Bidirectional synchronization with CRM applications

US8533258B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Microsoft Corporation · US

Inventors

• Wayne Parker, III · Mercer Island, US
• Navin Thadani · Bothell, US
• Tong Gao · Singapore, SG
• Indrojit Deb · Sammamish, US
• Praveen Upadhyay · Bellevue, US
• Ian Carl Legler · Redmond, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 20, 2010
• Grant date: Sep 10, 2013
• Expiry date: Oct 10, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q30/01
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Synchronization between email, contact management, scheduling (ECS) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications is facilitated through a synchronization module on the ECS side using an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file for keeping track of synchronization states. The CRM server version of an item is compared with the XML file to detect changes and the same performed for the ECS item. The changes are then pushed to the corresponding item for the columns that have changed. Last updated item is selected in case of a conflict.