Systems and methods to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment

Abstract

Systems and methods to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment are described herein. Exemplary implementations may: manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment; manage template information defining templates for user-generated graphical user interfaces of the collaboration environment; obtain input information conveying user input into the templates to generate the user-generated graphical user interfaces; effectuate presentation of the user-generated graphical user interfaces based on the template information and the input information; and/or perform other operations.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment.

BACKGROUND

Collaboration environments, sometimes referred to as work management platforms, 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 individual users and/or a virtual team of users does its work and may enable users to work in a more organized and efficient manner.

SUMMARY

Hosting a web-based collaboration environment poses many challenges. For example, operating the collaboration environment may require precise ways of creation, storage, management, and/or provision of information that makes up the collaboration environment. One way that operators look to improve the operation of the collaboration environment is to improve parts of the collaboration environment involving substantial human-machine interaction. Some of these improvements may be in the form of improved user interfaces that present information that would otherwise be stored in different records of the environment and not shown in a consolidated view. For example, users may traditionally have to navigate through one or more user interfaces that provide different pieces of information stored in one or more records in order for the users to obtain a more wholistic view of the one or more records—for example, to be able to report on the one or more records. This may require a sophisticated knowledge of the collaboration environment because the users are tasked with 1) initially knowing what information may even be relevant to reporting on the one or more records, 2) knowing where and how to navigate through the environment in order to collect the information, and/or 3) organizing and/or consolidating the found information to generate such a report. This required knowledge of the collaboration environment and the required interactions/navigations through the user interfaces themselves may be time consuming, may cause decreased workflow efficiency, and/or may be prone to user error. Accordingly, the inventors of the present disclosure have identified the need to operate a collaboration environment that improves upon the user interface(s) that present information stored in records of the collaboration environment as well as improving upon the human-machine interventions required to identify the information for these user interfaces and/or generate the interfaces themselves.

One or more aspects of the present disclosure relates to a system configured to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment. In some implementations, a user-generated graphical user interface may be used as a dashboard to report on multiple records within the collaboration environment. Providing a reporting dashboard may be useful because the multiple records may be associated with a multitude of information. The dashboard may provide a concise way to report on information in the multiple records within a single user interface.

One or more implementations presented herein propose a way to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces that act as universal reports on multiple records, and may include information that may or may not be protected by privileges so that sensitive and/or unnecessary information may be tailored. The user interfaces may display information in the form of a dashboard that contains concise, updated, and/or permissible information. By way of non-limiting illustration, a user-generated graphical user interface may include interactable and dynamic interface elements corresponding to values of parameters of the individual records. Users may add content to the user interface by interacting with the dynamic interface elements. In some implementations, users may be prompted when attempting to add sensitive information. If permissions are required, the prompt may give users the opportunity to change the content as it appears in the user interface and/or override the permissions requirement.

The interface elements representing one or more values of parameters may be dynamically updated as the values change. Providing these updated values of the parameters may maintain a user interface in its most current state regardless of when the user interface was created in relation to progress made within the collaboration environment. In some implementations, unstructured data otherwise dispersed in various pages and/or records of the collaboration environment may now become structured by virtue of the arrangement of dynamic interface elements displaying values of parameters in the user interfaces.

One or more implementations of a system to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment may include one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions and/or other components. Executing the machine-readable instructions may cause the one or more hardware processors to facilitate providing user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment. The machine-readable instructions may include one or more computer program components. The one or more computer program components may include one or more of an environment state component, a template component, a user input component, an update component, a user interface component, and/or other components.

The environment state component may be configured to manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment and/or other information. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. The environment state information may include one or more records. The one or more records may include one or more of work unit records, project records, objective records, and/or other records. The work unit records may include work information comprising values for work unit parameters associated with units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment. The project records may include project information comprising values for project parameters associated with one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment. The objective records may include objective information comprising values for objective parameters associated with business objectives within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, the records may include one or more of a first record, a second record, and/or other records.

The environment state component may be configured to manage template information defining templates for user-generated graphical user interfaces of the collaboration environment. Individual ones of the user-generated graphical user interfaces may correspond to multiple ones of the records. The individual templates may include individual sets of interface elements configured to display the values of one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records. By way of non-limiting illustration, a first template may include a first interface element configured to display the values of a parameter from a given record and a second interface element configured to display the values of a parameter from another given record.

The user input component may be configured to obtain input information conveying user input into the templates to generate the user-generated graphical user interfaces. The user input may identify the multiple ones of the records that are to be the subject of an individual user-generated graphical user interface. The user input may specify which of the values of the one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records are to be displayed in individual interface elements. By way of non-limiting illustration, the input information may convey first user input from a first user into the first template to generate a first user-generated graphical user interface. In some implementations, the first user input may identify the first record and/or specify a first set of values in the first record are to be displayed in the first interface element. The first user input may further identify the second record and/or specify a second set of values in the second record are to be displayed in the second interface element.

The user interface component may be configured to effectuate presentation of the user-generated graphical user interfaces based on one or more of the template information, the input information, and/or other information. The individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may include the individual sets of interface elements displaying the values of the one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of records. By way of non-limiting illustration, the first user-generated graphical user interface for the first record and the second record may be presented to reflect the first set of values in the first interface element and the second set of values in the second interface element.

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).

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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment, in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment, in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface, in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface, in accordance with one or more implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 configured to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment, in accordance with one or more implementations. The user-generated graphical user interfaces may display information in the form of a reporting dashboard that includes concise, updated, and/or permissible information. A dashboard may give users a current summary of information pertaining to multiple records within the collaboration environment regardless of their involvement.

In some implementations, system 100 may include one or more of one or more servers 102, one or more client computing platforms 104, external resource(s) 126, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with one or more client computing platforms 104 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.

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. The non-transitory electronic storage 128 may store one or more records and/or other information. 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 generating user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment. The computer program components may include one or more of an environment state component 108, a template component 110, a user input component 112, an update component 114, a user interface component 116, and/or other components.

Environment state component 108 may be configured to manage environment state information and/or other information used in maintaining a collaboration environment. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users within the collaboration environment. The environment state information may include records including values of parameters. The records may include one or more of work unit records, project records, objective records, and/or other records. The work unit records may include work information comprising values for work unit parameters associated with units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment. The project records may include project information comprising values for project parameters associated with one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment. The objective records may include objective information comparing values for objective parameters associated with business objectives within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, the records may include one or more of a first record, a second record, and/or other records.

The work information in the work unit records may include values of one or more work unit parameters. 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 unit of work may have one or more assignees and/or collaborators working on the given work unit. Units of work 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. Individual units of work may include one or more of an individual task, an individual sub-task, and/or other units of work assigned to and/or associated with one or more users. Individual units of work may include one or more digital content items. An individual unit of work may include an individual digital content item by virtue of the individual digital content item (and/or a copy or instance thereof) being attached and/or appended thereto. A digital content item may include one or more of an image, a video, an audio file, a PDF, a word document, and/or other digital content items.

In some implementations, units of work created by, assigned to, and/or completed by the users may refer generally to a linking of the units of work with the individual users in the collaboration environment. A unit of work may be linked with a user in a manner that defines one or more relationships between the user and the unit of work. Such a relationship may connote and/or be a result of an action (past, present, and/or future) of the user with respect to the unit of work. Such actions may include one or more of creating a work unit record for a unit of work, being assigned to participate in a unit of work, participating in a unit of work, being granted access to a work unit record of a unit of work, adjusting a value of a work unit parameter of a work unit record of a unit of work, and/or other actions.

Individual sets of work unit records may be defined by a record hierarchy. A record hierarchy may convey individual positions of work unit records (and their corresponding units of work) in the record hierarchy. By way of non-limiting illustration, a position may specify one or more of a work unit record being superior to another work unit record, a work unit record being subordinate to another work unit record, and/or other information. As a result, individual work unit records in the individual sets of work unit records may be subordinate to other individual work unit records in the individual sets of work unit records. For example, a work unit record may define a unit of work comprising a task, and a subordinate work unit record may define a unit of work comprising a sub-task to the task. A record hierarchy may define a relationship between work unit records. A work unit record may have some restrictions placed on it by virtue of having a subordinate work unit record. By way of non-limiting illustration, a work unit record may be restricted from access by one or more users unless and/or until a subordinate work unit record is completed and/or started.

Individual work unit records may include hierarchical information defining a record hierarchy of the individual work unit records. The hierarchical information of a work unit record may include one or more of information identifying other work unit records associated in a record hierarchy the work unit record belongs to, a specification of the position of the work unit record in the hierarchy, restrictions and/or other relationships placed on the work unit record by virtue of its position, and/or other information.

In some implementations, values of work unit parameters may include 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 or end date, a completion date, and/or dates), one or more users linked to a unit of work (e.g., an owner, one or more collaborators, collaborator access information, and/or other information), role information, a status parameter (e.g., an update, a hardcoded status update, a completed/incomplete/marked complete, a measured status, a progress indicator, quantity of sub-work units remaining for a given unit of work, measure of urgency, and/or other status parameters), one or more user comment parameters (e.g., permission for who may make comments such as an assignee, an assignor, 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, a 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, quantity and/or content of comments on the 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 digital content item 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, sub-tasks 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), one or more performance/productivity metrics for a given unit of work, hierarchical information, one or more custom fields (e.g., priority, cost, stage, and/or other custom fields), and/or other information.

In some implementations, the one or more work unit parameters may include one or more of a work assignment parameter, work completion parameter, a work management parameter, work creation parameter, and/or other parameters. The values of the work assignment parameter may describe and/or identify users who are assigned to the individual units of work. The values of the work management parameter may describe users who manage individual units of work. The values of the work creation parameter may describe users who created individual units of work, the date and/or time they were created, and/or other information.

The values of the work assignment parameter describing user assignment 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 units of work to themselves and/or another 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 completion parameter may indicate that a status 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, managing by the environment state component 108 may include maintaining queues of the units of work assigned to the users. The queues may be presented to the users in a user interface of the collaboration environment to facilitate access to the units of work via work unit pages. Individual queues may represent the units of work assigned to individual users organized in an order based on the individual end dates and/or other dates (e.g., start dates) and/or other ordering. Individual queues may be presented in a user interface based on one or more of a list view, a calendar view, and/or other views. The calendar view may be a calendar view by week, by more than one week (e.g., 1^st through 15^th), by month, by more than one month (e.g., May through July), and/or other calendar views. Units of work may be representing in a calendar view by user interface elements (e.g., icons, calendar entries, etc.).

Project information in project records may define values of project parameters for projects created, assigned, and/or managed within the collaboration environment. The project parameters may characterize one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment and/or via the collaboration environment, and/or the metadata associated with the one or more projects. Individual ones of the projects may be associated with individual ones of the project records. The project information may define values of the project parameters associated with a given project managed within the collaboration environment and/or via the collaboration environment. A given project may have one or more owners and/or one or more collaborators working on the given project. The given project may include one or more units of work assigned to one or more users under the given project heading. In some implementations, projects may include one or more units of work that may directly facilitate progress toward fulfillment of the projects. Accordingly, completion of the set of units of work may directly contribute to progress toward fulfillment of the project. By way of non-limiting illustration, an individual project may be associated with a client and the units of work under the individual project heading may be work directly contributing to the fulfillment of a business relationship with the client.

The values of the project parameters may, by way of non-limiting example, include one or more of: one or more units of work supporting individual ones of the projects (which may include values of work unit parameters included in one or more work unit records), one or more users linked to the project (which may include values of user parameters defined by one or more user records), role information, one or more user comment parameters (e.g., a creator, a recipient, one or more followers, one or more other interested parties, content, one or more times, upvotes, other hard-coded responses, etc.), a project name, a project description and/or background summary, a project problem statement, a project solution statement, one or more risks associated with the project, one or more project dates (e.g., a start date, a due date, a completion date, and/or other project dates), one or more project collaborators (e.g., an owner, one or more other project collaborators, collaborator access information, and/or other information), a status and/or progress (e.g., an update, a hardcoded status update, a measured status, quantity of units of work remaining to be completed in a given project, completed units of work in a given project, and/or other status parameter), one or more resources, one or more demonstrable assets associated with a project, one or more business objectives supported by the projects, notification settings, permissions information, 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 the given project, state of a workspace for a given task within the given project, and/or other information.

In some implementations, project records may include permissions information for the individual projects. The permissions may specify access restrictions for the individual project. The access restrictions may be specified on a user-basis, on a user role-basis (e.g., based on one or more of organization role, role in units of work, and/or role), for groups of users, and/or in other ways).

Role information may be specified in one or more of the work unit records, project records, user records, and/or other records. The role information may specify roles of the users within the units of work, the projects, and/or a business organization as a whole. The roles may convey expected contribution of the users in completing and/or supporting the units of work and/or the projects. The individual roles of individual users within the units of work may be specified separately from the individual roles of the individual users within the projects. The parameters may include a project role parameter characterizing the individual roles of the individual users with respect to individual projects.

A role may represent expected contribution of the users in completing and/or supporting the units of work and/or the projects. A role specified with respect to units of work and/or projects may be different from roles traditionally specified with respect to a business organization as a whole (e.g., president, CEO, intern, product designer, legal counsel, etc.). For example, an organization role may be “Product Designer”; a project role may be “Design Lead”; and a role on an individual unit of work may be “Approver.”

A role within a unit of work may be specified based on one or more of a job title, a description of what the user should accomplish and/or plan on accomplishing for the given unit of work, and/or other specifications. By way of non-limiting illustration, a role within a unit of work may include one or more of general assignee, graphic designer, engineer, tester, writer, artist, mechanic, and/or other descriptions.

A role within a project (e.g., a “role”) may be specified based on a description of what the user may be supporting and/or plan on supporting for the given project, and/or other specifications. By way of non-limiting illustration, a role within a project may include one or more of owner, design, marketing, copy, legal, engineering, art director, and/or other descriptions. Although the specification of the role in a project may include the same or similar words as the role in a unit of work, the role in the project may enable and/or disable features within the collaboration environment otherwise not available to users of having roles in individual units of work but not at the project level. In some implementations, roles within a project may take on a more supervisory connotation than the roles within the individual units of work.

A supporting parameter may characterize individual units of work supporting the individual projects. The values of the supporting parameter may include the values of one or more of the work unit parameters of the individual units of work supporting the individual projects. In some implementations, one or more units of work may be indicated as milestones for the project and/or may have other tags and/or status associated therewith. In some implementations, milestones may be representative of predetermined progress in the completion of a project. By way of non-limiting illustration, given two milestones within an individual project, the first milestone may indicate 30% project completion, while a second milestone may indicate 60% project completion.

A supported parameter may characterize individual business objectives supported by the individual projects. The values of the supported parameter may include the values of one or more of the objective parameters of the individual business objectives supported by the individual projects.

A supporters parameter may characterize the users having roles within the individual projects. The values of the supporters parameter may include the values of one or more user parameters of the users having the roles within the individual projects. Users may be associated with certain user roles within a collaboration environment representing their position. Individual projects may be a scenario where a user's role changes, representing an individual position for the individual project.

The objective information in objective records may include values of one or more objective parameters. The values of the objective parameters may be organized in objective records corresponding to business objectives managed, created, and/or owned within the collaboration environment. A given business objective may have one or more collaborators, and/or team members working on the given business objective. Business objectives may include one or more associated units of work and/or projects one or more users should accomplish and/or plan on accomplishing. Business objectives may be created by a given user for the given user and/or created by the given user and assigned to be owned by one or more other users. Individual business objectives may include one or more of an individual goal, an individual sub-goal, and/or other business objectives assigned to be owned by a user and/or associated with one or more users.

The business objectives may be associated with a set of units of work and/or projects that may indirectly facilitate progress toward fulfillment of the business objectives. The set of units of work and/or projects may not directly contribute to the progress. By way of non-limiting illustration, a connection between the set of units of work and/or projects and a corresponding business objective may be indirect in that completion of at least one of the units of work and/or projects may have no direct impact on progress toward fulfillment of the business objective. The concept of “no direct impact” may mean that completion of the at least one unit of work and/or project may not cause progress toward fulfillment of the business objective without independent action outside of the at least one unit of work and/or project. Instead, the fulfillment of the at least one unit of work and/or project may make such independent action more likely (e.g., through coercion, assistance, education, incentivization, reminder, etc.). However, in some implementations, business objectives may be associated with a set of units of work and/or projects that may directly facilitate progress toward fulfillment of the business objectives. Accordingly, completion of the set of units of work and/or projects may directly contribute to the progress toward fulfillment. Business objectives may be associated with an objectives and key result (OKR) goal-setting framework. Business objectives may be specified on one or more of a team basis, organization basis, and/or other specifications. In some implementations, business objectives may be characterized as user objectives. The user objectives may be associated with a set of units of work and/or projects that may indirectly (and/or directly) facilitate progress toward fulfillment of the user objectives. User objectives may be specified on an individual user basis.

Individual objective records may describe individual business objectives and identify sets of individual ones of the work unit records and/or project records that specify the units of work and/or projects as being associated with the individual business objectives.

Individual sets of objective records may be defined by an objective record hierarchy. An objective record hierarchy may convey individual positions of objective records (and their corresponding business objectives) in the objective record hierarchy. By way of non-limiting illustration, a position may specify one or more of an objective record being superior to one or more other objective records, an objective record being subordinate to one or more other objective records, and/or other information. As a result, individual objective records may be subordinate and/or superior to other individual objective records. For example, the objective records may further include a second objective record. The first objective record and the second objective record may be organized by a first objective record hierarchy specifying that the second objective record is subordinate to the first objective record.

An objective record may define a business objective comprising a progress towards fulfillment, and a subordinate objective record may define a business objective comprising a subordinate progress towards fulfillment to the subordinate business objective. An objective record hierarchy may define a relationship between objective records.

Individual objective records may include hierarchical information defining an objective record hierarchy of the individual objective records. The hierarchical information of an objective record may include one or more of information identifying other objective records associated in an objective record hierarchy the objective record belongs to, a specification of the position of the objective record in the hierarchy, other relationships placed on the objective record by virtue of its position, and/or other information.

In some implementations, as a consequence of the objective record hierarchies, the individual business objectives described in the individual objective records that are subordinate to the other individual objective records may be subordinate to the individual business objectives in the other individual objective records.

In some implementations, the one or more objective parameters may include one or more of an objective definition parameter, an objective owner parameter, an objective management parameter, an objective creation parameter, an objective progress parameter, and/or other parameters. The value of the objective definition parameter may describe the particular business objective. The values of the objective owner parameter may describe business objectives assigned to be owned by an individual user. The values of the objective management parameter may describe business objectives managed as collaborators by the individual users. The values of the objective creation parameter may describe business objectives created by the individual users.

In some implementations, the business objectives may be described based on one or more of a business objective name, a business objective description, one or more business objective dates (e.g., a start date, a due date, and/or dates), one or more members associated with a business objective (e.g., an owner, one or more other project/task members, member access information, and/or other business objective members and/or member information), progress information (e.g., an update, a hardcoded status update, a measured status, a progress indicator, quantity value remaining for a given business objective, completed work units in a given project, and/or other progress information), one or more interaction parameters, notification settings, privacy, an associated URL, one or more custom fields (e.g., priority, cost, stage, and/or other custom fields), and/or other information.

The values of the objective owner parameter describing business objectives owned by 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 ownership of one or more business objectives to themselves and/or another user. In some implementations, a user may be assigned to own a business objective and the user may effectuate a reassignment of ownership of the business objective from the user or one or more other users.

The user information in the user records may include values of user parameters. 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 may include information describing the users, their actions 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.

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, role information, a user department, descriptive user content, a to-email, a from-email, a photo, an organization, a workspace, 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 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), 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), one or more performance/productivity metrics of a given user (e.g., how many units of work the user has completed, how quickly the user completed the units of work, how quickly the user completes certain types of work units, the efficiency of the user, bandwidth of the user, activity level of the user, how many business objectives the user has helped fulfill through their completion of units of work, etc.), application access information (e.g., username/password for one or more third-party applications), one or more favorites and/or priorities, schedule information, and/or other information.

Environment state component 108 may be configured to manage information defining user-generated graphical user interfaces corresponding to multiple ones of the records. By way of non-limiting illustration, the individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may include individual sets of interface elements configured to display values of one or more parameters of multiple ones of the records and/or other information.

In some implementations, the values of one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of records displayed in the individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may be dictated based on a template being used and/or the user input provided by a user into the template (see, e.g., template component 110 and/or user input component 112).

In some implementations, displaying the values of a parameter may include determining visual representations of the values. The visual representations may be one or more of numeric representations, graphical representations (e.g., charts, graphs, comparisons, etc.), and/or other representations. In some implementations, visual representations may be direct representations. By way of non-limiting illustration, a value of a parameter may be directly presented in a graphical user interface. For example, a value of a parameter for a project record specifying that the project includes ten tasks may be represented in an interface element as “This project has ten tasks.” In some implementations, visual representations may be indirect representations. By way of non-limiting illustration, a value of a parameter may be used as a basis for determining a display that represents the value but may not directly and/or explicitly convey the value. By way of non-limiting illustration, a value of a parameter for a project record specifying that the project includes five out of ten tasks already completed may be represented in an interface element as a pie chart that is half shaded to represent half of the project's tasks being completed. Other visual representations are contemplated.

The template component 110 may be configured to manage template information defining templates for user-generated graphical user interfaces of the collaboration environment. In some implementations, individual templates may include the individual sets of interface elements as empty fields. The empty fields may be configured to eventually display the values of one or more of the parameters. In some implementations, a user may provide input into the templates in order to add information to the interface elements. The user input may include dragging and dropping dynamic interface objects representing suggested records and/or suggested values of parameters. By way of non-limiting illustration, a first template may include a first interface element, a second interface element, and/or other interface elements. The first interface element may be configured to display the values of one or more parameters from a given record. The second interface element may be configured to display the values of one or more parameter from another given record.

The interface elements displayed in a user interface may be organized in many different ways according to the kinds of records being reported on via the user interface. In some implementations some values may be displayed as text which might appear as a list of the values. In some implementations, values of parameters may be in the form of different kinds of content (e.g., timelines, videos, lists, graphs, etc.) which can be organized in a visually appealing manner.

In some implementations, one or more interface elements may be pre-configured on the user-generated graphical user interfaces by the templates, corresponding to predetermined ones of the values of the parameters. The predetermined ones of the values may be values determined to have been impacted the most. Impact may be determined based on values(s) having the relatively most change in relation to other values, value(s) having the relatively most user interaction in relation to the values than other values, and/or other considerations.

The user input component 112 may obtain input information conveying user input into the templates to generate the user-generated graphical user interfaces. The user input may include identifying the multiple ones of the records and/or specifying which of the values of the one or more of the parameters of each of the records are to be displayed. In some implementations, the templates may include a “suggested content” portion that includes one or more dynamic user interface elements providing a technique to specify which records are to be included in the user interface and/or which of the values of the one or more of the parameters of each of the records should be displayed in the individual interface elements. “Dynamic” may mean that they are elements configured to be manipulated by a user. Individual ones of the dynamic user interface elements may represent individual parameters. A user may provide drag-and-drop input (and/or other input) of the dynamic user interface elements into individual ones of the interface elements on the templates. This input may cause the individual interface elements to take on the values of the parameters of a given record associated with the dynamic user interface elements, thereby generating the user-generated graphical user interfaces.

By way of non-limiting illustration, the input information may convey first user input from a first user into the first template to generate a first user-generated graphical user interface. The first user input may identify the first record and specify a first set of values in the first record to be displayed in the first interface element. The first user input may further identify the second record and specify a second set of values in the second record to be displayed in the second interface element.

The multiple ones of the records reported in a user interface may be one or more different types of records. For example, the first record may be a first type of record (e.g., project record, work unit record, objective record, etc.) and the second record may be a second type of record. The first type of record and the second type of record may be the same or may be different. In some implementations, the first record may be one of the project records and the second record may be another one of the project records. In some implementations, the first record may be one of the project records and the second record may be one of the work unit records. In some implementations, the first record may be one of the objective records and the second record may be another one of the objective records. In some implementations, the first record may be one of the project records and the second record may be one of the objective records. In some implementations, the first record may be one of the work unit records and the second record may be another one of the work unit records. Other combinations of records are contemplated.

In some implementations, the values displayed in the individual user-generated graphical user interface may include values subject to access restrictions. In some implementations, users may be prompted when attempting to add values of parameters that violate access restrictions. In some implementations, the user input component 112 may either block the inclusion of values of parameters violating access restrictions, and/or users may change access restrictions of the values of parameters to allow their inclusion.

The user interface component 116 may be configured to effectuate presentation of the user-generated graphical user interfaces based on one or more of the template information, the input information, and/or other information. The individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may include the individual sets of interface elements displaying the values of the one or more parameters of multiple ones of the records. By way of non-limiting illustration, the first user-generated graphical user interface for the first record and the second record may be presented to reflect the first set of values in the first interface element and the second set of values in the second interface element.

The update component 114 may be configured to monitor use of the collaboration environment by the users to determine change in the values of the one or more of the parameters of records. In some implementations, update component 114 may be configured to dynamically update the user-generated graphical user interfaces based on the change the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records.

In some implementations, change in values may include one or both of user-initiated change in the values and/or automated change in the values. In some implementations, environment state information may be updated as users continue to interact with the collaboration environment via the user interfaces over time. The environment state component 108 may store and/or archive the environment state information periodically and/or based on user request to archive. In some implementations, the environment state component 108 may store historical environment state information specifying historical user information, historical work information, historical project information, historical objective information, user interaction history, and/or other information.

The user interface component 116 may be configured to effectuate presentation of one or more pages providing access to the records. The one or more pages may provide access to the values of the parameters included in the records. In some implementations, the user interface component 116 may be configured to provide access to the individual user-generated graphical user interfaces from individual pages. By way of non-limiting illustration, the individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may comprise a subset of the pages. In some implementations, presentation of a subset of pages may be based on selection of tabs at the top of the pages. These tabs may be organized within the pages according to different views of the records.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface 300, in accordance with one or more implementations. The user interface 300 may include a view of a collaboration environment. In particular, the user interface 300 may comprise a template 302 for a user-generated graphical user interface to report on multiple records, illustrated as “TEMPLATE X”. The template 302 may comprise a first portion 308 displaying suggested content, a second portion 306 displaying a set of empty fields representing interface elements of the user-generated graphical user interface. The first portion 308 may be comprised of one or more dynamic user interface elements 310 corresponding to different records and/or different parameters of the records. By way of non-limiting illustration, individual ones of the dynamic user interface elements 310 may be dragged and dropped into individual ones of the empty fields, thereby specifying which of the records are to be displayed in a user interface. By way of non-limiting illustration, users may arrange the dynamic user interface elements 310 into the empty fields in whatever manner users deem best arrangement.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface 400, in accordance with one or more implementations. The user interface 400 may include a view of a collaboration environment. In particular, the user interface 400 may comprise the user-generated graphical user interface 402 (illustrated as “Report”) for multiple records in response to user input into the template 302 of FIG. 3. The user-generated graphical user interface 402 may comprise one or more user interface elements 404a-b displaying values of one or more parameters of multiple records (illustrated as “Project X” and “Project Y”). In some implementations, the values of the parameters may be dynamically updated and reflected in the user interface 402.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some implementations, server(s) 102, client computing platform(s) 104, and/or external resource(s) 126 may be operatively linked via one or more electronic communication links. For example, such electronic communication links may be established, at least in part, via a network 117 such as the Internet and/or other networks. It will be appreciated that this is not intended to be limiting, and that the scope of this disclosure includes implementations in which server(s) 102, client computing platform(s) 104, and/or external resource(s) 126 may be operatively linked via some other communication media.

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 resource(s) 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 117 and/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server(s) 102 in FIG. 1 is not intended to be limiting. Server(s) 102 may include a plurality of hardware, software, and/or firmware components operating together to provide the functionality attributed herein to server(s) 102. For example, server(s) 102 may be implemented by a cloud of computing platforms operating together as server(s) 102.

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 connectable 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, a physical 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 FIG. 1 as a single entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In some implementations, processor(s) 130 may include a plurality of processing units. These processing units may be physically located within the same device, or processor(s) 130 may represent processing functionality of a plurality of devices operating in coordination. Processor(s) 130 may be configured to execute components 108, 110, 112, 114, 116 and/or other components. Processor(s) 130 may be configured to execute components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 and/or other components by software; hardware; firmware; some combination of software, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms for configuring processing capabilities on processor(s) 130. As used herein, the term “component” may refer to any component or set of components that perform the functionality attributed to the component. This may include one or more physical processors during execution of processor readable instructions, the processor readable instructions, circuitry, hardware, storage media, or any other components.

It should be appreciated that although components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being implemented within a single processing unit, in implementations in which processor(s) 130 includes multiple processing units, one or more of components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 may be implemented remotely from the other components. The description of the functionality provided by the different components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 described below is for illustrative purposes, and is not intended to be limiting, as any of components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 may provide more or less functionality than is described. For example, one or more of components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116 may be eliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be provided by other ones of components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116. As another example, processor(s) 130 may be configured to execute one or more additional components that may perform some or all of the functionality attributed below to one of components 108, 110, 112, 114, and/or 116.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 to provide user-generated graphical user interfaces within a collaboration environment, in accordance with one or more implementations. The operations of method 200 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some implementations, method 200 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 200 are illustrated in FIG. 2 and described below is not intended to be limiting.

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 and/or other information. The collaboration environment may be configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. The environment state information may include records including values of parameters and/or other information. The records may include work unit records, project records, objective records, and/or other records. The work unit records may include values for work unit parameters associated with units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment. The project records may include values for project parameters associated with one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment. The objective records may include values for objective parameters associated with business objectives within the collaboration environment. By way of non-limiting illustration, the records may include a first record and a second record. 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 manage template information defining templates for user-generated graphical user interfaces of the collaboration environment. Individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may correspond to multiple ones of the records. Individual templates may include individual sets of interface elements configured to display the values of one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records. By way of non-limiting illustration, a first template may include a first interface element configured to display the values from a given record and a second interface element configured to display the values from another given record. 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 template component 110, in accordance with one or more implementations.

An operation 206 may obtain input information conveying user input into the templates to generate the user-generated graphical user interfaces. The user input may identify records and/or specify which of the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records are to be displayed in the individual sets of interface elements. By way of non-limiting illustration, the input information may convey first user input from a first user into the first template to generate a first user-generated graphical user interface. The first user input may identify the first record and specify a first set of values in the first record to be displayed in the first interface element. The first user input may further identify the second record and specify a second set of values in the second record to be displayed in the second interface element. 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 user input component 112, in accordance with one or more implementations.

An operation 208 may effectuate presentation of the user-generated graphical user interfaces based on one or more of the template information, the input information, and/or other information. The individual user-generated graphical user interfaces may include the individual sets of interface elements displaying the values of the one or more parameters of multiple ones of the records and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration, the first user-generated graphical user interface for the first record and the second record may be presented to reflect the first set of values in the first interface element and the second set of values in the second interface element. 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 user interface component 116, 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.

Claims

1. A system configured to provide user-generated reports configured for presentation within a graphical user interface of a collaboration environment, the system comprising: one or more physical processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:manage, by a server, electronically stored environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment, the collaboration environment being configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment, the server communicating with remotely located client computing platforms associated with the users over one or more network connections to provide access to the collaboration environment via a graphical user interface, the environment state information including records including values of parameters, the records including work unit records, project records, and objective records, the work unit records including values for work unit parameters associated with units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, the project records including values for project parameters associated with one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment, the objective records including values for objective parameters associated with business objectives within the collaboration environment, the records including a first record and a second record;establish the one or more network connections between the server and the remotely located client computing platforms;manage, by the server, template information defining templates for user-generated reports, the user-generated reports being configured for presentation within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, individual user-generated reports corresponding to multiple ones of the records, wherein individual templates include individual display portions showing individual sets of interface elements configured to display the values of one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records and individual suggested content portions identifying individual sets of suggested records, the templates including a first template, the first template including a first interface element configured to display the values from a given record and a second interface element configured to display the values from another given record;effectuate communication of user interface information from the server to the remotely located client computing platforms over the one or more network connections to cause the remotely located client computing platforms to present the individual templates within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to obtain user input into the individual templates to generate the user-generated reports;obtain, by the server, input information conveying the user input into the templates to generate the user-generated reports, the user input into an individual template comprising drag-and-drop input that identifies the multiple ones of the records being reported on by selecting individual dynamic interface elements representing individual suggested records from an individual suggested content portion of the individual template and dropping the individual dynamic interface elements into an individual display portion of the individual template so that individual interface elements in the individual display portion take on individual values of the individual suggested records the input information obtained by the server conveying first user input from a first user into the first template to generate a first user-generated report, wherein the first user input comprises an instance of the drag-and-drop input that identifies the first record and specifies a first set of values in the first record are to be displayed in the first interface element, and further identifies the second record and specifies a second set of values in the second record are to be displayed in the second interface element;cause, by the server and in response to obtaining the input information, the templates to take on the values of the one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records being reported on to thereby generate the user-generated reports, including in response to the first user input, cause the first template to take on the first set of values of the first record and the second set of values of the second record to thereby generate the first user-generated report; andeffectuate communication of further user interface information from the server to the remotely located client computing platforms over the one or more network connections to cause the remotely located client computing platforms to display the user-generated reports within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, the individual user-generated reports including the individual sets of interface elements displaying the values of the one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records, the first user-generated report displaying the first set of values in the first interface element and the second set of values in the second interface element.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is another one of the project records.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is one of the work unit records.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first record is one of the objective records and the second record is another one of the objective records.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is one of the objective records.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first record is one of the work unit records and the second record is another one of the work unit records.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by the machine-readable instructions to: monitor, by the server, use of the collaboration environment by the users via the remotely located client computing platforms to determine change in the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records; and dynamically update, by the server, the user-generated reports graphical user interfaces displayed at the remotely located client computing platforms based on the change the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the change in the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records includes one or both of user-initiated change in the values or automated change in the values.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured by the machine-readable instructions to: effectuate presentation of pages providing access to the records; and provide access to the individual user-generated reports from individual ones of the pages user generated graphical user interfaces of the multiple ones of the records, such that the individual user-generated reports graphical user interfaces comprise subsets of the pages providing access to the records.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the records include permissions information, the permissions specify access restrictions for the records, and wherein the values of the records displayed in the individual user-generated reports include graphical user interface includes individual values that do not violate the access restrictions.

11. A method to provide user-generated reports configured for presentation within a graphical user interface of a collaboration environment, the method comprising: managing, by a server, electronically stored environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment, the collaboration environment being configured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment, the server communicating with remotely located client computing platforms associated with the users over one or more network connections to provide access to the collaboration environment via a graphical user interface, the environment state information including records including values of parameters, the records including work unit records, project records, and objective records, the work unit records including values for work unit parameters associated with units of work managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaboration environment, the project records including values for project parameters associated with one or more projects managed within the collaboration environment, the objective records including values for objective parameters associated with business objectives within the collaboration environment, the records including a first record and a second record;establishing the one or more network connections between the server and the remotely located client computing platforms;managing, by the server, template information defining templates for user-generated reports, the user-generated reports being configured for presentation within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, individual user-generated reports corresponding to multiple ones of the records, wherein individual templates include individual display portions showing individual sets of interface elements configured to display the values of one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records and individual suggested content portions identifying individual sets of suggested records, the templates including a first template, the first template including a first interface element configured to display the values from a given record and a second interface element configured to display the values from another given record;effectuating communication of user interface information from the server to the remotely located client computing platforms over the one or more network connections to cause the remotely located client computing platforms to present the individual templates within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to obtain user input into the individual templates to generate the user-generated reports;obtaining, by the server, input information conveying the user input into the templates to generate the user-generated reports, the user input into an individual template comprising drag-and-drop input that identifies the multiple ones of the records being reported on by selecting individual dynamic interface elements representing individual suggested records from an individual suggested content portion of the individual template and dropping the individual dynamic interface elements into an individual display portion of the individual template so that individual interface elements in the individual display portion take on individual values of the individual suggested records the input information obtained by the server conveying first user input from a first user into the first template to generate a first user-generated report, wherein the first user input comprises an instance of the drag-and drop input that identifies the first record and specifies a first set of values in the first record are to be displayed in the first interface element, and further identifies the second record and specifies a second set of values in the second record are to be displayed in the second interface element;causing, by the server and in response to the obtaining the input information, the templates to take on the values of the one or more of the parameters of the multiple ones of the records being reported on to thereby generate the user-generated reports, including in response to the first user input, causing the first template to take on the first set of values of the first record and the second set of values of the second record to thereby generate the first user-generated report; andeffectuating communication of further user interface information from the server to the remotely located client computing platforms over the one or more network connections to cause the remotely located client computing platforms to display the user-generated reports within the graphical user interface of the collaboration environment, the individual user-generated reports including the individual sets of interface elements displaying the values of the one or more parameters of the multiple ones of the records, the first user-generated report displaying the first set of values in the first interface element and the second set of values in the second interface element.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is another one of the project records.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is one of the work unit records.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first record is one of the objective records and the second record is another one of the objective records.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first record is one of the project records and the second record is one of the objective records.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first record is one of the work unit records and the second record is another one of the work unit records.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises: monitoring, by the server, use of the collaboration environment by the users via the remotely located client computing platforms to determine change in the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records; and dynamically updating, by the server, the user-generated reports displayed at the remotely located client computing platforms based on the change the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the change in the values of the one or more of the parameters of the records includes one or both of user-initiated change in the values or automated change in the values.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein method further comprises: effectuating presentation of pages providing access to the records; and providing access to the individual user-generate reports from individual ones of the pages, such that the user-generated reports comprise subsets of the pages.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the records include permissions information, the permissions specify access restrictions for the records, and wherein the values of the records displayed in the individual user-generated reports include individual values that do not violate the access restrictions.