Notifying a user of an instant messaging (im) service about a modification made to an opportunity

Abstract

Notifying a user of an instant message (IM) service about a modification made to an opportunity includes receiving at least one modification to an opportunity stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the opportunity representing a complex record structure in the CRM system, identifying a first user associated with the modification made to the opportunity stored in the CRM system, determining, from a list of users associated with the opportunity, a second user associated with the first user through an IM service, and sending an alert to the second user on the IM service, the alert indicating to the second user the modification made to the opportunity by the first user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for notifying a user of an instant message (IM) service about a modification made to an opportunity, the method comprising:
 receiving at least one modification made to an opportunity stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the opportunity representing a complex record structure in the CRM system, in which each of the opportunities captures a number of fields of metadata;   identifying a first user associated with the modification made to the opportunity stored in the CRM system;   determining, from a list of users associated with the opportunity, a second user associated with the first user through an instant message (IM) service; and   sending an alert to the second user on the IM service, the alert indicating to the second user the modification made to the opportunity by the first user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the alert indicates, via an icon, the modification the first user made to the opportunity. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , in which the alert further comprises a summary of the modification that the first user made to the opportunity. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , in which the alert further comprises a link, the link allowing the second user to access the opportunity in the CRM system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the alert allows the second user to view other modifications the first user made to other opportunities stored in the CRM system. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , in which sending the alert to the second user on the IM service, the alert indicating to the second user the modification made to the opportunity by the first user comprises sending the alert via the IM service, a short message service (SMS), an electronic message (email), or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the list of users associated with the opportunity.