U.S. patent application number 12/256369 was filed with the patent office on 2009-10-08 for method and system for managing enterprise content.
Invention is credited to Daniel Wray Barkley, Robert W. Boender, Adam Murray Howatson, Paul Thomas Jenkins, Cheryl Lynne McKinnon, Willard Carter Morton, JR., Florian Muller, Martin Sumner-Smith, Matthew David George Timmermans.
Application Number | 20090254422 12/256369 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40580362 |
Filed Date | 2009-10-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090254422 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jenkins; Paul Thomas ; et
al. |
October 8, 2009 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING ENTERPRISE CONTENT
Abstract
A method and system for providing a consistent flow documents
and data content across different organizational units of a company
or agency where the documents and data come from different
enterprise systems and data stores but are related to linked
processes that share models for organizing the content in the
business context and in a format that enables a user to relate the
content to the process step or steps they are performing. The
system includes a network service that enables a configuration
utility to automatically discover the objects and metadata and
provides for a mapping of selected fields of the metadata to
regions displayed in the user interface view with provision for
filtering the data by mapping selected fields to a user input form.
Thereby, a business analyst can create solutions without writing
and maintaining complex program logic for each combination of
presentation environment, enterprise system and data store.
Inventors: |
Jenkins; Paul Thomas;
(Waterloo, CA) ; Barkley; Daniel Wray; (Ottawa,
CA) ; Boender; Robert W.; (Chicago, IL) ;
Howatson; Adam Murray; (Waterloo, CA) ; Morton, JR.;
Willard Carter; (Western Springs, IL) ; McKinnon;
Cheryl Lynne; (Kitchener, CA) ; Muller; Florian;
(Sulzberg, DE) ; Sumner-Smith; Martin; (Palgrave,
CA) ; Timmermans; Matthew David George; (Ottawa,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WINSTON & STRAWN LLP;PATENT DEPARTMENT
1700 K STREET, N.W.
WASHINGTON
DC
20006
US
|
Family ID: |
40580362 |
Appl. No.: |
12/256369 |
Filed: |
October 22, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60981759 |
Oct 22, 2007 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.11 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 9/451 20180201;
G06Q 10/063 20130101; G06F 16/93 20190101; G06Q 10/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/11 ;
705/7 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for analyzing data, comprising:
determining a model metadata of a content configured for
provisioning within a presentation framework based on a process
step within a business process; receiving a content metadata for
the content from a selected one of a plurality of content
repositories; determining an object property-to-object property
mapping based on mapping the model metadata to the content
metadata; providing the presentation framework that displays and
controls an instance of the content based on the object
property-to-object property mapping; and providing an analysis of a
usage of the content within the business process.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the analysis further
comprises: recording usage audit records for navigation and control
actions performed on the content while the content is provided
through the presentation framework.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: processing the usage
audit records through an analytics model to provide an indication
of an efficiency or inefficiency in a usage of a plurality of
content through the business process.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the analytics model comprises a
determination of a number of clicks within the content, a time of
usage of the content, a time of printing of the content, or a time
of emailing the content.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the analysis further
comprises: determining a map flow of content through the business
process based on the usage audit records.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: providing the map
flow of the content within a plurality of swimlanes.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the swimlanes provide a
visualization of the content usage at a time for at least one of a
plurality of applications.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the applications comprises a
Sales Force Automation application, a Contract Lifecycle Management
application, a Sales order Administration application, a Shipping
application, or a Customer Interaction Center application.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the analysis of the usage of the
content is displayable at least one point within the map flow.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the analysis further
comprises: providing an optimization suggestion about the usage of
the content within the business process based on the recorded usage
audit records
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage is of an individual
user, a group of users, or an organization usage.
12. A computer-implemented system for analyzing data, comprising: a
process flow manager configured to provide a business process for
providing visualization and services for a plurality of content of
different types; and an auditing and reporting component configured
to provide an analysis of a usage of the plurality of content
within the business process.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein providing the analysis further
comprises: recording usage audit records for navigation and control
actions performed on the content while the content is provided
through the presentation framework; and determining a map flow of
plurality of content through the business process based on the
usage audit records.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein providing the analysis further
comprises: providing the map flow of the plurality of content
within a plurality of swimlanes.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the swimlanes provides a
visualization of the plurality of content usage at a time for at
least one of a plurality of applications.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the specific applications
comprises a Sales Force Automation application, a Contract
Lifecycle Management application, a Sales order Administration
application, a Shipping application, or a Customer Interaction
Center application.
17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions
executable by a processor to perform the steps of claim 1.
18. An apparatus for analyzing data, comprising: a processor
configured to perform actions comprising: determining a model
metadata of a content configured for provisioning within a
presentation framework based on a process step within a business
process; receiving a content metadata for the content from a
selected one of a plurality of content repositories; determining an
object property-to-object property mapping based on mapping the
model metadata to the content metadata; providing the presentation
framework that displays and controls an instance of the content
based on the object property-to-object property mapping; and
providing an analysis of a usage of the content within the business
process.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein providing the analysis
further comprises: recording usage audit records for navigation and
control actions performed on the content while the content is
provided through the presentation framework.
20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the actions further
comprises: processing the usage audit records through an analytics
model to provide an indication of an efficiency or inefficiency in
a usage of a plurality of content through the business process.
Description
PRIORITY CLAIM
[0001] This application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn. 119(e) of provisional application Set. No. 60/981,759 titled
"Method and System for Managing Enterprise Content" filed on Oct.
22, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] The present application includes material that is subject to
copyright protection. The copyright owner does not object to the
facsimile reproduction of the application by any person as the
application appears in the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office, but otherwise reserves all rights in the copyright.
BACKGROUND
[0003] There are business processes wherein a worker needs to
access data (also referred to as "structured data") and documents
(also referred to as "unstructured data" and as "content") that are
generated by a variety of different enterprise systems and stored
in a variety of different data stores in order to perform some task
that is consistent with their functional role in the organization.
For example, a customer service representative would need access to
a wide range of documents that originate from many different
departments in order to perform the function of researching and
responding to a customer inquiry.
[0004] It is common to find that the various different
organizational units, hereafter described as "departments", in an
organization--such as a for-profit company or a not-for-profit
organization or the agencies comprising a government body--each
develops its own system for creating and maintaining the documents
that are produced by the department's processes. Many of these
documents are required for efficient operation of another
department's processes; however the department may lack an
effective means for sharing those documents with other departments.
For example, the department may lack awareness of the fact that
another department has a need to use its documents in their
process. This situation is frequently referred to as having
"information silos" because the information content is stored in a
manner that makes it difficult or impossible for other departments
to find out what is stored. Even if the department is aware of the
need for the documents of another department, the systems may lack
interoperability, making it inefficient or, in some cases,
impossible to access the documents directly from the processes in
which they are needed.
[0005] Referring to the earlier example, in response to such an
organization, each customer service representative could go into
each of the different enterprise systems, or silos, separately in
order to look up the data or search for the documents based on the
parameters of the inquiry. However, this method would be very time
consuming and would result in low user satisfaction and long
turn-around times on the response to the inquiry.
[0006] Structured data can be organized in an Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) system, so that individuals can easily access data
originating from one process in other processes. However, ERP
systems are not as effective in organizing the unstructured content
data associated with the processes, especially if it is not
directly linked to the structured data within the ERP system. For
example, some of the unstructured content data may be created by
processes that are outside of the control of the ERP system.
[0007] Documents can be organized in a shared file system or in a
document management system so that individuals can easily access
documents from any process. These file sharing methods only provide
a partial solution to the problem stated above, because the
information may not be organized in a manner that makes it possible
to locate the correct data or document in a specific process step.
Or, the method of looking up the data or documents may return so
many candidates that it overwhelms the user who is trying to solve
a specific problem.
[0008] A federated query system can be developed so that a search
can be performed on each the different enterprise systems and the
combined search results displayed for the user. The resulting
display is, however, generic because they return results based on
keywords and not context-specific results that would require
additional data elements and their correlation to the query and,
therefore, it is difficult for the business worker to understand
the context of each search hit in order to focus attention on the
data which is relevant to the problem at hand.
[0009] Methods for writing a software application may be specific
to a business process and that presents the appropriate information
from each separate enterprise system in a user interface that is
optimized to the business process. It is expensive, however, to
develop such a software application for each and every possible
combination of business scenario and the different enterprise
systems needed. It is even more expensive to develop such a
software application for each of the many different application
environments that may be needed for various business workers--for
example, there may be a need for such software written for desktop
applications, web-based applications, portal frameworks, and so
forth. Furthermore, having developed such a software application,
it is difficult and expensive to keep the application up to date
whenever any of the other departments changes their process or the
types and organization of their information content.
[0010] There are methods for creating a configuration utility in a
given application environment that allows a business analyst to
configure a presentation screen in that application environment by
allowing the analyst to select from various metadata fields and
choose the ones that are to be displayed in the presentation
screen. An example of such a configuration utility is the DocuLink
customizing screen that is available in the Open Text DocuLink
application written in ABAP and presented to the user in the SAP(r)
SAPGUI application environment. It is expensive, time-consuming,
and inefficient, however, to develop and support such a
configuration utility for each and every application environment
such as the ones that were listed above.
[0011] Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that
enables the set of software applications developed for different
departmental processes to manage their information content in a
consistent and structured manner and that is easy for business
analysts to incorporate into systems that they design in order for
the needed content to flow from the process of one department to
those of other departments without having to hard-code content
management logic into each and every application.
SUMMARY
[0012] A method and system can be directed to providing a
consistent flow of documents and data content across different
organizational units of a company or agency where the documents and
data come from different enterprise systems and data stores but are
related to linked processes that share models for organizing the
content in the business context and in a format that enables a user
to relate the content to the process step or steps they are
performing. The system can include a network service that enables a
configuration utility to automatically discover the objects and
metadata and provides for a mapping of selected fields of the
metadata to regions displayed in the user interface view with
provision for filtering the data by mapping selected fields to a
user input form. Using this method a business analyst can create
solutions (design content flows) without writing and maintaining
complex program logic for each combination of presentation
environment, enterprise system and data store (or object
context).
[0013] An apparatus is directed to providing, over a network, a
user interface managing content of a plurality of different types.
The apparatus may comprise: a metadata mapping component configured
to perform actions. The actions may comprise: determining a model
metadata configured for provisioning in a presentation framework,
wherein the presentation framework is based on a role of a user and
a process step within a business process; determining a first
mapping of a key field of a content metadata of a requested content
to a key field of the model metadata; determining a second mapping
of an object property of the content metadata to an object property
of the model metadata, wherein the object properties comprises at
least one of a user interface object property, an event object
property, or a service object property; and providing a interactive
version of the content within the presentation framework based on
the first and second mapping. The apparatus may further comprise a
network service configured to provide interfaces over the network
that comprises: an interface for receiving the role of the user and
the process step; an interface for receiving a request for the
content; and an interface for providing the presentation framework
within a specific application associated with the content. The
model metadata can comprise a dynamic folder model for organizing a
visualization of a portion of the content within the presentation
framework based on the first mapping and ordered by the second
mapping, and wherein the content comprises a document. The
apparatus may further comprise a content connection component
configured to perform actions comprising: sending a discovery query
for the content metadata for the content to a plurality of content
repositories configured to store the content of the plurality of
different types; and receiving the content metadata from a
responding content repository. The apparatus may further comprise a
content services component configured to perform actions
comprising: determining a user-interface control provided through
the presentation framework based on the model metadata and the
content metadata, wherein the user interface control provides a
generic content service or a custom content service. The apparatus
may further comprise a workflow component configured to perform
actions comprising: providing an event to a workflow process for
automating a flow of the content between steps of the business
process, based on the model metadata and the content metadata and
an application specific event from a specific application managing
the content. The apparatus may further comprise an authentication
component configured to perform actions comprising: limiting access
to the content or events for the content based on an authentication
of the user. The apparatus may further comprise an auditing and
reporting component configured to perform actions comprising:
recording usage audit records for actions performed on the content
within the presentation framework; and providing an optimization
suggestion about a usage of the content within the business process
based on the recorded usage audit records.
[0014] A computer-implemented method is directed to managing
content of a plurality of different types. The method can comprise:
receiving a request for visualizing a content; determining a model
metadata configured for provisioning in a presentation framework,
wherein the presentation framework is configured to interpret a
user interface model (UI model) for rendering the content; sending
a discovery query for the content to a plurality of content
repositories configured to store the content of the plurality of
different types; receiving a content metadata for the content from
a responding content repository; determining a
attribute-to-attribute mapping of a key field of the content
metadata to a key field of the model metadata; determining an
property-to-property mapping of an object property of the content
metadata to an object property of the model metadata, wherein the
object properties comprises at least one of a user interface object
property, an event object property, or a service object property;
and providing an interactive instance of a portion of the content
within the presentation framework based on the property-to-property
mapping and ordered by the attribute-to-attribute mapping. In one
embodiment, the content can be configured to be managed by a user
having a role and within a process step of a business process. The
UI model may comprise platform independent user interface
instructions, and wherein the UI model is configured to provide the
content within the presentation framework based on the model
metadata. Determining the attribute-to-attribute mapping may
further comprise: filtering the key field of the content metadata
using a metadata filter that restricts the key fields in order to
limit the selection of objects displayed under the user interface
object property. The metadata filter may be at least one of: a
static filter defined at design time, a filter entered by a user,
or an inherited filter based on the presentation framework, wherein
the framework is a hierarchical view, and wherein the filter of a
parent view is inherited to a child view of the parent view. The
content may be a hierarchical business object with embedded objects
configured to display information about at least one step of a
business process. The presentation framework may be a hierarchical
folder view that is configured to display content based on
configured facet classifications. In one embodiment, the facet
classifications comprise at least one of a count facet, or a filter
facet. The response of the content may be a denial response that
limits access to the content based on an authentication ticket of
the user and/or may further be based on the processes step.
[0015] The method may further comprise determining a
service-to-service mapping of a service object property defined in
the model metadata and a service object property defined in the
content metadata; providing a user-interface control through the
presentation framework based on the service-to-service mapping. The
user interface control may provide an action comprising at least
one of: a foreign service provided by another content repository, a
transformational service for transforming the content of a first
type to another content of a second type, a creation service for
creating a new content of the first type of the content, a
rendition service for rendering the content, a
enrichment-annotation service for changing the content metadata or
associating another metadata with the content, wherein the other
metadata comprises a tag to classifying the content, a tag to
annotate the content, or a tag configured to be usable by a records
management application, an archiving service, a records management
service for managing the content within the records management
application, a mash-up service, or any combination thereof. The
method may further comprise determining an event-to-event mapping
of an event object property defined in the model metadata and an
event object property defined in the content metadata; and
providing an event to a workflow process for automating a flow of
the content between steps of the business process, based on the
event-to-event mapping and an application specific event received
from a specific application managing the content.
[0016] A system is configured for managing contents of a plurality
of different types over a network. The system can comprise: a
plurality of content repositories configured to store the contents
of the plurality of different types; a client configured to perform
actions comprising: sending a request for a content configured to
be managed by a user having a role; displaying within a
presentation framework, a displayable and controllable version of
the content; and a flow manager server configured to perform
actions. The actions may comprise: receiving a content metadata for
the content from a responding content repository; harmonizing the
content metadata to a model metadata; and providing the
presentation framework comprising the displayable and controllable
version of the content based on the harmonized metadata. The
displayable and controllable version may further comprise a user
interface control based on the harmonized metadata, wherein the
user interface control comprising at least one of a menu or a
menu-bar.
[0017] An application development framework is directed to software
development for a productivity application environment. The
application development framework may comprise: an computer
component for receiving an abstract definition of interfaces for
providing a plurality of content of different types discoverable
and consumable within a process flow manager; a computer component
for receiving a model metadata for the plurality of content of
different types; and a computer component for generating computer
readable instructions for operating the productivity application
environment based on the abstract definitions and the model
metadata, wherein a processor-executing instance of the computer
readable instructions communicates with the process flow manager to
provision a user interface object property, action object property,
or event object property of the content within the productivity
application environment. The productivity application environment
may comprise at least one of a plurality of business enterprise
applications.
[0018] The process flow manager may be configured to perform
actions comprising: receiving a request for visualizing a content;
determining a model metadata configured for provisioning in a
productivity application environment, wherein the productivity
application environment is configured to interpret a user interface
model (UI model) for rendering the content. The actions may further
comprise: sending a discovery query for the content to a plurality
of productivity application environment configured to provide
content of the plurality of different types. The actions may
further comprise: determining an property-to-property mapping of an
object property of the content metadata to an object property of
the model metadata, wherein the object properties comprises at
least one of the user interface object property, event object
property, or action object property. The actions may further
comprise: providing an interactive instance of a portion of the
content within the productivity application environment based on
the property-to-property mapping and ordered by the
attribute-to-attribute mapping. The UI model can comprise platform
independent user interface instructions, and wherein the UI model
is configured to provide the content within the productivity
application environment based on the model metadata. The abstract
definition may be in Extensible Markup Language (XML).
[0019] An method is directed to providing a development framework
for software development for a specific application environment.
The method can comprise: receiving an abstract definition of
interfaces for providing a plurality of content of different types
discoverable and consumable within a process flow manager; a model
metadata for the plurality of content of different types; and
generating computer readable instructions for operating the
specific application environment based on the abstract definitions
and the model metadata, wherein a processor-executing instance of
the computer readable instructions communicates with the process
flow manager to provision a user interface object property, action
object property, or event object property of the content within the
specific application environment. The specific application
environment may comprise at least one of a plurality of business
enterprise applications.
[0020] The process flow manager may be configured to perform
actions comprising: determining an property-to-property mapping of
an object property of a content metadata that defines a content for
visualizing within the specific application environment, to an
object property of a model metadata, wherein the object properties
comprises at least one of the user interface object property, event
object property, or action object property; and providing an
interactive instance of a portion of the content within the
specific application environment based on the property-to-property
mapping. The UI model may comprise platform independent user
interface instructions, and wherein the UI model is configured to
provide the content within the specific application environment
based on the model metadata. The abstract definition may be in
Extensible Markup Language (XML).
[0021] A system is directed to software development for a specific
application environment. The system can comprise: an computer
component for receiving an abstract definition of interfaces for
providing a plurality of content of different types discoverable
and consumable within a process flow manager; a computer component
for receiving a model metadata for the plurality of content of
different types; and a computer component for generating computer
readable instructions for operating the specific application
environment based on the abstract definitions and the model
metadata, wherein a processor-executing instance of the computer
readable instructions communicates with the process flow manager to
provision a user interface object property, action object property,
or event object property of the content within the specific
application environment. The specific application environment may
comprise at least one of a plurality of business enterprise
applications.
[0022] The process flow manager may be configured to perform
actions comprising: receiving a request for visualizing a content;
determining a model metadata configured for provisioning in a
specific application environment; sending a discovery query for the
content to a plurality of content repositories configured to store
the content of the plurality of different types; receiving a
content metadata for the content from a responding content
repository; determining a attribute-to-attribute mapping of a key
field of the content metadata to a key field of the model metadata;
determining an property-to-property mapping of an object property
of the content metadata to an object property of the model
metadata, wherein the object properties comprises at least one of
the user interface object property, event object property, or
action object property; and providing an interactive instance of a
portion of the content within the specific application environment
based on the property-to-property mapping and ordered by the
attribute-to-attribute mapping. The UI model may comprise platform
independent user interface instructions, and wherein the UI model
is configured to provide the content within the specific
application environment based on the model metadata. The abstract
definition may be in Extensible Markup Language (XML).
[0023] A computer-implemented method is directed to analyzing data.
The method can comprise: determining a model metadata of a content
configured for provisioning within a presentation framework based
on a process step within a business process; receiving a content
metadata for the content from a selected one of a plurality of
content repositories; determining an object property-to-object
property mapping based on mapping the model metadata to the content
metadata; providing the presentation framework that displays and
controls an instance of the content based on the object
property-to-object property mapping; and providing an analysis of a
usage of the content within the business process. Providing the
analysis may further comprise: recording usage audit records for
navigation and control actions performed on the content while the
content is provided through the presentation framework. The method
may further comprise: processing the usage audit records through an
analytics model to provide an indication of an efficiency or
inefficiency in a usage of a plurality of content through the
business process. The analytics model can comprise a determination
of a number of clicks within the content, a time of usage of the
content, a time of printing of the content, or a time of emailing
the content. Providing the analysis can further comprise:
determining a map flow of content through the business process
based on the usage audit records.
[0024] The method can comprise: providing the map flow of the
content within a plurality of swimlanes. The swimlanes can provide
a visualization of the content usage at a time for at least one of
a plurality of applications. The applications can comprise a Sales
Force Automation application, a Contract Lifecycle Management
application, a Sales order Administration application, a Shipping
application, or a Customer Interaction Center application. The
analysis of the usage of the content may be displayable at least
one point within the map flow. Providing the analysis can further
comprise: providing an optimization suggestion about the usage of
the content within the business process based on the recorded usage
audit records. The usage may be of an individual user, a group of
users, or an organization usage.
[0025] A computer-implemented system is directed to analyzing data.
The system can comprise: a process flow manager configured to
provide a business process for providing visualization and services
for a plurality of content of different types; and an auditing and
reporting component configured to provide an analysis of a usage of
the plurality of content within the business process. Providing the
analysis can further comprise: recording usage audit records for
navigation and control actions performed on the content while the
content is provided through the presentation framework; and
determining a map flow of plurality of content through the business
process based on the usage audit records. Providing the analysis
can further comprise: providing the map flow of the plurality of
content within a plurality of swimlanes. The swimlanes can provide
a visualization of the plurality of content usage at a time for at
least one of a plurality of applications. The specific applications
can comprise a Sales Force Automation application, a Contract
Lifecycle Management application, a Sales order Administration
application, a Shipping application, or a Customer Interaction
Center application.
[0026] An apparatus is directed to analyzing data. The apparatus
can comprise: a processor configured to perform actions comprising:
determining a model metadata of a content configured for
provisioning within a presentation framework based on a process
step within a business process; receiving a content metadata for
the content from a selected one of a plurality of content
repositories; determining an object property-to-object property
mapping based on mapping the model metadata to the content
metadata; providing the presentation framework that displays and
controls an instance of the content based on the object
property-to-object property mapping; and providing an analysis of a
usage of the content within the business process. Providing the
analysis can further comprise: recording usage audit records for
navigation and control actions performed on the content while the
content is provided through the presentation framework. The actions
can further comprise: processing the usage audit records through an
analytics model to provide an indication of an efficiency or
inefficiency in a usage of a plurality of content through the
business process.
[0027] A user interface may be configured for displaying documents
and data objects that are related by key fields, that includes a
network service for accepting requests for models. In one
embodiment, the network service obtains a list of available virtual
folder models; for each virtual folder model, the network service
obtains a list of content models; for each content model, the
network service obtains a list of metadata fields; for any metadata
field, the network service accepts a mapping to a key field; for
any metadata field, the network service accepts a mapping to user
interface elements; and for any user interface element, the network
service accepts a mapping to a presentation framework. The
presentation framework can provide for organizing related content
models into hierarchical view such as a virtual folder model and
including in the model the actions that can be performed by a user
based on role and permissions so that these actions can be
represented as controls in the user interface.
[0028] In one embodiment, for any user interface element, the
network service can accept a metadata filter that restricts the key
fields in order to limit the selection of objects displayed under
the user interface element. In one embodiment, the network service
produces an abstract definition of the interface configuration. In
one embodiment, the network service produces an abstract definition
of the object configuration. In one embodiment, the abstract
definition is XML. In one embodiment, a network service transforms
the abstract definition into computer readable instructions for a
specific application environment.
[0029] In one embodiment, the specific application environment
comprises SAP(r) SAPGUI, SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal, SAP
WebDynpro, Microsoft Information Bridge Framework or Microsoft
Visual Basic for Office Business Solutions (MS/OBA), Microsoft Line
of Business Interface (LOBI), Microsoft SharePoint WebPart
Extensions, or JSR-168 portlets.
[0030] Metadata harmonization as described herein may comprise a
data mapping or translation facility that relates content from
different sources based on metadata fields that are not identical
but where a relationship can be computed. For example, in System A
customer X would be identified as "Acme Ltd." While in System B,
customer X would be identified as "12345".
[0031] A computer-readable storage medium can comprise instructions
executable by a processor to perform at least some of the steps of
at least some of the methods described above.
[0032] An apparatus can comprise a processor configured to perform
at least some of the steps of at least some of the methods
described above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] Features of embodiments of the invention, its nature, and
various advantages will be apparent from the following detailed
description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in
which:
[0034] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary system for
supporting a the flow of content across departments of an
organization;
[0035] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary system for
supporting a departmental process in the prior art;
[0036] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary system for
supporting a departmental process in accordance with embodiments of
the invention;
[0037] FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B schematically illustrate the problem
presented by prior art systems for accessing content across two
departmental processes;
[0038] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a solution presented in
accordance with embodiments of the invention for accessing content
across two departmental processes;
[0039] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the run-time
components in accordance with embodiments of the invention;
[0040] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a business
content model;
[0041] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a virtual
folder model;
[0042] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an application
development framework with design-time and run-time components;
[0043] FIG. 10A-D schematically illustrate an exemplary taxonomy
that may be represented using virtual folders;
[0044] FIG. 11A-B schematically illustrate an exemplary application
of facet classification trees;
[0045] FIG. 12 schematically illustrates an exemplary application
of filters used together with facet classification trees;
[0046] FIG. 13a-13b schematically illustrates an exemplary business
productivity applications accessible from client computers;
[0047] FIG. 14a-14b schematically illustrates an exemplary
application of user interface controls within business productivity
applications; and
[0048] FIG. 15 schematically illustrates an exemplary report of the
audit history of the usage of content.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0049] Traditionally, the various departments in an organization
have processes that may be well organized for the functions that
take place within a department but which are not necessarily well
organized to support the processes within a different department.
The flows of structured data across the processes of an
organization have been addressed by Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) systems such as those from SAP.RTM. or Oracle.RTM.. However,
the ERP systems are optimized for structured data and generally do
not effectively manage the unstructured data or documents that are
related to the processes.
[0050] Traditionally, organizations have relied on paper documents
and paper file folders to organize the related documents and
support the cross-departmental needs. The reliance on paper makes
it less important for individuals in any given department to
understand how those in a different department use the documents
that are being filed because the individuals in the process can
easily go through the documents in the folder manually and have
many cues, such as labeled file drawers, tabbed sub-dividers,
labeled file folders, and can scan the actual paper documents in
order to find what they are looking for--even if they had not
initially known how the documents are organized.
[0051] For several years, in order to automate manual business
processes, organizations have been digitizing paper documents in
the form of scanned images. Other documents are initially created
in electronic formats using office automation software such as the
applications in the Microsoft.RTM. Office Suite, engineering
drawing applications such as AutoCAD.RTM. from AutoDesk.RTM., or
creative graphics applications such as those from Adobe.RTM.. These
scanned images and electronic documents can be organized in the
electronic equivalent of file folders and file cabinets. For
example, organizations frequently rely on shared file folders or on
document management systems for such organization.
[0052] These electronic file folders can be used in a similar
manner to the physical file folder. In other words, an individual
who is performing a role in a process can refer to the electronic
file folder whenever a document is needed in that process, even if
that document was created by a different department. Various
methodologies have been developed to optimize the sharing of
documents within file folders, such as labeling, classifications,
and controlling the access to the file folders and documents.
Records retention management systems have also been developed to
help organizations control the disposition of file folders and
documents, so that they can comply with policies that require that
documents are available for audit and litigation procedures.
[0053] In many organizations, however, the content management
procedures and the systems in which the electronic content is
stored and used are quite disconnected. Rapid adoption of software
applications used to create and modify unstructured documents has
resulted in a proliferation of electronic content. These factors
have resulting in a situation wherein content is unavailable to
processes because the content is isolated from the process. The
isolation may occur because the department that created the content
may be unaware that another department may need it. Or, the
isolation may occur because the department that needs the content
does not have access to the system used by the department that
created it.
[0054] All of the departments in an organization could join forces
to analyze the various flows of content and reengineer all of their
processes into an integrated system that optimizes the management
and access to content so that it is available whenever and wherever
it is needed. Such an initiative is unlikely, however, because it
would be expensive, time consuming, and disruptive. If such an
integrated system were developed, it would be expensive to maintain
and upgrade over time, given requirements to keep in pace with new
and modified document types and formats and to align to changes in
the underlying platform infrastructure.
[0055] Alternatively, using the different methods, systems,
apparatuses, or media disclosed herein, the software applications
used by workers in various departments can be retrofitted to use a
set of content services provided by an "ECM Flow Manager.TM.".
[0056] The ECM Flow Manager supports these processes with the
following optionally-deployable and mutually consistent components:
[0057] ECM Flow Model Repository.TM. [0058] Document Connect Engine
[0059] Workflow and workflow connection Engine [0060] Content
Services [0061] Metadata Harmonization [0062] Search engine [0063]
Common Authentication Framework [0064] Auditing and reporting
[0065] Optimization Agent
Overview of ECM Flow Manager
[0066] The ECM Flow Manager most typically has a services oriented
architecture (SOA), which promotes reuse of business logic across
the entire organization and its processes. Thereby the software
applications, each implementing a departmental process, can invoke
one or more ECM Flow Manager services to enable content (or, access
to content) to flow into or out of the process, and to enable
individuals using the software application to access content
regardless of the underlying content repository wherein the content
is maintained. Furthermore, the ECM Flow Manager is model-based,
which promotes a software design methodology whereby the business
logic does not rely on hard-coded information structures, but
rather connects to a model repository within the ECM Flow Manager
for discovery of the structures used to represent the organization
and visualization of related content, for methods used for
accessing and enhancing content, and for reporting on content
usage.
[0067] The ECM Flow Manager typically also has a role- and
rule-based permission model which optionally enables it to manage
access to the underlying content by requiring that the software
applications consuming services from the ECM Flow Manager present
credentials appropriate to access the underlying content
repositories. The ECM Flow Manager includes a common authentication
infrastructure to fulfill this requirement.
[0068] Finally, development of software applications using the ECM
Flow Manager is model-driven, whereby standard development tools,
such as Microsoft Visual Studio, SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer, and
Eclipse, can be used to rapidly develop software based on models
obtained from the ECM Flow Model repository.
ECM Flow Model Repository
[0069] The ECM Flow Model Repository optionally provides one or
more services to enable applications to register, discover, and
consume business content and its associated organizational models
(folders, etc.), networks, materialized views, and/or dynamic
folder models produced by other processes.
[0070] One repository service models business content in a manner
that promotes the sharing of the content across otherwise
disconnected processes. Each business content model enables a
process, such as a process in a single department, to represent the
content that originates in the process within a structure that is
independent of how the content is actually stored and aspects of
its creation that are not relevant to it subsequent
utilization.
[0071] The business content of other processes are also represented
in appropriate models, so that all processes have a consistent way
to represent business content and can "discover" the business
content of other processes.
[0072] Typically, the content is modeled at a higher level than
individual documents. For example, a departmental process that
creates a contract may represent the contract as a "contract
binder" that contains various component documents, of various types
and formats and along with the associated metadata, which may exist
in several versions including preliminary information and drafts,
rather than representing each document individually.
[0073] When a business content model is registered in the ECM Model
Repository, the technical interface to access the content is also
referenced, as are the set of metadata that is available for
organizing and identifying the content. For example, the above
referenced "Contract Binder" may be registered as residing in a
specific SAP ERP system with the following metadata fields: [0074]
Contract Partner {Partner Name and ID, Location, Contact Person(s)}
[0075] Contract Name [0076] Contract Initiation Date [0077]
Contract Expiration Date [0078] Contract Roles {Administrator,
Negotiator, Legal}
[0079] A second type of model in the ECM Model Repository is a
dynamic folder model, which provides a high level organization of
all of the content that flows across departments for a set of
connected processes. For example, the content for an order-to-cash
process might include related documents including RFPs, Quotes,
Purchase Orders, Design Documents, Shipping Documents, Invoices,
Delivery Notes, Correspondence, and Return and Repair
Information.
[0080] Each department may maintain their documents in a separate
content management system using a different business content model.
The dynamic folder model represents the relationship of the
business content models along with the way in which they are
visually or logically represented in any of the software
applications along the overall order-to-cash process. This model
enables the individuals using a software application within a
department to easily "discover" relevant and suitable content from
other departments, regardless of where the content is physically
stored and the totality of available metadata about the content. An
advantage over the prior art is that this method dynamically
adjusts to new content types, thereby eliminating the need to
modify the software applications whenever any of the related
processes are changed and new sources of business content are
added.
[0081] The ECM Model Repository also enables the set of
departmental software applications to enrich the business content
that is "owned" by another department. Whereas a given department
may have established processes for the management of content that
are entirely sufficient for the intended purpose(s), the effective
use of content produced by these processes by members of other
departments is often likely to require additional information not
countenanced in the design and implementation of the original
process. For example, a contract binder may contain various
documents and records associated with a contracting process which
may be related to a sale of goods or services, or the procurement
of goods or services, or any other situation in which two or more
partners enter into a contract. The contract binder collects
documents that are preliminary to the actual contract, documents
produced during the contract drafting process, the actual contract,
documents containing information required to perform on the
contract, and documents such as amendments and correspondence that
are produced during the term of the contract. These documents are
produced and consumed by various departments in an organization
and, therefore, can be also be said to "flow" across the
organization.
[0082] These discussions have used examples of implemented and
structured electronic process, however it is readily apparent that
in many real-life situations implemented processes may not fully
achieve their intended purposes, that users may incorrectly use or
circumvent such processes, or that there may even be no established
processes within certain departments. In such cases the needs to
make available appropriate content to members of other departments
is no less critical for the overall organization.
[0083] The ECM Flow Manager also provides a security and access
control model that ensures secure access from each of the software
applications used to implement and automate departmental processes.
The access control model can be user, group, rule, or role based;
may take into account process status, and is applied to the
business content models and to the dynamic folder models.
Document Connect Engine
[0084] Another component of the ECM Flow Manager is the Document
Connect Engine, which provides the services required to interpret
the dynamic folder model and deliver the information to the
software applications that implement business processes. The
Document Connect Engine also maintains connectors to each of the
underlying enterprise data and content repositories. As a result of
the Document Connect Engine services, each user can easily access
the content in, for example, a dynamic folder that is displayed in
the software application that has been developed to automate the
business process for his or her department and role.
[0085] The Document Connect Engine executes the queries required to
retrieve information for the business content model from each of
the underlying systems managing the content and organizes the
results in a manner that is easily presented in various graphical
user interface frameworks of the software applications that consume
the dynamic folder model.
[0086] In order to perform these services, the Document Connect
Engine connects to each of the underlying content repositories
using authorization credentials appropriate for the role of the
user and/or process stage, requests the metadata components for an
instance of each business content model, and employs the metadata
elements to create an appropriate visual representation that
facilitates the understanding and use of the content for specific
purposes. One typical such representation is a folder hierarchy.
The folders may correspond to the folders of the source system, or
they may be dynamic so that it is easy to render in a software
application according to the requirements of the appropriate
visualization framework. Examples of such visualization frameworks
include Portals (such as Microsoft SharePoint.TM. Portal, SAP
NetWeaver Portal, or Oracle Portal), desktop business productivity
applications (such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Office Business
Applications, Duet.TM., SAP WebDynpro or SAPGUI), and generic
desktop utilities (such as Microsoft Windows Explorer or the Open
Text desktop client).
[0087] In order to make it easier for the user to find the precise
content needed for their process, the Document Connect Engine
provides for the use of filters that can be configured at the nodes
or levels in a dynamic folder model. Filter types include static,
input by the user, or inherited. A static filter is pre-set to a
specific value as appropriate for the intended use. A filter that
is input by the user may, for instance, be presented as a fill-in
form with one or more fields prompting the user to enter one or
more values or range of values, thereby enabling the user to better
select the most appropriate content for their purposes. An
inherited filter is configured to propagate the filter of the
previous level of the hierarchy down to the next level.
[0088] In a typical application, the dynamic folder tree is
requested with an initial filter value that is derived from the
application or using data entered by the user. In this way, the
initial content that is displayed to the user is related to the
context of the process or the results of a user-entered query.
Workflow Engine
[0089] The ECM Flow Manager also enables the flow of content across
departmental processes through a simple workflow and event
notification capability. The ECM Flow Manager allows consumer
processes to configure a set of events on the business content that
is managed within the ECM Flow Manager framework. Consumer
processes can subscribe to the events so that they are made aware
of changes to the content that is managed by another process. The
software application implementing the process can display the
events that are appropriate for the permissions of the user and his
role in whatever manner is appropriate or typical for that
application and process. For example, the application may have an
inbox or universal work list that collects and optionally
prioritizes the events that are ready for the user of the
application. Alternatively, the application can pass the event into
a workflow process in order to further automate the flow of
content.
[0090] The preferred embodiment of the ECM Flow Manager includes a
workflow engine of its own, however in a typical application of
content flow across departments it is expected that one or more of
the processes that are being connected will have its own workflow
engine. Therefore, the workflow engine in the ECM Flow Manager is
not intended to replace the workflow engines of each process but
rather to make it easier for those implementing content flow to
implement the communication between processes and to implement
content-centric rules that would be difficult or costly to
implement in the departmental processes themselves.
[0091] However, the workflow engine ECM Flow Manager does support
content-centric business processes through the design,
instantiation, and execution of workflow process templates that
model the steps of manual and automated typical of those found in
organizations managing enterprise content.
Content Services
[0092] As described above, the ECM Flow Manager provides a set of
models and a method for displaying and utilizing the metadata of
content related to a business process in an appropriate visual
framework, such as a virtual folder hierarchy, that is in the
appropriate business context and user's role regardless of the
source system or application that owns the content. The ECM Flow
Manager also supports a set of content services that allows the
user to work with the content without requiring knowledge of how to
use the underlying system in which the content actually resides.
These services are typically "read-only" actions such as fetch,
download, view, zip, print, or fax. However, ECM Flow Manager also
provides a service provider interface that may define other content
services that are not read-only and are implemented through
server-defined actions to perform some action, including creating
new content, updating existing content in the owning repository, or
transforming the content. Examples of actions that transform
content are 1) archiving a content object from a first repository
into a second repository and replacing the original content object
with an object that provides restricted access to the archived
content; and 2) declaring a content object as a record and
transforming the content object as necessary or desired to classify
and protect the content object under the retention schedule
associated with the file plan.
[0093] The ECM Flow Manager also provides a set of content services
that enrich the content without altering the content in the owning
repository. Examples of enrichment services are rendition,
annotation, profiling (i.e., adding metadata), and classification
(e.g., according to business taxonomy and/or organizational records
management file plan).
[0094] The ECM Flow Manager also provides a third set of content
services that provision to the user a set of appropriate actions
related by the needs of the user, independent of the origin of the
content. For example, such a related service might allow the user
to access a user interface component to display a map showing a
geographic location specified in the metadata related to a content
object, for example in a GIS application or through Google.TM. Maps
or Microsoft Virtual Earth.TM.. Such related actions are sometimes
referred to as "mash-ups".
Metadata Harmonization
[0095] The dynamic display of related and relevant content depends
on consistent metadata across disparate content repositories. For
example, an application that flows content related to an
organization's customers across different processes will need to
have a single version of each customer.
[0096] Although it would be ideal if every organization could
enforce metadata consistency across all of its applications and
processes, it may not be feasible to modify each such application
in order to enable effective content flow. Therefore, the ECM Flow
Manager includes metadata harmonization. Such metadata
harmonization is also referred to as master data management. The
metadata harmonization mechanism allows the ECM Flow Manager to
translate or map the values of metadata elements in business
content models from one enterprise application or content
repository to another, including the labels for these elements with
provision for localization of values and labels according to the
locale settings for the user interface.
Search Engine
[0097] The discovery of related and relevant content also depends
on discovering the content in each of the content repositories.
Typically, each content repository will expose services that enable
external applications to discover content based on metadata and
content. However, the quality of the search services offered by the
external repositories will vary and the flow of content may depend
on features that are not available in those native search
services.
[0098] Therefore, the ECM Flow Manager includes an embedded search
engine that may be used to extract content with metadata from the
external content management repository into an embedded searchable
index. In doing so, the ECM Flow Manager will be able to provide
consistent results where advanced search features are required.
Common Authentication Framework
[0099] The ECM Flow Manager also supports the security models of
the underlying enterprise applications and content repositories so
that users only have access to the information that they are
authorized to access.
[0100] ECM Flow Manager includes a common authentication framework
that enables transparent authentication from the departmental
software application through to each of the underlying enterprise
applications and content repositories. The framework provides
services to register authentication providers for the various
authentication methods used by the departmental software
applications. The framework also provides services to register
drivers to traverse the authentication requirements of the
underlying enterprise applications and content repositories. The
framework maps the front-end application authentication through
each of the drivers required to transparently access the authorized
business content which is ultimately presented in the view
available to the departmental software application--for example, as
the dynamic folder view.
Auditing and Reporting
[0101] The ECM Flow Manager maintains a record of the requests,
events, and content services in the context of the users and their
roles, the processes, business content models, and dynamic folder
models.
[0102] A reporting service is provided for producing reports from
these records. In this way, the ECM Flow Manager enables an
organization to document how users are using each specific business
content component and collections as they flow across each of the
organization's processes. In this way, the organization can
understand the "big picture" of their enterprise content, which
would be difficult or impossible to obtain by looking at the set of
audit trails produced from accessing individual documents from each
of the underlying enterprise applications and content
repositories.
Optimization Agent
[0103] An organization that is using the ECM Flow Manager in one or
more of their departmental processes also has the ability to
monitor how individual users are performing in their roles with
respect to the business content that they are creating and
consuming. By analyzing the steps that a user performs in
comparison to other users performing in the same process, the ECM
Flow Manager can provide feedback to the individual user, to groups
of users, and to the organization so that action can be taken to
help user and groups to become more efficient and effective in the
way that they use content.
Overview
[0104] A system to provide content flow across processes is shown
schematically in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the exemplary system
100 includes a plurality of clients 102 used by various individuals
in a first department, a plurality of clients 104 used by various
individuals in a second department, one or more servers 106 and
databases 108. The clients 102 and 104, servers 106, and databases
106 communicate using one or more data communications networks
110.
PRIOR ART
[0105] An illustrative example of the prior art is shown
schematically in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a client 200 that is
running application software 202 that supports a departmental
process requiring access to data residing in one or more data
management systems 220 and content in one or more content
management systems 230. The client includes application software
202 that implements program logic enabling the user at the client
to interact with the data and content, performing such operations
as creating, viewing, updating, and deleting information, all in
the context of some business process.
[0106] The client software application 202 may directly access the
data management systems 220 through application program interfaces
222 and the content management systems 230 through application
program interfaces 232. If desired, the clients 200 may indirectly
access the data and content through process automation software
applications 212 operating on an application server 210 servicing a
plurality of clients 200 in the department. In this case, the
process automation software applications 212 connect to the data
management systems 220 using application program interfaces 222 and
to the content management systems 230 using application program
interfaces 232.
[0107] The departmental business process that is automated by
client software application 202 and process automation software 212
enable the user at client 200 to interact with the data and content
residing in the underlying data management systems 220 and content
management systems 230. In some prior art systems, the client
software application 202 is a dedicated software application
program installed at the client 200 and dedicated to a specific
business process. In other prior art systems, the client software
application 202 relies on features and functions of general purpose
client software application frameworks, such as portals and
web-browsers, for accessing the methods programmed in process
automation software application 212 located in an application
server 210. The connection between client application software 202
and process automation software application 212 may be dedicated
using "hard-wired" connections or the connection may rely on
network protocols of a network operating system. The methods may
rely on user access to structured information in one or more data
management systems 220 and unstructured information in one or more
content management systems 230. Typically, one of these content
management systems will belong to the department and be used
primarily for processes that reside in the department, while the
other data and content management systems will belong to other
departments or be shared among two or more departments.
ECM Flow Manager
[0108] FIG. 3 schematically represents an exemplary system for
managing content. As shown in FIG. 3, client application software
302 running in client 300 may be connected to server 320 through
application program interface 322. Server 320 is programmed
according to one or more of the methods disclosed herein in the
so-called ECM Flow Manager 324.
[0109] The ECM Flow Manager 324 is connected to one or more data
management systems 340 through their respective application program
interfaces 342 and to one or more content management systems 350
through their respective application program interfaces 352. Data
management systems 340 are generally systems that manage structured
data, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, or
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or other systems of
a similar nature. Content management systems 350 are generally
systems that manage unstructured data or documents, such as
document management systems, web content management systems,
digital asset management systems, document imaging and archiving
systems, or other systems of a similar nature. The services
provided by the methods of disclosed herein make it unnecessary for
client software application 302 to connect directly to systems 340
and 350 because the information needed by client application
software 302 is delivered by the services disclosed herein.
[0110] As described above for the prior art, client 300 may, in
some embodiments, rely on one or more process automation software
applications 312 running in server 310 for enabling the user to
perform a departmental process, in which case process automation
software application 312 is connected to the ECM Flow Manager 324
running in server 300 through their respective application program
interfaces 322, and thereby eliminating the need for client
software application 302 to connect directly to the ECM Flow
Manager 324. In some embodiments, client application software 302
or process automation software application 312 may also be
connected to one or more departmental content management systems
352 in order to support the methods that are specific to those
applications--typically methods that pertain to creating and
modifying content.
[0111] Such methods may be distributed across more than one of
server 300 for the convenience of the system administrators or in
order to service the demands of a large number clients 300 and
application servers 310.
[0112] FIG. 4 schematically depicts a problem of prior art systems.
As shown in FIG. 4, users 400 and 410 from different departments,
using their respective departmental processes 402 and 412, have
direct access to their respective departmental content 404 and 414.
Typically, the first user 400 has direct access to the content 404
belonging to its own department process 402 but lacks easy access
to content 414 belonging to a process 412 of a second department.
Similarly, a second user 410 who is in a second department will
lack easy access to content 404 belonging to the first department.
FIG. 4B schematically depicts a prior art solution to this problem,
whereby the departmental processes 422 and 432 are programmed with
instructions that are specific to both of the systems that manage
the content 424 and 434 or that content 424 and 434 are stored in a
shared file system that may lack specific features and functions
required by departmental processes 422 and 432 to maintain content
424 and 434. This problem grows proportionally when considering
that a typical organization will have many departments, each with
many department processes, and many different types of content that
is accessed by individuals in departments other than the department
that maintains the content.
[0113] In reference to FIG. 5, a procedure is proposed for
connecting the content across departments and their processes. FIG.
5 schematically depicts a simplified exemplary concept of the
virtual folders provided by the methods of disclosed herein. As
shown in FIG. 5, a first user 500, using the methods in a first
department process 510 directly maintain the unstructured content
520 belonging to the first department. A second user 550, using the
methods in a second department process 560, directly maintain the
unstructured content 570 belonging to the second department. Using
the methods disclosed herein, both users 500 and 550 have access to
the unstructured content belonging to their own department as well
as that belonging to the other user's department using the
so-called ECM Flow Manager 524, which provides access to content
520 and 570 through views such as virtual folders 530 and 540
visualized through a common interface and independently of the
underlying content management systems in which the departments
maintain the original content and independently of any data
management systems that are required to provide business context to
the content.
[0114] An illustrative example of the system for managing content
is schematically depicted in FIG. 6. As seen in FIG. 6, the system
600 comprises a set of component services herein referred to as the
"ECM Flow Manager" 660 which optionally connect to one or more
external content management systems 690 through their respective
application program interfaces 680 and to one or more external data
management systems 692 through their respective application program
interfaces 682 and to one or more external content services 694
through their respective application program interfaces 684.
[0115] The services within the ECM Flow Manager system 660 are
exposed for consumption by other applications and systems through a
set of application program interfaces 612, which may be implemented
in a form that is useful to or dictated by the specific types of
consumer applications. Therefore, interfaces 612 may be provided as
web services, Java classes, C++ functions, dynamic link libraries,
shared libraries, and so forth. In the preferred embodiment,
interfaces 612 are web services, implemented using WDSL standards
and published through a UDDI registry so that the services are
easily discovered and consumed by the applications that use
them.
[0116] Access to the ECM Flow Manager 660 is secured by a common
authentication framework which is implemented through a common
authentication service 650 that intermediates the external
authentication required for access to the ECM Flow Manager 660 and
access to external content management systems 690 and data
management systems 692. The common authentication service 650 can
be configured to recognize the credentials that are passed into the
system 660 by one or more external authentication mechanisms, such
as that provided by Microsoft Integrated Windows Authentication
(formerly called NTLM, and also known as Windows NT
Challenge/Response authentication), or by SAP's Single Sign-On.
Optionally, the common authentication service 650 can be configured
to perform authentication using a user account and password
maintained in local store 656. On authentication, the common
authentication service issues a ticket that is revalidated by the
common authentication framework ticket service 620 on each
subsequent access to any of the underlying services within the ECM
Flow Manager 660 system.
[0117] In a typical scenario, a department process 510 or 560 has
been adapted to use the ECM Flow Manager 660 model repository
manager service 648 to discover the virtual folder model or models
that have been registered in model storage 652 and that are
appropriate to the department business scenario and role of user
500 or 550 within the departmental process. The models in model
storage 652 are registered through repository manager 648 by
virtual folder model design tools, which are described in another
section of this specification. Having selected the appropriate
dynamic folder model, department process 510 or 560 invokes
services provided by the Document Connect Engine 644 via service
interface 622 to visualize the model in the manner that is
appropriate to the user interface technology for which the
department process 510 or 560 has been developed. Thereby, users
500 and 550 have access through the Document Connect engine 644 to
data and content configured by the virtual folder model, wherein
the actual data and content are maintained in external content
management systems 690 and in external data management systems 692.
Document Connect engine 644 relies on content adapters 666 to
access information in the external content management systems 690
using their respective application program interfaces 680 and on
data adapters 668 to access information in the external data
management systems 692 using their respective application program
interfaces 682. Document Connect engine 644 relies on the common
authentication service 650 to ensure that users 500 and 550 access
only the data and content that they have permissions to access
through their individual access grants or through access granted to
a group or role in which they are authorized to participate.
[0118] The virtual folder models may include references to content
within a structural context that is at a level above the structure
of the content maintained in any of the external content management
systems 690 in which the content is actually maintained. For
example, a business content model may represent a business object,
such as a contract binder, while the underlying content management
system may represent individual contract documents. The model
repository manager 648 also services requests to discover these
content models that have been registered in model storage 652 by
business content modeling tools, which are described in another
section of this specification.
[0119] Business content models are also used to configure the set
of content services that are available for content objects
associated with a virtual folder model. Examples of content
services are requests to fetch or download a copy of the content,
to store new content, to store a new version of the content, or
delete the content. The content services are configured through
content services provider 636, which supports one or more content
services according to the configuration of the system. Since all of
the content related behavior that is presented to the user is
associated with these content services, the content services
provider 636 supports custom and generic services implemented in a
content service provider interface 637 for each available data
management system 692 and content management system 690. Generic
content services support actions that are common across the various
data management systems 692 and content management systems 690,
while custom content services support actions that are unique to a
data management system 692 or content management system 690. Each
content service provider interface 637 defines the available
content service actions for the associated data or content
management system and provides the program logic required to
execute the action in the appropriate client user interface
framework--for example, as JavaScript for a web browser client, or
as managed .NET or COM objects for a rich client--or as server-side
program logic if it is not feasible to execute the action in the
client. Each content service provider interface 637 accesses the
data management system 692 or content management system 690 for
which it has been designed to work through its respective
application program interface 682 or 680.
[0120] Other content service requests require enrichment of the
content object over and above what may be directly available from
the content and data management systems 690 and 692 respectively,
in which case the content services provider 636 brokers the content
services request to a content enrichment services provider 658
according to the configuration of the system. Each of the available
content services providers 658 in turn brokers the request to be
fulfilled by specific external content services 694 through their
respective application program interfaces 684. Examples of such
enrichments services are requests to annotate a content object; to
produce a zipfile containing one or more content objects; to print
a content object; and to render the content object to another
format--for example, to an archival format such as Adobe Acrobat
PDF or to an image format such as TIFF.
[0121] Business content models are also used to configure a set of
workflow services for the content that is associated in a virtual
folder. FIG. 6 shows a workflow engine 642 that can be accessed
through an application program interface 632 under the security
model provided by common authentication framework ticket service
620. The workflow engine 642 facilitates the flow of content across
the department processes within an organization. The flow is
defined as a series of process steps configured in a workflow
template or map that is created using a workflow design tool and
stored in the workflow storage 664 of FIG. 6. A process step may be
directed through configuration to notify an individual user who may
optionally be required to perform an activity before sending the
workflow to the next step in the workflow process template or map.
A process step may be directed to automatically perform a content
service, such as those implemented through the content services
provider 636. A process step may be directed to another process,
such as a business process of another department that is
implemented in a software application 510 or 560, by notifying the
process that the associated event has occurred or by triggering the
activation of the other process.
[0122] In another embodiment, the initial process step of a
workflow template or map can be activated by an event that is
configured in a business content model or directly, via application
program interface 632. Optionally, the initial process step may be
configured to accept content and/or metadata additional to the
content, such as metadata required to activate the new business
process that is being initiated as modeled in the workflow template
or map.
[0123] Optionally, a process step may be configured to notify users
500 and 550 or other users who are external to the process that an
event has occurred. Such notification may occur based on a content
event for which the user has requested notification, as in a
subscription to an event associated with a business content
model--for example, when the associated content has been created,
modified, or deleted. Optionally, the notification may be sent to a
user without subscription, based on a configuration that pushes
notification to certain users individually, or according to the
group or role in which the user may belong.
[0124] The workflow engine 642 of FIG. 6 provides a highly
configurable process management sub-system, providing event
subscription, event notification, and routing rules. Thereby, the
ECM Flow Manager 660 can connect otherwise disconnected processes,
based on business content models and workflow templates and
maps.
[0125] Optionally, based on configuration by the administrators of
the system, the events that flow through the ECM Flow Manager 660
are recorded by the event auditing service provider 640 and stored
in the audit record storage 662. For each event, the record
includes all or substantially all of the information necessary,
configured, or desired to identify the event, the user 500 or 550
who caused the event, the date and time of the event, the business
content associated with the event, the process 510 or 560
associated with the event, and the information changed by the
event--such as the before and after values of data and documents.
Such audit records are available for reporting through the event
reporting service provider 640 via application program interface
630 and under the security model provided by common authentication
framework ticket service 620 which ensures that users 500 and 550
requesting reports do not inappropriately access audit information
about data or content for which they lack access rights.
[0126] Optionally, the operations performed by individual users 500
and 550 may be monitored using an optimization agent 304 installed
on client 300. The optimization agent 304 records the operations
performed by user 500 and 550 using event auditing service provider
640 through its respective application program interface 630 and,
thereby, creating records in audit record storage 662.
Subsequently, the monitoring records may be analyzed to detect
process inefficiencies either in the operation of certain
individuals or by all individuals having the same role in a
process. The operations management can act on this information to
provide additional training to the individuals who are using the
system inefficiently, or redesign the associated processes.
Search Engine
[0127] As discussed above and as schematically depicted in FIG. 7
and FIG. 8, the Document Connect Engine accesses business content
through configuration in a business content model 700 and 820 in
the context of a virtual folder node 810 within a virtual folder
model 800. The business content model 820 may specify access to
content through a specific technical interface 822 that is provided
by the external data or content management system that has been
optimized to return a list or net of content objects based on input
parameters provided when invoking the technical interface 822.
Alternatively, some data or content management systems will provide
a generalized search query interface that can be used to return a
list of content objects based on query expressions, which may
include structured metadata fields or full-text content term or a
combination of structured fields and full-text terms using Boolean
operators.
[0128] Optionally, an embodiment may include a search engine 697
accessed through service provider interface 696. Search engine 697
may be configured to extract data and content from one or more
external data management system 692 using their respective service
provider interfaces 682 and from one or more external content
management systems 690 using their respective service provider
interfaces 680. Data and content extracted from said systems can be
indexed in search index 698 in order to optimize the query
expressions passed into search engine 697 through service provider
interface 696. Optionally, if a data management system 692 or a
content management system 690 provides a native search service,
search engine 697 may federate the query expression by passing all
or part of the query expression to said native search services
through their respective service provider interfaces 680 or 682.
Said query federation may take place in addition to or as another
mechanism for using the search index 698.
[0129] An advantage of using search engine 697 is that search
engine 697 may support query expressions that rely on features that
are not provided by native service provider interfaces 680 or 682
of data and content management systems 692 and 690. An example of a
feature that may be employed is the summarization of extracted data
or content and the identification of key terms or concepts within
said summarization. Search engine 697 may store said key terms or
concepts in search index 698 for the benefit of building
concept-based views or facets that are associated with the content
objects in the result list returned from executing a query
expression. The concept-based views or facets may then be presented
to user 500 or 550 as an expansion of virtual folder node 810 to
further enhance the usability of the search results in the context
of the business scenario and role within the departmental process
modeled in virtual folder model 800.
[0130] Search engine 697 returns search results through service
provider interface 696 under the security model provided by common
authentication framework ticket service 620, wherein the search
results may be a simple results list or a results list that is
enhanced by the additional features such as concept-based views or
facets that are available in search engine 697. Optionally, the
results list may be constrained using the credentials provided by
common authentication framework ticket service 620 according to the
access permissions of the user performing the search. For search
queries on content indexed in search index 698, the permissions
model of the original data management system 692 or content
management system 690 is incorporated into the query processing
method of search engine 697. For search queries federated to native
search service, the authentication framework ticket service 620
optionally brokers access using the user credential for the native
search service.
Business Content and Virtual Folder Models
[0131] An embodiment proposes business content models and virtual
folder models registered in model repository manager 648. These
models are maintained in a model repository 652 in a structure and
format that enables the systems and methods disclosed herein to
efficiently use them. Methods are provided for external consumer
systems to discover the model that is appropriate to the business
process and to the role of the individual user; for delivering one
or more representations of a model to the consumer in one or more
formats that are recognized by the consumer; for ingesting models
in one or more formats from external applications that are used to
design and maintain such models; and for exporting models in one or
more formats. The ECM Flow Manager system will also include
design-time procedures and service provider interfaces that enable
business analysts and system administrators to configure and
maintain business content models as appropriate for the various
types of content that are exposed to consumer applications.
[0132] FIG. 7 schematically depicts an exemplary business content
model 700. Business content model 700 models a business content
object, which is the basic building block of the ECM Flow Manager
system. Business content objects are a set of entities that are
generally accepted in the business world. Examples include:
"contract", "invoice", "case binder", or other semi-structured data
adapted or directed to a business processes. The business content
model 700 for a business content object defines the common
characteristics, or attributes, of the content items in the object
class. The business content model 700 also defines the common
behavior of, or content services and actions that can be performed
on, the content items in the object class.
[0133] Each business content model 700 includes attributes defining
the common characteristics of the object class. Exemplary
characteristics include content type attributes 710, containment
properties 720, system properties 730, object properties 740,
native content services 750, transformational content services 755,
and enrichment content services 760.
[0134] Content type attributes 710 refer to characteristics
configured to identify and process instances of the content objects
modeled by the business content model 700. Examples of content type
attributes include, but are not limited to, the display name of the
content object type (e.g., "Folder", "Document", "Case"),
description of the content object type, and audit level of the
content object. Optionally, a content type attribute may be
available in multiple languages.
[0135] Containment properties 720 refer to content object types
that can contain content type objects as, for example, a "folder"
or a "compound document". Containment properties may include, but
not be limited to, rules for what content object types may be
contained and if the objects are ordered.
[0136] System properties 730 refer to properties derived from the
system from which the content object is obtained and will,
therefore, vary according to the native system and the content
type. Examples of system properties include display name, creation
date, modification date, unique identifier, and format. Optionally,
a system property may be available in multiple languages.
[0137] Object properties 740 refer to attributes of the objects
that may vary with individual object instances as well as with the
object type. Object properties may be simple attributes, such as a
classification value. In some content management systems, object
properties may be arbitrarily complex, multi-level, multi-value,
language varying attributes grouped into multi-level, multi-value
sets. In some embodiments, a mechanism may be provided to map,
display, and even update one or more object properties. In other
embodiments, the system will defer activity related to displaying
and maintaining object attributes to interfaces of the original
data or content management systems.
[0138] Content services 750, 755, and 760 refer to the actions
available for the objects in the class defined by the content
object model and, together, define the ways in which individuals
and processes may interact with the objects. These actions will be
exposed to the users or processes that consume the object model in
a user interface or as operations that may be performed on the
objects in the class. Optionally, content services may be mapped
according to user permissions or roles, so that the system may
expose different actions to different users.
[0139] Native content services 750 refer to those actions that are
generally performed within the context of the data management
system or content management system in which the object resides.
Some native content services may be generic, such that it is common
to all objects--such as "open" or "get properties". Other content
services may be custom to the object and/or originating system.
[0140] Transformational content services 755 refer to actions that
are performed on a content object such that the object is
transformed from the state or condition that it existed in the
underlying data or content management system in which it resided
prior to the action. An example of a transformational action is
"archive" whereby the native content object is moved to another
content management system and replaced in the native system with a
"stub" that directs future references to the archived object.
Another example of a transformational action is "declare a record"
whereby the native content object may be moved or otherwise
protected from modification and deletion according to the native
content system so that it can be managed under a file plan and
retention policy implemented by a records management system.
[0141] Enrichment content services 760 refer to actions that are
performed on a content object that leave the native object intact,
but that enrich the content through an operation performed in an
independent system. An example of an enrichment content service is
"rendition", which may render the native content object into
another format such as TIFF, or Adobe.RTM. Acrobat PDF and store
the rendition in the native system or in another repository.
Another example of an enrichment content service is "annotate",
which may store a note in association with the content object in
the native system or in another repository. In the preferred
embodiment, the ECM Flow Manager will be configured with one or
more external content services 694, which may include one or more
data and document management systems, for the implementation of the
set of available enrichment content services. The enrichment
content services will be brokered by a content enrichment services
provider 658 that will access the external content services 694
through their respective service provider interfaces 684.
[0142] A business content model is referenced in one or more
virtual folder models, which is schematically depicted in FIG. 8.
As shown in FIG. 8, a virtual folder model 800 models a hierarchy
of virtual folder nodes 810, 830, 840, and 850. FIG. 8 depicts an
exemplary virtual folder node 810. Folder attributes 812 identify
and describe virtual folder node 810--for example, by providing a
folder name and description with provision for localizing those
strings in several languages. Virtual folder node 810 includes a
business content model reference 820 which models the content
objects that are virtually organized within the virtual folder node
810. The business content model 820 is mapped to a technical
interface 822 that specifies how to obtain the content objects from
the underlying data or content management system. The technical
interface 822 will identify the specific underlying data or content
management system, the programmatic interface methods, and the
input parameters required to connect to the underlying system with
appropriate access credentials. In the preferred embodiment, the
definition of system connection information will be maintained a
structure designed for that purpose, since any given system may be
referenced within many virtual folder nodes.
[0143] The technical interface 822 will also identify the
programmatic interface that is used to retrieve instances of the
business content objects from the designated system. The type of
the programmatic interface will depend on the specific requirements
of the underlying system. For example, the programmatic interface
may specify a remote function call (RFC), or a web service, or an
HTTP request. Therefore, the preferred embodiment will provide for
each defined system type the availability of programmatic methods.
Referring to FIG. 6, this relationship will be determined by the
set of data adapters 668 and content adapters 666 that are
configured for Document Connect engine 664, since the Document
Connect engine 664 will be interpreting the technical interface 822
parameters when the virtual folder model 800 is instantiated for a
consumer application.
[0144] The specification of technical interface 822 will determine
the set of metadata available for the business content model
reference 820. The metadata for this technical interface 822 may be
mapped to the business content model 820 through metadata
harmonization rules 824 so that the business content objects that
are retrieved through technical interface 822 are appropriate to
the context of the virtual folder node 810. For example, the
business content model 820 may reference an attribute for
"customer" and the technical interface 822 may specific a parameter
for "customer", however the business content model 820 may expect a
"customer" to be an alphanumeric string while the technical
interface 822 may expect a "customer" to be a numeric identifier
specific to the underlying data or content management system.
Referring to FIG. 6, these metadata harmonization rules 824 will be
interpreted by the metadata harmonization engine 646 through the
associated application program interface 634. Metadata
harmonization engine 646 relies on connections to each of the
underlying data management system 692 and content management system
690 and persistent storage of metadata mapping relationships in
metadata storage 670.
[0145] Optionally, the business content model 820 may define a
query expression to be executed on a search engine 697 accessed
through service provider interface 696. The content objects
returned by executing the query may have a diverse set of metadata
elements that may be structured properties, such as classifications
and attribute properties associated with the individual content
objects in the result set; or that may be structured properties
within the content of the object, such as form fields; or that may
be unstructured properties, such as key concepts or terms derived
from or text-mined from document contents. In an embodiment, the
virtual folder node 810 may specify a dynamic view that is
constructed on-the-fly and based on an analysis of the clusters or
facets of said structured classifications and attributes and
unstructured key concepts within the set of content objects
returned by the search engine.
[0146] FIG. 10A shows an illustrative example of a taxonomy 1000
that might be used by an enterprise to organize sales documents. In
this example, sales documents are to be organized according to a
hierarchical classification with values for company, sales
organization, and customer. FIG. 10B shows an illustrative example
of a physical folder structure 1010 that has been organized to
allow the user to navigate to the documents according to taxonomy
1000 of company, sales organization, and customer. However, the
user may want to consider other characteristics such as sales
representative and product when looking for sales documents. Those
of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the disclosed
systems and methods are not limited to the example and can
implement a taxonomy based on features different than and/or
additional to those described in the example.
[0147] FIG. 10C and FIG. 10D show virtual folder views 1020 and
1030 that could be provided to allow the user to visualize and
navigate to sales documents by characteristics of sales
representative and product respectively.
[0148] If desired, a set of facets could be configured to provide
multi-dimensional navigation, wherein each facet characterizes a
value space along independent axes or dimensions. FIG. 11A shows an
illustrative example of three facets that are provided to enable a
user to find the sales documents according to taxonomy 1000 and the
additional characteristics of sales representative and product.
Facet 1102 displays a list of available company units with
provision for the user to select one or more company units, facet
1104 displays a list of available Sales Representatives, and facet
1106 displays a list of available products. Each of the items
listed in a facet may be selected to instruct the system to include
the sales documents that are classified according to the
characteristic selected, or, in the case of facet 1102, the sales
documents that are classified under the selected level of the
taxonomy represented by facet 1102.
[0149] In an embodiment, when an element in a hierarchical taxonomy
is selected, the system automatically expands the element to
display and allow the user to select subsidiary elements. FIG. 11B
shows an illustrative example in facet 1112. When the user selects
a company, the system expands the display in facet 1112 to show the
sales organizations within the company. When the user selects a
sales organization, the system expands the display in facet 1112 to
display the customers within the sales organization.
[0150] In an embodiment, the system may automatically de-select in
a second facet, those characteristics that are not associated with
any of the content objects that have already been selected by the
choices made in a first facet. In the example shown in FIG. 11B,
the selection of customer Alpha Enterprises, in facet 1112, and
sales representative Abe Abraham, in facet 1114, would de-select
those widgets in facet 1116 that do not appear on any sales
document for which Abe Abraham was the sales representative.
Optionally, the de-selected items may be removed from the
display.
[0151] Optionally, the system may display the number of content
objects that are currently selected according to the criteria
entered by the user in the available facets. The system may display
the total number of content objects and, optionally, the number of
content objects associated with each element displayed in a facet.
Some embodiments may simply display the list of content objects
(all objects or the first "n" objects) while other embodiments may
display a button which enables the user to request a list of the
content objects. In some embodiments, the facets may be presented
to the user in the primary display region with the content objects.
In other embodiments, the facets may be presented to the user in a
secondary display region while the content objects are displayed in
the primary display region.
[0152] Therefore, facets allow a user to navigate to content
objects using any or all of the available facets in an interactive
manner.
[0153] The configuration of virtual folder node 810 may also
specify filter rules 816 that are applied to the selection of
business content objects retrieved through technical interface 822.
Filter rules 816 may be statically defined, so that they may be
applied consistently to filter the retrieved content objects based
on key fields mapped to content attributes 710, 730, or 740. If
desired, filter rules 816 may be passed downward through any
hierarchy and applied on each instance of the activation of the
virtual folder model 800, so that the retrieved content objects are
constrained to the context defined by the parent nodes in the
hierarchy. In the case of virtual folder nodes 830 and 850, which
are children of parent virtual folder nodes 810 and 840, filter
rules 810 may specify that the filter of the parent node is
propagated to the child node to constrain the retrieved content
objects in the virtual sub-folders to the same context of the
virtual parent folder. If desired, filter rules 816 may specify
that the user input is requested when the folder node 810 is
selected, and the user-provided values be used to constrain the
selection of the content objects retrieved through technical
interface 822. As the user navigates deeper and deeper, the
selection becomes more and more restrictive until a leaf node is
reached. A leaf node defines a business content object, which is a
unique record in a data management or content management
system.
[0154] Optionally, the filter rules 810 may also be applied to
facet based navigation to constrain the selection of content
objects in a similar manner. FIG. 12 is an illustrative example
showing how filters 1210 may be used to restrict the retrieval of
content objects associated with the selections made in facets 1202,
1204, and 1206.
[0155] Regardless of the path used to navigate to the content
object, the user can interact with the system disclosed herein
through a user interface constructed from the virtual folder model
and the instantiated content objects that result from the query and
applied filtering. The business content model 700 provide for the
definition of a set of content services 750, 755 and 760 associated
with the content as defined by the content model 820 of the virtual
folder node 810. The content services may be presented to the user
in one or more user interface paradigms--including toolbar buttons,
context menu options, and hyperlinks. Since almost all of the
behavior presented to the user is associated with these content
services or actions, there is no limit on what an action may do.
Generally, there are at least three different classes of content
services--Native content services 750, Transformational content
services 755, and Enrichment content services 760.
[0156] Native content services 750, are services that are supported
by the underlying data or content management system in which the
object resides.
[0157] Transformational content services 755 operate on the content
outside of the underlying data or content management system in
which the content resides. The result of a Transformational content
service 755 may be to return the modified content to the residing
system, or it may be to replaced the content of the underlying
system with the modified content residing in a different system
that has been configured for that purpose--for example, when the
native system does not allow modifications. An example of a
transformational content service 755 is archiving, where a content
object may be moved from the native system to an archival content
management system and the content object in the native system
replaced with a proxy or stub or otherwise marked in such a manner
that the user can see that the content has been archived.
Optionally, a content service or action on the archived content
object will enable the user to retrieve the content from the
archival content management system. Another example of a
transformational content service 755 is declare record and/or mark
official whereby one or more classifications are applied to the
native content object and maintained in a records management
application. Access to the native content object is thereafter
under the control of the records management application which may
reduce the permissions of users to the native content object so
that disposition of the content object may be under the control of
the records management application rather than any casual business
user.
[0158] Finally, enrichment content services 760 operate on content
outside of the underlying data or content management system to
produce an additional content object that may be maintained in the
native system or, if that is not practical, in an external content
management system. An example of an enrichment content service 760
is "rendition", whereby a content object is produced in an
alternative format, such as Adobe Acrobat PDF/A or TIFF image
format. Optionally, the content services for the content object are
enhanced to include a content service or action that enables the
user to retrieve the rendition format rather than the native
format.
[0159] Optionally, the content services may be role-based, such
that different users may be granted access to different content
services or actions based on the role in which they are registered
to the system.
[0160] In some embodiments, folder events 814 may be defined for
virtual folder node 810. Folder events 814 may, for example, allow
consumer processes to register to be notified when events occur
with respect to instances of virtual folder node 810 and the
associated content items. Examples of folder events 814 are events
such as "open", "create", "modify", and "add item". In some
embodiments, folder events 814 may also provide for the local
expression of global workflow events 770 with respect to the
content item instances of business content object reference 820.
For example, business content model reference 820 references
business content model 700 which models a set of global workflow
events 770 that defines events for "create" 772 and "modify" 774.
The folder events 814 may restrict the registration of the "create"
772 event so that it is not available for subscription by consumer
applications that use the virtual folder model 800 in which
business content model 700 is used. If desired, the folder events
814 may specify that when the "create" 772 event occurs for item
instances of content model 700, a "create" 772 workflow process is
initiated in associated workflow engine 642 and/or the "create" 774
event is reported to event auditing/reporting service provider 640
for recording in audit record storage 662. When the workflow
process registered in workflow engine 642 and associated with
"create" 772 event is initiated; the workflow process receives
information identifying the item instance of business content model
700; the virtual folder instance of virtual folder node 810; the
consumer application process, user, and user role associated with
virtual folder model 800; and additional metadata attributes
associated with the creation of items in an instance of virtual
folder node 810. Similarly, the audit event reported to event
auditing/reporting service provider 640 may identify the "create"
772 event; the item instance of business content model 700; the
virtual folder instance of virtual folder node 810; the consumer
application process, user, and user role associated with virtual
folder model 800; and additional metadata attributes associated
with the creation of items in an instance of virtual folder node
810.
[0161] In another embodiment, a workflow process may be triggered
or initiated by events that are not associated with a virtual
folder model or a business content model. Such workflow processes
are initiated by connecting directly to workflow engine 642 through
the associated application program interface 632 and identifying
the workflow process to be initiated; the consumer application
process, user, and user role associated with event; and additional
metadata attributes associated with the workflow process.
[0162] Initiation of a workflow process can indicate that a process
definition be instantiated in workflow engine 642 which controls
the enactment of the steps in the process definition. A process
step may be defined to execute entirely within the confines of the
workflow engine 642 or the process step may be defined to interact
with users and applications external to the workflow engine 642. In
order to support the flow of content through an organization and
its departmental business processes, the ECM Flow Manager provides
a plurality of interaction methods. Examples of message-based
notification of external users through a variety of means,
including email, SMS text message, voicemail, and pager. Another
embodiment provides subscription based notification, whereby an
external application can register to receive notifications for a
class of workflow events through a standardized application program
interface--for example, based on Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
feeds. In another embodiment, notification is implemented through a
universal work list, which is a form of "in-box" in which any
system or application can register an event or alert, so that the
user, group, role, or application process that owns the "in-box"
has a central queue or list from which to receive events and
instructions for a step that is to be performed.
[0163] In another embodiment, a workflow step that generates an
event may trigger a workflow step in another workflow process,
either defined in the workflow engine 642 or in a process defined
to be executed in an external workflow engine. In this manner,
workflow definitions can be chained together, effectively becoming
sub-workflow processes of an overarching process definition. The
interchange of workflow process definition may be implemented using
a standardized workflow definition language, such as the XML
process definition language published by the workflow management
coalition.
[0164] In another embodiment, a process orchestration definition
language may be used to define the types of interactions that are
discussed above. An example of such a standard is Business Process
Execution Language (BPEL), which is based on XML and web
services.
[0165] As defined in the preceding paragraphs, the systems,
methods, and apparatuses disclosed herein relies on models to drive
the flow of content across departmental business processes. These
models can be represented using any model specification language,
such as XML, in order to interchange a model definition between
components. In some embodiments, it may be sufficient to reference
a model in an unambiguous manner rather than copy the entire model
specification between applications.
[0166] In the preferred embodiment, a model repository manager 648
provides a service interface 624 for publishing services that
enable applications to discover the models that are registered in
the model storage 652 for the system. The model repository manager
648 also provides service interfaces 624 for registering and
unregistering models in model storage 652. Model repository manager
648 service interfaces 624 are discovered by consumer applications
through a service discovery protocol, which may be based on
standards for similar repository services, such as UDDI, Universal
Plug-and-Play (UPnP), Jini, or Service Location Protocol (SLP).
[0167] In an embodiment, applications that consume the services and
models may be composite applications that are assembled by loosely
coupling user-interface parts that cooperate through events and
business context within an application framework. The composition
may take place on the client, on a web server, or through a portal.
Examples include Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Office SharePoint web
parts, Microsoft Information Bridge Framework (IBF), Microsoft
Visual Basic for Office Business Applications (VB/OBA), Microsoft
Line of Business Interoperability (LOBi) for Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server (MOSS), SAP NetWeaver Portal iViews, SAP
WebDynpro, SAP NetWeaver Composite Application Framework, Oracle
Portal, and Web 2.0 mash-ups using asynchronous Javascript and XML
(AJAX).
Application Development Framework
[0168] FIG. 9 schematically depicts an exemplary application
development framework 900 that supports software application
development on clients 910 through a plurality of integrated
development environments (IDE) 912. In some embodiments, IDE 912
may integrate directly with a design-time environment 920 that
provides services to support model-driven development. In other
embodiments, IDE 912 may require an IDE plug-in 914 to integrate
with the services provided by design-time environment 920.
[0169] As shown in FIG. 9, the exemplary design-time environment
920 provides one or more modeler services. In an embodiment,
design-time environment 920 provides process modeler 928.
Process-modeler 928 communicates with IDE 912 through service
provider interface 929 to support the development and integration
of process models implemented as described herein. The development
of a process model using modeler 928 may include workflow process
template design tools such as a graphical workflow designer. A
workflow process template designed using modeler 928 may be stored
in model storage 936 through model repository manager 934 so that
it may be effectively shared during design; and subsequently
discovered, consumed, and initiated during run-time execution of
applications; and referenced during the event processing of
instances of the workflow template.
[0170] In another embodiment, a content modeler 924 is provided by
design-time environment 920. Content modeler 924 communicates with
IDE 912 through service provider interface 925 to support the
development and integration of content models 700. Content modeler
924 uses design-time services provided by Document Connect 940
which, in turn, uses data adapters 944 and content adapters 946 to
access respective data management systems 960 and content
management systems 950 through their respective service provider
interfaces 962 and 952. A content model 700 designed using content
modeler 924 may be stored in model storage 936 through model
repository manager 934 so that it may be effectively shared during
design; and subsequently discovered and consumed during run-time
execution of applications; and referenced during the event
processing of instances of content model 700.
[0171] Content modeler 924 also supports the modeling of content
services 750, 755, and 760. Content modeler 924 uses design-time
services provided by Document Connect 940 which, in turn, uses
content service provider interfaces 943 to discover and extend the
native content services available for any given data management
system 960 or content management system 950 through their
respective service provider interfaces 962 and 952. In order to
support transformational content services 755 and enrichment
content services 760, content modeler also allows custom code to be
invoked during action execution. Simultaneously, however, we may
want to minimize the amount of custom code that is written to
support at least some data or content management system, and the
requirements imposed on any such code by the user interface
framework.
[0172] To manage this, content modeler 924 provides: [0173] A
simple custom action Service Provider Interface (SPI) that allows
custom action code to be executed on the client; [0174] A
parameterization mechanism that allows custom action code to be
reused in many different contexts; and [0175] A variety of generic
content service types that can be used for many actions without
custom coding. These are sufficient for many, but not all purposes.
Implementations of new data and content management systems or
solutions can be prototyped using generic content services, which
may then be replaced with custom coded content services
individually or in groups.
[0176] On the client side, content services are handled by
application component objects that implement the action handler
interface.
[0177] In another embodiment, a virtual folder modeler 926 is
provided by design-time environment 920. Virtual folder modeler 926
communicates with IDE 912 through service provider interface 927 to
support the development and integration of virtual folder models
800. Virtual folder modeler 926 uses design-time services provided
by Document Connect 940 which, in turn, uses data adapters 944 and
content adapters 946 to access respective data management systems
960 and content management systems 950 through their respective
service provider interfaces 962 and 952. A virtual folder model 800
designed using virtual folder modeler 926 may be stored in model
storage 936 through model repository manager 934 so that it may be
effectively shared during design; and subsequently discovered and
consumed during run-time execution of applications; and referenced
during the event processing of instances of virtual folder model
800.
[0178] In another embodiment, a UI modeler 922 is provided by
design-time environment 920. UI modeler 922 communicates with IDE
912 through service provider interface 923 to support the
development and integration of User Interface models. UI models are
used to render virtual folder models 800 for display within
applications. The rendering of virtual folder models 800 is by
necessity specific to the application development framework in
which the model is to be displayed. A UI model designed using UI
modeler 922 may be stored in model storage 936 through model
repository manager 934 so that it may be effectively shared during
design; and subsequently discovered, consumed, and used for
rendering of virtual folder model 800 during run-time execution of
applications. Thereby, applications developed using the same
application development framework may share the same UI model for a
given virtual folder model 800. UI modeler 922 also enables
application developers to relate UI models for different
application development frameworks to further encourage consistency
across applications regardless of the development framework under
which they were developed.
[0179] In this manner, the flow of content from department to
department, and from application to application, can be enabled
with reduced application development effort while achieving a
consistent look and feel across otherwise disconnected
applications. Furthermore, changes to the taxonomy used by one or
more departments, and changes to the types and structure of the
content used by one or more departments, are automatically
available to all business processes that are automated using the
methods, apparatus, or systems described herein, thereby reducing
cost and accelerating value delivered to the organization.
[0180] The technology disclosed herein may enable flow of content
across departmental business process in spite of the tendency to
implement content management solutions in a fragmented manner. The
technology may provide the software tools consistent with the type,
state, or level of current development frameworks. The technology
may be directed to simplifying the user interface paradigms for
enterprise applications wherein a user, acting within a role,
interacts with data and content from across the organization.
[0181] FIGS. 13a and 13b depict two exemplary business productivity
applications accessible from client computers 1300 and 1310. The
user of computer 1300 is performing Customer Service activities
automated with Customer Service Automation Application Software
1301, which has standard components 1302 designed by the vendor of
said application software. The user of computer 1310 is performing
Sales activities automated with Sales Force Automation Application
Software 1311, which has standard components 1312 designed by the
(different) vendor of said application software.
[0182] Using the design time environment 920 of the FIG. 9, each of
these business productivity applications can be extended to include
access to related content from various sources and stored in
various repositories. The designer of productivity application #1
has embedded a user interface component 1304 that renders for
display a UI model designed using UI Modeler 920 which renders for
display a Customer Service-oriented virtual folder model 1306 that
was modeled using Virtual Folder Modeler 926. The Customer
Service-oriented virtual folder model 1306 has been designed to
reference several content models designed using Content Modeler
924, including the Orders content model 1308, which renders for
display the orders belonging to a selected customer.
[0183] The designer of productivity application #2 has embedded a
user interface component 1314 that renders for display a UI model
designed using UI Modeler 920 which renders for display a
Sales-oriented virtual folder model 1316 that was modeled using
Virtual Folder Modeler 926. The Sales-oriented virtual folder model
1316 has been designed to reference several content models designed
using Content Modeler 924, including the Orders content model 1320,
which renders for display the orders belonging to a selected
customer. Because the virtual folder modeler 920 and Content
Modeler 924 are model-driven, both of these Virtual Folder models
were designed by consuming a common Orders content model (1308 and
1320) that is shared between the Customer Service-oriented virtual
folder model 1306 and the Sales-oriented virtual folder model
1316.
[0184] Another benefit is that virtual folder models can also be
shared among UI components. For example, the Customer virtual
folder model 1306 that was developed for the Customer
Service-oriented UI component 1304 can be reused in the
Sales-oriented virtual folder model 1314 so that the Customers
virtual folder 1320 shares the same content and behavior between
the two applications.
[0185] Because the components 1304 and 1314 interact with the ECM
Flow Manager 600 system through a services oriented interface any
changes made to the underlying content models 1308 and 1320 or to
the virtual folder models 1306, 1316 and 1318 are dynamically
reflected in the productivity applications 1301 and 1311 when UI
components 1304 and 1314 are rendered for display. In the prior
art, such changes would require recompilation of each
application.
[0186] FIG. 14a shows that the component rendered in the
productivity application 1411 may include controls 1420 1416 1418
providing access to the actions available to the user at any node
as configured in the content model or the virtual folder model. The
actions may be presented to the user in a dropdown menu 1440 as by
clicking on the control 1420 displayed next to the node. If
desired, the actions may be presented to the user in a menu 1416
outside the folder display as at the top of the component. A
further embodiment is to present the actions (or selected actions
as configured for the component) as buttons 1418 outside the folder
display.
[0187] FIG. 14b is an exemplary drop down menu 1440 listing the
actions 1442 available to the user for a particular content object.
Some of these actions may be native to the content management
system in which the content object resides. Other of the actions
may enhance or transform the object as described above. An
embodiment may also present actions in a sub-menu 1446 activated by
selecting one of the menu options 1448. Such a menu may be
dynamically generated as in our pending application Ser. No.
11/145,480, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
[0188] FIG. 15 is an embodiment of a report 1500 that uses the
audit history for a content object, in this example, a contract
document or binder, showing how that content object "flows" (i.e.,
a map flow) through an organization and/or the business process of
the organization. It depicts the timeline from object creation 1506
to scheduled destruction 1518 with icons showing each event in the
audit history within "swimlanes" for each specific productivity
application. In this example there are five productivity
applications: "Sales Force Automation", "Contract Lifecycle
Management", "Sales Order Administration", "Shipping", and
"Customer Interaction Center". In this embodiment, actions such as
"Create", "Update", "Read", "Delete" are in subdivisions 1502 of
the swimlane, but they could be shown in another manner such as by
different icons. In this embodiment, the details for an event can
be displayed by clicking or hovering over an icon 1512--as for
example here where the details 1514 include the user, the date and
time, certain "analytics" such as number of clicks and the duration
of the event, and certain actions that were performed such as
"Print" and "Send To". Of course, this is just an example and other
actions could be shown and the results could be obtained in a
visual display (as shown) or in report format suitable for
printing. In one embodiment, the analysis is presented in a visual
format other than swimlanes. For example, the analysis could be in
report format, or through a 3-d visualization tool; etc.
[0189] Further analysis could be performed by comparing the
sequence of events for this content object with other content
objects and/or with other performers in the same role to identify
patterns that could be used to identify ways in which each
productivity application or the overall process might be modified
to enhance efficiency.
[0190] As used herein, the term interactive refers to information
that is displayable and controllable within a user interface. As
used herein, the term "content" refers to unstructured or
semi-structured data that is mappable onto a metadata defining the
content. Content may come from various sources and formats--e.g.,
RSS feeds, Blogs, Wikis, web pages, twitter postings, video, photo,
etc. In one embodiment, the content comprises documents. If
desired, content may be more complex than "document" in the
traditional sense--e.g., a contract with exhibits and attachments,
renditions with signatures, etc. In other embodiment, content may
also be less complex than a traditional document--e.g., social
networking content such as a blog comment.
[0191] The models that are referred to herein are generally
independent of a presentation framework. In one embodiment, the
models are an abstract representation of the content and the
relationship of the content in a virtual folder paradigm that can
be rendered in various ways as appropriate, desired, or necessary
to allow the user to access the content and actions within a
productivity application of arbitrary design and construction. The
models may be rendered within a component that understands the
technical details of how to render the data produced for an
instance of the model within the application interface. The
application interface may be designed and built using an
application development tool--therefore, there needs to be a
component for each such tool that can interpret the models and use
the facilities of the application development environment to
produce the best visual representation of the data and the best and
most usable representation of the actions (i.e., as controls in the
interface).
[0192] In one embodiment, metadata of the model and the content may
be gathered from or based on a plurality of sources. For example,
in the contract case, there may be emails about the contract;
instant messages about the contract; someone may use a wiki to
author the contract; someone may have a blog about the contract;
there may be an RSS feed to notify people about changes to the
contract draft during review; etc. All of these pieces of "meta
content" could similarly be related to the contract and represented
in one or more additional swimlanes in the FIG. 15 embodiment or in
reports about the content. If desired, the timeline of any
"document" may be reconstructed based on the activities performed
by individuals within applications that create and consume content.
If desired metadata may be generated or determined from
non-traditional application frameworks--e.g., embedded in an email
client so that someone can relate an email to the business context
of another piece of content (e.g., to our contract); embedded in a
web-based social networking system so that a blog or wiki can be
used to relate content to the business context; and so forth.
[0193] "Customizing and Administration Guide for Livelink DocuLink
for SAP Solutions", IXOS Software AG 2006 describes configuration
of a virtual folder view of content using the customizing tool for
SAPGUI and DocuLink. It addresses the mapping of key fields in
order to produce the view and it also includes information on how
to map to external data. However, the technology described therein
have several shortcomings.
[0194] In one embodiment, the methods, systems, and apparatuses
described herein provides having a place for storing abstract
models for the content and the views; adding a level for UI model
to reduce the effort on the part of the application designer who
wants a consistent user interface between a plurality of
productivity applications developed using different development
frameworks; and providing for actions and events to be modeled in
the content and view so that they can appear in the user interfaces
and make the content actionable.
[0195] In other embodiments, the flow manager configured to provide
content as describe herein may be configured to deny access to
content, wherein a response to a request for the content is a
denial response that limits access to the content based on, for
example, an authentication ticket of the user. In one embodiment,
the system may deny access based on rules rather than granting
access based on permission lists. An example of an application for
such denial is in law firms where you want to prevent conflicts of
interest by explicitly listing the individuals who must not have
access to content, as well as listing those individuals (or groups,
or roles) who may have access to content. The system computes the
individuals who may have access and eliminates those individuals
who are explicitly listed to deny access.
[0196] Based on the foregoing, illustrative embodiments have been
described to provide an overall understanding of the systems and
methods for managing enterprise content. One or more examples of
the illustrative embodiments are shown in the drawings. The
disclosed systems and methods can be adapted and modified to
provide systems and methods for other applications, and that other
additions and modifications can be made to the disclosed systems
and methods without departing from the scope of the present
disclosure. For example, features of the illustrative embodiments
can be combined, separated, interchanged, and/or re-arranged to
generate other embodiments. Such modifications and variations are
intended to be included within the scope of the present
disclosure.
[0197] The systems and methods described herein are not limited to
a hardware or software configuration; they can find applicability
in many computing or processing environments. The systems and
methods can be implemented in hardware or software, or in a
combination of hardware and software. The systems and methods can
be implemented in one or more computer-readable storage medium
(including computer programs), in which a medium/computer program
can be understood to include one or more processor-executable
instructions. The computer programs can execute on one or more
programmable processors, and can be stored on one or more storage
media readable by the processor, comprising volatile and
non-volatile memory and/or storage elements.
[0198] The computer programs can be implemented in high level
procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate
with a computer system. The computer programs can also be
implemented in assembly or machine language. The language can be
compiled or interpreted.
[0199] The computer programs can be stored on a storage medium or a
device (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), magnetic
tape or disk, internal hard drive, external hard drive, random
access memory (RAM), redundant array of independent disks (RAID),
or removable memory device) that is readable by a general or
special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating
the computer when the storage medium or device is read by the
computer to perform the methods described herein.
[0200] Unless otherwise provided, references herein to memory can
include one or more processor-readable and -accessible memory
elements and/or components that can be internal to a
processor-controlled device, external to a processor-controlled
device, and/or can be accessed via a wired or wireless network
using one or more communications protocols, and, unless otherwise
provided, can be arranged to include one or more external and/or
one or more internal memory devices, where such memory can be
contiguous and/or partitioned based on the application.
[0201] Unless otherwise provided, references herein to a/the
processor and a/the microprocessor can be understood to include one
or more processors that can communicate in stand-alone and/or
distributed environment(s) and can be configured to communicate via
wired and/or wireless communications with one or more other
processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to
operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can
include similar or different devices. Use of such processor and
microprocessor terminology can be understood to include a central
processing unit, an arithmetic logic unit, an application-specific
integrated circuit, and/or a task engine, with such examples
provided for illustration and not limitation.
[0202] Unless otherwise provided, use of the articles "a" or "an"
herein to modify a noun can be understood to include one or more
than one of the modified noun.
[0203] While the systems and methods described herein have been
shown and described with reference to the illustrated embodiments,
those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize or be able to
ascertain many equivalents to the embodiments described herein by
using no more than routine experimentation. Such equivalents are
encompassed by the scope of the present disclosure and the appended
claims. Accordingly, the systems and methods described herein are
not to be limited to the embodiments described herein, can include
practices other than those described, and are to be interpreted as
broadly as allowed under prevailing law.
* * * * *