U.S. patent application number 14/799359 was filed with the patent office on 2015-11-05 for user feedback method and system for business suite customization.
The applicant listed for this patent is INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to WEI DING, FENG CHUN WANG, XIN ZHOU, JUN ZHU.
Application Number | 20150317601 14/799359 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43528190 |
Filed Date | 2015-11-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150317601 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
DING; WEI ; et al. |
November 5, 2015 |
USER FEEDBACK METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BUSINESS SUITE
CUSTOMIZATION
Abstract
A computer-implemented user feedback method, system and program
product for customizing business suite software is executable on a
computer system. The method includes: acquiring a business logic
software function associated with a feedback mechanism in a
business suite software user interface for the business suite
software; acquiring an existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and the relationship
between the existing customization requirement related to the
business logic software function and another existing customization
requirement related to the business logic software function; and
presenting the acquired existing customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and the other existing
customization requirement related to the business logic software
function. The system includes: a business logic software function
collector; a customization requirement manager; and a customization
requirement presenter.
Inventors: |
DING; WEI; (BEIJING, CN)
; WANG; FENG CHUN; (BEIJING, CN) ; ZHOU; XIN;
(BEIJING, CN) ; ZHU; JUN; (BEIJING, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION |
Armonk |
NY |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
43528190 |
Appl. No.: |
14/799359 |
Filed: |
July 14, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13740819 |
Jan 14, 2013 |
9110764 |
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14799359 |
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12845120 |
Jul 28, 2010 |
8380635 |
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13740819 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/300 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 8/70 20130101; G06Q
10/101 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101; G06F 8/20 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20060101
G06Q010/10; G06F 9/44 20060101 G06F009/44 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 31, 2009 |
CN |
200910161823.1 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented user feedback method for customizing
business suite software that is executable on a computer system,
said method comprising: acquiring a business logic software
function associated with a feedback mechanism in a business suite
software user interface for said business suite software, wherein
said step of acquiring a business logic software function
associated with a feedback mechanism in a business suite software
user interface is performed in response to said feedback mechanism
in said business suite software user interface being activated;
acquiring an existing customization requirement related to said
business logic software function and the relationship between said
existing customization requirement related to said business logic
software function and another existing customization requirement
related to said business logic software function; and presenting
said acquired existing customization requirement and said
relationship between said existing customization requirement
related to said business logic software function and said other
existing customization requirement related to said business logic
software function.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: acquiring a
user profile of a business suite software user of said business
suite software; and acquiring an existing customization requirement
related to the content of said user profile, and the relationship
between said existing customization requirement related to said
content of said user profile and another existing customization
requirement related to said content of said user profile or another
existing customization requirement related to the content of
another user profile of another business suite software user of
said business suite software.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a
new customization requirement input by a business suite software
user of said business suite software; and acquiring, by semantic
analysis, the relationship between said existing customization
requirement related to said business logic software function and
said new customization requirement input by said user.
4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: increasing
the weight of said existing customization requirement consistent
with said new customization requirement.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said step of increasing
the weight of said existing customization requirement consistent
with said new customization requirement comprises: presenting said
existing customization requirement consistent with said new
customization requirement to said user to be verified by said user;
receiving said user's verification result; and increasing the
weight of said existing customization requirement consistent with
said new customization requirement verified by said user.
6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: storing
said new customization requirement and said relationship between
said new customization requirement and said existing customization
requirement, wherein said storing step is performed if said
existing customization requirement is not consistent with said new
customization requirement.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said step of storing
said new customization requirement and said relationship between
said new customization requirement and said existing customization
requirement comprises: presenting to said user said acquired
relationship between said existing customization requirement and
said new customization requirement input by said user, receiving
said user's verification result on said relationship; and storing
said new customization requirement and said relationship between
said new customization requirement and said existing customization
requirement verified by said user.
8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a
new customization requirement input by a user of said business
suite software; is receiving the relationship between said new
customization requirement input by said user and said existing
customization requirement; verifying said relationship between said
new customization requirement input by said user and said existing
customization requirement; and storing said verified relationship
between said new customization requirement and said existing
customization requirement.
9. An article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable
instructions which when implemented, causes a computer to carry out
the steps of a computer-implemented user feedback method for
customizing business suite software that is executable on a
computer system according to claim 1.
10. A computer-implemented user feedback system for customizing
business suite software that is executable on a computer system,
said system comprising: a business logic software function
collector for acquiring a business logic software function
associated with a feedback mechanism in a business suite software
user interface for said business suite software, wherein acquiring
a business logic software function associated with a feedback
mechanism in a business suite software user interface for said
business suite software is performed in response to said feedback
mechanism in said business suite software user interface being
activated; a customization requirement manager for acquiring an
existing customization requirement related with said business logic
software function and the relationship between said existing
customization requirement related to said business logic software
function and another existing customization requirement related to
said business logic software function; and a customization
requirement presenter for presenting said acquired existing
customization requirement and said relationship between said
existing customization requirement related to said business logic
software function and said other existing customization requirement
related to said business logic software function.
11. The system according to claim 10, further comprising: a user
profile manager for acquiring a user profile of a business suite
software user, and wherein said customization requirement manager
further acquires an existing customization requirement related to
the content of said user profile and the relationship between said
existing customization requirement related to said content of said
user profile and another existing customization requirement related
to said content of said user profile or another existing
customization requirement related to the content of another user
profile of another business suite software user of said business
suite software.
12. The system according to claim 10, wherein said customization
requirement manager further (i) receives a new customization
requirement input by a business suite software user of said
business suite software and (ii) acquires, by semantic analysis,
the relationship between said existing customization requirement
related to said business logic software function and said new
customization requirement input by said user.
13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said customization
requirement manager further increases the weight of said existing
customization requirement consistent with said new customization
requirement.
14. The system according to claim 13, wherein, if said existing
customization requirement is consistent with said new customization
requirement, said customization requirement manager further (i)
presents said existing customization requirement consistent with
said new customization requirement to said user to be verified by
said user, (ii) receives said user's verification result, and (iii)
increases the weight of said existing customization requirement
consistent with said new customization requirement verified by said
user.
15. The system according to claim 12, wherein said customization
requirement manager further stores said new customization
requirement and said relationship is between said new customization
requirement and said existing customization requirement if said
existing customization requirement is not consistent with said new
customization requirement.
16. The system according to claim 15, wherein if said existing
customization requirement is not consistent with said new
customization requirement, said customization requirement presenter
further presents to said user said acquired relationship between
said existing customization requirement and said new customization
requirement input by said user; and said customization requirement
manager further (i) receives said user's verification result on
said acquired relationship between said existing customization
requirement and said new customization requirement input by said
user and (ii) stores said new customization requirement and said
relationship between said existing customization requirement and
said new customization requirement verified by said user.
17. The system according to claim 10, wherein said customization
requirement manager further (i) receives a new customization
requirement input by a business suite software user of said
business suite software, (ii) receives the relationship between
said new customization requirement input by said user and said
existing customization requirement, (iii) verifies said
relationship between said new customization requirement input by
said user and said existing customization requirement, (iv) and
stores said verified relationship between said new customization
requirement and said existing customization requirement verified by
system.
18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting
incorrect input and determining incorrect relationships between
customization requirements, and alerting users of the incorrect
input and the incorrect relationships, wherein the incorrect input
and incorrect relationships are prevented from being stored in the
non-transitory computer readable storage medium
19. The system according to claim 10, wherein the customization
requirement manager is further configured to detect incorrect input
and determine incorrect relationships between customization
requirements, and to alert users of the incorrect input and the
incorrect relationships, wherein the incorrect input and incorrect
relationships are prevented from being stored in the non-transitory
computer readable storage medium
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Continuation application of copending
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/740,819, filed on Jan. 14,
2013, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and which
claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119 to Chinese Patent
Application No. 200910161823.1 filed Jul. 31, 2009, the entire
contents of which are also incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The invention relates to business suite customization, and
in particular, to a user feedback method and system for business
suite customization.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] A business suite is a collection of a suit of business
software functions for business process management, which provides
business process support for enterprises or organizations. The
business suite is developed typically in a uniform manner, i.e.,
the business suite is designed for a certain kind of user group or
for a certain industrial domain. This enables repeated use of the
same business requirements because certain user groups or users in
a certain industrial domain have the most probability of having the
same business requirement. Since different users have different
skills, preferences, needs and goals, the business suite software
requires customization. The existing business suites generally
provide some core components capable of satisfying basic
requirements in advance, and then different customization needs are
collected during the process when enterprise customers utilize the
business suite, to perform customization.
[0006] In the prior art, the customization mainly is performed in
two ways. One way is through interviewing, i.e., the enterprise
user introduces business logic to the business suite developer, the
developer introduces the current state of the business suite and
creates customization requirement according to the business logic
provided by the enterprise user, and after the both parties come to
an agreement, the developer performs customization on the business
suite. This process is time-consuming. At the same time, since the
customization requirements do not exist in advance, both parties
are required to come to a common understanding on the enterprise
business logic and the business suite state, to effectively perform
customization. In fact, the enterprise user and the developer
usually have some differences in understanding, so that the
customization cannot be effectively performed. The other way is
that the enterprise user provides comments or makes demands during
the trial and testing phase of the business suite, by common
communication mechanisms, such as telephone, email, instant message
and so on, or by a built-in user feedback mechanism (since the
comments and the requirements concern the customization of the
business suite, they are collectively referred to as customization
requirement). This process is also time-consuming, and meanwhile,
since there are a lot of enterprise users, the developer has to
deal with various customization requirements from a large number of
enterprise users, and understand the inter-relationship among these
requirements before performing customization.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] According to an aspect of the invention, a
computer-implemented user feedback method is provided for
customizing business suite software that is executable on a
computer system. The method includes: acquiring a business logic
software function associated with a feedback mechanism in a
business suite software user interface for the business suite
software; acquiring an existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and the relationship
between the existing customization requirement related to the
business logic software function and another existing customization
requirement related to the business logic software function; and
presenting the acquired existing customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and the other existing
customization requirement related to the business logic software
function.
[0008] According to a further aspect of the invention, a
computer-implemented user feedback system is provided for
customizing business suite software that is executable on a
computer system. The system includes: a business logic software
function collector for acquiring a business logic software function
associated with a feedback mechanism in a business suite software
user interface for the business suite software; a customization
requirement manager for acquiring an existing customization
requirement related to the business logic software function and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and another existing
customization requirement related to the business logic software
function; and a customization requirement presenter for presenting
the acquired existing customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement related
to the business logic software function and the other existing
customization requirement related to the business logic software
function.
[0009] According to another aspect of the present invention, an
article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable
instructions which when implemented, causes a computer to carry out
the steps of the method.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 shows an example of a business logic;
[0011] FIG. 2 shows a user feedback interface of a user feedback
system for customizing business suite software according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a user feedback method for
customizing business suite software according to an embodiment of
the present invention; FIG. 4 shows a user feedback interface of
the user feedback system for customizing business suite software
according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0013] FIG. 5 shows a structural block diagram of the user feedback
system for customizing business suite software according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0014] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the invention will be
described with reference to the drawings. For clarity and
simplification, not all the features of the actual embodiments are
described in the specification. However, it should be understood
that during developing any practical embodiment many decisions
specific to the practical embodiment must be made, to realize the
particular target of the developer, for example, to conform those
limitation conditions related to the system and the business, and
those limitation conditions may vary with different embodiments. In
addition, it should be understood that the developing work may be
very complicated and time-consuming, but for the person skilled in
the art benefiting from the disclosure of the invention, such
developing work is only a routine task.
[0015] In addition, it is to be noted that, in order to avoid
blurring the invention by unnecessary details, only structures
and/or processing steps closely related to the solutions of the
invention are shown in the drawings, while omitting other details
little related to the invention.
[0016] Most existing business suites contain a user feedback
mechanism. The user feedback mechanism has various representing
forms, for example, there can be a comment issuance mechanism in
some of the pages of the business suite or there can be a mechanism
to acquire feedback by email, instant message and so on, or there
can be other mechanisms that allow users to provide feedback. The
user feedback mechanism in the prior art is separated from the
business logic of the business suite, i.e., the user feedback
mechanism only serves as an additional function for the business
suite for a user of the business suite to make customization
requirements to the developer, so that the developer is able to
perform customization on the business suite according to the
customization requirements made by the user.
[0017] The various customization requirements made by the users
normally have internal correlations between them. For example, the
customization requirements made by the users working in the
warehouse department at the same time are normally correlated. The
customization requirements made by the user working in the
warehouse department and by the user working in the purchasing
department may have correlations of a certain degree. These
correlations are brought by the correlations in the relationship
between the respective users in the business logic. Separating the
relationship between the user feedback mechanism of the existing
Business Suite from the business suite complicates the work of the
developer in processing various customization requirement.
[0018] The user feedback method and system for customizing business
suite software that is executable on a computer system according to
the present invention will be described in detail below.
[0019] With reference to FIG. 1, partial business logic of a cake
factory is shown, and the partial business logic can be considered
as a business logic relating to order form processing and warehouse
managing in the business suite used by the cake factory.
[0020] FIG. 1 will be described in a flow manner. At the same time,
what is shown in FIG. 1 is the business logic originally supported
by the business suite provided to the cake factory, i.e., the
business logic supported by the business suite without
customization. As shown in FIG. 1, when a salesman Linda receives
an order form, she first checks is the stock, and if the stock is
enough for the order form, Linda will issue a stock-out sheet, and
a stock manager Bill picks up and delivers goods; if the stock is
not enough for the order form, Linda will issue a production note,
and the production department finishes the production of goods, and
then packer Peter packs them and issues a stock-in sheet so as to
put the packed products in the warehouse.
[0021] The example in FIG. 1 also shows the positions of the three
workers working in the cake factory in the business logic.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the
feedback mechanisms in the respective user interfaces in the
business suite and the respective business logic functions in the
business suite can be first correlated. For example, the user
feedback mechanism in a checking stock page and the "checking
stock" function in the business logic are correlated, the feedback
mechanism in a stock-out page and the "stock-out" function in the
business logic are correlated, the user feedback mechanism in a
stock-in page and the "stock-in" function in the business logic are
correlated, and so on. Such correlations can be realized by many
ways in the prior art, in which one way is to create a link between
the feedback mechanism of the business suite user interface and the
business logic function, and then store this link by any available
approach in the prior art, such as by database, XML and so on.
[0022] FIG. 2 shows a user feedback interface of a user feedback
system for customizing business suite software according to a
second embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of
the user feedback interface, and the person skilled in the art can
use other forms of user feedback interface. When a user attempts to
use the feedback mechanism in some user interface in the business
suite to make a customization requirement, i.e., activates the
feedback mechanism in some user interface in the business suite,
the user will be directed to the user feedback system for business
suite customization according to the present invention. For
example, the user is directed to the user feedback interface of the
user feedback system as shown in FIG. 2. At this time, the user
feedback system according to the present invention can acquire the
existing customization requirement correlated with the business
logic function and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements, according to the business logic
function associated with the feedback mechanism in the user
interface in the business suite, and present them to the user, so
that the user's customization requirement can be correlated with
the business logic function in the business suite when the user
makes the customization requirement.
[0023] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the user Linda finds, when
operating in the "stock-out" page, that she needs shelf life
information of the product when creating the stock-out request, but
there is no corresponding function in the current Business Suite.
Then, Linda wishes to make the customization requirement--"the
checking stock function must support checking the shelf life of the
product"--through the user feedback mechanism in the "stock-out"
page. At this time, Linda is directed to the user feedback
interface as shown in FIG. 2.
[0024] As described above, the user feedback mechanisms of the
respective user interfaces in the business suite have been
correlated with the respective logic functions of the business
suite, and since the business suite logic function associated with
the user feedback mechanism in the "stock-out" page is "stock-out"
function, the user feedback system according to the present
invention can first acquire the "stock-out" function, and further
acquire the existing customization requirement correlated with the
"stock-out" function and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements, and present them to Linda. As shown in
FIG. 2, since the customization requirement about "creating
stock-out sheets for a part of the order forms" previously made by
Linda is correlated with the "stock-out" function, it is acquired
by the user feedback system, and presented to Linda.
[0025] With reference to FIG. 3, the user feedback method for
customizing business suite according to another embodiment of the
present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 3 shows a
flowchart of the user feedback method 300 for business suite
customization according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The user feedback method 300 begins with step 302.
[0026] Then, the method proceeds to step 304, in which, in response
to the feedback mechanism in the business suite user interface
being activated, the business logic function associated with the
feedback mechanism of the business suite user interface is
acquired. This object can be achieved by storing correspondence
relationship between identifiers of the feedback mechanisms in
respective user interfaces in the business suite and respective
business logic functions in the business suite in advance, and
inquiring the correspondence relationship at the time of use, or by
acquiring the corresponding user interface identifier by means of
the identifiers of the feedback mechanism in the respective user
interface in the business suite, and searching the correspondence
relationship between the user interface identifiers and the
respective business logic functions in the business suite.
[0027] Then, the user feedback method 300 proceeds to step 306, in
which the existing customization requirement correlated with the
business logic function and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements are acquired. The existing customization
requirements includes all the customization requirements correlated
with the business logic function in the user feedback system, and
the relationship between the existing customization requirements is
the internal connection among the existing customization
requirements, and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements can be inputted by the user, such as,
the relationship between a plurality of existing customization
requirements accumulated by Linda correlating, when making the
customization requirement about "the checking stock function must
support checking the shelf life of the product", the customization
requirement and a customization requirement about "the shelf life
should be labeled when stocking in a produced product" made by
Peter; or the relationship obtained by the user feedback system
through performing semantic analysis on the customization
requirements.
[0028] For example, the system recognizes that the customization
requirement made by Linda is correlated with subjects "checking
stock function" and "shelf life" by semantic analysis, and the
system also recognizes that the customization requirement made by
Peter is correlated with subjects "product stock-in", and "shelf
life" by semantic analysis. The system recognizes that they both
are correlated with the subject "shelf life" by semantic analysis,
thereby storing this relationship between them. This relationship
can be stored in a tree-based data structure, in which the root
node is the common subject among the customization requirements
("shelf life" in this example), and the leaf nodes are respective
customization requirements, and the links between the leaf nodes
indicate the relationship between the customization requirements.
The existing customization requirement and the relationship between
the customization requirement can be stored by other data
structures in the prior art, such as linked list, array and so
on.
[0029] After acquiring the above existing customization requirement
and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements, the user feedback method 300 proceeds to step 308, in
which the acquired existing customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirements are
presented. The purpose for presenting the existing customization
requirement and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements to the user is for enabling the user to understand the
current state of the existing customization requirement in the user
feedback system and thus correlate a new customization requirement
with the existing customization requirement according to the
relationship is between the customization requirements when making
the new customization requirement, so that the customization
requirements can be stored more effectively for the demands of the
customization, and for example, the existing customization
requirement and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements can be presented through a tree structure or other
graphics, and any other manners in the prior art, as long as the
above purpose can be attained. Then, the method proceeds to step
310 and is ended.
[0030] Since the roles of the users in the business process may be
different, i.e., the positions of the user in the business logic of
the business suite are different, there is a corresponding user
profile for each user, recording information such as roles in the
business process and the like, and the user feedback method
according to the present invention also can further filter the
existing customization requirements by using the user profile,
thereby obtaining the existing customization requirement that is
further correlated with the user and the relationship between the
existing customization requirements. That is, the user feedback
method for business suite customization according to the present
invention can further include acquiring the user profile, and
further acquiring the existing customization requirement related to
the content of the user profile and the relationship between the
existing customization requirements.
[0031] For example, Linda is a salesman, so her corresponding user
profile will record her position in the business logic. With
respect to the business logic of FIG. 1, Linda is directly in
charge of the checking stock function, and she will also become
involved in the production and stock-out functions in the business
logic. The information will all be recorded in her user profile,
and other information such as the operating habit of the user and
the like may also be recorded in the user profile. All the
information recorded in the user profile can be used to further
filter the existing customization requirements. When Linda tries to
make a customization requirement by the user feedback mechanism in
the "stock-out" page, she is directed to the user feedback
interface as shown in FIG. 2.
[0032] At this time, in addition to the processes as shown in FIG.
3, the user feedback system according to the present invention can
further acquire Linda's user profile, and further acquire the
existing customization requirement correlated with the content in
Linda's user profile and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements. Since Linda's user profile records that
she will be involved in checking stock, producing and stocking-out
functions in the business logic, the existing customization
requirement correlated with the stock, production and stock-out
functions and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements will also be acquired.
[0033] For example, in addition to the customization requirement,
"creating stock-out sheets for a part of the order forms," which
was previously made by Linda, the customization requirement, "it is
required to input product batch number when stocking-in a product,"
made by Peter, the packer of the production department, and is the
relationship between this requirement and other existing
customization requirements can also be acquired and presented to
Linda.
[0034] Alternatively, when the user inputs a new customization
requirement, the user feedback method for business suite
customization according to the embodiment of the present invention
can further include: receiving the new customization requirement
inputted by the user; acquiring the relationship between the new
customization requirement and the existing customization
requirement by semantic analysis; if there is no existing
customization requirement consistent with the new customization
requirement, storing the new customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement and the
new customization requirement; alternatively, if there is no
existing customization requirement consistent with the new
customization requirement, presenting to the user the acquired
relationship between the existing customization requirement and the
new customization requirement inputted by the user, receiving the
user verification result on the above relationship; and storing the
user-verified new customization requirement and the relationship
between the new customization requirement and the existing
customization requirement.
[0035] Described above is the process of the user feedback system
for business suite customization according to the present invention
when the user inputs a new customization requirement. Still taking
the above cake factory as an example, Linda makes the customization
requirement, "the checking stock function must support checking the
shelf life of the product," through the feedback mechanism. The
user feedback mechanism analyzes that there is correlation between
this requirement and the requirement, "the shelf life of the
product should be input when stocking-in the produced product,"
previously made by Peter. Thereafter, the user feedback system
stores this correlation, or after this correlation is confirmed by
Linda, Linda's requirement and the requirement, "the shelf life of
the product should be input when stocking-in the produced product,"
previously made by Peter, are stored under the same subject "shelf
life". Alternatively, the user can also directly input the
relationship between the existing customization requirement and the
new customization requirement inputted by the user.
[0036] Since for different customization requirements, the levels
of concern or attention received are different, according to
another embodiment of the present invention, the weight of the
customization requirement can be utilized to indicate the level of
concern. Alternatively, when a user inputs a new customization
requirement, the user feedback method for business suite
customization according to the embodiment of the present invention
further includes: receiving the new customization requirement
inputted by the user; acquiring the relationship between the
existing customization requirement and the new customization
requirement inputted by the user through semantic analysis; and if
there is an existing customization requirement consistent with the
new customization requirement, a weight of the existing
customization requirement consistent with the new customization
requirement is increased.
[0037] Alternatively, if there is an existing customization
requirement consistent with the new customization requirement, the
existing customization requirement consistent with the new
customization requirement is presented to the user to be verified
by the user, the user's verification result is received, and a
weight of the existing customization requirement consistent with
the new customization requirement after verified by the user is
increased. If there is no existing customization requirement
consistent with the new customization requirement, the new
customization requirement and the relationship between the existing
customization requirement and the new customization requirement are
stored.
[0038] Still taking the above cake factory as an example, when the
salesman Linda makes a customization requirement, "creating
stock-out sheets for a part of the order forms," through the user
feedback interface, and submits it, the user feedback system
analyzes the existing customization requirement, and acquires the
relationship between the existing customization requirement and the
customization requirement, "creating stock-out sheets for a part of
the order forms". For example, the system acknowledges that the
customization requirement, "creating stock-out sheets for a part of
the order forms," is consistent with the customization requirement,
"creating stock-out sheets for a part of the order forms," which
was previously made by Linda through semantic analysis. After this
analysis result is confirmed by Linda, the user feedback system
will increase the weight of the requirement, "creating stock-out
sheets for a part of the order forms".
[0039] Alternatively, when the user inputs a new customization
requirement, and further inputs the relationship between the new
customization requirement and the existing customization
requirement, the user feedback method for business suite
customization according to an embodiment of the invention further
includes: receiving the new customization requirement input by the
user; receiving the relationship between the new customization
requirement input by the user and the existing customization
requirement; verifying the relationship between the new
customization requirement input by the user and the existing
customization requirement; and storing the relationship between the
new customization requirement input by the user and the existing
customization requirement verified by the system. The purpose for
this is to avoid the erroneously storing of the relationship
between the customization requirements caused by the user's
mis-operation. Since the feedback system according to the present
invention presents to the user the existing customization
requirement and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements, so that the user can view the current state of the
existing customization requirement in the user feedback system,
when submitting the new customization requirement, the user can
correlate the new customization requirement with the existing
customization requirement according to the relationship between
customization requirements.
[0040] Still taking the above cake factory as an example, when the
salesman Linda makes the customization requirement, "the checking
stock function must support checking the shelf life of the
product," and submits it, the user feedback system analyzes the
existing customization requirement, acquires the relationship
between the existing customization requirement and the
customization requirement, "the checking stock function must
support checking the shelf life of the product," made by Linda, and
presents the above relationship to the user. For example, by
semantic analysis, the system can obtain the customization
requirement, "the checking stock function must support checking the
shelf life of the product," made by Linda and the customization
requirement, "the shelf life of the product should be input when
stocking-in the produced product," previously made by Peter are
both related to the topic of "shelf life", and the above
relationship is presented to Linda. At this time, by choosing the
customization requirement, "the shelf life of the product should be
input when stocking-in the produced product," made by Peter and
clicking a button such as "agree with an existing customization
requirement", Linda can indicate that her requirement is consistent
with this requirement.
[0041] At this time, there mis-operation may occur. For example,
Linda can mistakenly select an existing customization requirement,
"needing to input product batch number when stocking-in a product,"
made by Peter, and click the button such as "agree with an existing
customization requirement" to indicate that her requirement is
consistent with this requirement, so that the relationship between
the input new customization requirement and the existing
customization requirement is incorrect.
[0042] In the above case, according to the present invention, after
receiving the new customization requirement inputted by the user
and the relationship between the new customization requirement and
the existing customization requirement, by verifying the
relationship between the new customization requirement inputted by
the user and the existing customization requirement by the means of
semantic analysis and so on, or by the user's verification, the
user feedback system can correctly store the relationship between
the new customization requirement inputted by the user and the
existing customization requirement. In the above situation, through
the verification, the user feedback system can acknowledge that the
relationship between the customization requirement input by Linda
and the existing customization requirement is not correct, the
customization requirement made by Linda should be correlated with
the customization requirement, "the shelf life of the product
should be input when stocking-in the produced product". Thus, the
system prompts Linda to make a correction, and after Linda's
verification, the customization requirement, "the checking stock
function must support checking the shelf life of the product," is
stored.
[0043] FIG. 4 shows the exemplary user feedback interface after
those processes described above have been performed. Since Linda
and Bill both made the customization requirement, "creating
stock-out sheets for a part of the order forms", its weigh is
increased (represented as "1 echo" in FIG. 4). At the same time,
FIG. 4 further shows the relationship between other existing
customization requirement and the existing customization
requirement.
[0044] Below, with reference to FIG. 5, a user feedback system 500
for business suite customization according to the present invention
is described. The feedback mechanism in the business suite user
interface is related to the business logic function of the business
suite, and the user feedback system 500 includes: a business logic
collector 502 for acquiring the business logic function associated
with the feedback mechanism in the business suite user interface in
response to the feedback mechanism in the business suite user
interface being activated; a customization requirement manager 504
for acquiring the existing customization requirement related to the
business logic function and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements; and a customization requirement
presenter 506 for presenting the acquired existing customization
requirement and the relationship between the existing customization
requirements.
[0045] According to one aspect of the present invention, the user
feedback system for business suite customization can further
include a user profile manager 508 for acquiring a user profile of
a business suite user, where the customization requirement manager
further acquires the existing customization requirement related to
the user profile and the relationship between the existing
customization requirements.
[0046] Alternatively, the customization requirement manager can
further receive the new customization requirement inputted by the
user, acquire the relationship between the existing customization
requirement and the new customization requirement inputted by the
user, and store the new customization requirement and the
relationship between the existing customization requirement and the
new customization requirement.
[0047] Alternatively, the customization requirement manager can
receive the new customization requirement inputted by the user,
acquire the relationship between the existing customization
requirement and the new customization requirement inputted by the
user, and in response to the presence of the existing customization
requirement consistent with the new customization requirement,
increase the weight of the existing customization requirement
consistent with the new customization requirement.
[0048] Alternatively, the customization requirement manager can
receive the new customization requirement inputted by the user,
receive the relationship between the new customization requirement
inputted by the user and the existing customization requirement,
verify the relationship between the new customization requirement
inputted by the user and the existing customization requirement,
and store the relationship between the new customization
requirement and the existing customization requirement verified by
the system.
[0049] The basic principle of the present invention is described
above in connection with the particular embodiments, but it is to
be noted that, for the person skilled in the art, he can understand
all or any step or means of the method and the apparatus of the
present invention can be implemented in any computing device
(including processor, and storage medium and so on) or a network of
computing device, in hardware, firmware, software or combination
thereof. This can be implemented by the person skilled in the art
after reading the specification of the present invention, using
their basic programming skills.
[0050] Thus, the present invention can be implemented by running a
program or a set of programs on a computing device. The computing
device can be a well-known general-purpose device. The present
invention can also be implemented by a program product that
contains program codes for executing the method or apparatus. That
is, the present invention can include such a program product or a
storage medium for storing such a program product. The storage
medium can be a known storage medium or a storage medium which will
be developed in the future.
[0051] It is also to be noted that, in the apparatus and method of
the present invention, each means or each step can be split and/or
recombined. Such split and/or recombination should be considered as
an equivalent solution of the present invention. Further, the steps
for performing the above series of processes can be performed in
chronological order according to the illustrative order, but need
not be performed in chronological order. Some steps can be
performed in parallel or independently with each other.
[0052] Although the present invention and its advantages have been
described in detail, it should be understood that a modification,
substitution and alternation can be made without departing from the
spirit and the scope of the present invention defined by the
attached claims. The terms "including", "containing" or any other
variation of the application are intended to cover the
non-exclusive including, so that the procedure, method, article or
means including a series of elements, not only include these
elements, but also include other elements not definitely listed
here, or include inherent elements for the procedure, method,
article or means. Without other limitations, the element defined by
the sentence "including a . . . " does not exclude another same
element present in the procedure, method, article or means
including the element.
* * * * *