Methods and apparatus for management of work objects

1. A method of work object management, comprising the steps of:

presenting an interface to a user allowing user specification of a category of work objects, the interface also allowing user identification of one or more operations to be performed on the category of work objects, the operations including searching for and unlocking groups of work objects, searching for and unlocking individual work objects, unlocking of groups of work objects and individual work objects being able to be conducted independently of an origin of a lock of the work objects or ownership of the work objects, searching for and editing individual work objects and searching for and performing specified operations on categories of work objects comprising multiple work objects; and

performing the specified operations on work objects included within the specified category.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user specification of a category of work objects includes submitting a query specifying one or more characteristics of work objects to be placed in the category.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising a step of logging each operation performed on one or more work objects.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the specification may define a location of the object and may additionally define characteristics relevant to the lock status of the object.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the specification defines all objects having a lock of more than a specified age and wherein the operation includes unlocking all objects having a lock of more than the specified age.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the specification defines a specific work object and wherein the operation includes editing specified fields of the work object.

7. A work object manager for performing operations on work objects, comprising:

a user interface for receiving user inputs, the user interface allowing a user to construct queries defining a set of work objects on which simultaneous operations are to be performed and to specify an operation to be performed on the set of work objects; and

a plurality of operational modules, one or more of the operational modules being operative to perform the specified operation on the defined set of work objects, one of the operational modules being a work object unlocker operative to receive a query identifying an individual work object, to retrieve and display a work object meeting the terms of the query and to unlock the work object upon a user selection, the work object unlocker being capable of unlocking the work object independently of an origin of a lock of the work object or ownership of the work object.

8. A work object manager for performing operations on work objects, comprising:

a user interface for receiving user inputs, the user interface allowing a user to construct queries defining a set of work objects on which simultaneous operations are to be performed and to specify an operation to be performed on the set of work objects; and

a plurality of operational modules, one or more of the operational modules being operative to perform the specified operation on the defined set of work objects, one of the operational modules being a work object editor operative to receive a query identifying an individual work object, to retrieve and display a work object meeting the terms of the query and to perform editing of the work object by receiving and accepting user entries changing field values of fields in the work objects, the work object editor being operative, upon a selection by a user, to perform editing of the work objects even if the work objects are designated as locked, independently of an origin of a lock of each of the work objects or ownership of the work objects.

9. A work object manager for performing operations on work objects, comprising:

a user interface for receiving user inputs, the user interface allowing a user to construct queries defining a set of work objects on which simultaneous operations are to be performed and to specify an operation to be performed on the set of work objects; and

a plurality of operational modules, one or more of the operational modules being operative to perform the specified operation on the defined set of work objects, one of the operational modules being a batch unlock manager to identify and return work objects based on queries by a user and to unlock identified work objects upon a selection by the user, the batch unlock manager being capable of unlocking an identified work object independently of an origin of a lock of the work object or ownership of the work object, one of the operational modules being a batch operations manager operative to receive a query defining a category of work objects and a command specifying an operation to be performed on work objects meeting the terms of the query and to perform the specified operation upon work objects meeting the terms of the query.

10. A work object manager for performing operations on work objects, comprising:

a user interface for receiving user inputs, the user interface allowing a user to construct queries defining a set of work objects on which simultaneous operations are to be performed and to specify an operation to be performed on the set of work objects; and

a plurality of operational modules, one or more of the operational modules being operative to perform the specified operation on the defined set of work objects, one of the operational modules being a batch unlock manager operative to receive a query specifying a range of locations to be searched for work objects, the query further specifying characteristics relating to locking of work objects, the batch unlock manager being operative to return work objects in the specified range of locations and having the specified lock characteristics, the batch unlock manager being further operative to simultaneously unlock the returned work objects upon a selection by the user, the batch unlock manager being capable of unlocking the returned work objects independently of an origin of a lock of each of the work objects or ownership of the work objects.

11. A work object manager for performing operations on work objects, comprising:

a user interface for receiving user inputs, the user interface allowing a user to construct queries defining a set of work objects on which simultaneous operations are to be performed and to specify an operation to be performed on the set of work objects; and

a plurality of operational modules operative to perform the specified operation on the defined set of work objects, comprising:

a batch unlock manager operative to receive a query specifying a range of locations to be searched for work objects, the query further specifying characteristics relating to locking of work objects, the batch unlock manager being operative to return work objects in the specified range of locations and having the specified lock characteristics, the batch object manager being further operative to simultaneously unlock the returned work objects upon a selection by the user;

a work object unlocker operative to receive a query identifying an individual work object, to retrieve and display a work object meeting the terms of the query and to unlock the work object upon a user selection;

a work object editor operative to receive a query identifying an individual work object, to retrieve and display a work object meeting the terms of the query, to receive and accept user entries changing field values of fields in the work objects and to change the field values in accordance with the user entries;

a batch operations manager operative to receive a query defining a category of work objects and a command specifying an operation to be performed on work objects meeting the terms of the query and to perform the specified operation upon work objects meeting the terms of the query.

12. The work object manager of claim 11 wherein the user interface includes a plurality of subordinate user interfaces, each subordinate user interface allowing the user to perform a specific category of operations and wherein each subordinate user interface controls one of the operational modules.

13. The work object manager of claim 12 , wherein operations performed by the work object manager are logged.

14. The work object manager of claim 13 , wherein the lock status of the work object includes that the object has a lock of at least a specified age.

15. The work object manager of claim 14 , wherein the user may direct the batch unlock manager to unlock all objects having a lock of more than a specified age.

16. The work object manager of claim 15 , wherein the location of the work object may include a queue, a selection of queues, or an entire system employing the work object manager.

17. The work object manager of claim 16 , wherein the batch operations manager is operative to receive command parameters relating to an operation to be performed the command parameters controlling execution of the operation.

18. The work object manager of claim 17 , wherein the command parameters include a selection determining that a report is to be prepared showing the results of execution of an operation on a defined category of work objects but that the operation is not to be performed.