Patent Publication Number: US-11658930-B2

Title: Personalized dashboard chart for email subscriptions

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/301,709, filed Apr. 12, 2021, titled “PERSONALIZED DASHBOARD CHART FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS”; which claims the benefit of U.S. Pat. No. 11,005,801 filed Mar. 23, 2020, titled “PERSONALIZED DASHBOARD CHART FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS”; which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent App. No. 62/968,797, filed Jan. 31, 2020, titled “PERSONALIZED DASHBOARD CHART FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS”. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Embodiments of the subject matter described herein relate generally to electronic mail (email) protocols. More particularly, embodiments of the subject matter relate to a personalized dashboard chart for email subscriptions. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Analytical data users need to be able to subscribe to the metrics that they care about so that they may receive an overview of top key performance indicators (KPI) delivered when they need it. Accordingly, it is desirable to have an email dashboard that is self-service and interactive where users can filter and make decisions on which KPIs to see. For example, the user can see charts and metrics filtered by their team or region. Users would also like to receive these charts and metrics in email with the selected filters applied. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A more complete understanding of the subject matter may be derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in conjunction with the following figures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar elements throughout the figures. 
         FIG.  1 A  is a block diagram of an analytics subscription framework in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  1 B  is a block diagram of an entity diagram of an analytics subscription framework in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  1 C  is a block diagram of a dashboard used to store subscription widgets of an analytics subscription framework in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  1 D  is a block diagram of an HTML, to PDF renderer in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  2    is a display of a user interface to control email subscription settings in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  3    is a display of a rendered chart in accordance with one embodiment; 
         FIG.  4    is a flowchart of a method for managing a user&#39;s email subscriptions in accordance with one embodiment; and 
         FIG.  5    is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary multi-tenant computing environment in accordance with one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A method and apparatus for managing a user&#39;s email subscriptions has been developed. The method provides a user interface (UI) to the user that allows the user to view and select multiple stand-alone components across multiple dashboard displays for an email subscription to an email address. The user&#39;s selections are received via the UI and include one or more stand-alone components from a first dashboard display and one or more stand-alone components from a second dashboard display in the email subscription. The first dashboard display is not the same as the second dashboard display. A display of each of the subscribed stand-alone components is rendered periodically based on the user&#39;s preference. The rendered displays are combined into a single email message that is sent to the email address upon completion of the rendering of the displays. In some embodiments, the stand-alone components may comprise key performance indicators (KPI) of interest to the user. In other embodiments, the stand-alone components may comprise “widgets”. Widgets may be various charts, tables, or textual messages. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  1 A , a block diagram is shown of an analytics subscription framework  100  in accordance with one embodiment. In the present embodiment, a notification is created through the analytic subscription application programming interface (API)  102 . As part of this, a new Cron job is scheduled for the subscription. When the Cron Scheduler  104  runs the Cron job, a notification message is enqueued into the message queue (MQ)  106 . The analytics subscription framework  100  provides several pluggable entry points and a plug-in mechanism that allows implementation of specific requirements or extending the behavior for a certain source types during the execution of a subscription job or its API. 
     In some embodiments using the standard Analytics Subscription Framework features and its API, the only change needed is to create a new source type. A different source is needed to distinguish it from the existing notification since different implementation requirements are required for a subscription. A new API resource may be created to encapsulate all operations needed to support for subscription, such as creating subscription schedule, creating or deleting subscription widgets. This same API endpoint will also be used to fetch a dashboard snapshot used to show subscription widgets in UI and email preview. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  1 B , a block diagram is shown of an entity diagram  130  of an analytics subscription framework  100  in accordance with one embodiment. For the analytic notification, an additional entity called a “WaveNotificationConfig” file  132  is created to parse the information specific to the notification such as an “anchor” (i.e., widget ID), widget type, dimensions and filters. This is also used as a junction table to connect between the analytic subscription network  100  and “Lens” entities  134 . 
     One of the key requirements for management of email subscriptions is to ensure all subscribed widgets scheduled for the same date and time are processed and included in the same subscription email. In one embodiment, extending the current WaveNotificationConfig file is extended to handle this by appending all widgets under the same notification and treating the owner of the subscription as analytic entity. Also, adding a new field is added to point to the parent dashboard so that the source of the subscription widget may be identified. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  1 C , a block diagram  150  of a dashboard  152  used to store all subscription widgets of an analytics subscription framework is shown in accordance with one embodiment. This approach allows easy storage of a collection of stored queries and widget parameters without making any changes to the analytic subscription framework  100 . This dashboard  152  is used to store subscription widgets will be saved as a “DashboardSnapshot” lens type and will be linked to the main “AnalyticNotification” object as “AnalyticEntity”. A dashboard snapshot  154  is created for each subscription and an update is made whenever the user subscribes to or unsubscribes from a dashboard widget. This embodiment has fully leveraged dashboard features as platform. If new dashboard feature is added, there is no need to use WaveNotificationConfig entity, which is only applicable to Wave Notification source. No special code/handling is needed and there is no need to change Analytics Notification API when adding new fields to subscription widget. In an alternative embodiment, the same snapshot concept used for the WaveNotificationConfig file is applied it to Dashboard  152  so that an actual dashboard is used, but hidden from the users, to store all subscription widgets, rather than through WaveNotificationConfig entity. 
     The dashboard snapshot  152  used to maintain all subscription widgets will consist of the snapshots of stored queries with widget parameters which copied from user&#39;s dashboards. Because of the need to identify which dashboard those widgets were originally made from, a link is stored to those dashboards within dashboard snapshot. The URL used for storage should include at least the following information: dashboard ID; widget ID; savedViewID; and pageID. The dashboardID and widgetID are needed to determine which subscription widgets should be displayed when a user opens subscription panel in a dashboard. The savedViewID and pageID are used to provide deep-linking experience so that the user can directly navigate from their subscription email to their dashboard with the exact state when they created this subscription. Also, the URL stored in this widget parameter should be a sharing URL in order to support mobile applications. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  1 D , a block diagram  170  of an HTML, to PDF renderer  174  is shown in accordance with one embodiment; In some embodiments, a subscription (Reports and Dashboards) uses HtmlToPdf for rendering of the email content and charts. In some embodiments, the code is executed in headless browser (i.e., without a GUI). Composing an email body will be handled by SendEmail Action Handler  172 . All the resources (JS, CSS, data) are included in an input document and fed it into HtmlToPdf. The SendEmail Action Handler  172  and uses the HtmlToPdf Renderer  174  to render the page and retrieve rendered images. This may support all available chart types. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  2   , a display is shown of a user interface  200  to control email subscription settings in accordance with one embodiment. The user is required to set up their subscription schedule before subscribing to any of their widgets and selecting a schedule for rendering. This ensures a dashboard snapshot is created before creating their notification object. For scheduling subscription, a new dialogue is launched by clicking “Manage Subscription” link that appears at the top of the panel. Clicking “Save” button performs an update on the notification object for this subscription. 
     The dashboard snapshot should be created with empty state and referenced through Analytic Notification&#39;s record ID. Subscribing to a widget requires updating the dashboard snapshot. This be an append operation—constructing a new SAQL step and its associated widget and appending to the dashboard. Unsubscribing will simply remove the specified step and widget from the dashboard snapshot. An XMD file is used to store conditional formatting. As part of creating dashboard snapshot, an asset XMD file is also created for this dashboard, as well.  FIG.  3    shows an image  300  of sample subscription email. These rendered chart images may be generated in core using headless browser and may be delivered upon completion of the rendering or based on a user&#39;s preference. 
       FIG.  4    is a flowchart  400  of a method for managing a user&#39;s email subscriptions in accordance with one embodiment. A UI is provided that allows the user to view and select multiple stand-alone components across multiple dashboard displays for an email subscription to the selected email address  402 . The user&#39;s selections are received via the UI for a first dashboard display  404 . The user selections are also received via the UI for a second dashboard display  406 . A display is rendered for each of the selected stand-alone components  408  and  410 . The display is rendered periodically based on the user&#39;s preferences. Each of the rendered displays are then combined into a single email message that is sent to the email address upon completion of the rendering  412 . 
     Turning now to  FIG.  5   , an exemplary multi-tenant system  500  includes a server  502  that dynamically creates and supports virtual applications  528  based upon data  532  from a database  530  that may be shared between multiple tenants, referred to herein as a multi-tenant database. Data and services generated by the virtual applications  528  are provided via a network  545  to any number of client devices  540 , as desired. Each virtual application  528  is suitably generated at run-time (or on-demand) using a common application platform  510  that securely provides access to the data  532  in the database  530  for each of the various tenants subscribing to the multi-tenant system  500 . In accordance with one non-limiting example, the multi-tenant system  500  is implemented in the form of an on-demand multi-tenant customer relationship management (CRM) system that can support any number of authenticated users of multiple tenants. 
     As used herein, a “tenant” or an “organization” should be understood as referring to a group of one or more users that shares access to common subset of the data within the multi-tenant database  530 . In this regard, each tenant includes one or more users associated with, assigned to, or otherwise belonging to that respective tenant. Stated another way, each respective user within the multi-tenant system  500  is associated with, assigned to, or otherwise belongs to a particular one of the plurality of tenants supported by the multi-tenant system  500 . Tenants may represent companies, corporate departments, business or legal organizations, and/or any other entities that maintain data for particular sets of users (such as their respective customers) within the multi-tenant system  500 . Although multiple tenants may share access to the server  502  and the database  530 , the particular data and services provided from the server  502  to each tenant can be securely isolated from those provided to other tenants. The multi-tenant architecture therefore allows different sets of users to share functionality and hardware resources without necessarily sharing any of the data  532  belonging to or otherwise associated with other tenants. 
     The multi-tenant database  530  may be a repository or other data storage system capable of storing and managing the data  532  associated with any number of tenants. The database  530  may be implemented using conventional database server hardware. In various embodiments, the database  530  shares processing hardware  504  with the server  502 . In other embodiments, the database  530  is implemented using separate physical and/or virtual database server hardware that communicates with the server  502  to perform the various functions described herein. In an exemplary embodiment, the database  530  includes a database management system or other equivalent software capable of determining an optimal query plan for retrieving and providing a particular subset of the data  532  to an instance of virtual application  528  in response to a query initiated or otherwise provided by a virtual application  528 , as described in greater detail below. The multi-tenant database  530  may alternatively be referred to herein as an on-demand database, in that the multi-tenant database  530  provides (or is available to provide) data at run-time to on-demand virtual applications  528  generated by the application platform  510 , as described in greater detail below. 
     In practice, the data  532  may be organized and formatted in any manner to support the application platform  510 . In various embodiments, the data  532  is suitably organized into a relatively small number of large data tables to maintain a semi-amorphous “heap”-type format. The data  532  can then be organized as needed for a particular virtual application  528 . In various embodiments, conventional data relationships are established using any number of pivot tables  534  that establish indexing, uniqueness, relationships between entities, and/or other aspects of conventional database organization as desired. Further data manipulation and report formatting is generally performed at run-time using a variety of metadata constructs. Metadata within a universal data directory (UDD)  536 , for example, can be used to describe any number of forms, reports, workflows, user access privileges, business logic and other constructs that are common to multiple tenants. Tenant-specific formatting, functions and other constructs may be maintained as tenant-specific metadata  538  for each tenant, as desired. Rather than forcing the data  532  into an inflexible global structure that is common to all tenants and applications, the database  530  is organized to be relatively amorphous, with the pivot tables  534  and the metadata  538  providing additional structure on an as-needed basis. To that end, the application platform  510  suitably uses the pivot tables  534  and/or the metadata  538  to generate “virtual” components of the virtual applications  528  to logically obtain, process, and present the relatively amorphous data  532  from the database  530 . 
     The server  502  may be implemented using one or more actual and/or virtual computing systems that collectively provide the dynamic application platform  510  for generating the virtual applications  528 . For example, the server  502  may be implemented using a cluster of actual and/or virtual servers operating in conjunction with each other, typically in association with conventional network communications, cluster management, load balancing and other features as appropriate. The server  502  operates with any sort of conventional processing hardware  504 , such as a processor  505 , memory  506 , input/output features  507  and the like. The input/output features  507  generally represent the interface(s) to networks (e.g., to the network  545 , or any other local area, wide area or other network), mass storage, display devices, data entry devices and/or the like. The processor  505  may be implemented using any suitable processing system, such as one or more processors, controllers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, processing cores and/or other computing resources spread across any number of distributed or integrated systems, including any number of “cloud-based” or other virtual systems. The memory  506  represents any non-transitory short or long term storage or other computer-readable media capable of storing programming instructions for execution on the processor  505 , including any sort of random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, magnetic or optical mass storage, and/or the like. The computer-executable programming instructions, when read and executed by the server  502  and/or processor  505 , cause the server  502  and/or processor  505  to create, generate, or otherwise facilitate the application platform  510  and/or virtual applications  528  and perform one or more additional tasks, operations, functions, and/or processes described herein. It should be noted that the memory  506  represents one suitable implementation of such computer-readable media, and alternatively or additionally, the server  502  could receive and cooperate with external computer-readable media that is realized as a portable or mobile component or platform, e.g., a portable hard drive, a USB flash drive, an optical disc, or the like. 
     The application platform  510  is any sort of software application or other data processing engine that generates the virtual applications  528  that provide data and/or services to the client devices  540 . In a typical embodiment, the application platform  510  gains access to processing resources, communications interfaces and other features of the processing hardware  504  using any sort of conventional or proprietary operating system  508 . The virtual applications  528  are typically generated at run-time in response to input received from the client devices  540 . For the illustrated embodiment, the application platform  510  includes a bulk data processing engine  512 , a query generator  514 , a search engine  516  that provides text indexing and other search functionality, and a runtime application generator  520 . Each of these features may be implemented as a separate process or other module, and many equivalent embodiments could include different and/or additional features, components or other modules as desired. 
     The runtime application generator  520  dynamically builds and executes the virtual applications  528  in response to specific requests received from the client devices  540 . The virtual applications  528  are typically constructed in accordance with the tenant-specific metadata  538 , which describes the particular tables, reports, interfaces and/or other features of the particular application  528 . In various embodiments, each virtual application  528  generates dynamic web content that can be served to a browser or other client program  542  associated with its client device  540 , as appropriate. 
     The runtime application generator  520  suitably interacts with the query generator  514  to efficiently obtain multi-tenant data  532  from the database  530  as needed in response to input queries initiated or otherwise provided by users of the client devices  540 . In a typical embodiment, the query generator  514  considers the identity of the user requesting a particular function (along with the user&#39;s associated tenant), and then builds and executes queries to the database  530  using system-wide metadata  536 , tenant specific metadata  538 , pivot tables  534 , and/or any other available resources. The query generator  514  in this example therefore maintains security of the common database  530  by ensuring that queries are consistent with access privileges granted to the user and/or tenant that initiated the request. 
     With continued reference to  FIG.  5   , the data processing engine  512  performs bulk processing operations on the data  532  such as uploads or downloads, updates, online transaction processing, and/or the like. In many embodiments, less urgent bulk processing of the data  532  can be scheduled to occur as processing resources become available, thereby giving priority to more urgent data processing by the query generator  514 , the search engine  516 , the virtual applications  528 , etc. 
     In exemplary embodiments, the application platform  510  is utilized to create and/or generate data-driven virtual applications  528  for the tenants that they support. Such virtual applications  528  may make use of interface features such as custom (or tenant-specific) screens  524 , standard (or universal) screens  522  or the like. Any number of custom and/or standard objects  526  may also be available for integration into tenant-developed virtual applications  528 . As used herein, “custom” should be understood as meaning that a respective object or application is tenant-specific (e.g., only available to users associated with a particular tenant in the multi-tenant system) or user-specific (e.g., only available to a particular subset of users within the multi-tenant system), whereas “standard” or “universal” applications or objects are available across multiple tenants in the multi-tenant system. The data  532  associated with each virtual application  528  is provided to the database  530 , as appropriate, and stored until it is requested or is otherwise needed, along with the metadata  538  that describes the particular features (e.g., reports, tables, functions, objects, fields, formulas, code, etc.) of that particular virtual application  528 . For example, a virtual application  528  may include a number of objects  526  accessible to a tenant, wherein for each object  526  accessible to the tenant, information pertaining to its object type along with values for various fields associated with that respective object type are maintained as metadata  538  in the database  530 . In this regard, the object type defines the structure (e.g., the formatting, functions and other constructs) of each respective object  526  and the various fields associated therewith. 
     Still referring to  FIG.  5   , the data and services provided by the server  502  can be retrieved using any sort of personal computer, mobile telephone, tablet or other network-enabled client device  540  on the network  545 . In an exemplary embodiment, the client device  540  includes a display device, such as a monitor, screen, or another conventional electronic display capable of graphically presenting data and/or information retrieved from the multi-tenant database  530 , as described in greater detail below. Typically, the user operates a conventional browser application or other client program  542  executed by the client device  540  to contact the server  502  via the network  545  using a networking protocol, such as the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) or the like. The user typically authenticates his or her identity to the server  502  to obtain a session identifier (“SessionID”) that identifies the user in subsequent communications with the server  502 . When the identified user requests access to a virtual application  528 , the runtime application generator  520  suitably creates the application at run time based upon the metadata  538 , as appropriate. As noted above, the virtual application  528  may contain Java, ActiveX, or other content that can be presented using conventional client software running on the client device  540 ; other embodiments may simply provide dynamic web or other content that can be presented and viewed by the user, as desired. As described in greater detail below, the query generator  514  suitably obtains the requested subsets of data  532  from the database  530  as needed to populate the tables, reports or other features of the particular virtual application  528 . 
     Techniques and technologies may be described herein in terms of functional and/or logical block components, and with reference to symbolic representations of operations, processing tasks, and functions that may be performed by various computing components or devices. Such operations, tasks, and functions are sometimes referred to as being computer-executed, computerized, software-implemented, or computer-implemented. In practice, one or more processor devices can carry out the described operations, tasks, and functions by manipulating electrical signals representing data bits at memory locations in the system memory, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to the data bits. It should be appreciated that the various block components shown in the figures may be realized by any number of hardware, software, and/or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, an embodiment of a system or a component may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. 
     When implemented in software or firmware, various elements of the systems described herein are essentially the code segments or instructions that perform the various tasks. The program or code segments can be stored in a processor-readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave over a transmission medium or communication path. The “processor-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that can store or transfer information. Examples of the processor-readable medium include an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device, a ROM, a flash memory, an erasable ROM (EROM), a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, a fiber optic medium, a radio frequency (RF) link, or the like. The computer data signal may include any signal that can propagate over a transmission medium such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic paths, or RF links. The code segments may be downloaded via computer networks such as the Internet, an intranet, a LAN, or the like. 
     “Node/Port”— As used herein, a “node” means any internal or external reference point, connection point, junction, signal line, conductive element, or the like, at which a given signal, logic level, voltage, data pattern, current, or quantity is present. Furthermore, two or more nodes may be realized by one physical element (and two or more signals can be multiplexed, modulated, or otherwise distinguished even though received or output at a common node). As used herein, a “port” means a node that is externally accessible via, for example, a physical connector, an input or output pin, a test probe, a bonding pad, or the like. 
     “Connected/Coupled”— The following description refers to elements or nodes or features being “connected” or “coupled” together. As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, “coupled” means that one element/node/feature is directly or indirectly joined to (or directly or indirectly communicates with) another element/node/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Likewise, unless expressly stated otherwise, “connected” means that one element/node/feature is directly joined to (or directly communicates with) another element/node/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Thus, although the schematic shown depicts one exemplary arrangement of elements, additional intervening elements, devices, features, or components may be present in an embodiment of the depicted subject matter. 
     In addition, certain terminology may also be used in the following description for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “side”, “outboard”, and “inboard” describe the orientation and/or location of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second”, and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. 
     For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to signal processing, data transmission, signaling, network control, and other functional aspects of the systems (and the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in an embodiment of the subject matter. 
     The various tasks performed in connection with the process may be performed by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. For illustrative purposes, the description of the process may refer to elements mentioned above. In practice, portions of the process may be performed by different elements of the described system, e.g., component A, component B, or component C. It should be appreciated that process may include any number of additional or alternative tasks, the tasks shown need not be performed in the illustrated order, and the process may be incorporated into a more comprehensive procedure or process having additional functionality not described in detail herein. Moreover, one or more of the tasks could be omitted from an embodiment of the process as long as the intended overall functionality remains intact. 
     The foregoing detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the subject matter or the application and uses of such embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, or detailed description. 
     While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claimed subject matter in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the described embodiment or embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope defined by the claims, which includes known equivalents and foreseeable equivalents at the time of filing this patent application.