Method and apparatus for providing process guidance
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorSam Guckenheimer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A context-sensitive process guidance system provides process guidance based on context data from a system used in performing the process. The system may be a work item tracking system or similar project management tool. Process guidance may provide information to a user performing actions related to a process. Context data may be derived from various sources, including the state of an application at the time of the request for process guidance, the user making the request and the role assigned to that user in the process, or the data displayed for the user who made the request. The context-sensitive process guidance system may display context-sensitive process guidance content and provide links to related process guidance content based on the context data.
Claims20
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing acts comprising:
- (a) receiving a request from a user using a system;
- (b) receiving context data comprising data from the system;
- and
- (c) providing process guidance content using the context data.
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing acts comprising:
- (a) receiving a first request from a user using a system;
- (b) providing, based on the first request, process guidance content related to a process in which the system is used;
- (c) receiving a second request from a user using the system;
- and
- (d) providing, based on the second request, help information related to the operation of the system.
A method of providing information to a user of a system comprising at least one application, the method comprising acts of:
- (a) receiving a request from the user and context data;
- (b) when the request relates to the application, providing information on at least one feature of the application;
- and
- (c) when the request relates to a process in which the system may be used, providing process guidance content based on the context data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.