U.S. patent application number 17/569857 was filed with the patent office on 2022-08-04 for method and system for managing membership of communication channels associated with projects of an enterprise entity.
The applicant listed for this patent is Clari Inc.. Invention is credited to DAVID BAO, RAJKUMAR PONNUSAMY.
Application Number | 20220245561 17/569857 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000006109155 |
Filed Date | 2022-08-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220245561 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
PONNUSAMY; RAJKUMAR ; et
al. |
August 4, 2022 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING MEMBERSHIP OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
ASSOCIATED WITH PROJECTS OF AN ENTERPRISE ENTITY
Abstract
According to one embodiment, a customer relationship management
(CRM) system is queried to obtain a list of projects that are
associated with a particular user. A subset of the projects is
selected from the list. Each of the projects in the subset includes
an attribute that has been set to a predetermined attribute value
or attribute state by the user (e.g., flagged, starred, a
checkbox). For each of the projects in the subset, a communication
channel (e.g., an instant messaging or IM system, an email group, a
group chat, a social network community) associated with the project
is identified. It is determined whether the user is already a
member of the communication channel. If the user is not a member of
the communication channel, the user is automatically added to the
communication channel without user intervention from the user.
Inventors: |
PONNUSAMY; RAJKUMAR;
(Sunnyvale, CA) ; BAO; DAVID; (Sunnyvale,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Clari Inc. |
Sunnyvale |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000006109155 |
Appl. No.: |
17/569857 |
Filed: |
January 6, 2022 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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15462314 |
Mar 17, 2017 |
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17569857 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 51/046 20130101;
H04L 51/212 20220501; G06Q 10/063114 20130101; H04L 51/214
20220501 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/06 20060101
G06Q010/06; H04L 51/046 20060101 H04L051/046; H04L 51/00 20060101
H04L051/00 |
Claims
1.-20. (canceled)
21. A computer-implemented method of managing electronic
communication channels of an electronic communications system, the
method comprising: querying, by a server via a first application
programming interface (API) over a network, a database system to
obtain a first list of data entities, wherein each of the data
entities of the first list includes information of a task expected
to be completed within a predetermined period of time, and wherein
each task is processed according to a plurality of predetermined
states that are in a sequential order and define a life cycle of
the corresponding task; storing the first list of data entities in
a local data store maintained in a persistent storage device of the
server; selecting a subset of the data entities from the first list
of data entities retrieved from the local data store that satisfies
one or more predetermined criteria; for each data entity in the
subset of the data entities, identifying a first list of a
plurality of electronic communication channels associated with the
corresponding data entity, determining whether a first user is in a
first user role configured to be associated with a first state of
the corresponding data entity, accessing the electronic
communications system via a second API over the network to identify
a first electronic communication channel of the plurality of
electronic communication channels of which the first user is not a
member, and in response to determining that the first user is not a
member of the first electronic communication channel and that the
first user is in the first user role, automatically adding the
first user as a member to the first electronic communication
channel, such that the first user can communicate with another
member of the first electronic communication channel; an
transmitting requests to the database system via the first API and
the electronic communications system via the second API
respectively over the network to add the first user to the first
communication channel.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein an attribute of each of the
data entities in the subset indicates whether the first user has
flagged the data entity.
23. The method of claim 21, further comprising sorting the data
entities in the first list based on a size of each data entity,
wherein the subset of the data entities is selected from a
predetermined number of data entities according to a sorted
order.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein the first list of data entities
is owned by the first user or owned by a user group associated with
the first user.
25. The method of claim 21, further comprising: determining whether
the data entity has reached a second state in the plurality of
predetermined states; in response to determining that the data
entity has reached the second state, identifying a second
electronic communication channel of the plurality of electronic
communication channels, wherein the second electronic communication
channel includes a second user as a member of the second electronic
communication channel; determining that the second user is in a
second user role configured to be associated with the second state;
accessing the electronic communications system via the second API
to determine that an amount of activities performed by the second
user is below a predetermined amount; and removing the second user
from the second communication channel, in response to determining
that the second user is in the second user role and the amount of
activities is below the predetermined amount.
26. The method of claim 21, further comprising: querying the
electronic communications system via the second API to identify a
second list of electronic communication channels associated with a
client; for each of the electronic communication channels in the
second list, querying the database system via the first API to
identify a second data entity associated with the electronic
communication channel; and automatically adding a third user having
a third user role as a member to the electronic communication
channel.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising examining a current
state of the data entity to determine whether the current state of
the data entity satisfies a third state in the plurality of
predetermined states, wherein the third user is added to the
electronic communication channel, in response to determining that
the current state of the second data entity satisfies the third
state.
28. The method of claim 26, wherein the third user role represents
a group leader of a user group.
29. The method of claim 21, further comprising: querying the
database system via the first API to identify a third list of a
plurality of data entities; for each of the data entities in the
third list, examining a current state of the data entity to
determine whether the current state of the data entity satisfies a
fourth state in the plurality of predetermined states; querying the
electronic communications system via the second API based on the
data entity to identify an electronic communication channel
associated with the data entity, in response to determining that
the current state of the data entity satisfies the fourth state;
and removing at least one member from the identified electronic
communication channel.
30. The method of claim 21, further comprising: querying, via a
third API, an electronic calendar system associated with a fourth
user to obtain a list of one or more events associated with the
fourth user that have been scheduled within a predetermined time
period; obtaining, from the electronic calendar system via the
third API, a plurality of email addresses of a plurality of
attendees of the one or more events; and examining the email
addresses of the attendees to determine whether to add an attendee
to a communication channel.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein examining the email addresses
of the attendees comprises: for each of the email addresses,
determining a domain name of the email address; querying the
database system via the first API to obtain a second list of one or
more data entities associated with the domain name; for each of the
data entities in the second list, determining whether the fourth
user is a member of an electronic communication channel associated
with the data entity; and adding the fourth user as a member to the
electronic communication channel associated with the data entity,
in response to determining that the fourth user is not a member of
the electronic communication channel associated with the data
entity.
32. The method of claim 30, further comprising removing email
addresses having a domain name that is associated with an
organization of the fourth user before examining the email
addresses.
33. The method of claim 30, further comprising sorting the data
entities in the second list based on a number of events associated
with each data entity, wherein the fourth user is added to
electronic communication channels of a subset of the data entities
selected according to a sorted order.
34. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more predetermined
criteria comprise at least one of: each data entity in the subset
of the data entities includes an attribute indicating that the data
entity has been flagged; or each data entity in the subset of the
data entities is in the first state of the plurality of
predetermined states.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the one or more predetermined
criteria further comprise at least one of: each data entity in the
subset of the data entities has reached the first state within a
same period of time; or each data entity in the subset of the data
entities has an estimated time frame in which the data entity is to
move from the first state to a second state in the plurality of
predetermined states.
36. The method of claim 21, wherein the electronic communication
channels include at least one of an instant messaging system, an
email group, a group chat, or a social network community, and
wherein each of the plurality of electronic communication channels
enables electronic communication over an electronic network.
37. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions
stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the
processor to perform operations of managing electronic
communication channels of an electronic communications system, the
operations comprising: querying, by a server via a first
application programming interface (API) over a network, a database
system to obtain a first list of data entities, wherein each of the
data entities of the first list includes information of a task
expected to be completed within a predetermined period of time, and
wherein each task is processed according to a plurality of
predetermined states that are in a sequential order and define a
life cycle of the corresponding task; storing the first list of
data entities in a local data store maintained in a persistent
storage device of the server; selecting a subset of the data
entities from the first list of data entities retrieved from the
local data store that satisfies one or more predetermined criteria;
for each data entity in the subset of the data entities,
identifying a first list of a plurality of electronic communication
channels associated with the corresponding data entity, determining
whether a first user is in a first user role configured to be
associated with a first state of the corresponding data entity,
accessing the electronic communications system via a second API
over the network to identify a first electronic communication
channel of the plurality of electronic communication channels of
which the first user is not a member, and in response to
determining that the first user is not a member of the first
electronic communication channel and that the first user is in the
first user role, automatically adding the first user as a member to
the first electronic communication channel, such that the first
user can communicate with another member of the first electronic
communication channel; and transmitting requests to the database
system via the first API and the electronic communications system
via the second API respectively over the network to add the first
user to the first communication channel.
38. The machine-readable medium of claim 37, wherein an attribute
of each of the data entities in the subset indicates whether the
first user has flagged the data entity.
39. The machine-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the operations
further comprise sorting the data entities in the first list based
on a size of each data entity, wherein the subset of the data
entities is selected from a predetermined number of data entities
according to a sorted order.
40. A data processing system, comprising: a processor; and a memory
coupled to the processor and storing instructions, which when
executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform
operations of managing electronic communication channels of an
electronic communications system, the operations comprising:
querying, by a server via a first application programming interface
(API) over a network, a database system to obtain a first list of
data entities, wherein each of the data entities of the first list
includes information of a task expected to be completed within a
predetermined period of time, and wherein each task is processed
according to a plurality of predetermined states that are in a
sequential order and define a life cycle of the corresponding task;
storing the first list of data entities in a local data store
maintained in a persistent storage device of the server; selecting
a subset of the data entities from the first list of data entities
retrieved from the local data store that satisfies one or more
predetermined criteria; for each data entity in the subset of the
data entities, identifying a first list of a plurality of
electronic communication channels associated with the corresponding
data entity, determining whether a first user is in a first user
role configured to be associated with a first state of the
corresponding data entity, accessing the electronic communications
system via a second API over the network to identify a first
electronic communication channel of the plurality of electronic
communication channels of which the first user is not a member, and
in response to determining that the first user is not a member of
the first electronic communication channel and that the first user
is in the first user role, automatically adding the first user as a
member to the first electronic communication channel, such that the
first user can communicate with another member of the first
electronic communication channel; and transmitting requests to the
database system via the first API and the electronic communications
system via the second API respectively over the network to add the
first user to the first communication channel.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to
project management. More particularly, embodiments of the invention
relate to automatically managing memberships associated with
projects of an enterprise entity.
BACKGROUND
[0002] A user, when trying to do a project with another
organization, leverages a team of people from his/her own
organization throughout the project process. There is a constant
need to communicate with the right people in his/her organization
and also to keep the most relevant people up to date about what is
happening with the project.
[0003] Although project specific communication platforms such as
instant messaging exist, none of them tackle the problem of
automatically bringing together the most relevant people for a
specific project. Most of these other solutions are not
intelligently managed and involve several manual steps. Project
managers must know which projects they need to follow up on, and
users must know who they need to reach out to in order to leverage
these platforms. This results in low adoption of those tools.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of
example and not limited to the figures of the accompanying drawings
in which like references indicate similar elements.
[0005] FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams illustrating a network
configuration according to certain embodiments of the
invention.
[0006] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a
project management system according to one embodiment of the
invention.
[0007] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an architecture of
projects according to one embodiment of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to one embodiment of the invention.
[0009] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention.
[0010] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention.
[0011] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing
system according to one embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Various embodiments and aspects of the inventions will be
described with reference to details discussed below, and the
accompanying drawings will illustrate the various embodiments. The
following description and drawings are illustrative of the
invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.
Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough
understanding of various embodiments of the present invention.
However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details
are not described in order to provide a concise discussion of
embodiments of the present inventions.
[0014] Reference in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an
embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiment can be
included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The
appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in
the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same
embodiment.
[0015] According to some embodiments, a communication channel
membership management system is utilized to automatically add and
remove people who are most relevant to the projects. By doing so,
users are freed of the burden of finding right person and bringing
them up to speed. By automatically adding the right people at the
right time, they are ramped up by following the conversation in the
associated communication channels. The membership management system
is tapping into multiple different sources of information to find
the right people and the right time to add and remove.
[0016] The system is able to automatically detect characteristics
of each project being worked on, and even the engagement styles of
each individual user, manager, and other related individuals in
order to manage team communication. For individual users, their
time and effort required find the right people and to bring them up
to speed is drastically reduced or eliminated. For managers, they
can get automatically looped into the most important project
discussions, helping their users when they are needed most. For
users with specific roles (e.g., finance, legal, etc.), they can be
included in a project flow only when their skills are needed.
[0017] According to one aspect of the invention, a customer
relationship management (CRM) system is queried to obtain a list of
projects that are associated with a particular user. A subset of
the projects is selected from the list. Each of the projects in the
subset includes an attribute that has been set to a predetermined
attribute value or attribute state by the user (e.g., flagged,
starred, a checkbox). For each of the projects in the subset, a
communication channel (e.g., an instant messaging or IM system, an
email group, a group chat, a social network community) associated
with the project is identified. It is determined whether the user
is already a member of the communication channel. If the user is
not a member of the communication channel, the user is
automatically added to the communication channel without user
intervention from the user. As a result, the user is automatically
brought in and can communicate with existing members of the
communication channel to discuss further regarding the project.
Automatically adding a user to a communication channel refers to a
situation in which the user does not have to specifically join the
communication channel. Rather, the system automatically adds the
user in the communication channel without user intervention from
the user.
[0018] According to another aspect of the invention, a
communication system (e.g., an instant messaging or IM system, an
email group, a group chat, a social network community) is queried
to identify a list of communication channels that are associated
with one or more Enterprise clients. For each of the communication
channels, a CRM system is queried to identify a project associated
with the communication channel. A current state of the project is
examined to determine whether the current state of the project
reaches a predetermined state (e.g., to be closed within a period
of time, closed, won, or lost). In response to determining that the
project reaches the predetermined state, one or more users having a
specific user role (e.g., finance, legal people) are automatically
added as members to the communication channel. The specific user
role may be configured to be specifically associated with the
predetermined state. Different user roles may be associated with
different stages of a project. As a result, a user with a user role
associated with a particular project state can be automatically
added to the communication channel, once the project reaches that
particular project state.
[0019] According to another aspect of the invention, an electronic
calendar system associated with a user is queried to obtain a list
of one or meetings that have been scheduled with in a predetermined
period of time. The meetings may be related to one or more
projects. For each of the meetings, one or more email addresses of
one or more attendees are obtained from the electronic calendar
system. For each of the email addresses, a domain name or domain
identifier (ID) is determined from the email address. For each
domain name, a CRM system is queried to obtain a list of one or
more projects associated with an Enterprise client corresponding to
the domain name. For each of the projects, it is determined whether
the user is a member of a communication channel associated with the
project. In response to determining that the user is not a member
of the communication channel, the user is automatically added as a
member to the communication channel.
[0020] According to a further aspect of the invention, a CRM system
is queried to identify a list of projects. For each of the projects
in the list, a current state of the project is examined to
determine whether the state of the project reaches a predetermined
state or stage. In response to determining that the state of the
project has reached the predetermined state, a communication system
is queried to identify a communication channel associated with the
project. At least one member of the communication channel is
automatically removed. In one embodiment, a member is removed from
the communication channel only if there is no relevant activity or
an amount of relevant activities is less than a predetermined
threshold within a past predetermined period of time, for example,
after the project reaches the predetermined stage. A relevant
activity refers to an activity that is related to a particular
member of a particular user role with respect to the associated
project.
[0021] FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a network
configuration according to one embodiment of the invention.
Referring to FIG. 1A, system 100 includes, but is not limited to,
one or more client systems 101-102 communicatively coupled to
servers 104-105 over network 103. Clients 101-102 may be any type
of clients such as a host or server, a personal computer (e.g.,
desktops, laptops, and tablets), a "thin" client, a personal
digital assistant (PDA), a Web enabled appliance, or a mobile phone
(e.g., Smartphone), etc. Network 103 may be any type of networks
such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such
as the Internet, or a combination thereof, wired or wireless.
Servers 104-105 can be any kinds of servers or a cluster of
servers, such as, for example, Web servers, application servers,
cloud servers, backend servers, etc.
[0022] CRM system/server 105 provides CRM services to a variety of
clients, which may be periodically or constantly accessed and
updated by the clients for managing their CRM data or other project
management data. CRM data includes any kinds of customer
relationship management data, such as, for example, projects,
tasks, deals, contracts, etc. The CRM services may be provided by a
variety of CRM vendors, such as, for example Salesforce.com, SAP
AG, Oracle, and Microsoft. CRM is a term that refers to practices,
strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and
analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer
lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with
customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales
growth. CRM systems are designed to compile information on
customers across different channels or points of contact between
the customer and the company, which could include the company's
website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and
social media.
[0023] In one embodiment, project management system or sever 104
(also referred to as a data analytics system or server) provides
project management and/or data analytics services to clients
101-102 based on CRM data provided by CRM system 105 as a data
source. Note that although there is only one CRM system shown,
multiple CRM systems may also be implemented, where project
management system 104 may be implemented as a multi-tenancy system
that can access multiple CRM systems concurrently over network 103.
For example, a user of client device 101 may be associated with a
first organization as a first corporate client to project
management system 104, while a user of client device 102 may be
associated with a second organization as a second corporate client
to data analytics system 104. The first and second organizations
may employ different ones of CRM systems 105. Also note that a CRM
system is utilized as an example of data sources, however, other
types of data sources or systems can also be applied.
[0024] In one embodiment, project management system 104 includes,
but it is not limited to, project manager 110, channel manager 120,
and data store 130. The project management system 104 may further
include a user interface, which can be any kind of user interface
(e.g., Web, graphical user interface or GUI, or command line
interface or CLI) that allows users of client devices 101-102 to
access the services provided by project management system 104. In
one embodiment, such a service may include automatic membership
management of communication channels associated with a variety of
projects. The membership management includes automatically adding
and removing members of communication channels under a variety of
circumstances. A project can be any kind of projects such as a
sales project (also referred to as an opportunity).
[0025] Data store 130 stores or caches CRM data of a variety of
projects, which may be periodically updated from the corresponding
data source(s) or data provider(s), in this example, CRM system(s)
105. Alternatively, project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120
may directly access CRM system(s) 105 to query and retrieve the CRM
data. Data stored in data store 130 can be maintained in a variety
of data structures, such as tables or databases. Project manager
110 and/or channel manager 120 can access data store 130 via a
variety of application programming interfaces (APIs), database
queries, or other suitable communication protocols (e.g.,
structured query language or SQL).
[0026] In one embodiment, channel manager 120 is configured to
automatically add and remove users who are most relevant to certain
projects managed by project manager 110. By doing so, users are
freed of the burden of finding right person and bringing them up to
speed. By automatically adding the right people at the right time,
they are ramped up by following the conversation in the associated
communication channels. Project manager 110 and channel manager 120
are tapping into multiple different sources (e.g., CRM systems 105,
email servers 106, and communication systems 107) of information to
find the right people and the right time to add and remove.
[0027] The project manager 110 is able to automatically detect
characteristics of each project (e.g., project stages) being worked
on, and even the engagement styles of each individual user,
manager, and other related individuals in order for channel manager
120 to manage team communication. For individual users, their time
and effort required find the right people and to bring them up to
speed is drastically reduced or eliminated. For managers, they can
get automatically looped into the most important project
discussions, helping their users when they are needed most. For
users with specific roles (e.g., finance, legal, etc.), they can be
included in a project flow only when their skills are needed (e.g.,
certain stages of projects).
[0028] Although in this embodiment, data store 130 is maintained by
project management system 104, however, data store 130 can be
maintained in a dedicated data server that is a separate server
from project management server 104 as shown in FIG. 1B. Referring
now to FIG. 1B, in this embodiment, project management server 104A
and data server 104B are implemented as separate servers, which may
be operated by the same or different organizations or entities.
Data store 130 is now maintained by data server 104B. Data server
104B further includes data collector 135 configured to periodically
or constantly collect or update CRM data from data sources 105.
Project management server 104A communicates with data server 104B
using a variety of communication protocols to access task data
stored in data store 130.
[0029] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a
project management system according to one embodiment of the
invention. System 200 may be implemented as part of project
management system or server 104. Referring to FIG. 2, system 200
includes project manager 110 and channel manager 120 loaded in
memory 201 (e.g., volatile memory such as random access memory or
RAM) and executed by one or more processors 202 (e.g.,
microprocessors, central processing units or CPUs). Data store 130
is stored in persistent storage device 203, such as a hard disk,
which may be maintained locally or remotely over a network. At
least a portion of data stored in data store 130 may be cached in
memory 201. In one embodiment, channel manager 120 includes member
addition module 211 and member removal module 212. Member addition
module 211 is responsible for automatically adding a user as a
member to a communication channel associated with a project. Member
removal module 212 is responsible for removing a member from a
communication channel associated with a project.
[0030] A user can be associated with one or more projects and each
project is associated with a communication channel to allow members
of the communication channel to discuss the corresponding project
as shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, user 301 may be associated
with one or more projects 302A-302C. For example, user 301 may be
an individual sales or customer representative working on projects
302A-302C concurrently. Alternatively, user 301 may be a manager or
group leader of a team or group of individual users working on
projects 302A-302C. Each of projects 302A-302C may be associated
with the same or different enterprise clients (e.g., corporate
clients). Each of projects 302A-302C is associated with a
communication channel such as communication channels 303A-303C
respectively. Each of channels 303A-303C can have one or more
members such as members 304A-304C. A user can be automatically
added to any of communication channels 303A-303C and can also be
automatically removed from any of communication channels 303A-303C
under certain circumstances.
[0031] Referring now to FIGS. 1A-1B and 2, according to one aspect
of the invention, project manager 110 queries CRM system 105 obtain
a list of projects that are associated with a particular user. CRM
system 105 may be a CRM system associated with or utilized by an
Enterprise client that the user is working with as a customer
representative or sales representative. A subset of the projects is
selected from the list. Each of the projects in the subset includes
an attribute that has been set to a predetermined attribute value
or attribute state by the user (e.g., flagged, starred, a
checkbox). In one embodiment, when project manager 110 queries CRM
system 105, it sends a query request to CRM system 105, where the
query request includes certain parameters to specify the user and
an attribute having a particular attribute value. In response, CRM
system 105 searches based on the query request to identify and
retrieve the list of projects that satisfy the query request.
Alternatively, project manager 110 may perform filtering of
projects to identify the subset of projects.
[0032] For each of the projects in the subset, channel manager 120
communicates with communication system 107 to identify a
communication channel (e.g., an instant messaging or IM system, an
email group, a group chat, a social network community) associated
with the project. Note that communication system 107 may also be
hosted within project management system 104. In one embodiment,
membership addition module 211 determines whether the user is
already a member of the communication channel. If the user is not a
member of the communication channel, membership addition module 211
adds the user to the communication channel automatically without
user intervention from the user. Membership addition module 211 may
communicate with communication system 107 to determine the
membership status of the user and add the user to the communication
channel. In one embodiment, membership addition module 211
communicates with communication system 107 to determine whether the
number of existing members of the communication channel has
exceeded a predetermined threshold. The user is automatically added
to the communication channel only if the number of existing members
of the communication channel has not exceeded the predetermined
threshold.
[0033] As a result, the user is automatically brought in and can
communicate with existing members of the communication channel to
discuss further regarding the project. The user does not have to
specifically join the communication channel for the projects he or
she has set the predetermined attribute to a predetermined
attribute value.
[0034] For example, during daily operations, the user may access a
project to mark the project as a "star" project via a user
interface hosted by project management system 104. Alternatively,
the user may directly access the project via a user interface of
CRM system 105. Such setting of an attribute may be utilized to
indicate that the user is interested in the project or the project
is important to the user. By automatically scanning (e.g., via a
background thread) the projects associated with a user to identify
some of the projects that are deemed to be interesting or important
to the user, the user can automatically get involved in the
projects without requiring the user to specifically search for
these projects and add itself to the corresponding communication
channels.
[0035] According to one embodiment, project manager 110 may sort
the list of projects obtained from CRM system 105 based on the size
of each project. For a sales project, it is the size of the
potential deal or contract (e.g., in dollar amount or revenue).
Alternatively, the size of a project may refer to a number of
licenses or contracts involved. A predetermined number of projects
from the top based on the size are selected and the user is added
to the corresponding communication channels of the selected
projects from the top in size. Alternatively, projects having a
project size above a predetermined threshold may be selected. In
one embodiment, the search query sent by project manager 110 to CRM
system 105 may include a parameter or attribute specifying only the
top predetermined number of projects in size or the projects above
a predetermined threshold in project size are retrieved. Each of
the projects in the list may be owned by the user, for example, as
a sales representative or a customer representative. Alternative,
if the user has a specific role such as a group leader or team
manager, the projects in the list may include the projects owned by
the team members of the user group or team. A user as team manager
may manage multiple teams or groups.
[0036] According to another embodiment, the projects in the list
may be the projects that have reached a certain project state/stage
or projected to reach a certain project state/stage within a
predetermined period of time. Dependent upon the specific
enterprise clients, for example, a project stage can be any one of
"meeting scheduled," "prospecting," "discovery," "business
validation," "customer validation," "manager to close,"
"closed--disqualified," "closed--won," and "closed--lost." For
example, projects that will likely close within three months may be
identified and the user is automatically added to their respective
communication channels. In one embodiment, when project manager 120
queries CRM system 105 or data server 104B, the query request can
include a search attribute or parameter to retrieve the projects
that have reached a particular project stage or estimated to reach
a particular project stage within a predetermined period of time.
Note that the thresholds described above may be configurable by an
administrator of a corresponding enterprise client.
[0037] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to one embodiment of the invention. Process 400 may be
performed by processing logic which may include software, hardware,
or a combination thereof. For example, process 400 may be performed
by project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120. Referring to
FIG. 4, in operation 401, processing logic queries a CRM system or
data server to identify a list of projects that are associated with
a user. In operation 402, processing logic selects a subset of the
projects from the list that have a project attribute satisfying a
predetermined condition or being set to a predetermined attribute
value (e.g., size, flagged, user ranking/rating, and project
stage/state). Alternatively, as described above, a search query may
include information specifying these parameter when querying the
CRM system or the data server.
[0038] For each of the selected projects, in operation 403,
processing logic determines whether the user is a member of a
communication channel associated with the project. In one
embodiment, processing logic may communicate with a communication
system to determine a communication channel associated with a
project and to determine the existing members of the communication
channel in order to determine whether the user is an existing
member of the communication channel. In response to determining
that the user is not a member of the communication channel, in
operation 404, processing logic automatically adds the user as a
member to the communication channel without user intervention of
the user. Note that the above process may be automatically and
periodically performed (e.g., a thread executed in the background
or as a maintenance routine in the system) for at least some of the
users in the system, for example, without user intervention of the
users.
[0039] Referring back to FIGS. 1A-1B and 2, according to another
aspect of the invention, channel manager 120 or an email processing
module (not shown) of project management system 104 queries an
electronic calendar system associated with a user, such as email
server 106, to obtain a list of one or meetings that have been
scheduled within a predetermined period of time (e.g., a past
period of time). The meetings may be related to one or more
projects. For each of the meetings, one or more email addresses of
one or more attendees are obtained from the electronic calendar
system. For each of the email addresses, a domain name or domain
identifier (ID) is determined from the email address. Certain email
addresses with certain domain names (e.g., internal domain names
associated with the user) may be filtered out.
[0040] For each domain name, project manager 110 queries a CRM
system 105 and/or data server 104B to obtain a list of one or more
projects associated with an Enterprise client corresponding to the
domain name. In one embodiment, the projects may be sorted based on
a number of meetings associated with the project that have been
scheduled. Only a subset of the projects having a number of
meetings scheduled above a predetermined threshold may be selected.
The rationale behind this is that if more meetings have been
scheduled for a project, that particular project deems to be more
important and the user needs to pay more attention. For each of the
projects, channel manager 120 communicates with communication
system 107 to determine whether the user is a member of a
communication channel associated with the project. In response to
determining that the user is not a member of the communication
channel, channel manager 120 automatically adds the user as a
member to the communication channel. In one embodiment, the user
may be automatically added to the communication channel only if the
number of existing members of the communication channel does not
exceed a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, the user may be
automatically added to the communication channel if the number of
communication channels currently associated with the user is below
a predetermined threshold. These thresholds may be configurable by
an administrator. Furthermore, a user can also manually add itself
into a particular communication channel.
[0041] Note that the above process may also be performed on the
email data associated with the projects. An email processing module
(not shown) may communicate with email server 106 to identify a
list of emails associated with a project, for example, based on a
domain name of the email addresses. If the number of emails exceeds
a predetermined threshold, a user associated with the project is
automatically added to a communication channel associated with that
project. The rationale is that if there are more emails exchanged
amongst the people involved in a project, that particular project
may deem to be important and a sales representative or customer
representative needs to pay attention.
[0042] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention. Process 500 may
be performed by processing logic which may include software,
hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, process 500 may be
performed by project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120.
Referring to FIG. 5, in operation 501, processing logic queries an
electronic calendar system of a user to identify a list of one or
more meetings that have been scheduled within a predetermined
period of time. In operation 502, processing logic obtains email
addresses of attendees of the meetings from the electronic calendar
system and determines a domain name or domain identifier for the
email addresses.
[0043] In operation 503, processing logic queries a CRM system or a
data server to identify a list of one or more projects associated
with an enterprise client based on the domain name. For each of the
projects, in operation 504, processing logic determines whether the
user is a member of a communication channel associated with the
project. In response to determining that the user is not a member
of the communication channel, in operation 505, processing logic
automatically adds the user as a member to the communication
channel without user intervention. Note that the above process may
be automatically and periodically performed (e.g., a thread
executed in the background or as a maintenance routine in the
system) for each of the users in the system, for example, without
user intervention of the users.
[0044] Referring back to FIGS. 1A-1B and 2, according to another
aspect of the invention, channel manager 120 queries communication
system 107 (e.g., an instant messaging or IM system, an email
group, a group chat, a social network community) to identify a list
of communication channels that are associated with one or more
Enterprise clients. For each of the communication channels, project
manager 110 queries CRM system 105 or data server 104B to identify
a project associated with the communication channel. Project
manager 110 examines a current state of the project to determine
whether the current state of the project has reached a
predetermined stage or state. Project manager 110 may filter out
the projects that have not reached the predetermined stage.
Alternatively, a search query sent to the CRM system 105 or the
data server may include a parameter or attribute specifying the
project stage. In response to determining that the project has
reached the predetermined stage, channel manager 120 automatically
adds one or more users having a specific user role (e.g., finance,
legal personnel) as members to the communication channel. The
specific user role may be configured to be specifically associated
with the predetermined stage by an administrator.
[0045] As a result, a user with a user role associated with a
particular project state can be automatically added to the
communication channel, once the project reaches that particular
project state. In this embodiment, users who are not normally
involved in a project during the earlier stages may be
automatically added when the project reaches a predetermined stage.
For example, for a sales project, typically, a sales representative
is involved during the earlier stages of the project. When the
project is about to be closed, for example, within 3 months,
certain people such as finance and/or legal personnel may be
needed, for example, in negotiating the price or drafting a sales
contract. By scanning and detecting the stage of a project, the
relative people may be automatically added at the right place and
the right time.
[0046] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention. Process 600 may
be performed by processing logic which may include software,
hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, process 600 may be
performed by project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120.
Referring to FIG. 6, in operation 601, processing logic queries a
communication system (e.g., IM system) to identify a list of
communication channels associated with a specific enterprise client
or clients. For each of the communication channels, in operation
602, processing logic queries a CRM system to identify a project
associated with the communication channel.
[0047] In operation 603, processing logic examines a current state
or stage of the project to determine whether the current state of
the project has reached a predetermined stage. If so, in operation
604, processing logic identifies a user having a specific user role
(e.g., finance, legal) corresponding to the predetermined stage. In
operation 605, processing logic adds the user to the communication
channel as a member if the user is not a member of the
communication channel. Note that the above process may be
automatically and periodically performed (e.g., a thread executed
in the background or as a maintenance routine in the system) for
each of the users in the system, for example, without user
intervention of the users.
[0048] Referring back to FIGS. 1A-1B and 2, according to another
aspect of the invention, project manager 110 queries CRM system 105
or data server 104B to identify a list of projects. For each of the
projects in the list, project manager 110 examines a current state
of the project to determine whether the state of the project
reaches a predetermined state or stage. In response to determining
that the state of the project has reached the predetermined state,
member removal module 212 of channel manager 120 queries
communication system 107 to identify a communication channel
associated with the project. Member removal module 212
automatically may remove one or more members from the communication
channel. Note that a communication channel may still exist even if
all members have been removed. Subsequently, a new member or a
previously removed member can be added to the communication
channel. In one embodiment, a member is removed from the
communication channel only if there is no relevant activity or an
amount of relevant activities is less than a predetermined
threshold within a past predetermined period of time (e.g., 7
days), for example, after the project reaches the predetermined
stage.
[0049] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of managing
membership of communication channels associated with projects
according to another embodiment of the invention. Process 700 may
be performed by processing logic which may include software,
hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, process 700 may be
performed by project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120.
Referring to FIG. 7, in operation 701, processing logic queries a
CRM system to retrieve a list of projects. For each of the
projects, in operation 702, processing logic examines the current
state of the project to determine whether the current state of the
project has reached a predetermined stage (e.g., closed, won,
lost).
[0050] In operation 703, processing logic identifies a
communication channel associated with the project, in response to
determining that the project has reached the predetermined stage.
In operation 704, processing logic optionally determines whether
there is any relevant activity of the communication channel within
a past predetermined period of time or whether an amount of
relevant activities dropped below a predetermined threshold. In
operation 705, processing logic may remove one or more members from
the communication channel, for example, if an amount of relevant
activities is below a predetermined threshold. A relevant activity
refers to an activity that is related to a particular member of a
particular user role with respect to the associated project. For
example, when a sales project reaches a particular stage, a user
with a sales representative may not be needed and only the legal or
finance personnel may be needed. In such a scenario, the user with
the sales representative role may be removed from the communication
channel, while the legal or finance people may remain. Note that
the above process may be automatically and periodically performed
(e.g., a thread executed in the background or as a maintenance
routine in the system) for each of the users in the system, for
example, without user intervention of the users.
[0051] Note that some or all of the components as shown and
described above (e.g., project manager 110 and channel manager 120
of FIGS. 1A-1B and 2) may be implemented in software, hardware, or
a combination thereof. For example, such components can be
implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent
storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a
processor (not shown) to carry out the processes or operations
described throughout this application. Alternatively, such
components can be implemented as executable code programmed or
embedded into dedicated hardware such as an integrated circuit
(e.g., an application specific IC or ASIC), a digital signal
processor (DSP), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), which
can be accessed via a corresponding driver and/or operating system
from an application. Furthermore, such components can be
implemented as specific hardware logic in a processor or processor
core as part of an instruction set accessible by a software
component via one or more specific instructions.
[0052] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data
processing system which may be used with one embodiment of the
invention. For example, system 1500 may represent any of data
processing systems described above performing any of the processes
or methods described above, such as, for example, client devices
101-102 and servers 104-107 of FIGS. 1A and 1B. System 1500 can
include many different components. These components can be
implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof,
discrete electronic devices, or other modules adapted to a circuit
board such as a motherboard or add-in card of the computer system,
or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of the
computer system.
[0053] Note also that system 1500 is intended to show a high level
view of many components of the computer system. However, it is to
be understood that additional components may be present in certain
implementations and furthermore, different arrangement of the
components shown may occur in other implementations. System 1500
may represent a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, a server, a mobile
phone, a media player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a
Smartwatch, a personal communicator, a gaming device, a network
router or hub, a wireless access point (AP) or repeater, a set-top
box, or a combination thereof. Further, while only a single machine
or system is illustrated, the term "machine" or "system" shall also
be taken to include any collection of machines or systems that
individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of
instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies
discussed herein.
[0054] In one embodiment, system 1500 includes processor 1501,
memory 1503, and devices 1505-1508 via a bus or an interconnect
1510. Processor 1501 may represent a single processor or multiple
processors with a single processor core or multiple processor cores
included therein. Processor 1501 may represent one or more
general-purpose processors such as a microprocessor, a central
processing unit (CPU), or the like. More particularly, processor
1501 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC)
microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,
or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors
implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor 1501 may
also be one or more special-purpose processors such as an
application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a cellular or
baseband processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a
digital signal processor (DSP), a graphics processor, a network
processor, a communications processor, a cryptographic processor, a
co-processor, an embedded processor, or any other type of logic
capable of processing instructions.
[0055] Processor 1501, which may be a low power multi-core
processor socket such as an ultra-low voltage processor, may act as
a main processing unit and central hub for communication with the
various components of the system. Such processor can be implemented
as a system on chip (SoC). Processor 1501 is configured to execute
instructions for performing the operations and steps discussed
herein. System 1500 may further include a graphics interface that
communicates with optional graphics subsystem 1504, which may
include a display controller, a graphics processor, and/or a
display device.
[0056] Processor 1501 may communicate with memory 1503, which in
one embodiment can be implemented via multiple memory devices to
provide for a given amount of system memory. Memory 1503 may
include one or more volatile storage (or memory) devices such as
random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM
(SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), or other types of storage devices.
Memory 1503 may store information including sequences of
instructions that are executed by processor 1501, or any other
device. For example, executable code and/or data of a variety of
operating systems, device drivers, firmware (e.g., input output
basic system or BIOS), and/or applications can be loaded in memory
1503 and executed by processor 1501. An operating system can be any
kind of operating systems, such as, for example, Robot Operating
System (ROS), Windows.RTM. operating system from Microsoft.RTM.,
Mac OS.RTM./iOS.RTM. from Apple, Android.RTM. from Google.RTM.,
LINUX, UNIX, or other real-time or embedded operating systems.
[0057] System 1500 may further include 10 devices such as devices
1505-1508, including network interface device(s) 1505, optional
input device(s) 1506, and other optional 10 device(s) 1507. Network
interface device 1505 may include a wireless transceiver and/or a
network interface card (NIC). The wireless transceiver may be a
WiFi transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver,
a WiMax transceiver, a wireless cellular telephony transceiver, a
satellite transceiver (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS)
transceiver), or other radio frequency (RF) transceivers, or a
combination thereof. The NIC may be an Ethernet card.
[0058] Input device(s) 1506 may include a mouse, a touch pad, a
touch sensitive screen (which may be integrated with display device
1504), a pointer device such as a stylus, and/or a keyboard (e.g.,
physical keyboard or a virtual keyboard displayed as part of a
touch sensitive screen). For example, input device 1506 may include
a touch screen controller coupled to a touch screen. The touch
screen and touch screen controller can, for example, detect contact
and movement or break thereof using any of a plurality of touch
sensitivity technologies, including but not limited to capacitive,
resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as
well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for
determining one or more points of contact with the touch
screen.
[0059] IO devices 1507 may include an audio device. An audio device
may include a speaker and/or a microphone to facilitate
voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voice
replication, digital recording, and/or telephony functions. Other
IO devices 1507 may further include universal serial bus (USB)
port(s), parallel port(s), serial port(s), a printer, a network
interface, a bus bridge (e.g., a PCI-PCI bridge), sensor(s) (e.g.,
a motion sensor such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, a
magnetometer, a light sensor, compass, a proximity sensor, etc.),
or a combination thereof. Devices 1507 may further include an
imaging processing subsystem (e.g., a camera), which may include an
optical sensor, such as a charged coupled device (CCD) or a
complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor,
utilized to facilitate camera functions, such as recording
photographs and video clips. Certain sensors may be coupled to
interconnect 1510 via a sensor hub (not shown), while other devices
such as a keyboard or thermal sensor may be controlled by an
embedded controller (not shown), dependent upon the specific
configuration or design of system 1500.
[0060] To provide for persistent storage of information such as
data, applications, one or more operating systems and so forth, a
mass storage (not shown) may also couple to processor 1501. In
various embodiments, to enable a thinner and lighter system design
as well as to improve system responsiveness, this mass storage may
be implemented via a solid state device (SSD). However in other
embodiments, the mass storage may primarily be implemented using a
hard disk drive (HDD) with a smaller amount of SSD storage to act
as a SSD cache to enable non-volatile storage of context state and
other such information during power down events so that a fast
power up can occur on re-initiation of system activities. Also a
flash device may be coupled to processor 1501, e.g., via a serial
peripheral interface (SPI). This flash device may provide for
non-volatile storage of system software, including BIOS as well as
other firmware of the system.
[0061] Storage device 1508 may include computer-accessible storage
medium 1509 (also known as a machine-readable storage medium or a
computer-readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets of
instructions or software (e.g., module, unit, and/or logic 1528)
embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions
described herein. Processing module/unit/logic 1528 may represent
any of the components described above, such as, for example,
project manager 110 and/or channel manager 120. Processing
module/unit/logic 1528 may also reside, completely or at least
partially, within memory 1503 and/or within processor 1501 during
execution thereof by data processing system 1500, memory 1503 and
processor 1501 also constituting machine-accessible storage media.
Processing module/unit/logic 1528 may further be transmitted or
received over a network via network interface device 1505.
[0062] Computer-readable storage medium 1509 may also be used to
store the some software functionalities described above
persistently. While computer-readable storage medium 1509 is shown
in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term
"computer-readable storage medium" should be taken to include a
single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one
or more sets of instructions. The terms "computer-readable storage
medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable
of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the
machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of
the methodologies of the present invention. The term
"computer-readable storage medium" shall accordingly be taken to
include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical
and magnetic media, or any other non-transitory machine-readable
medium.
[0063] Processing module/unit/logic 1528, components and other
features described herein can be implemented as discrete hardware
components or integrated in the functionality of hardware
components such as ASICS, FPGAs, DSPs or similar devices. In
addition, processing module/unit/logic 1528 can be implemented as
firmware or functional circuitry within hardware devices. Further,
processing module/unit/logic 1528 can be implemented in any
combination hardware devices and software components.
[0064] Note that while system 1500 is illustrated with various
components of a data processing system, it is not intended to
represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting
the components; as such details are not germane to embodiments of
the present invention. It will also be appreciated that network
computers, handheld computers, mobile phones, servers, and/or other
data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more
components may also be used with embodiments of the invention.
[0065] Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have
been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations
of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These
algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used by
those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively
convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An
algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent
sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations
are those requiring physical manipulations of physical
quantities.
[0066] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and
similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical
quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these
quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from
the above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the
description, discussions utilizing terms such as those set forth in
the claims below, refer to the action and processes of a computer
system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates
and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities
within the computer system's registers and memories into other data
similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer
system memories or registers or other such information storage,
transmission or display devices.
[0067] Embodiments of the invention also relate to an apparatus for
performing the operations herein. Such a computer program is stored
in a non-transitory computer readable medium. A machine-readable
medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a
machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium includes a
machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium (e.g., read only
memory ("ROM"), random access memory ("RAM"), magnetic disk storage
media, optical storage media, flash memory devices).
[0068] The processes or methods depicted in the preceding figures
may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g.
circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (e.g., embodied on a
non-transitory computer readable medium), or a combination of both.
Although the processes or methods are described above in terms of
some sequential operations, it should be appreciated that some of
the operations described may be performed in a different order.
Moreover, some operations may be performed in parallel rather than
sequentially.
[0069] Embodiments of the present invention are not described with
reference to any particular programming language. It will be
appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to
implement the teachings of embodiments of the invention as
described herein.
[0070] In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention
have been described with reference to specific exemplary
embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications
may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and
scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The
specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an
illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
* * * * *