US 7,496,886 B2
Method and system for providing cross project commitments
Keshav Mysore Puttaswamy, Redmond, Wash. (US); Joseph Hammer, Renton, Wash. (US); Sundaravadivelan Paranthaman, Sammamish, Wash. (US); and Alexander A. Sourov, Seattle, Wash. (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. (US)
Filed on Sep. 30, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/955,328.
Prior Publication US 2006/0070020 A1, Mar. 30, 2006
Int. Cl. G06F 9/44 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 717—101 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for providing cross-project commitments in a project management application, the method comprising:
generating a project for consuming at least one commitment;
storing the project on a project server, wherein the project server includes a commitment business object module for managing communication between the project server and a collaborative information management server, wherein the project server includes an object link provider for maintaining a link between a task of the project stored on the project server and a commitment stored on the collaborative information management server, wherein the commitment is a dependency between at least two project entities to fulfill a set of conditions, wherein the task is the outcome of fulfilling the set of conditions by the at least two project entities;
generating a commitment for consumption by the project stored on the project server, wherein the commitment is generated independently from the task;
storing the commitment in a shared list in a collaborative information management server to form a project web, wherein the commitment business object module writes the commitment to the project web of the collaborative information management server, wherein the commitment is stored separately from the task of the project, wherein the collaborative information management server is separate from the project server, wherein the collaborative information management server communicates with the project server by the commitment business object module, wherein the commitment is linked to the task of the project by the object link provider, wherein the project server and the collaborative information management server are synchronized upon an update to the commitment on the collaborative information management server;
generating a commitment pane, wherein the commitment pane indicates the commitment related to the at least one task of the project; and
alerting a user associated with the project upon the update to the commitment, wherein the user is identified by a user list associated with the collaborative information management server.