member of said plurality of members a list of calendar and scheduling program formats for selection of said indicia, said list being controlled through a setting in a configuration file for said place server.

3. The method of claim 2, said configuration file being an XML configuration file.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the team collaboration server, from a user scheduling a project event, indicia indicative of whether to forward said project event to members subscribing to calendar and scheduling applications, said project event being forwarded only to members having access control membership in said given sub-room.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

forwarding, by the team collaboration server, said project event to users who have set their member profile to receive in their calendar and scheduling client calendar events from said project.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further responsive to creation of said event in said project calendar, for each of said plurality of members, determining from said member profiles those members subscribing to receive calendar events;

for each of said subscribing members, determining from said member profile said selected calendar and scheduling format; and

for each said format, generating and distributing email notifications in said selected calendar and scheduling format to each of said subscribing members subscribing to said calendar and scheduling format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing a calendar integration at whole server, place by place, and room by room levels by forwarding said project event for a room within a place within a server only when said calendar integration is enabled with respect to said server, said place, and said room.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing said project events to said personal calendar of said plurality of members joining a place or changing its subscription options.

9. A method for integrating project events on a team collaboration server with personal calendar and scheduling clients, comprising:

establishing for a project a plurality of calendars, with a calendar established for the team collaboration server, for a plurality of projects within said team collaboration server, and for a plurality of rooms and sub-rooms organized as a hierarchy of rooms within each said project, and with each of said rooms and sub-rooms having defined membership;

a user of a place selectively subscribing to one or more of said plurality of calendars at said server, project, and room levels in which said user has access control membership;

selectively creating, updating, or moving a project calendar event;

determining if a calendar integration is enabled at a server level, at a place level, and at a room level;

providing at least three calendar and scheduling formats, each of the calendar and scheduling formats specific to at least one calendar and scheduling client application, each calendar and scheduling format comprising particular and distinct operations and instructions;

responsive to said calendar integration not being enabled at said server, place and room levels, terminating said calendar integration with respect to said project calendar event;

otherwise

determining from member calendar subscriptions those subscribing members subscribing to a selected calendar and scheduling format of the at least three calendar and scheduling formats;

preparing for each said selected calendar and scheduling format to which at least one of said subscribing members has subscribed an attachment in said selected calendar and scheduling format describing said project calendar event; and

sending to each said subscribing member an email notification of said project calendar event including said attachment in said selected calendar and scheduling format to which said subscribing member has subscribed;

thereby automatically integrating and coordinating a project calendar event between the personal calendars of said subscribing members;

wherein said personal calendars of said subscribing members include at least a first calendar and scheduling format and at least a second calendar and scheduling format distinct from the first calendar and scheduling format.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

selectively enabling and disabling said calendar integration at said sever level by way of an administration scene of said server;

selectively enabling and disabling said calendar integration at said place level by way of a place change-basics option; and

selectively enabling and disabling said calendar integration for a calendar of a specific room by way of a calendar folder option.

11. A system for integrating project events with personal calendar and scheduling clients, comprising:

a first server including a place database having a member profiles database and an events database;

a place server, and an email transport facility including an email application;

said place database including a collaboration space database including a plurality of room databases organized in a hierarchy of parent/child rooms;

a client including a calendar and scheduling program;

providing for each said room within said hierarchy of parent/child rooms a separate calendar for a given room accessible only to members of said project-having access control membership in said given room;

said member profiles database being responsive to member input for storing member subscriptions to said calendar and scheduling program;

said place server providing at least three calendar and scheduling formats, each of the calendar and scheduling formats specific to at least one calendar and scheduling client application, each calendar and scheduling format comprising particular and distinct operations and instructions;

said member profiles including and indicia indicative of a selected calendar and scheduling format of the at least three calendar and scheduling formats;

said place server responsive to said email transport facility receiving a create, update, or delete event from a member of said place database for creating in said events database for said place database a project event;

said place server responsive to said create, update, or delete event on a calendar for a given room for determining for members having access control membership in said given room from said member profiles database those members subscribing to each of a plurality of said calendar and scheduling programs; and

said place server further for sending to each member of a plurality of members having access control membership in said given room and subscribing to a calendar and scheduling program an email notification of said project event personalized to said calendar and scheduling program to which said member has subscribed, wherein the email includes said events in said selected calendar and scheduling format;

the system thereby automatically integrating and coordinating a project calendar event between the personal calendars of the said plurality of members, wherein said personal calendars of said plurality of members include at least a first calendar and scheduling format and at least a second calendar and scheduling format distinct from the first calendar and scheduling format.

12. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for integrating project events with personal calendar and scheduling clients, said method comprising:

establishing for said project a collaboration space including a plurality of rooms in a hierarchy of rooms and within each of a plurality of said rooms a plurality of sub-rooms with sign on authentication to places within said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a project calendar in each of said plurality of said rooms in said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a personal calendar for a member of said project, said member designated by access control membership within a given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms;

receiving into a member profile indicia indicative of whether to send events published on said project calendar for said given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms to said personal calendar;

providing at least three calendar and scheduling formats, each of the calendar and scheduling formats specific to at least one calendar and scheduling client application, each calendar and scheduling format comprising particular and distinct operations and instructions;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of a selected calendar and scheduling format of the at least three calendar and scheduling formats used by said member for said personal calendar; and

responsive to creation of an event in said project calendar for said given sub-room for said member having access control membership in said given sub-room, forwarding said event to said personal calendar of said member in said selected calendar and scheduling format;

performing the above operations for a plurality of members of said project;

thereby automatically integrating and coordinating a project event over and between the personal calendars of the plurality of members of said project, wherein said personal calendars of said plurality of members include at least a first calendar and scheduling format and at least a second calendar and scheduling format distinct from the first calendar and scheduling format.

13. The program storage device of claim 12, said method further comprising:

operating a place server for establishing and maintaining said project calendar; and

displaying to each member of said plurality of members a list of calendar and scheduling program formats for selection of said indicia, said list being controlled through a setting in a configuration file for said place server.

14. The program storage device of claim 13, said configuration file being an XML configuration file.

15. The program storage device of claim 12, said method further comprising:

receiving from a user scheduling a project event indicia indicative of whether to forward said project event to members subscribing to said calendar and scheduling client applications.

16. The program storage device of claim 15, said method further comprising:

forwarding said project event to users who have set their member profile to receive in their calendar and scheduling client calendar events from said project.

17. The program storage device of claim 12, said method further comprising:

further responsive to creation of said event in said project calendar, for each member of said plurality of members, determining from said member profiles subscribing members subscribing to receive calendar events;

for each said subscribing member, determining from said member profile said calendar and scheduling format; and

for each said calendar and scheduling format, generating and distributing email notifications in said selected calendar and scheduling format to members subscribing to said selected calendar and scheduling format.

18. The program storage device of claim 12, said method further comprising:

managing a calendar integration at whole server, place by place, and room by room levels by forwarding said project event for a room within a place within a server only when calendar integration is enabled with respect to said server, said place, and said room.

19. The program storage device of claim 12, said method further comprising:

synchronizing project events to personal calendars of members joining a place or changing their subscription options.

20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for integrating project events with personal calendar and scheduling clients, said method comprising:

establishing for a project a collaboration space including a plurality of rooms in a hierarchy of rooms and within each of a plurality of said rooms a plurality of sub-rooms;

establishing a project calendar in each of said plurality of said rooms in said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a collaboration calendar for the collaboration space that includes the project calendar in each of said plurality of said rooms in said hierarchy of rooms;

establishing a personal calendar for a member of said project, said member having access control membership within a given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms;

receiving into a member profile indicia indicative of whether to send said project events published on said project calendar for said given sub-room in said hierarchy of rooms to said personal calendar;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of whether to send said project events published on a calendar server computer;

providing at least three calendar and scheduling formats, each of the calendar and scheduling formats specific to at least one calendar and scheduling client application;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of a selected calendar and scheduling format of the at least three calendar and scheduling formats used by said member for said personal calendar;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of an email messaging format used by said member, wherein the email messaging format is specific to at least one email client application;

receiving into said member profile indicia indicative of whether to send a new calendar notification upon publication of a new page of said collaboration calendar, a new page of said project calendar, and a new page of said plurality of rooms;

responsive to creation, updating, and moving of said project events in said project calendar for said given sub-room for a member having access control membership in said given sub-room, forwarding as an attachment to an email having said email messaging format said project events to said personal calendar of said member in said calendar and scheduling format based on said at least one calendar subscription; and

synchronizing said personal calendar of said member with said project calendar and one or more of;

a server level project calendar;

one or more of said project calendars associated with one or more of said plurality of rooms;

one or more of said calendars associated with one or more of said plurality of sub-rooms

wherein the at least three calendar and scheduling formats are at least;

a format for a Lotus Notes application;

a format for a Microsoft Outlook application; and

a format for an icalendar standard application.