Abstract:
A method for generating a spreadsheet is disclosed. The method comprises locking a grid area comprising selected cells of the spreadsheet to prevent data entry into said cells by a user; performing an authentication operation to authenticate the user with a remote application; if the authentication operation authenticates the user then retrieving row and column header information from the remote application in response to said communication displaying said row and column header information from the remote application; and selectively unlocking cells of the grid area with row and column header information.

Description:
FIELD 
     Embodiments of the present invention relate to spreadsheets. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to templates for spreadsheets. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Spreadsheets may be used for organization and analysis of data in tabular form. Within a spreadsheet, data is represented as cells of an array, organized in rows and columns. For example in the case of a budget, each column may be used to represent a fiscal period, whereas each row may be used to represent an account. 
     Within an organization/enterprise spreadsheet templates, e.g. with predefined cell ranges and formulas, may be used to save time. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for generating a spreadsheet. The method comprises locking a grid area comprising selected cells of the spreadsheet to prevent data entry into said cells by a user; performing an authentication operation to authenticate the user with a remote application; if the authentication operation authenticates the user then retrieving row and column header information from the remote application in response to said communication displaying said row and column header information from the remote application; and selectively unlocking cells of the grid area with row and column header information. 
     Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  spreadsheet generated by a spreadsheet template, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows user device running the spreadsheet template of  FIG. 1  and connecting to a remote application, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIGS. 3-4  show flowcharts of actions by the spreadsheet template, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIGS. 5-8  show tables provisioned in an enterprise budgeting application, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows a spreadsheet generated by a spreadsheet template, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 10  shows a table specifying dimension range behavior, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, 
         FIG. 11  shows logical view of the spreadsheet template, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention 
         FIG. 12  shows a high-level block diagram of a system that implements the spreadsheet template, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block or flow diagram form only in order to avoid obscuring the invention. 
     Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not other embodiments. 
     Moreover, although the following description contains many specifics for the purposes of illustration, anyone skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations and/or alterations to the details are within the scope of the present invention. Similarly, although many of the features of the present invention are described in terms of each other, or in conjunction with each other, one skilled in the art will appreciate that many of these features can be provided independently of other features. Accordingly, this description of the invention is set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the invention. 
     In one embodiment, there is provided a spreadsheet template to generate a spreadsheet  100  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The spreadsheet  100  is designed to facilitate the capture of budget data for an enterprise, and includes columns labeled A-G and rows labeled 1-12. It is to be noted that the spreadsheet  100  in not limited to facilitate capturing budget data and may be used to capture data for other purposes. Moreover, it is to be noted that the particular number of rows and columns in the template were selected for illustrative purposes only and may change depending on the application. 
     In the case of the spreadsheet  100 , the columns represent Fiscal Periods for a budget, whereas the rows represent Accounts for the budget. Header information pertaining to the rows and columns of the spreadsheet application (here budgeting) are referred to herein as dimensions. Advantageously, said dimensions are generated dynamically through a connection with remote application, as will be explained. 
     The spreadsheet  100  includes a menu area  102 . In one embodiment, in addition to the standard spreadsheet buttons found in spreadsheets (e.g. buttons for opening a file, creating a file, saving a file etc.) with, the menu area  102  includes a “create” button  104 , a “save” button  106 , an “approve” button  108 , and a “connect” button  110 . The operation of these additional buttons will be explained in greater detail below. The spreadsheet  100  also includes a grid area  112  to capture input budget data. 
     In use, the spreadsheet  100  is opened in a spreadsheet program running on a user device  200  shown in  FIG. 2 . The user device  200  may include any computing device capable of running a spreadsheet program e.g. Microsoft Excel. For example, the user device may be a desktop/notebook computer, smartphone, or tablet. The user device is under control of a user  202 . 
     In one embodiment, under control of the user  202  the spreadsheet  100  may be used to perform the actions shown in  FIG. 3  of the drawings. Referring to  FIG. 3 , at block  300 , the spreadsheet  100  connects to the remote application  204  (see  FIG. 2 ). In the present case, the remote application  204  is a budgeting application, which is communicatively coupled with a database  206 . In one embodiment, to initiate the connection with the remote application  204 , the user  202  selects the connect button  110 . In one embodiment, the connection with the remote application  204  may be via a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet. As part of the block  300 , the spreadsheet  100  performs an authentication operation with the remote application  204  to authenticate the user  202 . For example, to authenticate the user  202 , the spreadsheet  100  may send user-identifying information in the form of login credentials of the user  200 , e.g. single sign on or otherwise to the remote application  202 . 
     At block  302 , the spreadsheet  100  retrieves its latest template version from the remote application  202 . In some embodiments, the step  302  is optional. Responsive to successful connection and authentication with the remote application  202 , in one embodiment, the create button  104  which was previously not selectable (i.e. it was greyed out) becomes available for selection. 
     The user  202  selects the create button  104  and responsive thereto, in one embodiment, one or more input pages/forms may be displayed to the user  200 . It is to be noted that the spreadsheet  100  may include labels, formulas and/or other values that are independent of the remote application  202 . In one embodiment, the forms are designed to capture inputs from the user  200  to facilitate creation of the dimensions for the spreadsheet.  FIG. 4  shows the operations performed by the spreadsheet  100  to capture said inputs (the inputs are also referred to herein as “spreadsheet configuration” information), in one embodiment. Referring to  FIG. 4 , at block  400  the user  200  is prompted to select or input a budget period. For this purpose a list of active budget periods may be displayed to the  200  for selection. At block  402 , the user  200  is prompted for input or selection of an organization unit. For selection, a list of organization units may be presented to the user  200 . In one embodiment, filters may be provided to allow the user  200  to filter said list. Upon completion of the inputs via the forms, the spreadsheet  100  formulates a query based on the inputs. In one embodiment, the spreadsheet  100  is configured to transmit the query to remote application  202  in order to retrieve appropriate row and column header information from the remote application. The block  404  in  FIG. 4  indicates this. The grid area  112  shown in cross-hatching in  FIG. 1  is then unlocked, i.e. it becomes active. This corresponds to the block  406  in  FIG. 4 . Thus, the user  200  may input values into the grid area  112 . 
     Once the values have been input into the grid area  112 , the user may activate the save button  106 . This action causes the spreadsheet  100  to send the user-input budget data to the enterprise application  202 . 
     For better understanding of the operations of the spreadsheet  100 , consider that the remote application  202  includes a fiscal period table, a budget master table, an organization unit table and a general ledger (GL) table.  FIG. 5  shows an example of a fiscal period table  500 ,  FIG. 6  shows an example a budget master table  600 ,  FIG. 7  shows an example an organization unit table  700 , and  FIG. 8  shows an example a general ledger (GL) table  800 .  FIG. 9  shows a spreadsheet  900  generated by the inventive template in accordance with the techniques described above. 
     In order to generate a spreadsheet  900  based on the inventive template, the user  200  inputs “FY 13” as the Fiscal Period and “Marketing/UK” as the Organization Unit, when prompted to do so by the template as described above. Using these inputs, dimension ranges are created corresponding to the headers “Fiscal Periods” and “Account”. In one embodiment, a dimension range marks a spreadsheet cell as the dimension&#39;s starting cell corresponding to a range of cells and applies a behavior pattern e.g. vertical, so that cells are populated vertically with each retrieved remote application record being a new cell in that dimension range. To correctly generate the Fiscal Year and Account dimensions in the spreadsheet  900  a table specifying dimension range behavior is used, in one embodiment. Such a table  1000  is shown in  FIG. 10 . As will be seen, the table shows that the dimension/data area “Account” starts at cell B6 and is repeated in a vertical direction, whereas the dimension/data area “Fiscal Periods” starts at the cell C4 and is repeated in a horizontal direction. 
     In one embodiment the template disclosed herein may be implemented as software  1100  which may include the components shown in  FIG. 11 , at least at a logical level. As will be seen, to implement the techniques and function disclosed herein the software includes the following components: 
     Input component  1102 : this component facilitates the capture of user inputs. 
     Locking component  1104 : this component locks the grid area until the headers have been generated. 
     Authentication component  1106 : this component authenticates the user to the remote application. 
     Data Retrieval component  1108 : this component formulates a query based on the user inputs and retrieves data based on the query from the remote application  202 . 
     Header generation component  1110 : this component generates the row and column headers based on header information received from the remote application. 
     Data transmission component  1112 : this component is responsible for sending and receiving data to and from the remote application 
     Display component  1114 : this component is responsible for displaying the spreadsheet and other information. 
       FIG. 12  shows a system  1200 , in accordance with one embodiment the implements the template disclosed herein. The system  1200  may includes at least one processor  1202  coupled to a memory  1204 . The processor  1202  may represent one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors), and the memory  1204  may represent random access memory (RAM) devices comprising a main storage of the hardware, as well as any supplemental levels of memory e.g., cache memories, non-volatile or back-up memories (e.g. programmable or flash memories), read-only memories, etc. In addition, the memory  1204  may be considered to include memory storage physically located elsewhere in the hardware, e.g. any cache memory in the processor  1202 , as well as any storage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a mass storage device. 
     The system also typically receives a number of inputs and outputs for communicating information externally. For interface with a user or operator, the hardware may include one or more user input/output devices  1206  (e.g. keyboard, mouse, etc.) and a display  1208 . For additional storage, the system  1200  may also include one or more mass storage devices  1210 , e.g., a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other removable disk drive, a hard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an optical drive (e.g. a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) drive, etc.) and/or a USB drive, among others. Furthermore, the hardware may include an interface with one or more networks  1212  (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless network, and/or the Internet among others) to permit the communication of information with other computers coupled to the networks. It should be appreciated that the hardware typically includes suitable analog and/or digital interfaces between the processor  1202  and each of the components, as is well known in the art. 
     The system  1200  operates under the control of an operating system  1214 , and executes application software  1216  which includes various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, etc. to perform the techniques described above. 
     In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of the invention, may be implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise one or more instructions set at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operations necessary to execute elements involving the various aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has been described in the context of fully functioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various embodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of machine or computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution. Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited to recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, USB and other removable media, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks, (DVDs), etc.), flash drives among others. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modification and changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense.