Patent Publication Number: US-2022237250-A1

Title: Smart directory search

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     A benefit of collaboration platforms such as Outlook, Confluence, Jira, BitBucket, etc., is that they enable communication and interaction among virtual members or users. Such platforms typically include search directories that allow a user to enter one or more characters to search for another user, e.g., by name, email address, user id, etc. Such search directories typically re-filter search results each time a new character is entered by the user. In an enterprise with many users, a one or two character search string can generate a large set of search results, requiring the user to scroll down or enter more characters. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Aspects of this disclosure include a system and method that provides a smart directory search that will sort directory search results to return the most relevant results at the top of the list. 
     A first aspect of the disclosure provides a system that includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to implement a collaborative platform having a search facility that returns a set of search results in response to at least one character entered by a user. The platform further includes a sort engine that sorts the set of search results according to method that includes: inputting the set of search results and organization details of the user that include an organization to which the user belongs; obtaining a policy from a policy store based on the organization and the platform, wherein the policy specifies a sort criteria; and applying the sort criteria to the search results to generate a sorted list of search results, wherein the sort criteria includes calculating an organizational distance between the user and each of the search results. 
     A second aspect of the disclosure provides a method for sorting a set of user names generated by a search facility within a collaborative platform generated in response to at least one character entered by a user. The method includes: inputting into a sort engine the set user names and organization details of the user that includes an organization to which the user belongs; obtaining a policy from a policy store based on the organization and platform, wherein the policy specifies a sort criteria; and applying the sort criteria to the set of user names to generate a sorted list of user names, wherein the sort criteria includes calculating an organizational distance between the user and each of the set of user names. 
     A third aspect of the disclosure provides a system that includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to implement a virtual workspace. The workspace includes a plurality of workspace applications, each having a search facility that performs a search in response to at least one character entered by a user. The workspace also includes a brokering service configured to perform a method that includes: intercepting calls to a search facility within an active application; obtaining a set of search results from the search facility; and determining interaction details of the user with the active application. Also included in the workspace is a first microservice that sorts the set of search according to method that includes: inputting the search results, an organization to which the user belongs and interaction details of the user; obtaining a policy from a second microservice based on the organization and active application, wherein the policy specifies a sort criteria; and applying the sort criteria to the search results to generate a sorted list of search results, wherein the sort criteria includes analyzing the interaction details to calculate a distance between the user and each of the search results. 
     The illustrative aspects of the present disclosure are designed to solve the problems herein described and/or other problems not discussed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features of this disclosure will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings that depict various embodiments of the disclosure, in which: 
         FIG. 1  depicts an illustrative collaboration platform configured to provide smart directory searching, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  depicts a sort policy in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  depicts an organization chart, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  depicts flow diagram of a process for implementing smart directory searching, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a workspace configured to provide smart directory searching for a set of workspace platforms, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  depicts a network infrastructure, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a computing system, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
         FIG. 8A  is a block diagram of an example system in which resource management services may manage and streamline access by clients to resource feeds (via one or more gateway services) and/or software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. 
         FIG. 8B  is a block diagram showing an example implementation of the system shown in  FIG. 8A  in which various resource management services as well as a gateway service are located within a cloud computing environment. 
         FIG. 8C  is a block diagram similar to that shown in  FIG. 8B  but in which the available resources are represented by a single box labeled “systems of record,” and further in which several different services are included among the resource management services. 
     
    
    
     The drawings are intended to depict only typical aspects of the disclosure, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the disclosure. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Embodiments of the disclosure provide technical solutions for providing smart directory searching for hosted and workspace-based collaboration platforms. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “collaboration platform” (or simply “platform”) refers to any hosted application having a search directory that allows a user to enter a search string and obtain search results of other users or entities. As noted, when performing a directory search on such a platform, a list of search results are returned in response to an entered search string that consists of one or more typed characters. Each time a new character is added to the end of the string, the results are further filtered. However, because the results are often not in any specific order (other than alphabetical), the desired name may appear way down in the list of search results, requiring the searcher to type in more and more characters to narrow the search or scroll down through a large number of results. 
       FIG. 1  depicts an illustrative collaboration platform  10  that provides smart directory searching, which runs on a server  14 , accessible by a client device  12  for a user  16 . Collaboration platform  10  includes a directory search tool  18  that allows the user  16  to submit a character string  20  and receive back a sorted list  22  of search results. Upon receiving a character string  20 , the directory search tool  18  searches a user database (DB)  28  to generate a set of matching search results  32  that are unsorted (or only sorted, e.g., alphabetically). 
     The matching search results  32  are passed to a sort engine  30 , which sorts the results  32  using organization details  28 . Organization details  28  may for example be provided, generated or determined by an organization information manager  26  located within the collaboration platform  10  (as shown) or elsewhere, e.g., in a separate database, by a third party service, etc. Regardless, the organization details  28  may include, e.g., the name of the organization to which the user belongs (e.g., as determined by a user ID  24 ), the structure and details of names and resources within the organization (e.g., a hierarchical organization (org) chart, a user directory, information from a human resource database, a resource directory, etc.), the user&#39;s role in the organization (e.g., title, location, projects assigned, team, division, manager name, etc.), etc. 
     The sorted list  22  identifies the most relevant search results and e.g., places them at the top of the list. Accordingly, in the event the name sought by the user is identified as relevant and placed at the top of the list, the need to scroll down and/or type in additional characters is greatly reduced. 
     To perform the sort, sort engine  30  utilizes a sorting policy  34 , which provides a set of rules for performing the sort on search results  32 . A policy store  40  is implemented and stores different sorting policies available to sort engine  30  depending on the particular situation. In one illustrative embodiment, sort engine  30  retrieves the sorting policy  34  from policy store  40  based on an identity of an organization (from the organization details  28 ) and the particular platform  10  being utilized. Accordingly, the policy store  40  may hold policies for selectable platforms (e.g., Outlook, Jira, BitBucket, etc.) and selectable organizations (e.g., Company XYZ, Group ABC, Division A, etc.). An organization may take any form and may for example comprise an entire enterprise (e.g., a corporation), a division within an enterprise, a particular user group, a community, etc. Each stored sorting policy  34  provides a sort criteria that dictates how the search results  32  should be sorted by the sort engine  30  to generate the sorted list  22 . 
     Sorting policies can be customized to meet the needs of particular organizations and platforms.  FIG. 2  depicts an illustrative sorting policy  34  for a selected platform/organization, in this example the policy  34  is used to sort search results from BitBucket within Company ABC. In this example, the policy  34  is presented in the form of a table and includes a multilevel sort having three sub-policies  50  shown as rows in the table. In this case, sub-policies  50  are applied in sequential order from the top row of the table to the bottom row. Further, each sub-policy  50  may include one or more conditions  52 , shown in the columns, which are applied as part of a given sub-policy. 
     Although shown as a table, it is understood that sorting policy  34  can be stored or provided in any form, e.g., an XML file, a script, a table, program code, etc. Regardless of the format of the sorting policy  34 , policies can be customized for individual platforms and they can be chained with other policies for the same platform in a multilevel sort for optimized results. Policies that include multilevel sorts can specify an ordering of sub-policies, e.g., with a sequence number or the like, which represents the application order in a policy chain. 
     In one embodiment, each organization may include a default policy that will order the search results  32  based on the proximity or “organizational distance” between the user performing the search and each of the names in the search results  32 . Examples of computing organizational distance are described below. In  FIG. 2 , the default policy is implemented in the top row of the table with the policy name “Default” (and is shown as enabled, “isEnable=true”). Within the default policy, three conditions are provided under the names: Division, Team, and Designation. Each condition sort results by calculating an organizational distance (i.e., Use Distance Measurement utility=true) or based on a simple match (i.e., Use Comparator=true). In this example, the first condition will calculate a distance between the user and other names based on divisions to which they belong, and order the results accordingly. Next, the second condition will calculate a distance between the user and other names based on the teams to which they belong. The third condition will identify returned names that have the same designation (e.g., job title) to again further order the results. Sorting for each condition can be ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC). 
     In this example, the default policy is chained with two custom sub-policies (rows two and three) which are enabled by setting the “use with default policy” flag to true. The second and third rows of the policy  34  shown in  FIG. 2  specify that the results are to be further sorted based on the number of code reviews and number of code commits performed by the returned names. It is understood the type and number of policies described herein are for illustrative purposes, and other custom policies, sub-policies, conditions, etc., could be implemented. 
     In one embodiment, the sort engine  30  processes and stores the search results  22  and sorted list  22  in a prefix tree (“trie”) data structure  42  ( FIG. 1 ). As new characters are entered by the user  16 , the sorted list  22  is re-filtered with the help of the trie data structure  42  to provide relevant results more quickly. Trie data structures, which are widely understood in the field of computer science, are a type of search tree commonly used for processing character strings. 
     Computing the organizational distance between the user and search results  32  may be done in any manner. In one example, a hierarchical org tree such as that shown in  FIG. 3  is utilized in which the organizational distance is computed by evaluating the number of nodes and/or edges between users in the org tree. Counting of nodes can for example be implemented with software routines, e.g., isContainedWithin(&lt;T&gt; obj1, &lt;T&gt; obj2) that determines if two objects (i.e., names) reside in the same node (e.g., division, team, etc.), and computeDistance(&lt;T&gt; obj1, &lt;T&gt; obj2) that determines a distance between two nodes. If isContainedWithin(&lt;T&gt; obj1, &lt;T&gt; obj2) returns a value “true”, the distance between objects will be considered as ‘0’ (e.g., indicating that the two names share the same division, increasing relevance for display at the beginning of the list). If it returns a value of false, then computeDistance( ) is used that returns an integer value. The closer the distance, the higher the value. isContainedWithin( ) and computeDistance( ) can for example be implemented by sort engine  30 , which can import and use the org tree from the organization information manager  26 . It is understood that any type of directed graph (graph) capable of storing entity information (e.g., user names, resources, etc.) in nodes could be utilized in determining an organizational distance (e.g., hierarchical, directed, symmetric, etc.). 
     In an example involving the org chart of  FIG. 3 , assume that a current user Himanshu, who works in Division D, Team 1 wants to perform a search for Krishit and enters the letter “K”. When ‘K’ is entered, a request is made to the DB  28  ( FIG. 1 ) and all records starting with K for the current organization (ABC) are fetched and stored in the trie data structure  42 . Additionally, organization details may also be included with the search results  32 . The search results  32  may for example be as follows: 
     Kristopher—Division A, Team 1, Director 
     Kristina—Division B, Team 1, Manager 
     Krishna—Division C, Team 3, Sr. Software Engineer
 
Krish—Division D, Team 2, Software Engineer 2 (additional info includes: reviews 10, commits 3)
 
Krishit—Division D, Team 2, Software Engineer 2 (additional info includes—reviews 10, commits 9).
 
     Using the policy  34  shown in  FIG. 2  configured for BitBucket and organization ABC, the following execution sequence may be deployed for the above search results. First, the sort engine  34  fetches the sort policy  34  for the given organization and platform  10  from the policy store  40 . As shown in the policy of  FIG. 2 , the default policy is enabled and there are two other custom sub-policies that are enabled as well and configured to be used along with default policy. The default policy conditions  52  first determines how relevant the list of the records in the search results are as compared to the current user&#39;s division, then by relevant teams, then by designation. In this case, the distance is computed based on the number of nodes between two entities. Distance results are generated as follows: 
     Distance between Division D and Division A=1
 
Distance between Division D and Division B=5
 
Distance between Division D and Division C=4
 
Distance between (Division D: Team 1) and (Division D: Team 2)=2
 
In one embodiment the above distances are computed using the routines computeDistance( ) and isContainedWithin( ). As noted, the organizational distance is computed as distance between nodes, which gives a measure of relevance between divisions, teams, etc. After applying default policies, Krish and Krishit appear at the beginning of the list followed by Kristopher, Krishna and Kristina (as determined based on their organizational distances). In this case, the application of default policy placed Krish before Krishit on the list (i.e., the fetch order regarding their division, team and designations are same). Next, application of subsequent sub-policies relating to code review and code commits are applied, and the first result that appears on the list is updated to Krishit (as he has the most commits). The following sorted list  22  would thus be output.
 
     Krishit 
     Krish 
     Kristopher 
     Krishna 
     Kristina 
       FIG. 4  depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process of implementing smart directory searching with reference to  FIG. 1 . Initially, a user  16  enters one or more characters into a directory search tool  28 . Database  28  fetches records based on the entered character string (initially a single character). The search results are forwarded to sort engine  30 , which retrieves a sort policy based, e.g., on the platform and organization. If only one character is entered so far, the sort engine  30  sorts the search results, e.g., based on organizational distance, and outputs the sorted list. If more than one character is entered, then trie data structure  42  is utilized to facilitate filtering of the list  22 . 
       FIG. 5  depicts an alternative embodiment in which a workspace  60  is deployed with a set of internal collaborative workspace platforms  64  (or applications). In this example, a broker service  62  is provided that can intercept the directory calls to respective search directory tools  65  and determine which platform  64  was handling the request. For example, broker service  62  can determine that a directory search is being performed by Bitbucket for user  16 . In addition, broker service can collect user interaction details  67  from all of the platforms  64  that can be used by the sort engine  30  as criteria for sorting search results  32 . Interaction details  67  may include user profiles, user activities such as recorded counts of different types of inputs made by user with a platform. For example, broker service  62  can retrieve user information from any of the platforms that track numbers of commits, numbers of code reviews, etc., performed by individual users. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , the sort engine  30  and policy store  40  are implemented as microservices  66  within the workspace  60 . A combination of the sort engine  30  and policy store  40  can be considered as an abstract service layer that can be used with any platform  64 . This approach avoids the need for third party services to implement sorting functionality. 
     Such an implementation can also be extended for providing generic searching (rather than just directory search). For example, a user within an organization could be searching for resources, such as printers, clients, white papers, videos, manuals, jobs, etc., within an organization and the sort engine  30 /policy store  40  could be adapted to search based on organizational distance in the manner described herein. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , a non-limiting network environment  101  in which various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented includes one or more client machines  102 A- 102 N, one or more remote machines  106 A- 106 N, one or more networks  104 ,  104 ′, and one or more appliances  108  installed within the computing environment  101 . The client machines  102 A- 102 N communicate with the remote machines  106 A- 106 N via the networks  104 ,  104 ′. 
     In some embodiments, the client machines  102 A- 102 N communicate with the remote machines  106 A- 106 N via an intermediary appliance  108 . The illustrated appliance  108  is positioned between the networks  104 ,  104 ′ and may also be referred to as a network interface or gateway. In some embodiments, the appliance  108  may operate as an application delivery controller (ADC) to provide clients with access to business applications and other data deployed in a datacenter, the cloud, or delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS) across a range of client devices, and/or provide other functionality such as load balancing, etc. In some embodiments, multiple appliances  108  may be used, and the appliance(s)  108  may be deployed as part of the network  104  and/or  104 ′. 
     The client machines  102 A- 102 N may be generally referred to as client machines  102 , local machines  102 , clients  102 , client nodes  102 , client computers  102 , client devices  102 , computing devices  102 , endpoints  102 , or endpoint nodes  102 . The remote machines  106 A- 106 N may be generally referred to as servers  106  or a server farm  106 . In some embodiments, a client device  102  may have the capacity to function as both a client node seeking access to resources provided by a server  106  and as a server  106  providing access to hosted resources for other client devices  102 A- 102 N. The networks  104 ,  104 ′ may be generally referred to as a network  104 . The networks  104  may be configured in any combination of wired and wireless networks. 
     A server  106  may be any server type such as, for example: a file server; an application server; a web server; a proxy server; an appliance; a network appliance; a gateway; an application gateway; a gateway server; a virtualization server; a deployment server; a Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL VPN) server; a firewall; a web server; a server executing an active directory; a cloud server; or a server executing an application acceleration program that provides firewall functionality, application functionality, or load balancing functionality. 
     A server  106  may execute, operate or otherwise provide an application that may be any one of the following: software; a program; executable instructions; a virtual machine; a hypervisor; a web browser; a web-based client; a client-server application; a thin-client computing client; an ActiveX control; a Java applet; software related to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) communications like a soft IP telephone; an application for streaming video and/or audio; an application for facilitating real-time-data communications; a HTTP client; a FTP client; an Oscar client; a Telnet client; or any other set of executable instructions. 
     In some embodiments, a server  106  may execute a remote presentation services program or other program that uses a thin-client or a remote-display protocol to capture display output generated by an application executing on a server  106  and transmit the application display output to a client device  102 . 
     In yet other embodiments, a server  106  may execute a virtual machine providing, to a user of a client device  102 , access to a computing environment. The client device  102  may be a virtual machine. The virtual machine may be managed by, for example, a hypervisor, a virtual machine manager (VMM), or any other hardware virtualization technique within the server  106 . 
     In some embodiments, the network  104  may be: a local-area network (LAN); a metropolitan area network (MAN); a wide area network (WAN); a primary public network  104 ; and a primary private network  104 . Additional embodiments may include a network  104  of mobile telephone networks that use various protocols to communicate among mobile devices. For short range communications within a wireless local-area network (WLAN), the protocols may include 802.11, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC). 
     Elements of the described solution may be embodied in a computing system, such as that shown in  FIG. 7  in which a computing device  300  may include one or more processors  302 , volatile memory  304  (e.g., RAM), non-volatile memory  308  (e.g., one or more hard disk drives (HDDs) or other magnetic or optical storage media, one or more solid state drives (SSDs) such as a flash drive or other solid state storage media, one or more hybrid magnetic and solid state drives, and/or one or more virtual storage volumes, such as a cloud storage, or a combination of such physical storage volumes and virtual storage volumes or arrays thereof), user interface (UI)  310 , one or more communications interfaces  306 , and communication bus  312 . User interface  310  may include graphical user interface (GUI)  320  (e.g., a touchscreen, a display, etc.) and one or more input/output (I/O) devices  322  (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.). Non-volatile memory  308  stores operating system  314 , one or more applications  316 , and data  318  such that, for example, computer instructions of operating system  314  and/or applications  316  are executed by processor(s)  302  out of volatile memory  304 . Data may be entered using an input device of GUI  320  or received from I/O device(s)  322 . Various elements of computer  300  may communicate via communication bus  312 . Computer  300  as shown in  FIG. 7  is shown merely as an example, as clients, servers and/or appliances and may be implemented by any computing or processing environment and with any type of machine or set of machines that may have suitable hardware and/or software capable of operating as described herein. 
     Processor(s)  302  may be implemented by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform the functions of the system. As used herein, the term “processor” describes an electronic circuit that performs a function, an operation, or a sequence of operations. The function, operation, or sequence of operations may be hard coded into the electronic circuit or soft coded by way of instructions held in a memory device. A “processor” may perform the function, operation, or sequence of operations using digital values or using analog signals. In some embodiments, the “processor” can be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), microprocessors, digital signal processors, microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), multi-core processors, or general-purpose computers with associated memory. The “processor” may be analog, digital or mixed-signal. In some embodiments, the “processor” may be one or more physical processors or one or more “virtual” (e.g., remotely located or “cloud”) processors. 
     Communications interfaces  306  may include one or more interfaces to enable computer  300  to access a computer network such as a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet through a variety of wired and/or wireless or cellular connections. 
     In described embodiments, a first computing device  300  may execute an application on behalf of a user of a client computing device (e.g., a client), may execute a virtual machine, which provides an execution session within which applications execute on behalf of a user or a client computing device (e.g., a client), such as a hosted desktop session, may execute a terminal services session to provide a hosted desktop environment, or may provide access to a computing environment including one or more of: one or more applications, one or more desktop applications, and one or more desktop sessions in which one or more applications may execute. 
       FIG. 8A  is a block diagram of an example system  400  in which one or more resource management services  402  may manage and streamline access by one or more clients  202  to one or more resource feeds  406  (via one or more gateway services  408 ) and/or one or more software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications  410 . In particular, the resource management service(s)  402  may employ an identity provider  412  to authenticate the identity of a user of a client  202  and, following authentication, identify one of more resources the user is authorized to access. In response to the user selecting one of the identified resources, the resource management service(s)  402  may send appropriate access credentials to the requesting client  202 , and the client  202  may then use those credentials to access the selected resource. For the resource feed(s)  406 , the client  202  may use the supplied credentials to access the selected resource via a gateway service  408 . For the SaaS application(s)  410 , the client  202  may use the credentials to access the selected application directly. 
     The client(s)  202  may be any type of computing devices capable of accessing the resource feed(s)  406  and/or the SaaS application(s)  410 , and may, for example, include a variety of desktop or laptop computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. The resource feed(s)  406  may include any of numerous resource types and may be provided from any of numerous locations. In some embodiments, for example, the resource feed(s)  406  may include one or more systems or services for providing virtual applications and/or desktops to the client(s)  202 , one or more file repositories and/or file sharing systems, one or more secure browser services, one or more access control services for the SaaS applications  410 , one or more management services for local applications on the client(s)  202 , one or more internet enabled devices or sensors, etc. Each of the resource management service(s)  402 , the resource feed(s)  406 , the gateway service(s)  408 , the SaaS application(s)  410 , and the identity provider  412  may be located within an on-premises data center of an organization for which the system  400  is deployed, within one or more cloud computing environments, or elsewhere. 
       FIG. 8B  is a block diagram showing an example implementation of the system  400  shown in  FIG. 8A  in which various resource management services  402  as well as a gateway service  408  are located within a cloud computing environment  414 . The cloud computing environment may, for example, include Microsoft Azure Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, or IBM Cloud. 
     For any of illustrated components (other than the client  202 ) that are not based within the cloud computing environment  414 , cloud connectors (not shown in  FIG. 8B ) may be used to interface those components with the cloud computing environment  414 . Such cloud connectors may, for example, run on Windows Server instances hosted in resource locations and may create a reverse proxy to route traffic between the site(s) and the cloud computing environment  414 . In the illustrated example, the cloud-based resource management services  402  include a client interface service  416 , an identity service  418 , a resource feed service  420 , and a single sign-on service  422 . As shown, in some embodiments, the client  202  may use a resource access application  424  to communicate with the client interface service  416  as well as to present a user interface on the client  202  that a user  426  can operate to access the resource feed(s)  406  and/or the SaaS application(s)  410 . The resource access application  424  may either be installed on the client  202 , or may be executed by the client interface service  416  (or elsewhere in the system  400 ) and accessed using a web browser (not shown in  FIG. 8B ) on the client  202 . 
     As explained in more detail below, in some embodiments, the resource access application  424  and associated components may provide the user  426  with a personalized, all-in-one interface enabling instant and seamless access to all the user&#39;s SaaS and web applications, files, virtual Windows applications, virtual Linux applications, desktops, mobile applications, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops™, local applications, and other data. 
     When the resource access application  424  is launched or otherwise accessed by the user  426 , the client interface service  416  may send a sign-on request to the identity service  418 . In some embodiments, the identity provider  412  may be located on the premises of the organization for which the system  400  is deployed. The identity provider  412  may, for example, correspond to an on-premises Windows Active Directory. In such embodiments, the identity provider  412  may be connected to the cloud-based identity service  418  using a cloud connector (not shown in  FIG. 8B ), as described above. Upon receiving a sign-on request, the identity service  418  may cause the resource access application  424  (via the client interface service  416 ) to prompt the user  426  for the user&#39;s authentication credentials (e.g., user-name and password). Upon receiving the user&#39;s authentication credentials, the client interface service  416  may pass the credentials along to the identity service  418 , and the identity service  418  may, in turn, forward them to the identity provider  412  for authentication, for example, by comparing them against an Active Directory domain. Once the identity service  418  receives confirmation from the identity provider  412  that the user&#39;s identity has been properly authenticated, the client interface service  416  may send a request to the resource feed service  420  for a list of subscribed resources for the user  426 . 
     In other embodiments (not illustrated in  FIG. 8B ), the identity provider  412  may be a cloud-based identity service, such as a Microsoft Azure Active Directory. In such embodiments, upon receiving a sign-on request from the client interface service  416 , the identity service  418  may, via the client interface service  416 , cause the client  202  to be redirected to the cloud-based identity service to complete an authentication process. The cloud-based identity service may then cause the client  202  to prompt the user  426  to enter the user&#39;s authentication credentials. Upon determining the user&#39;s identity has been properly authenticated, the cloud-based identity service may send a message to the resource access application  424  indicating the authentication attempt was successful, and the resource access application  424  may then inform the client interface service  416  of the successfully authentication. Once the identity service  418  receives confirmation from the client interface service  416  that the user&#39;s identity has been properly authenticated, the client interface service  416  may send a request to the resource feed service  420  for a list of subscribed resources for the user  426 . 
     For each configured resource feed, the resource feed service  420  may request an identity token from the single sign-on service  422 . The resource feed service  420  may then pass the feed-specific identity tokens it receives to the points of authentication for the respective resource feeds  406 . Each resource feed  406  may then respond with a list of resources configured for the respective identity. The resource feed service  420  may then aggregate all items from the different feeds and forward them to the client interface service  416 , which may cause the resource access application  424  to present a list of available resources on a user interface of the client  202 . The list of available resources may, for example, be presented on the user interface of the client  202  as a set of selectable icons or other elements corresponding to accessible resources. The resources so identified may, for example, include one or more virtual applications and/or desktops (e.g., Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops™, VMware Horizon, Microsoft RDS, etc.), one or more file repositories and/or file sharing systems (e.g., Sharefile®, one or more secure browsers, one or more internet enabled devices or sensors, one or more local applications installed on the client  202 , and/or one or more SaaS applications  410  to which the user  426  has subscribed. The lists of local applications and the SaaS applications  410  may, for example, be supplied by resource feeds  406  for respective services that manage which such applications are to be made available to the user  426  via the resource access application  424 . Examples of SaaS applications  410  that may be managed and accessed as described herein include Microsoft Office  365  applications, SAP SaaS applications, Workday applications, etc. 
     For resources other than local applications and the SaaS application(s)  410 , upon the user  426  selecting one of the listed available resources, the resource access application  424  may cause the client interface service  416  to forward a request for the specified resource to the resource feed service  420 . In response to receiving such a request, the resource feed service  420  may request an identity token for the corresponding feed from the single sign-on service  422 . The resource feed service  420  may then pass the identity token received from the single sign-on service  422  to the client interface service  416  where a launch ticket for the resource may be generated and sent to the resource access application  424 . Upon receiving the launch ticket, the resource access application  424  may initiate a secure session to the gateway service  408  and present the launch ticket. When the gateway service  408  is presented with the launch ticket, it may initiate a secure session to the appropriate resource feed and present the identity token to that feed to seamlessly authenticate the user  426 . Once the session initializes, the client  202  may proceed to access the selected resource. 
     When the user  426  selects a local application, the resource access application  424  may cause the selected local application to launch on the client  202 . When the user  426  selects a SaaS application  410 , the resource access application  424  may cause the client interface service  416  request a one-time uniform resource locator (URL) from the gateway service  408  as well a preferred browser for use in accessing the SaaS application  410 . After the gateway service  408  returns the one-time URL and identifies the preferred browser, the client interface service  416  may pass that information along to the resource access application  424 . The client  202  may then launch the identified browser and initiate a connection to the gateway service  408 . The gateway service  408  may then request an assertion from the single sign-on service  422 . Upon receiving the assertion, the gateway service  408  may cause the identified browser on the client  202  to be redirected to the logon page for identified SaaS application  410  and present the assertion. The SaaS may then contact the gateway service  408  to validate the assertion and authenticate the user  426 . Once the user has been authenticated, communication may occur directly between the identified browser and the selected SaaS application  410 , thus allowing the user  426  to use the client  202  to access the selected SaaS application  410 . 
     In some embodiments, the preferred browser identified by the gateway service  408  may be a specialized browser embedded in the resource access application  424  (when the resource application is installed on the client  202 ) or provided by one of the resource feeds  406  (when the resource application  424  is located remotely), e.g., via a secure browser service. In such embodiments, the SaaS applications  410  may incorporate enhanced security policies to enforce one or more restrictions on the embedded browser. Examples of such policies include (1) requiring use of the specialized browser and disabling use of other local browsers, (2) restricting clipboard access, e.g., by disabling cut/copy/paste operations between the application and the clipboard, (3) restricting printing, e.g., by disabling the ability to print from within the browser, (3) restricting navigation, e.g., by disabling the next and/or back browser buttons, (4) restricting downloads, e.g., by disabling the ability to download from within the SaaS application, and (5) displaying watermarks, e.g., by overlaying a screen-based watermark showing the username and IP address associated with the client  202  such that the watermark will appear as displayed on the screen if the user tries to print or take a screenshot. Further, in some embodiments, when a user selects a hyperlink within a SaaS application, the specialized browser may send the URL for the link to an access control service (e.g., implemented as one of the resource feed(s)  406 ) for assessment of its security risk by a web filtering service. For approved URLs, the specialized browser may be permitted to access the link. For suspicious links, however, the web filtering service may have the client interface service  416  send the link to a secure browser service, which may start a new virtual browser session with the client  202 , and thus allow the user to access the potentially harmful linked content in a safe environment. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to or in lieu of providing the user  426  with a list of resources that are available to be accessed individually, as described above, the user  426  may instead be permitted to choose to access a streamlined feed of event notifications and/or available actions that may be taken with respect to events that are automatically detected with respect to one or more of the resources. This streamlined resource activity feed, which may be customized for each user  426 , may allow users to monitor important activity involving all of their resources—SaaS applications, web applications, Windows applications, Linux applications, desktops, file repositories and/or file sharing systems, and other data through a single interface, without needing to switch context from one resource to another. Further, event notifications in a resource activity feed may be accompanied by a discrete set of user-interface elements, e.g., “approve,” “deny,” and “see more detail” buttons, allowing a user to take one or more simple actions with respect to each event right within the user&#39;s feed. In some embodiments, such a streamlined, intelligent resource activity feed may be enabled by one or more micro-applications, or “microapps,” that can interface with underlying associated resources using APIs or the like. The responsive actions may be user-initiated activities that are taken within the microapps and that provide inputs to the underlying applications through the API or other interface. The actions a user performs within the microapp may, for example, be designed to address specific common problems and use cases quickly and easily, adding to increased user productivity (e.g., request personal time off, submit a help desk ticket, etc.). In some embodiments, notifications from such event-driven microapps may additionally or alternatively be pushed to clients  202  to notify a user  426  of something that requires the user&#39;s attention (e.g., approval of an expense report, new course available for registration, etc.). 
       FIG. 8C  is a block diagram similar to that shown in  FIG. 8B  but in which the available resources (e.g., SaaS applications, web applications, Windows applications, Linux applications, desktops, file repositories and/or file sharing systems, and other data) are represented by a single box  428  labeled “systems of record,” and further in which several different services are included within the resource management services block  402 . As explained below, the services shown in  FIG. 8C  may enable the provision of a streamlined resource activity feed and/or notification process for a client  202 . In the example shown, in addition to the client interface service  416  discussed above, the illustrated services include a microapp service (or simply “microservice”)  430 , a data integration provider service  432 , a credential wallet service  434 , an active data cache service  436 , an analytics service  438 , and a notification service  440 . In various embodiments, the services shown in  FIG. 8C  may be employed either in addition to or instead of the different services shown in  FIG. 8B . 
     In some embodiments, a microapp may be a single use case made available to users to streamline functionality from complex enterprise applications. Microapps may, for example, utilize APIs available within SaaS, web, or home-grown applications allowing users to see content without needing a full launch of the application or the need to switch context. Absent such microapps, users would need to launch an application, navigate to the action they need to perform, and then perform the action. Microapps may streamline routine tasks for frequently performed actions and provide users the ability to perform actions within the resource access application  424  without having to launch the native application. The system shown in  FIG. 8C  may, for example, aggregate relevant notifications, tasks, and insights, and thereby give the user  426  a dynamic productivity tool. In some embodiments, the resource activity feed may be intelligently populated by utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Further, in some implementations, microapps may be configured within the cloud computing environment  414 , thus giving administrators a powerful tool to create more productive workflows, without the need for additional infrastructure. Whether pushed to a user or initiated by a user, microapps may provide short cuts that simplify and streamline key tasks that would otherwise require opening full enterprise applications. In some embodiments, out-of-the-box templates may allow administrators with API account permissions to build microapp solutions targeted for their needs. Administrators may also, in some embodiments, be provided with the tools they need to build custom microapps. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8C , the systems of record  428  may represent the applications and/or other resources the resource management services  402  may interact with to create microapps. These resources may be SaaS applications, legacy applications, or homegrown applications, and can be hosted on-premises or within a cloud computing environment. Connectors with out-of-the-box templates for several applications may be provided and integration with other applications may additionally or alternatively be configured through a microapp page builder. Such a microapp page builder may, for example, connect to legacy, on-premises, and SaaS systems by creating streamlined user workflows via microapp actions. The resource management services  402 , and in particular the data integration provider service  432 , may, for example, support REST API, JSON, OData-JSON, and 6ML. As explained in more detail below, the data integration provider service  432  may also write back to the systems of record, for example, using OAuth2 or a service account. 
     In some embodiments, the microapp service  430  may be a single-tenant service responsible for creating the microapps. The microapp service  430  may send raw events, pulled from the systems of record  428 , to the analytics service  438  for processing. The microapp service may, for example, periodically pull active data from the systems of record  428 . 
     In some embodiments, the active data cache service  436  may be single-tenant and may store all configuration information and microapp data. It may, for example, utilize a per-tenant database encryption key and per-tenant database credentials. 
     In some embodiments, the credential wallet service  434  may store encrypted service credentials for the systems of record  428  and user OAuth2 tokens. 
     In some embodiments, the data integration provider service  432  may interact with the systems of record  428  to decrypt end-user credentials and write back actions to the systems of record  428  under the identity of the end-user. The write-back actions may, for example, utilize a user&#39;s actual account to ensure all actions performed are compliant with data policies of the application or other resource being interacted with. 
     In some embodiments, the analytics service  438  may process the raw events received from the microapps service  430  to create targeted scored notifications and send such notifications to the notification service  440 . 
     Finally, in some embodiments, the notification service  440  may process any notifications it receives from the analytics service  438 . In some implementations, the notification service  440  may store the notifications in a database to be later served in a notification feed. In other embodiments, the notification service  440  may additionally or alternatively send the notifications out immediately to the client  202  as a push notification to the user  426 . 
     In some embodiments, a process for synchronizing with the systems of record  428  and generating notifications may operate as follows. The microapp service  430  may retrieve encrypted service account credentials for the systems of record  428  from the credential wallet service  434  and request a sync with the data integration provider service  432 . The data integration provider service  432  may then decrypt the service account credentials and use those credentials to retrieve data from the systems of record  428 . The data integration provider service  432  may then stream the retrieved data to the microapp service  430 . The microapp service  430  may store the received systems of record data in the active data cache service  436  and also send raw events to the analytics service  438 . The analytics service  438  may create targeted scored notifications and send such notifications to the notification service  440 . The notification service  440  may store the notifications in a database to be later served in a notification feed and/or may send the notifications out immediately to the client  202  as a push notification to the user  426 . 
     In some embodiments, a process for processing a user-initiated action via a microapp may operate as follows. The client  202  may receive data from the microapp service  430  (via the client interface service  416 ) to render information corresponding to the microapp. The microapp service  430  may receive data from the active data cache service  436  to support that rendering. The user  426  may invoke an action from the microapp, causing the resource access application  424  to send that action to the microapp service  430  (via the client interface service  416 ). The microapp service  430  may then retrieve from the credential wallet service  434  an encrypted Oauth2 token for the system of record for which the action is to be invoked, and may send the action to the data integration provider service  432  together with the encrypted Oath2 token. The data integration provider service  432  may then decrypt the Oath2 token and write the action to the appropriate system of record under the identity of the user  426 . The data integration provider service  432  may then read back changed data from the written-to system of record and send that changed data to the microapp service  430 . The microapp service  432  may then update the active data cache service  436  with the updated data and cause a message to be sent to the resource access application  424  (via the client interface service  416 ) notifying the user  426  that the action was successfully completed. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to or in lieu of the functionality described above, the resource management services  402  may provide users the ability to search for relevant information across all files and applications. A simple keyword search may, for example, be used to find application resources, SaaS applications, desktops, files, etc. This functionality may enhance user productivity and efficiency as application and data sprawl is prevalent across all organizations. 
     In other embodiments, in addition to or in lieu of the functionality described above, the resource management services  402  may enable virtual assistance functionality that allows users to remain productive and take quick actions. Users may, for example, interact with the “Virtual Assistant” and ask questions such as “What is Bob Smith&#39;s phone number?” or “What absences are pending my approval?” The resource management services  402  may, for example, parse these requests and respond because they are integrated with multiple systems on the back-end. In some embodiments, users may be able to interact with the virtual assistance through either the resource access application  424  or directly from another resource, such as Microsoft Teams. This feature may allow employees to work efficiently, stay organized, and deliver only the specific information they&#39;re looking for. 
     As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading the following disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodied as a system, a device, a method or a computer program product (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executable instruction for performing the noted operations or steps). Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, such aspects may take the form of a computer program product stored by one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code, or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitable computer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or any combination thereof. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. “Optional” or “optionally” means that the subsequently described event or circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includes instances where the event occurs and instances where it does not. 
     Approximating language, as used herein throughout the specification and claims, may be applied to modify any quantitative representation that could permissibly vary without resulting in a change in the basic function to which it is related. Accordingly, a value modified by a term or terms, such as “about,” “approximately” and “substantially,” are not to be limited to the precise value specified. In at least some instances, the approximating language may correspond to the precision of an instrument for measuring the value. Here and throughout the specification and claims, range limitations may be combined and/or interchanged, such ranges are identified and include all the sub-ranges contained therein unless context or language indicates otherwise. “Approximately” as applied to a particular value of a range applies to both values, and unless otherwise dependent on the precision of the instrument measuring the value, may indicate +/−10% of the stated value(s). 
     The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     The foregoing drawings show some of the processing associated according to several embodiments of this disclosure. In this regard, each drawing or block within a flow diagram of the drawings represents a process associated with embodiments of the method described. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the acts noted in the drawings or blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figure or, for example, may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or in the reverse order, depending upon the act involved. Also, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that additional blocks that describe the processing may be added.