Service architecture based metric views

• US 8,321,805 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tien, Ian, Hulen, Corey, Lim, Chen-I
• Primary Examiner(s): ABDUL-ALI, OMAR R
• Application Number:
  US11/668,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20080184130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,128 Days
• Field of Search: 715/772, 715/774, 715/742, 715/736
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Scorecard associated content is provided to limited user interfaces of desktop visualization applications on a user'"'"'s computing device (e.g. a mobile computing device, an ultra-mobile computing device, a personal digital assistant, an in-car computing system, and a tablet computing device) for delivery of personalized and scalable metrics. Users are enabled to set up personalized metric views based on predefined or user-defined desktop visualization applications employing indicators, partial report views, audio, video, and the like. Data delivery attributes from local or remote data sources can be set for deployment of the desktop visualization applications in a service based architecture. Computing device visualization applications may also be used to activate local or remote applications for various scorecard operations.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for rendering a performance metric based visualization, the method comprising:

receiving performance metric data at a desktop visualization application from a hosted business service, wherein the desktop visualization application is registered with the hosted business service;

providing a list of user-selectable indicators associated with visualizing the performance metric data;

receiving a selection of at least one user-selectable indicator;

receiving a definition of at least one performance metric data element to be reflected by the at least one user-selectable indicator;

rendering a visualization based on the received performance metric data by the desktop visualization application;

receiving a first user selection of the at least one performance indicator;

providing, in response to receiving the first user selection, an information panel providing additional information associated with the at least one performance indicator;

receiving a second user selection of the additional information; and

activating at least one application associated with the additional information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling, a user to configure at least one of a layout and a data delivery attribute of the desktop visualization application; and

registering the desktop visualization application with the hosted business service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authorizing data delivery to the desktop visualization application based on at least one from a set of;

a user permission, a user profile, and a network connection status.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection by the desktop visualization application; and

activating an application associated with the received user selection.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein activating the application associated with the received user selection comprises activating one of a local application and a remote application managed by the hosted business service.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein activating the local application and the remote application comprises activating one from a set of:

a presentation application, an analysis application, a communication application, a spreadsheet application, and a graphics application.

7. The method of claim 1,further comprising employing, by the desktop visualization application, at least one from a set of:

an indicator set, a color scheme, a shape scheme, a video stream, and audio to render the visualization.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein employing the indicator set comprises employing one of:

a gauge, a flag, a meter, a progress bar, a pie chart, a traffic sign, a thermometer, and a smiley face.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

caching the received data at a client device executing the desktop visualization application.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

partitioning service providers for performance metric services using virtualized instances.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the desktop visualization application is provided as a plug-in module.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the desktop visualization application is configured, to receive one of a live data feed and an aggregation of dependent data feeds.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the desktop visualization application is configured to be launched from a thin client using user defined parameters.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking desktop visualization application activities for billing a user by at least one of the hosted business service and a third service provider.

15. A system for rendering a performance metric based visualization, the system comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to;

provide, to a desktop visualization application, a list of user-selectable indicators associated with the visualizing performance metric data;

receive a selection of at least one user-selectable indicator;

configure at least one parameter to be reflected by the at least one user-selectable indicator of the desktop visualization application based on one of a user input and a preset profile;

authorize data delivery to the desktop visualization application based on a user permission;

provide performance metric data to the desktop visualization application;

enable caching of the performance metric data;

enable rendering of a visualization based on the provided performance metric data;

receive a first user selection of the at least one performance indicator;

provide, in response to receiving the first user selection, an information panel providing additional information associated with the at least one performance indicator;

receive a second user selection of the additional information;

activate at least one application associated with the additional information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the client device includes one of:

a mobile computing device, an ultra-mobile computing device, a personal digital assistant, an in-car computing system, and a tablet computing device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically provide at least one of a service update and a security update to the desktop visualization application.

18. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon which when executed perform a method for rendering a performance metric based visualization, the method executed by the instructions comprising:

provide at least one user-selectable indicator associated with the performance metric data to a desktop visualization application;

configuring a desktop visualization application including the at least one user-selectable indicator at least in part based on a user input;

registering the desktop visualization application with a hosted business service;

providing performance metric data to the desktop visualization application from the hosted business service;

enabling caching of the performance data at a client device executing the desktop visualization application;

enabling rendering of a visualization by the desktop visualization application based on the provided performance metric data;

wherein a rendered visualization conveys a trend of the performance metric data and a comparison of actual data values associated with the performance metric data with target data values associated with the performance metric data;

providing to the desktop visualization one of a live media and recorded media of a subject of the performance metric;

activating an information panel adjacent to the desktop visualization application in response to receiving a first user selection through the desktop visualization, the information panel conveying additional information associated with the performance metric data, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of;

issues, warnings, and highlights associated with the performance metric data;

receiving a user selection of the additional information;

activating at least one application associated with the additional information; and

tracking activities associated with the visualization for billing the user by the hosted business service.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the desktop visualization application includes an embeddable user interface embedded into an application on the client device executing the desktop visualization application.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the hosted business service further provides an online collaboration service associated with the visualization.