Workflow authoring environment and runtime

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9589253-B2
Application number	US-81540310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2010
Priority date	Jun 15, 2010
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

A workflow authoring system is described herein that provides a design-time authoring environment and a runtime component for displaying interactive, structured instructional content. The authoring environment provides custom controls, templates, and sample pages that allow authors to create a runnable workflow application. The application is a structured, interactive content type that provides users a better way to learn about data flows, workflows, and processes. The application also provides the ability to filter content based on specific actions the user takes, answers that the user provides, information that is retrieved from the user's environment, and so forth. This content model facilitates improved net satisfaction (NSAT) with software products, as users more readily find the information they are looking for and receive more dynamic instructional material. Authors that may not have programming experience can use the system to create rich, interactive content.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method for allowing an author to create instructional material displayed based on user actions, the method comprising:
displaying an authoring interface of an authoring system configured to build an executable workflow software application, the authoring interface enabling the author to design the executable workflow software application by:
receiving, from the author, a selection of one or more elements to include in a workflow to be presented by the executable workflow software application, the workflow displaying instructional material for using a software application;
receiving, from the author, a control selection for inclusion in the workflow;
receiving a sequence of workflow steps selected by the author that is related to a set of actions the user can perform in the workflow;
receiving one or more triggering actions selected by the author that a user can perform to determine the instructional material displayed to the user via the executable workflow software application, the instructional material being dynamically updateable to display help information to the user related to the user's current context and one or more previous choices in the software application, and at least one of the one or more triggering actions comprising receiving one or more executing environment conditions that affect the displayed instructional material and the one or more executing environment conditions that affect the displayed instructional material including at least one of user settings, peripherals, and user properties;
receiving, from the author, an association between the received triggering actions and instructional content related to the actions; and
storing the workflow for subsequent display to a user by the executable workflow software application,

the preceding steps being performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the authoring interface further comprises providing a repository of controls from which the author can select.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the authoring interface further comprises providing a canvas on which the author can drag and drop controls and position the controls in a layout.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the control selection comprises receiving an indication that the author selected the control from a control toolbox and dragged the control onto a canvas associated with the workflow.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the sequence of workflow steps comprises receiving one or more decision points that affect which instructional material is displayed to the user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving one or more triggering actions comprises receiving a yes or no question that allows the user to provide a response and based on the response displaying different instructional material.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more executing environment conditions that affect the displayed instructional material include at least one of hardware settings, and software settings.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an association comprises receiving a help article associated with each path of a decision, and at run time displaying the associated article in response to a selection of a decision path.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the authoring system builds the executable workflow software application by combining the received control selections, workflow steps, triggering actions, and associated content into a module consumable by a runtime component to display the instructional material and respond to user actions.

10. A computer system for authoring interactive, dynamic instructional information, the system comprising:
a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions;
an authoring environment configured to build an executable workflow software application designed by an author, the author designing the executable workflow software application using a user interface provided by the authoring environment through which the author creates one or more workflows to be presented by the executable workflow software application, the one or more workflows providing content-relevant instructional material to a user of a software application, the instructional material being dynamically updateable by the executable workflow software application to display help information to the user related to the user's current context and one or more previous choices in the software application;
a trigger setup component configured to receive triggers selected by the author that cause displayed content to change based on user actions;
a runtime component configured to use an executable module built by the authoring environment to load and display authored workflows; and
an application data store configured to store authored, executable workflow software applications;
the executable workflow software application being configured to:
detect one or more user actions as the user interacts with the executable workflow software application;
detect one or more conditions of a computing environment in which the executable workflow software application and the software application execute, the one or more conditions of the computing environment being unrelated to the user's interactions with the executable workflow software application; and
provide an interface to the user during run time to display instructional information to the user and receive user actions that determine which instructional material to display.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the authoring environment is further configured to extend existing authoring environments to allow the environment to create workflows.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the authoring environment is further configured to allow the author to select controls to include in a workflow project.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the authoring environment is further configured to provide a facility for compiling or processing workflow parts to output a persistent storage format for the instructional application, wherein the persistent storage format can be read by the runtime component to display the instructional application to a user.

14. The system of claim 10 further comprising a template repository configured to store one or more controls, sample files, and templates for assisting an author with creating workflows.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the trigger setup component is further configured to receive a trigger that, upon activation in the executable workflow software application, causes a different informational article to be displayed to a user.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the executable module is built by a build process of the authoring environment, and wherein the runtime component displays at least some content associated with the executable module to the user.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the executable workflow software application is further configured to, upon detecting the user action, display instructional content based on a path associated with the detected action.

18. A method executed by at least one processor for controlling a computer system to display instructional material that changes based on user actions, comprising:
receiving a help request that identifies an instructional application associated with a separate software application that a user is using, the instructional application including one or more workflows that display associated instructional material;
invoking the identified instructional application;
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Assignees

• Eby Douglas A
• De George Steve Andrew
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Eby Douglas A
• De George Steve Andrew

Classifications

• G06Q10/103 Primary

  Workflow collaboration or project management · CPC title

• G06F9/4446

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q30/0281

  Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting · CPC title

• G06F17/30056

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title