Methods and apparatuses for providing hosted tailored vertical applications

1. A method comprising:

providing a set of business entities and a set of business processes that operate on the business entities from a customer relationship management (CRM) application;

creating a set of universal configuration options (UCOs), wherein

the creating comprises at least one of

decomposing a business entity of the set of business entities, wherein

the decomposing the business entity yields at least two universal business entities, and

decomposing a business process of the set of business processes, and

each of the set of business entities and business processes existed prior to the creating;

presenting the set of UCOs;

receiving a selection, wherein

the selection identifies one or more selected UCOs of the set of UCOs; and

automatically configuring a tailored CRM application, wherein

the automatically configuring facilitates management of aspects of a customer relationship by a company associated with the tailored CRM application, and

the automatically configuring comprises

utilizing the one or more selected UCOs,

creating the tailored CRM application by modifying a base CRM application according to the one or more selected UCOs,

granting a privilege of a plurality of grantable privileges, based on the selected UCOs, and

establishing a differential cost assessment scheme, wherein

the customer is assessed costs based on which of the plurality of grantable privileges is granted.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the tailored CRM application is hosted.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and the business process of the set of business processes includes resolving entity conflicts between two or more entities, each entity associated with a respective existing CRM application.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein resolving an entity conflict includes resolving an overlapping entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, a portion of the second set of attributes common to the first set of attributes and a portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes;

developing a serialization of the first entity;

developing a serialization of the portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes; and

modifying processes affecting the first entity such that the first entity is capable of being managed as a sub-process of managing the second entity.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein resolving an entity conflict includes resolving an absolute entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, at least one attribute of the first set of attributes conflicting with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes;

develop a serialization of the at least one attribute of the first set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes; and

develop a serialization of the at least one attribute of the second set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the first set of attributes.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and the business process of the set of business processes includes resolving process conflicts between two or more processes, each process associated with a respective existing CRM application.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein resolving a process conflict includes:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining the conflict is additive; and

chaining the two processes.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein resolving a process conflict includes:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining that the conflict is absolute;

identifying attributes and sub-processes from each of the two processes that pertain to the conflict;

defining a set of options for resolving the conflict; and

presenting the set of options.

9. A machine-readable storage medium containing executable instructions which when executed by a digital process system cause the system to perform a method comprising:

providing a set of business entities and a set of business processes that operate on the business entities from a customer relationship management (CRM) application;

creating a set of universal configuration options (UCOs), wherein

the creating comprises at least one of decomposing a business entity of the set of business entities, wherein

the decomposing the business entity yields at least two universal business entities, and

decomposing a business process of the set of business processes, and

each of the set of business entities and business processes existed prior to the creating;

presenting the set of UCOs;

receiving a selection, wherein

the selection identifies one or more selected UCOs of the set of UCOs; and

automatically configuring a tailored CRM application, wherein

the automatically configuring facilitates management of aspects of a customer relationship by a company associated with the tailored CRM application, and

the automatically configuring comprises utilizing utilizes the one or more selected UCOs,

creating the tailored CRM application by modifying a base CRM application according to the one or more selected UCOs,

granting a privilege of a plurality of grantable privileges, based on the selected UCOs, and

establishing a differential cost assessment scheme, wherein

the customer is assessed costs based on which of the plurality of grantable privileges is granted.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the tailored CRM application is hosted.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein instructions for decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and the business process of the set of business processes include instructions for resolving entity conflicts between two or more entities, each entity associated with a respective existing CRM application.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein instructions for resolving an entity conflict include instructions for resolving an overlapping entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, a portion of the second set of attributes common to the first set of attributes and a portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes;

developing a serialization of the first entity;

developing a serialization of the portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes; and

modifying processes affecting the first entity such that the first entity is capable of being managed as a sub-process of managing the second entity.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein instructions for resolving an entity conflict include instructions for resolving an absolute entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, at least one attribute of the first set of attributes conflicting with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes;

developing a serialization of the at least one attribute of the first set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes; and

developing a serialization of the at least one attribute of the second set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the first set of attributes.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein instructions for decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and business process of the set of business processes include instructions for resolving process conflicts between two or more processes, each process associated with a respective existing CRM application.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein instructions for resolving a process conflict include instructions for performing a method comprising:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining the conflict is additive; and

chaining the two processes.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein instructions for resolving a process conflict include instructions for performing a method comprising:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining that the conflict is absolute;

identifying attributes and sub-processes from each of the two processes that pertain to the conflict;

defining a set of options for resolving the conflict; and

presenting the set of options.

17. A customer relationship management (CRM) application hosting system comprising:

a data store configured to

provide a set of business entities and a set of business processes configured to operate on the business entities from a customer relationship management (CRM) application;

store a set of universal configuration options (UCOs), wherein

the storing comprises at least one of decomposing a business entity of the set of business entities, wherein

the decomposing the business entity yields at least two universal business entities, and

decomposing a business process of the set of business processes, and

each of the set of business entities and business processes existed prior to the storing;

a communication system coupled to a processing system to present the set of UCOs and receive a selection, wherein

the selection identifies one or more selected UCOs of the set of UCOs;

a communications interface configured to couple the communication system to a network; and

the processing system configured to automatically configure a tailored CRM application, wherein

the automatically configuring facilitates management of aspects of a customer relationship by a company associated with the tailored CRM application, and

the automatically configuring comprises utilizing the one or more selected UCOs,

creating the tailored CRM application by modifying a base CRM application according to the one or more selected UCOs,

granting a privilege of a plurality of grantable privileges, based on the selected UCOs, and

establishing a differential cost assessment scheme, wherein

the customer is assessed costs based on which of the plurality of grantable privileges is granted.

18. The CRM application hosting system of claim 17 wherein the communication system is selected from the group consisting of an Internet, a wide area network, a local area network, an intranet, and combinations thereof.

19. The CRM application hosting system of claim 17 wherein decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and business process of the set of business processes includes resolving entity conflicts between two or more entities, each entity associated with a respective existing CRM application.

20. The CRM application hosting system of claim 19 wherein resolving an entity conflict includes resolving an overlapping entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, a portion of the second set of attributes common to the first set of attributes and a portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes;

developing a serialization of the first entity;

developing a serialization of the portion of the second set of attributes non-common to the first set of attributes; and

modifying processes affecting the first entity such that the first entity is capable of being managed as a sub-process of managing the second entity.

21. The CRM application hosting system of claim 19 wherein resolving an entity conflict includes resolving an absolute entity conflict by a method comprising:

identifying a first entity having a first set of attributes and a second entity having a second set of attributes, at least one attribute of the first set of attributes conflicting with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes;

developing a serialization of the at least one attribute of the first set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the second set of attributes; and

developing a serialization of the at least one attribute of the second set of attributes that conflicts with a corresponding attribute of the first set of attributes.

22. The CRM application hosting system of claim 17 wherein decomposing the business entity of the set of business entities and business process of the set of business processes includes resolving process conflicts between two or more processes, each process associated with a respective existing CRM application.

23. The CRM application hosting system of claim 22 wherein resolving a process conflict includes performing a method comprising:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining the conflict is additive; and

chaining the two processes.

24. The CRM application hosting system of claim 22 wherein resolving a process conflict includes performing a method comprising:

analyzing a conflict between two processes;

determining that the conflict is absolute;

identifying attributes and sub-processes from each of the two processes that pertain to the conflict;

defining a set of options for resolving the conflict; and

presenting the set of options.