Patent Application
20230394406
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods to effectuate sets of automated actions outside and/or within a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring outside and/or within the collaboration environment.
Collaboration environments, sometimes referred to as integrated collaboration environments, may enable users to assign projects, tasks, or other assignments to assignees (e.g., other users) to complete. A collaboration environment may comprise an environment in which a virtual team of users does its work. A collaboration environment may enable users to work in a more organized and efficient manner. A collaboration environment may integrate features and/or functionality such as web-based conferencing and collaboration, desktop videoconferencing, and/or instant message into a single easy-to-use, intuitive interface.
One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured to effectuate sets of automated actions outside a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring within the collaboration environment. Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured to effectuate sets of automated actions within a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment. Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured to effectuate sets of automated actions outside a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment.
Collaboration environments may require users to manually interact within the collaboration environment and/or applications/services outside of the collaboration environment in response to actions of other users and/or other events occurring within the collaboration environment. The responsive interactions outside the collaboration environment may include, for example, calendaring events into a personal calendar application, drafted and/or sending emails, sending personal messages over a messaging application and/or service separate from the collaboration environment, effectuating electronic payments, and/or other interactions. Over time, the users may tend to follow patterns with how they react to certain events and/or actions within the collaboration environment. This may create a negative experience for users who may tire of the potentially repetitive work. Requiring such repetitive manual interaction may increase friction within and/or outside of the collaboration environment. One or more implementations of the systems and methods presented herein may create less friction and/or more efficient use of the collaboration environment and one or more applications and/or services outside the collaboration environment by effectuating automatic sequences of actions outside the collaboration environment in response to trigger events occurring within the collaboration environment, and vice versa. The automated actions and/or trigger events may be user specified.
One or more implementations of a system configured to effectuate sets of automated actions outside a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring within the collaboration environment may include one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions. The processor(s) may be configured to manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment. Managing may include one or more of obtaining, sending, receiving, storing, updating, deleting, archiving, reporting, and/or other processes. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. The environment state information may specify values of environment parameters and/or other information. The environment parameters may include one or more of user parameters, work unit parameters, and/or other parameters. The values of the user parameters may describe one or more of the users, user actions of the users within the collaboration environment, user settings of the users, and/or other information about the users. The values of work unit parameters may describe units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, and/or other information about units of work.
The processor(s) may be configured to generate automation information and/or other information. The automation information may be generated based on user entry and/or selection of the automation information into a user interface. The automation information may specify sets of automated actions to carry out outside of the collaboration environment in response to occurrence of trigger events within the collaboration environment. The user entry and/or selection of the automation information may include entry and/or selection of one or more of individual automated actions in individual sets of automated actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a first set of automated actions to carry out outside of the collaboration environment in response to a first trigger event occurring within the collaboration environment.
The processor(s) may be configured to detect occurrence of the trigger events within the collaboration environment. The occurrence of the trigger events may be based on changes in the values of the environment parameters and/or other events occurring within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, an occurrence of the first trigger event may be detected based on a first change in a first value of a first environment parameter to a second value. In some implementations, the first trigger event may be associated with the first change (e.g., a state change of the first environment parameter). In some implementations, the first trigger event may be associated with the second value (e.g., a data change of the first environment parameter).
The processor(s) may be configured to effectuate individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment. The effectuation of the individual sets of automated actions may be responsive to the detection of the occurrence of individual trigger events. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to the detection of the first trigger event, the first set of automated actions may be effectuated outside the collaboration environment.
One or more implementations of the system effectuate sets of automated actions within a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment may include one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions. The processor(s) may be configured to manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users within the collaboration environment. The environment state information may specify values of environment parameters and/or other information. The environment parameters may include one or more of user parameters, work unit parameters, and/or other parameters. The values of the user parameters may describe one or more of the users, user actions of the users within the collaboration environment, user settings of the users, and/or other information about the users. The values of work unit parameters may describe units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, and/or other information about units of work.
The processor(s) may be configured to generate automation information and/or other information. The automation information may be generated based on user entry and/or selection of the automation information into a user interface. The automation information may specify sets of automated actions to carry out within the collaboration environment in response to occurrence of trigger events outside the collaboration environment. The user entry and/or selection of the automation information may include entry and/or selection of one or more of individual automated actions in individual sets of automated actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a first set of automated actions to carry out within the collaboration environment in response to a first trigger event occurring outside the collaboration environment.
The processor(s) may be configured to obtain information indicating occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, first information may be obtaining indicating an occurrence of the first trigger event outside the collaboration environment.
The processor(s) may be configured to effectuate individual sets of automated actions within the collaboration environment. The effectuation of the individual sets of automated actions may be responsive to obtaining the information indicating the occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to obtaining the information indicating the occurrence of the first trigger event outside the collaboration environment, the processor(s) may be configured to effectuate the first set of automated actions within the collaboration environment.
As used herein, any association (or relation, or reflection, or indication, or correspondence) involving servers, processors, client computing platforms, and/or another entity or object that interacts with any part of the system and/or plays a part in the operation of the system, may be a one-to-one association, a one-to-many association, a many-to-one association, and/or a many-to-many association or N-to-M association (note that N and M may be different numbers greater than 1).
As used herein, the term “obtain” (and derivatives thereof) may include active and/or passive retrieval, determination, derivation, transfer, upload, download, submission, and/or exchange of information, and/or any combination thereof. As used herein, the term “effectuate” (and derivatives thereof) may include active and/or passive causation of any effect. As used herein, the term “determine” (and derivatives thereof) may include measure, calculate, compute, estimate, approximate, generate, and/or otherwise derive, and/or any combination thereof.
These and other features, and characteristics of the present technology, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As used in the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
One or more implementations of the systems and methods presented herein may create less friction and/or more efficient use of the collaboration environment and/or other applications/services by users by effectuating automatic sequences of actions in response to trigger events. The actions and/or triggers may be user specified. In some implementations, automated actions may be carried out outside the collaboration environment in response to trigger events within the collaboration environment. In some implementations, automated actions may be carried out within the collaboration environment in response to trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment. In some implementations, automated actions may be carried out outside the collaboration environment in response to trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment. Individual external resources of one or more external resources 126 may be sources of triggers and/or targets of automated actions. In some implementations, system 100 may be configured to communicate with one or more external resources 126 such that individual external resources may communicate reports indicating the occurrence of trigger events by the individual external resources.
In some implementations, system 100 may include one or more of one or more servers 102, one or more client computing platforms 104, one or more external resources 126, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with one or more client computing platforms 104 and/or one or more external resources 126 according to a client/server architecture and/or other architectures. Client computing platform(s) 104 may be configured to communicate with other client computing platforms via server(s) 102 and/or according to a peer-to-peer architecture and/or other architectures. Users may access system 100 via client computing platform(s) 104.
In some implementations, individual external resources of one or more external resources 126 may include individual applications providing one or more services outside of system 100. An application may include one or more of a calendar application, a payment application, an electronic communication application, a social media application, restaurant-reservation application, on-demand delivery application, a project management application, a customer relationship management application, a ticketing application, a partner relationship management application, a web form application, and/or other applications outside of the system providing one or more services. It is noted that this list of applications providing one or more services outside of system 100 is provided for illustrative purposes only and not to be considered limiting. Instead, it is to be understood that other applications providing one or more services outside of system 100 may be considered which are within the scope of the present disclosure. In some implementations, external resources and/or other considerations of applications providing one or more services outside of system 100 may be considered as such by virtue of otherwise being unaffiliated with system 100. In some implementations, external resources and/or other considerations of applications providing one or more services outside of system 100 may be considered as such by virtue of utilizing other servers, processors, and/or other components which may be separate and distinct from system 100. In some implementations, external resources and/or other considerations of applications providing one or more services outside of system 100 may be considered as such by virtue of being created and/or administered by entities that may be separate and distinct from creators and/or administers of system 100.
A calendar application may comprise a software application configured to provide users with an electronic version of a calendar. The calendar application may provide an appointment book, address book, contact list, and/or other features and/or functionality. In some implementations, a calendar application may provide functionality of setting calendar events, setting reminders, and/or other functionality.
A payment application may comprise an e-commerce payment application, electronic payment application, peer-to-peer payments application, an electronic wallet application, and/or other applications that facilitate the sending and/or receiving of electronic payments and/or other online transactions.
An electronic communication application may comprise an application for providing electronic communication services. Electronic communication services may include one or more of electronic mail, instant messaging, private messaging, and/or other communications. An electronic communication application may provide functionality of one or more of compiling, sending, receiving, archiving, deleting, and/or performing other actions with respect to electronic communications.
A social media application may comprise an application configured to facilitate the creation and/or sharing of information via virtual communities and/or networks. A social media application may provide functionality of compiling, posting, reviewing, deleting, searching, and/or performing other actions with respect to information created and/or shared via virtual communities and/or networks.
A restaurant-reservation application may include an application configured to set and/or request reservations and restaurants in response to web-based requests for reservations. The restaurant-reservation application may be specific to a given restaurant and/or an application that services many restaurants. A restaurant-reservation application may provide the functionality of searching restaurants, searching availability of reservations, communicating with restaurants, setting reservations, sending confirmations, and/or other features and/or functionality.
An on-demand delivery application may comprise an application configured to effectuate real-world deliveries of real-world goods and/or services in response to web-based requests for those goods and/or services. The on-demand delivery application may be associated with what may commonly be referred to as a “gig economy” application. By way of non-limiting illustration, an on-demand delivery application may be directed to food delivery, consumer items, and/or other goods and/or services.
A project management application may comprise an application configured to facilitate planning, organizing, and/or otherwise managing resources. A project management application may provide functionality of estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, communication, decision-making, quality management, time management and documentation, administration systems, and/or other functionality.
Server(s) 102 may include one or more of non-transitory electronic storage 128, one or more processors 130 configured by machine-readable instructions 106, and/or other components. Machine-readable instructions 106 may include one or more instruction components. The instruction components may include computer program components. Executing the machine-readable instructions 106 may cause server(s) 102 to facilitate effectuating sets of automated actions outside a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring within the collaboration environment and/or effectuating sets of automated actions within a collaboration environment based on trigger events occurring outside the collaboration environment. The instruction components may include one or more of an environment state component 108, an automation component 110, a conflict component 112, a user interface component 114, and/or other instruction components.
Environment state component 108 may be configured to manage environment state information and/or other information used in maintaining a collaboration environment. The environment state information may include values of one or more environment parameters. The environment parameters may include one or more of user parameters, work unit parameters, and/or other parameters. The values of the user parameters may specify user information and/or other information. The values of the work unit parameters may specify work information and/or other information.
The values of the user parameters may be organized in user records corresponding to users interacting with and/or viewing the collaboration environment. The values of the user parameters associated with the users interacting with and/or viewing the collaboration environment may include information describing the users, user actions of the users within the collaboration environment, their settings, and/or other user information; and/or metadata associated with the users, their actions within the environment, their settings, and/or other user information. Individual ones of the users may be associated with individual ones of the user records. A user record may define values of the user parameters associated with a given user interacting with and/or viewing the collaboration environment.
The values of the user parameters may, by way of non-limiting example, specify one or more of: a user name, a group parameter, a user account, a user role, a user department, descriptive user content, a to-email, a from-email, a photo, an organization, a workspace, one or more projects (which may include project parameters defined by one or more work unit records), one or more portfolios of projects, one or more items of work (which may include one or more unit of work parameters defined by one or more unit of work records), one or more user comments, one or more teams the user belongs to, one or more of the user display settings (e.g., colors, size, project order, task order, other unit of work order, etc.), one or more authorized applications, one or more interaction parameters (e.g., indicating a user is working on/worked on a given unit of work, a given user viewed a given work unit of work, a given user selected a given unit of work, a timeframe a given user last interacted with and/or worked on a given unit of work, a time period that a given unit of work has been idle, and/or other interaction parameters), a presence parameter (e.g., indicating presence and/or interaction level at an environment level, unit of work level, project level, task level, application level, etc.), one or more notification settings, one or more progress parameters, status information for one or more work units the user is associated with (units of work assigned to the user, assigned to other users by the user, completed by the user, past-due date, and/or other information), application access information (e.g., username/password for one or more third-party applications), one or more favorites and/or priorities, one or more values of one or more workload parameters (e.g., one or more measures of current and future workload associated with units of work assigned to a user), and/or other information for the given user.
The values of the work unit parameters may be organized in work unit records corresponding to units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment. A given work unit may have one or more assignees and/or team members working on the given work unit. Work units may include one or more to-do items, action items, objectives, and/or other units of work one or more users should accomplish and/or plan on accomplishing. Units of work may be created by a given user for the given user and/or created by the given user and assigned to one or more other users. A given unit of work may include one or more of a project, a task, a sub-task, a conversation (e.g., a message posting within a message board and/or other considerations), and/or other unit of work assigned to and/or associated with one or more users. In some implementations, users may be identified based on one or more of specific user identification (e.g., by name, username, and/or other information), descriptive user information (e.g., role, department, availability, and/or other information), and/or other considerations.
By way of non-limiting illustration, the one or more work unit parameters may include one or more of a work assignment parameter, a work management parameter, work creation parameter, and/or other parameters. The values of the work assignment parameter may describe units of work assigned to the individual users. The values of the work management parameter may describe units of work managed by the individual users. The values of the work creation parameter may describe units of work created by the individual users.
In some implementations, the units of work may be described based on one or more of a unit of work name, a unit of work description, one or more unit of work dates (e.g., a start date, a due date, a completion date, and/or dates), one or more members associated with a unit of work (e.g., an owner, one or more other project/task members, member access information, and/or other unit of work members and/or member information), a status parameter (e.g., an update, a hardcoded status update, a completed/uncomplete/mark complete, a measured status, a progress indication, quantity of sub-work units remaining for a given unit of work, completed work units in a given project, and/or other status parameter), one or more user comment parameters (e.g., permission for who may comments such as a creator, a recipient, one or more followers, and/or one or more other interested parties; content of the comments; one or more times; presence or absence of the functionality of up-votes; one or more hard-coded responses; and/or other parameters), one or more interaction parameters (e.g., indicating a given unit of work is being worked on/was worked on, given work unit of work was viewed, a given unit of work was selected, how long the given unit of work has been idle, a last interaction parameter indicating when and what user last interacted with the given unit of work, users that interacted with the given unit of work, and/or other interaction parameters indicating sources of the interactions, context of the interactions, content of the interactions and/or time for the interactions), one or more file attachments, notification settings, privacy, an associated URL, one or more interaction parameters (e.g., sources of the interactions, context of the interactions, content of the interactions, time for the interactions, and/or other interaction parameters), updates, ordering of units of work within a given unit of work (e.g., tasks within a project, subtasks within a task, etc.), state of a workspace for a given unit of work (e.g., application state parameters, application status, application interactions, user information, and/or other parameters related to the state of the workspace for a unit of work), dependencies between one or more work units, one or more custom fields (e.g., priority, cost, stage, and/or other custom fields), and/or other values of work unit parameters.
The values of the work assignment parameter describing units of work assigned to the individual users may be determined based on one or more interactions by one or more users with a collaboration environment. In some implementations, one or more users may create and/or assign one or more unit of work to themselves and/or an other user. In some implementations, a user may be assigned a unit of work and the user may effectuate a reassignment of the unit of work from the user or one or more other users.
In some implementations, values of the work assignment parameter may indicate that a status parameter of a unit of work has changed from “incomplete” to “marked complete” and/or “complete”. In some implementations, a status of complete for a unit of work may be associated with the passing of an end date associated with the unit of work. In some implementations, a status of “marked complete” may be associated with a user providing input via the collaboration environment at the point in time the user completes the unit of work (which may be before or after an end date).
In some implementations, user actions within the collaboration environment may include effectuating one or more changes in one or more values of one or more of the environment parameters. User actions may be facilitated through a user interface presenting the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, a user action may include marking a unit of work “complete.” Marking a unit of work complete may change a value of a work unit parameter for the unit of work from “incomplete” to “marked complete.” User actions may include other changes to other values of other environment parameters described herein.
The automation component 110 may be configured to generate automation information and/or other information. The automation information may be generated based on user entry and/or selection of the automation information into a user interface (see, e.g., user interface component 114,
The user entry and/or selection of the automation information may include entry and/or selection of one or more of individual automated actions in individual sets of automated actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a first set of automated actions to carry out in response to a first trigger event. The first set of automated actions and/or the first trigger event may be generated based on input by a first user into a user interface. The first set of automated actions may include one or more automated actions to carry out outside the collaboration environment. The first trigger event may include an event occurring within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a second set of automated actions to carry out in response to a second trigger event. The second set of automated actions and/or the second trigger event may be generated based on input by a first user into a user interface. The second set of automated actions may include one or more automated actions to carry out within the collaboration environment. The second trigger event may include an event occurring outside the collaboration environment.
The automation component 110 may be configured to detect occurrence of the trigger events within the collaboration environment based on changes in the values of the environment parameters and/or other information. Detection may be based on monitoring environment state information, user actions, and/or other components of system 100. By way of non-limiting illustration, an occurrence of the first trigger event may be detected based on a first change in a first value of a first environment parameter to a second value.
The automation component 110 may be configured to obtain information indicating occurrence of trigger events outside the collaboration environment. In some implementations, information indicating occurrence of trigger events outside the collaboration environment may be obtained by virtue of individual external resources communicating the information to system 100. The communicated information may include status reports and/or other information. In some implementations, the communication of the information may be based on automation component 110 sending requests for the information. In some implementations, the communication of the information may be based on individual external resources performing scheduled and/or predetermined reporting protocols (e.g., push notifications and/or other protocols). By way of non-limiting illustration, automation component 110 may be configured to obtain first information indicating an occurrence the second trigger event outside the collaboration environment.
In some implementations, an individual automated action within the collaboration environment may include effectuating one or more of creation of, change in, and/or specification of, one or more values of one or more of the environment parameters. In some implementations, the creation of, change in, and/or specification of values of environment parameters may be accomplished by accessing a corresponding record (e.g., user record, work unit record, and/or other records). In some implementations, creation of, change in, and/or specification of an individual value may be reflected in views of the collaboration environment accessed by users.
In some implementations, individual automated actions within the collaboration environment may be classified by individual action types. An action type may dictate the extent in which an automation action effects the collaboration environment. An action type may include one or more of a record creation type, value specification type, and/or other types. A record creation type automated action may include creating one or more of a user record, work unit record, and/or other records. The creation of a record may include generating an instance of the record in the collaboration environment. The creation of the record by a record creation type automated action may not specifically define values of the environment parameters within the record and/or may set values to one or more of default values, null values, and/or other values. A value specification type automated action may include changing, and/or specifying, one or more values of one or more of the environment parameters contained within a record.
In some implementations, value specification type automated action may further be classified by one or more action subtypes based on the individual values of the individual environment parameters associated with the individual automated actions. An action subtype may include one or more of a time-based subtype, privacy and/or permissions subtype, accessibility subtype, interaction subtype, and/or other subtype.
An automated action of the time-based subtype may effectuate change in, and/or specification of, one or more values of one or more of the environment parameters related to time. For a work unit record, this may include one or more unit of work dates (e.g., a start date, a due date, a completion date, and/or dates). For a user record, this may include one or more of a start of employment date, an end of employment date, a length of employment period, a length of vacation period, and/or other information.
An automated action of the privacy and/or permissions subtype may correspond to values of environment parameters related to privacy and/or permissions. By way of non-limiting illustration, an automated action performed on a user record being of the privacy and/or permissions subtype may include change of, and/or specification of, one or more of one or more teams a user belongs to, one or more user display settings (e.g., colors, size, project order, task order, other unit of work order, etc.), one or more authorized applications, application access information (e.g., username/password for one or more third-party applications), one or more favorites and/or priorities, and/or other information for the user. By way of non-limiting illustration, an automated action performed on a work unit record being of the privacy and/or permissions subtype may include change of, and/or specification of, one or more of one or more user comment parameters (e.g., permission for who may comments such as a creator, a recipient, one or more followers, and/or one or more other interested parties; content of the comments; one or more times; presence or absence of the functionality of up-votes; one or more hard-coded responses; and/or other parameters), notification settings, privacy settings, dependencies between one or more work units, and/or other values.
An automated action of the accessibility subtype may correspond to values of environment parameters which may be required in a record (user and/or work unit) in order for the record to take effect within the collaboration environment. Values of environment parameters which may be required in a record in order for the record to take effect may refer to values that, if left undefined, would not provide any meaningful use within the collaboration environment. In other words, the values of environment parameters which may be required in a record in order for the record to take effect may refer to a minimum quantity of environment parameters which may need to be specified in order to allow users to interact with and/or access the record. By way of non-limiting illustration, an automated action performed on a user record being of the accessibility subtype may include change of, and/or specification of, one or more of a user name, a user account, a user role, a user department, descriptive user content, a to-email, a from-email, a photo, an organization, and/or other values. By way of non-limiting illustration, an automated action performed on a work unit record being of the accessibility subtype may include change of, and/or specification of, one or more of a unit of work description, one or more members associated with a unit of work (e.g., an owner, one or more other project/task members, member access information, one or more assignees, and/or other information), an associated URL, and/or other values.
An automated action of the interaction subtype may correspond to values of environment parameters which may be specified in a record (user and/or work unit) in order to provide further functionality and/or accessibility within the collaboration environment. Values of environment parameters which may be specified in a record (user and/or work unit) in order to provide further functionality and/or accessibility may refer to values other than those associated with the time-based subtype, privacy and/or permissions subtype, accessibility subtype, and/or other subtypes.
It is noted that the classification of automated actions into action types and/or subtypes, and/or the descriptions of the different actions types and/or subtypes are provided for illustrative purposes only. Instead, it is to be understood that action types and/or subtype may be described in other ways, and/or automated actions may be classified in other ways.
In some implementations, an individual automated action may be carried out simultaneously (or near simultaneously) with an individual detection of an individual occurrence of an individual trigger event and/or within a specified time frame following an individual detection of an individual occurrence of an individual trigger event. In some implementations, a specified time frame may include a “waiting” period of time before an action is carried out. In some implementations, the waiting period of time may be satisfied by one or more of the passage of the period of time, some other trigger event, and/or other events and/or actions within the collaboration environment.
In some implementations, individual trigger events may be specified as individual occurrences of change of the values of the environment parameters. Occurrences of change may convey a state change of an environment parameter. The state change may not consider what the change is, but instead that a change occurred. For example, a trigger event may include an occurrence of a reassignment of a unit of work from one user to an other user. By way of non-limiting illustration, the first trigger event may be associated with the first change.
In some implementations, individual trigger events may be specified as individual values of the environment parameters. Changes to specific values may be referred to as data state changes. The data state change may refer to a change of a parameter to a specific value from an other value (and/or from a state of being unspecified). For example, a trigger event may include an occurrence of a reassignment of a unit of work from one user to another specific user. For example, a trigger event may include a comment having one or more specific words and/or phrases. By way of non-limiting illustration, the first trigger event may be associated with the second value and/or other values.
In some implementations, a set of automated actions may be associated with one or more of a sequence in which automated actions in the set are to be carried out, concurrent carrying out of two or more of the automated actions in the set, and/or other features and/or functionality. The automated actions within a set of automated actions may have a specified ordered sequence in which the automated actions are to be carried out. In some implementations, one or more actions may be followed by, and/or preceded by, a specified waiting period. A set of automation actions may specify that two or more actions may be carried out concurrently. In some implementations, a user may specify a combination and/or sequence of multiple triggers and/or multiple automated actions as a multi-step “workflow” that may include branching logic. By way of non-limiting illustration, a chain of trigger/action pairs of a given sequence may result in facilitating a workflow.
The automation component 110 may be configured to, responsive to the detection of the occurrence of individual trigger events, effectuate individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to the detection of the first trigger event, automation component 110 may be configured to effectuate the first set of automated actions outside the collaboration environment.
In some implementations, effectuating individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment may include communicating instructions to effectuate the action to an external resource outside the collaboration environment. In some implementations, effectuating individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment may include performing an application programming interface (API) call and/or other interaction with the external resource to cause the external resource to execute one or more routines in accordance with the instructions. An API interaction may include one or more of Remote Procedure Call, Representational State Transfer, GraphQL, and/or other interaction.
The automation component 110 may be configured to, responsive to obtaining the information indicating the occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment, effectuate individual sets of automated actions within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to obtaining the first information indicating occurrence of the second trigger event, automation component 110 may be configured to effectuate the second set of automated actions within the collaboration environment.
In some implementations, individual sets of automated actions and associated individual trigger events may be stored in individual automation records. An automation record may define one or more of individual actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. Individual actions may be defined by a target component, an action component, and/or other information. The target component of an automation record may include the environment parameter (or parameters) to which an action is to be carried out on and/or an external resource to which the action is to be carried out with. The action component of an automation record may define what change is to be made on the environment parameter(s) and/or instructions to effectuate the action by the external resource defined by the target component.
Individual trigger events may be defined by a source component, an event component, and/or other information. The source component of an automation record may include the environment parameter(s) and/or external resource(s) from which occurrences of a trigger event may be derived. The event component may include the value (or change in the value) for the environment parameter(s) and/or the information indicating occurrence of an event within the external resource defined by the source component from which occurrences of a trigger event may be derived.
In some implementations, individual automation records may store counts of occurrences of individual trigger events and/or occurrences of carrying out individual automation actions in the sets of automation actions.
It is noted that while some descriptions presented herein may be directed to an individual trigger event causing an individual set of automated actions to be carried out, this is for illustrative purposes only and not to be considered limiting. For example, in some implementations, multiple trigger events may be combined together through some logic criteria, that when satisfied, may cause an individual set of automated actions to be carried out within and/or outside the collaboration environment. Logic may include, for example, Boolean logic. By way of non-limiting illustration, logic operators such as “AND”, “OR”, “NOT”, and/or other operations may be utilized to generate more complex trigger combinations for sets of automated actions. In some implementations, the use of logic operators may allow for fewer discrete trigger events to be defined yet still have more complex behavior available to users. For example, there may not need to specify a trigger event of “when task is unassigned”, since through the use of a logic operator “NOT”, a trigger event may be defined by “when task assigned” combined with the operator “NOT”. Further, the Boolean logic may facilitate multistage automation. By way of non-limiting illustration, instead of input “than-if-then” or “if-and-if-then”, logic may include “if-then-then” and/or other operators. In some implementations, a user may specify a set, or pool, of trigger events to trigger one or more automated actions. In some implementations, user may specify that one or more of the trigger events in the set may individually and/or in combination trigger the one or more automated actions. This way, a user may specify multiple options of trigger events which may trigger one or more automated actions. Further, an individual trigger event may trigger multiple automated actions.
The automation component 110 may be configured to determine individual sets of repeated user actions by the individual users. The determination may be based on monitoring environment state information (e.g., change in values of environment parameters and/or other monitoring), user actions, information indicating occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment, and/or other information generated by and/or accessible to system 100. In some implementations, determining individual sets of repeated user actions by the individual users may include determining one or more actions and/or events occurring within and/or outside the collaboration environment which precede the individual sets of repeated user actions. In some implementations, a set of user actions may be deemed “repeated” after the set of user actions occur more than once.
The automation component 110 may be configured to generate recommendations for automation information based on individual sets of repeated user actions and/or other information. The recommendations may include individual recommended sets of automated actions and/or individual recommended trigger events which correspond to the individual sets of repeated user actions. In some implementations, recommended trigger events may include the actions and/or events occurring within and/or outside the collaboration environment which precede the individual sets of repeated user actions. In some implementations, individual recommended sets of automated actions may include the individual sets of repeated user actions. In some implementations, a recommendation may include a notification (e.g., pop-up message, email, and/or other notification) describing one or more of the individual sets of repeated user actions, the individual recommended sets of automated actions, the individual recommended trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, a set of repeated user actions for a given user may include generating a specific task, assigning the specific task to a specific person (or persons), adding a comment to the task, causing an external application of an external resource to perform some action, and/or other actions. The automation component 110 may determine that the set of repeated user actions for the given user is preceded by an other specific task being marked completed. The automation component 100 may be configured to generate a recommendation for automation information including a set of recommended automated actions including generating the specific task, assigning the specific task to the specific person (or persons), adding a comment to the task, generating and/or sending instructions to effectuate the action by the external application, and/or other actions. The automation component 110 may be configured such that the recommendation includes a recommended trigger event including the other specific task being “marked complete.”
In some implementations, automation component 110 may be configured to obtain and/or generate one or more automation templates. An automation template may specify a predetermined set of automated actions to carry out in and/or outside the collaboration environment in response to occurrence of a predetermined trigger event. The one or more automation templates may be stored by electronic storage 128 and/or other storage device. In some implementations, an automation template may represent sets of actions users may commonly carry out in response to an action and/or occurrence within and/or outside the collaboration environment. In some implementations, automation templates may be created by system administrators, other users, based on repeated user actions, and/or created in other ways. In some implementations, the automation templates may be stored in a library for access and/or implementation by individual users.
The conflict component 112 may be configured to analyze automation information to identify conflicts within the sets of automated actions and/or the trigger events. In some implementations, analyzing automation information may include simulating execution of the automation information in a testing environment to determine a potential outcome of the automation information. In some implementations, conflicts may include one or more of repeating and/or ongoing automated actions (e.g., where a set of automated actions may not have a finite end), an instance when an individual automated action comprises an individual trigger event (e.g., resulting in a looping of trigger-action-trigger-action, etc.), and/or other conflicts.
In some implementations, analyzing automation information may further include only allowing the execution of automated actions after a triggering event if the state specified in the actions are not already true. If they are already true, conflict component 112 may recognize this as a conflict and not execute the action(s) again.
In some implementations, a user may use a user interface to construct and manipulate a representation of an automation record, rather than editing information within the automation record itself. This may allow conflict component 112 to prevent conflicts in the execution of the automation records being edited in the “live” versions of the automated records. Further, conflict component 112 may validate the representations and prevent configuration errors before saving them to the system 100.
In some implementations, conflict component 112 may be configured to analyze automation information as a user is specifying the automation information within a user interface (see, e.g., user interface component 114) and/or after the automation information has been specified and saved. The user interface may be configured to present errors at a number of possible failure points as the user is interacting with the user interface in real-time and/or near-real time. The possible failure points may include one or more of configuration failures, run time failures, cadence failures, container failures, editing failures, invalid permissions to an external resource, and/or other information.
The configuration failures may be related to if a user constructs a representation of an automation record that contains some sort of conflict and/or is invalid, conflict component 112 may validate that representation before saving or executing it, and notify the user contextually about the fixes that should be made in order to save and enable the automation record.
The run time failures may be related to determining that an automation record may be misconfigured when it attempts to execute the record. The conflict component 112 may send notifications (e.g., email, on-screen notifications, and/or other notification) containing information about the configuration error, and/or how to resolve it. A similar notification may also be sent by conflict component 112 if the execution fails due to some sort of system issue. In this case, the user may be notified that they do not need to take any action to resolve this failure.
The cadence failures may be related to when a trigger event may be misconfigured, the associated set of automated actions would never be executed because the trigger event may never be activated. To prevent this silent failure, the conflict component 112 may be configured to run checks on a regular cadence of the automation records within the system 100. This cadence check may iterate through the triggers and/or actions on individual automation records, and notify an appropriate user.
The container failures may be related to when a user visits a container object (e.g., project, portfolio, etc.). The conflict component 112 may present the user with pertinent status information about automation records associated with the container object, allowing them to fix any problems that may have arisen even without having seen any of the relevant notifications in other areas.
The editing failures may be related to editing an automation record with invalid components. A user may be directed through the user interface towards the specific components and/or associated inputs that may be causing an automation record to be invalid. This guided process may allow users to easily address and fix those issues so an automation record may resume operation.
The conflict component 112 may be configured to generate conflict reports based on the analysis. In some implementations, a conflict report may include a description of one or more conflicts and/or an indication of nonexistence of conflicts. In some implementations, a conflict report may provide an indication of elements of an automated action and/or trigger event which may comprise a source of conflict.
In some implementations, conflict component 112 may be configured to rate limit automated actions of one or more automation records. Rate limiting may include canceling and/or throttling execution of one or more automated actions based on one or more conditions. By way of non-limiting illustration, if one or more automated actions are triggered to execute more than X times in Y seconds, conflict component 112 may be configured to cancel one or more executions in that Y-second window. The values of X and/or Y may be user specified and/or specified by the system 100. In some implementations, if one or more automated actions at a project level are executed more than A times in B seconds, conflict component 112 may be configured to cancel one or more executions in that B-second window. The values of A and/or B may be user specified and/or specified by the system 100.
User interface component 114 may be configured to effectuate presentation of individual user interfaces on individual client computing platforms of one or more client computing platforms 104. For example, the individual client computing platforms may access a user interface over network 116. A given user interface may be configured to facilitate user specification of sets of automated actions and/or trigger events. In some implementations, user interface component 114 may be configured to prevent presentation of individual user interfaces configured to facilitate user specification (and/or modification) of sets of automated actions and/or trigger events by users who may not be authorized within system 100.
The user interface component 114 may be configured to effectuate presentation of a user interface through which users may specify and/or select one or more of one or more automated actions, one or more trigger events, one or more automation templates, and/or other information. In some implementations, a user interface may display one or more conflict reports and/or other prompts and/or notifications to a user. In some implementations, users may provide entry and/or selection of a period of time or times when an automation record may be active (e.g., configured to be executed) and/or paused (e.g., configured to not be executed). By way of non-limiting illustration, a user interface element may comprise an “active/paused” toggle button.
The user interface may include one or more user interface portions. By way of non-limiting illustration, a user interface may include one or more input portions and/or other components. Individual portions may include one or more user interface elements configured to facilitate user interaction with the user interface. By way of non-limiting illustration, user interface elements may include one or more of text input fields, drop down menus, check boxes, display windows, virtual buttons, and/or other elements configured to facilitate user interaction.
An input portion of a user interface may be configured to obtain user input comprising one or more of user entry and/or selection of environment parameters to carry out actions on, entry and/or selection of values to apply to the entered and/or selected environment parameters, entry and/or selection of environment parameters associated with trigger events, entry and/or selection of values of environment parameters associated with trigger events, user entry and/or selection of one or more automation templates, entry and/or selection of external resource(s) to carry out actions on, entry and/or selection of action(s) within selected external resource(s) to carry out, entry and/or selection of external resource(s) associated with trigger events, entry and/or selection of occurrence(s) within external resource(s) which may comprise trigger events, and/or other information. In some implementations, in response to entry and/or selection of an external resource (for either an action and/or trigger), the user interface may present a prompt confirming the use of the external resource. This may be a safeguard against inadvertently carrying out actions on items outside the collaboration environment. A user may confirm and/or deny the prompt, via, for example, selecting a virtual button and/or an authentication procedure.
In some implementations, automated actions may be specified based on entry and/or selection of one or more of individual external resources, individual actions for the individual external resources to carry out, and/or other information. In some implementations, trigger events may be specified based on one or more of entry and/or selection of environment parameters associated with trigger events, entry and/or selection of values of environment parameters associated with trigger events, and/or other information.
In some implementations, automated actions may be specified based on entry and/or selection of environment parameters to carry out actions on, entry and/or selection of values to apply to the entered and/or selected environment parameters, and/or other information. In some implementations, trigger events may be specified based on one or more of entry and/or selection one or more of individual external resources from which trigger events may be derived, individual actions by the individual external resources from which occurrence of the trigger events may be derived, and/or other information.
The user interface 400 may include a trigger input portion 404 to obtain entry and/or selection of a trigger event. The trigger input portion 404 may include a user interface element 408 configured to obtain information identifying a unit of work associated with the trigger event, a user interface element 410 configured to obtain entry and/or selection of an environment parameter associated with the trigger event, and a user interface element 412 configured to obtain entry and/or selection of a value for the environment parameter associated with the trigger event. For illustrative purposes, the trigger event in
The user interface 400 may include an automated action input portion 414 to obtain entry and/or selection of a set of automated actions. The automated action input portion 414 may include a user interface element 420 configured to obtain entry and/or selection of an identification of an external resource (e.g., a name of an external application of the external resource). For illustrative purposes, the external resource may be identified as “MyCalendar” which may be an external calendar application.
The automated action input portion 414 may include user interface element 424 configured to obtain entry and/or selection of an action to carry out in the identified external resource. For illustrative purposes, the action to carry out may include “Set a reminder.”
The automated action input portion 414 may include a user interface element 428 configured to obtain entry and/or selection of a further specification of the action to carry out in the identified external resource. For illustrative purposes, the further specification may include setting the content of the reminder to “Follow up.”
It is noted that
It is noted that
In
A given client computing platform may include one or more processors configured to execute computer program components. The computer program components may be configured to enable an expert or user associated with the given client computing platform to interface with system 100 and/or external resources 126, and/or provide other functionality attributed herein to client computing platform(s) 104. By way of non-limiting example, the given client computing platform 104 may include one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computing platform, a NetBook, a Smartphone, a gaming console, and/or other computing platforms.
External resource(s) 126 may include sources of information outside of system 100, external entities participating with system 100, and/or other resources. In some implementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein to external resource(s) 126 may be provided by resources included in system 100.
Server(s) 102 may include electronic storage 128, one or more processors 130, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may include communication lines, or ports to enable the exchange of information with a network 116 and/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server(s) 102 in
Electronic storage 128 may comprise non-transitory storage media that electronically stores information. The electronic storage media of electronic storage 128 may include one or both of system storage that is provided integrally (i.e., substantially non-removable) with server(s) 102 and/or removable storage that is removably connected to server(s) 102 via, for example, a port (e.g., a USB port, a firewire port, etc.) or a drive (e.g., a disk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 128 may include one or more of optically readable storage media (e.g., optical disks, etc.), magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic hard drive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g., EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.), and/or other electronically readable storage media. Electronic storage 128 may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g., cloud storage, a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storage resources). Electronic storage 128 may store software algorithms, information determined by processor(s) 130, information received from server(s) 102, information received from client computing platform(s) 104, and/or other information that enables server(s) 102 to function as described herein.
Processor(s) 130 may be configured to provide information processing capabilities in server(s) 102. As such, processor(s) 130 may include one or more of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information. Although processor(s) 130 is shown in
It should be appreciated that although components 108, 110, 112, and/or 114 are illustrated in
In some implementations, method 200 may be implemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations of method 200 in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations of method 200.
An operation 202 may manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. The environment state information may specify values of environment parameters and/or other information. The environment parameters may include one or more of user parameters, work unit parameters, and/or other parameters. The values of the user parameters may describe one or more of the users, user actions of the users within the collaboration environment, user settings of the users, and/or other information about the users. The values of work unit parameters may describe units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, and/or other information about units of work. Operation 202 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to environment state component 108, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 204 may generate automation information and/or other information. The automation information may be generated based on user entry and/or selection of the automation information into a user interface. The automation information may specify sets of automated actions to carry out outside of the collaboration environment in response to occurrence of trigger events within the collaboration environment. The user entry and/or selection of the automation information may include entry and/or selection of one or more of individual automated actions in individual sets of automated actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a first set of automated actions to carry out outside of the collaboration environment in response to a first trigger event occurring within the collaboration environment. The first set of automated actions and/or the first trigger event may be generated based on input by a first user into a user interface. Operation 204 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 206 may detect occurrence of the trigger events within the collaboration. The occurrence of the trigger events within the collaboration may be based on changes in the values of the environment parameters and/or other events occurring within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, an occurrence of the first trigger event may be detected based on a first change in a first value of a first environment parameter to a second value. In some implementations, the first trigger event may be associated with the first change (e.g., a state change of the first environment parameter). In some implementations, the first trigger event may be associated with the second value (e.g., a data change of the first environment parameter). Operation 206 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 208 may effectuate individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment. The effectuation of the individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment may be responsive to the detection of the occurrence of individual trigger events within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to the detection of the first trigger event, the first set of automated actions may be effectuated outside the collaboration environment. Operation 208 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
In some implementations, method 300 may be implemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations of method 300 in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations of method 300.
An operation 302 may manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. The environment state information may specify values of environment parameters and/or other information. The environment parameters may include one or more of user parameters, work unit parameters, and/or other parameters. The values of the user parameters may describe one or more of the users, user actions of the users within the collaboration environment, user settings of the users, and/or other information about the users. The values of work unit parameters may describe units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, and/or other information about units of work. Operation 302 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to environment state component 108, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 304 may generate automation information and/or other information. The automation information may be generated based on user entry and/or selection of the automation information into a user interface. The automation information may specify sets of automated actions to carry out within of the collaboration environment in response to occurrence of trigger events outside the collaboration environment. The user entry and/or selection of the automation information may include entry and/or selection of one or more of individual automated actions in individual sets of automated actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the automation information may specify a first set of automated actions to carry out within of the collaboration environment in response to a first trigger event occurring outside the collaboration environment. The first set of automated actions and/or the first trigger event may be generated based on input by a first user into a user interface. Operation 304 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 306 may obtain information indicating occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, first information may be obtained. The first information may indicate an occurrence of the first trigger event outside the collaboration environment. Operation 306 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
An operation 308 may effectuate individual sets of automated actions within the collaboration environment. The effectuation of the individual sets of automated actions outside the collaboration environment may be responsive to obtaining the information indicating the occurrence of the trigger events outside the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, responsive to obtaining the information indicating the occurrence of the first trigger event outside the collaboration environment, the first set of automated actions may be effectuated within the collaboration environment. Operation 308 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a component that is the same as or similar to automation component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.
Although the present technology has been described in detail for the purpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be the most practical and preferred implementations, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that the technology is not limited to the disclosed implementations, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it is to be understood that the present technology contemplates that, to the extent possible, one or more features of any implementation can be combined with one or more features of any other implementation.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16787400 | Feb 2020 | US |
| Child | 18453864 | US |
