Patent ID: 7617243

Claim:
A system for a hierarchical address book for two or more organizations, said system comprising: a memory area for storing, for each of the two or more organizations: a plurality of user objects, said user objects each representing an employee in one of the organizations, each of said plurality of user objects having contact information and a seniority rating associated therewith; and a hierarchy of department objects, said department objects each representing a department in the organization and having a user field for storing a reference to one or more of the user objects, each of the referenced one or more user objects further having a reference to a root department object of the hierarchy associated therewith and representing an employee in the department represented by the department object, the root department object representing a highest department of the hierarchy, wherein the department object comprises a parent field for storing a reference to one of the department objects that is one level higher than the particular department object in the hierarchy and a child field for storing a reference to one or more of the department objects that are one level subordinate to the particular department object in the hierarchy, said department object further comprising a seniority field for storing a value representing the seniority of the department; and a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for: selecting the hierarchy of department objects of one of the two or more organizations based on the referenced root department object of the user object of a user of the system; displaying at least a portion of the selected hierarchy of department objects to the user; receiving a selection from the user of at least one of the displayed department objects; identifying the one or more of the user objects referenced in the user field of the selected department object; displaying the contact information associated with each of the identified one or more of the user objects; receiving a selection from the user comprising a plurality of the displayed user objects and at least one department object; and addressing an electronic message to the employees represented by the selected plurality of user objects and to the represented department of the selected at least one department object, said addressing further comprising listing the employees represented by the selected plurality of user objects and the represented department of the selected at least one department object in an order based on the seniority field of the selected at least one department object and on the seniority rating associated with each selected user object.