System and method for extending ad hoc information around structured data

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/914,623 entitled “ENTERPRISE WEB APPLICATION CONSTRUCTOR SYSTEM AND METHOD,” filed Apr. 27, 2007 [Atty. Docket No. BEAS-02048US0], by Matias Cudich et al., which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a seamless, collaborative environment for creating applications, consuming information, and contributing content.

Today\'s workers spend the majority of their time consumed by ad hoc activities. These activities depend on rapid-fire content creation, information access, and collaboration with colleagues. In their day-to-day activities, most knowledge workers currently rely on a set of enterprise software productivity tools—email, instant messaging, content management, portals, document management, and desktop office tools (e.g., Microsoft Office®). Knowledge workers manually create context by transferring documents or conveying conclusions or recommendations from one tool or environment to another.

In one example, multiple participants want to collaborate on creating a prioritized list of prospects for lead generation:

1. Participants must first obtain an extract of prospects from a core enterprise system used to track the prospects, such as a Siebel or Salesforce.com® CRM application.
2. Once the data is obtained, one of the participants sorts it in a spreadsheet document and emails the document to all other participants.
3. Participants edit the list and email each of their new versions to the entire group.
4. Several participants also add new columns to the spreadsheet to reflect additional prospect information.
5. Multiple new versions are generated and distributed through email.
6. Someone is designated as the master editor who cuts and pastes the various iterations into a consolidated document, which is then emailed to the group for final approval.