Calendar-Driven Business Intelligence for Work Activity Prioritization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current business applications struggle to effectively present work activities with time constraints and contextual information, making it difficult for individuals to prioritize and manage their tasks efficiently, especially when dealing with multiple, cross-functional transactions.
Innovation Solution
Generating calendar entries based on work activity information from various business applications, with automatic creation and display of relevant dates, and using business rules to determine entry display and actions, providing contextual information and prioritization support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If work activities are communicated via simple notification mechanism in list format, then individuals receive notification of pending work activities, but it becomes difficult to visualize time constraints and prioritize activities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the one-dimensional list format into a two-dimensional calendar view by mapping work activities to temporal dimensions (days, weeks, months). This dimensional transformation allows individuals to simultaneously see multiple activities organized by time, making time constraints and priorities visually apparent without losing any activity information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a calendar interface as an intermediary between the workflow engine and the individual. This calendar mediator transforms raw work activity data into a visual temporal representation, allowing individuals to assess time constraints and prioritize activities effectively while maintaining connection to the underlying business applications.
2Adaptability or versatility
If individuals are involved in large number of cross-functional transactions, then comprehensive work coverage is achieved, but prioritization and tracking becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal calendar interface that can display and manage work activities from multiple different business applications and functional areas simultaneously. This single unified calendar handles diverse transaction types (purchasing, HR, projects, etc.) through a common temporal organization mechanism, reducing the perceived complexity despite comprehensive coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments work activities by their temporal characteristics and organizes them into calendar-based time slots. This segmentation approach divides the complex set of cross-functional activities into manageable temporal units, allowing individuals to prioritize and track activities in organized time-based groups rather than as an undifferentiated list.
3Productivity
If contextual information is minimized in notifications, then notification delivery is simple, but work activity understanding is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary organization and contextualization of work activities by mapping them to calendar time slots before presentation to the individual. This preliminary temporal structuring provides contextual information about when activities should be performed, enabling better understanding and prioritization while maintaining efficient notification delivery through automated calendar entry creation.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for aiding individuals in managing work activities. In one set of embodiments, information about work activities for an individual is received from a plurality of different business applications. The work activities relate to business transactions facilitated by the plurality of different business applications. Calendar entries are then generated for each work activity based on the received information, and presented in a calendar of the individual. In various embodiments, the calendar entries are generated automatically (i.e., without human intervention). By focusing on the time sequence in which work activities should be addressed, embodiments of the present invention enable individuals to quickly and efficiently prioritize and carry out their pending work activities, thereby improving the operational efficiency of an enterprise.