Patent ID: 8655880

Claim:
A method for navigating among Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data stored in a database in a computing environment, the method comprising the following acts performed by a digital processor: receiving, using the digital processor, input from a first user requesting access to objects stored in the ERP database; displaying, using the digital processor, a predetermined plurality of icons, wherein locations in a display and display characteristics of the predetermined plurality of icons are automatically customized based on learned information regarding navigation behaviors of the first user and other users having similar access permission as the first user, the learned information stored as metadata in the computing environment, and the predetermined plurality of icons corresponds to one or more groupings of the objects stored in the ERP database; displaying, using the digital processor, connections between the plurality of displayed icons, wherein the connections are based on one or more relationships between the plurality of displayed icons in the ERP database, wherein one icon is a central icon of the one or more relationships, the central icon is centrally displayed and includes a multiple of the connections spanning radially outward to multiple other displayed icons; selectively adjusting, using the digital processor, prominence of display of a particular icon based on a frequency of which the particular icon is selected by one or more users of the ERP database as indicated by the learned information; accepting, using the digital processor, a signal from a user input device to designate a selected icon; performing, using the digital processor, a particular action based on the designation of the selected icon, wherein the action is determined by previously stored user-defined navigation parameters augmented by an administrator of the ERP database, a particular augmented user-defined navigation parameter includes a description of the particular action including requisite instructions and information for implementing the particular action, the designation of the selected icon creates a new display of multiple additional icons and connections with the selected icon being centrally displayed and including the multiple additional connections spanning radially outward to the multiple additional displayed icons; and storing, using the digital processor, information pertaining to user navigation of the icons of the first user as a part of the metadata.