System and method for database access using a history walker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10719485-B2
Application number	US-201815862319-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2018
Priority date	Oct 4, 2017
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for a history walker interface to a time-based data structure are disclosed. A time-based data structure may contain information about updates to a set of records that change periodically over time. For example, a set of records that record state transitions of a task item as the task item progresses through its life cycle. An example task item may be represented by a change request or incident report in a help desk software application. The task item begins with an “open” state and may transition through any number of states (e.g., assigned, on-hold, test, customer response requested, etc.) on its way to ultimately being “closed” as completed. A history walker interface may assist application developers when creating applications to indicate how the task item transitioned through its different states throughout its lifecycle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cloud-based computer system, comprising:
a memory partition;
a network interface communicatively coupled to one or more processing units and the memory partition, wherein the memory partition comprises computer instructions that when executed by the one or more processing units cause the cloud-based computer system to:
provide, via the network interface, a hosted client instance that includes one or more client applications configured to utilize a history walker interface to obtain information from a time-based data structure;
receive, from a first of the one or more client applications, a first request to obtain information about a first update to the time-based data structure, the first request identifying a first update number associated with the first update and information identifying the time-based data structure;
obtain, in response to the first request, a glide record comprising information from the time-based data structure, the glide record having a plurality of fields, each field having a first update value corresponding to the field's value immediately after the first update;
receive, from the first of the one or more client applications, a second request to obtain information about a second update to the time-based data structure, the second request including a second update number; and
obtain, in response to the second request, an update to the glide record having the plurality of fields, each field having a second update value corresponding to the field's value immediately after the second update, the second glide record further including information about changes to one or more of the fields' values occurring between the first update and the second update.

2. The cloud-based computer system of claim 1 , wherein the second request to obtain information about a second update comprises an indication to walk to the second update, the second update reflecting information after the first update.

3. The cloud-based computer system of claim 1 , wherein the second request to obtain information about a second update comprises an indication to walk from the second update, the second update reflecting information prior to the first update.

4. The cloud-based computer system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions to cause the cloud-based computer system to:
receive a third request, originating from the first of the one or more client applications after the first and second requests, to perform a get with changes request relative to the update to the glide record; and
return information to the first of the one or more client applications in the glide record, the information including both field value information and information about changes to field values occurring between the first update and the second update.

5. The cloud-based computer system of claim 4 , wherein the first of the one or more client applications comprises a service level agreement timeline application.

6. The cloud-based computer system of claim 1 , wherein the first of the one or more client applications comprises a service level management application configured to perform an advanced service level agreement function.

7. The cloud-based computer system of claim 6 , wherein the advanced service level agreement (SLA) function comprises an SLA reset function, an SLA repair function, or an SLA recalculate function.

8. The cloud-based computer system of claim 7 , wherein the advanced service level agreement (SLA) function is configured to apply changes relative to an SLA definition to associated in-progress or completed task SLA items.

9. The cloud-based computer system of claim 8 , wherein the in-progress or completed task SLA items are requested to be updated based on a changed SLA definition.

10. The cloud-based computer system of claim 7 , wherein the SLA reset function includes generation of a new task SLA when a field value changes.

11. The cloud-based computer system of claim 7 , wherein the advanced service level agreement (SLA) function is configured to recalculate an SLA to correct for at least one missing SLA calculation based on at least one missed calculation update to a task SLA item associated with the SLA.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to configure a computer system to:
provide, via a network interface, a hosted client instance that includes one or more client applications configured to utilize a history walker interface to obtain information from a time-based data structure;
receive, from a first of the one or more client applications, a first request to obtain information about a first update to the time-based data structure, the first request identifying a first update number associated with the first update and information identifying the time-based data structure;
obtain, in response to the first request, a glide record comprising information from the time-based data structure, the glide record having a plurality of fields, each field having a first update value corresponding to the field's value immediately after the first update;
receive, from the first of the one or more client applications, a second request to obtain information about a second update to the time-based data structure, the second request including a second update number; and
obtain, in response to the second request, an update to the glide record having the plurality of fields, each field having a second update value corresponding to the field's value immediately after the second update, the second glide record further including information about changes to one or more of the fields' values occurring between the first update and the second update.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the second request to obtain information about a second update comprises an indication to walk to the second update, the second update reflecting information after the first update.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the second request to obtain information about a second update comprises an indication to walk from the second update, the second update reflecting information prior to the first update.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising instructions to cause the cloud-based computer system to:
receive a third request, originating from the first of the one or more client applications after the first and second requests, to perform a get with changes request relative to the update to the glide record; and
return information to the first of the one or more client applications in the glide record, the information including both field value information and information about changes to field values occurring between the first update and the second update.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first of the one or more client applications comprises a service level agreement timeline application.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the first of the one or more client applications comprises a service level management application configured to perform an advanced service level agreement function.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the advanced service level agreement (SLA) function comprises an SLA reset function, an SLA repair function, or an SLA recalculate function.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the in-progress or completed t

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Bell Nigel
• Richard Cameron
• Occhialini Jason

Classifications

• H04L41/5006 Primary

  Creating or negotiating SLA contracts, guarantees or penalties · CPC title

• G06F16/2477

  Temporal data queries · CPC title

• G06F16/1873 Primary

  Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files · CPC title

• G06F16/2474

  Sequence data queries, e.g. querying versioned data · CPC title

• H04L41/5016

  based on statistics of service availability, e.g. in percentage or over a given time · CPC title