Customization abstraction

• US 8,209,638 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Hoff, Roland, Behrens, Marcus, Bugert, Joachim, Hartmann, Karsten, Podbleanin, Almer, Schaefer, Andrens, Wolf, Markus, Keil, Roland
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): NABI, REZA U
• Application Number:
  US12/347,720
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169844A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• Field of Search: 715/866
• US Class Current: 715/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Which one of a plurality of customization levels of a customizable operation of a software application is to be provided to a customizing user of the customizable operation may be determined, wherein each of the plurality of customization levels represents a different level of customization abstraction for customizing the customizable operation at an associated level of complexity. A maintenance view including a visual representation of the customizable operation may be provided, the visual representation corresponding to the determined customization level. A customization to the customizable operation may be received and applied to the customization to the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the customization during an execution thereof.

Claims

1. A system including one or more processors, comprising:

an abstraction engine configured to determine, based on an authorization level of a customizing user, which one of a plurality of customization levels of a customizable operation of a software application to provide, each of the plurality of customization levels representing a different level of complexity;

a view generator configured to provide, during simulation and before customization implementation, a maintenance view including a plurality of visual representations of the customizable operation based on a plurality of visual templates corresponding to the determined customization level, and configured to receive an indicator that a visual template from the plurality of visual templates has been selected based on the plurality of visual representations provided via the maintenance view;

a customization engine configured to implement, in response to the indicator that the visual template from the plurality of templates has been selected via the maintenance view, a customization to the customizable operation corresponding with the determined customization level based on the visual template; and

a monitor configured to receive an indicator of toggling, triggered by the customizing user, between visual templates within the maintenance view and configured to update the authorization level of the customizing user automatically in response to the indicator of the toggling.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitor is configured to determine the authorization level based on a usage of the system by the customizing user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the view generator is configured to provide the maintenance view including the plurality of visual representations of the customizable operation corresponding with an updated authorization level.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the abstraction engine is configured to select the customization level from the plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation, the selected customization level corresponds to the authorization level and each customization level corresponds to at least one of a plurality of authorization levels.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each visual template from the plurality of visual templates includes an arrangement of visual icons representing one or more portions of the software application.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein

the customization engine is configured to receive an indicator that a first portion of the plurality of visual representations has been toggled,

the view generator is configured to provide, in response to the indicator, a second portion of the plurality of visual representations.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each visual template from the plurality of visual templates includes visual icons corresponding to all customizable features of the customizable operation and that are abstracted based on an ordering of the plurality of visual templates.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of visual templates includes at least a first visual template including an arrangement of visual icons of the customizable operation arranged at a first level of complexity, and a second visual template including an abstraction of the first visual template at a second level of complexity that is less complex than the first level of complexity.

9. A method, comprising:

determining an authorization level of a customizing user of a software application, the authorization level being associated with a level of complexity for representing at least one customizable operation of the software application;

determining, based on the authorization level, a customization level from a plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation;

providing, within a maintenance view and during a simulation, a plurality of visual representations of the customizable operation at the level of complexity based on a plurality of visual templates corresponding to the determined customization level, the plurality of visual representations including an arrangement of visual icons representing the customizable operation at the level of complexity, the providing being performed before customization implementation;

receiving an indicator that a visual representation from the plurality of visual representations within the maintenance view has been selected during the simulation;

configuring, in response to the selected visual representation, the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement a customization in the customizable operation during execution of the software application;

receiving an indicator of toggling, triggered by the customizing user, between visual templates within the maintenance view; and

updating the authorization level of the customizing user automatically in response to the indicator of the toggling.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the authorization level is performed based on one or more customizations performed by the customizing user.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of visual templates includes arrangements of at least a portion of the visual icons at varying levels of complexity.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the authorization level includes receiving the authorization level from the customizing user.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing results of the execution of the software application including the customization.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a further customization to the customizable operation based on the results of the execution; and

configuring the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement the further customization during execution of the software application.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

switching between the determined level of complexity and a new level of complexity;

determining an updated visual representation of the customizable operation at the new level of complexity; and

providing, to the customizing user, the updated visual representation within the maintenance view.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the customizable operation is a first customizable operation, the method further comprising:

providing, within the maintenance view and based on the visual template, a visual representation of a second customizable operation at the level of complexity based on the determined customization level.

17. The device of claim 9, wherein the visual template is a first visual template, at least one visual icon from the visual icons is formed from a plurality of visual icons from a second visual template.

18. A device including one or more processors, said one or more processors configured to:

determine an authorization level of a customizing user of a software application, the authorization level being associated with a level of complexity for representing at least one customizable operation of the software application;

determine, based on the authorization level, a customization level from a plurality of customization levels of the customizable operation;

provide, within a maintenance view and during a simulation, a plurality of visual representations of the customizable operation at the level of complexity based on a plurality of visual templates corresponding to the determined customization level, the plurality of visual representations including an arrangement of visual icons representing the customizable operation at the level of complexity, the providing being performed before customization implementation;

receive an indicator that a visual representation from the plurality of visual representations within the maintenance view has been selected during the simulation;

configure, in response to the selected visual representation, the customizable operation to cause the software application to implement a customization in the customizable operation during execution of the software application;

receive an indicator of toggling, triggered by the customizing user, between visual templates within the maintenance view; and

update the authorization level of the customizing user automatically in response to the indicator of the toggling.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the visual representation is based on a first visual template before the toggling, and is based, after the toggling, on a second visual template that is an abstraction of the first visual template.