Navigating to user content in a financial management system

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for finding and navigating information in financial management systems. In some implementations, a customer self-service system provides incremental search results that are based on user profile information, customer self-service content, and navigation history of a user within a financial management system. The user profile information may include one or more of an estimated income level of the user, an estimated education level of the user, business financial records of the user, tax return information of the user, or personal financial records of the user. The customer self-service system provides the search results incrementally, thereby allowing the user to receive references to transactions or transaction details in real-time as the user provides search query terms for the customer self-service system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by one or more processors of a customer self-service system, the method comprising:
 storing, in a database of the customer self-service system, user profile information, customer self-service content, and navigation history of a user within a financial management system, the user profile information including one or more of an estimated income level of the user, an estimated education level of the user, business financial records of the user, tax return information of the user, or personal financial records of the user;   identifying one or more relevant portions of the user profile information and the customer self-service content based at least in part on the navigation history of the user within the financial management system;   providing, on a display screen, a user interface including a search text box and a results text box;   receiving, from the user via the search text box, a number of search query terms that comprise at least a portion of a plurality of potential search queries that are formable with the one or more search query terms;   generating, based at least in part on the number of search query terms, a plurality of incremental search results including at least the one or more relevant portions of the user profile information and the customer self-service content;   identifying user experience pages for one or more of the plurality of incremental search results;   presenting navigation links to the identified user experience pages in the results text box concurrently with presenting the plurality of incremental search results in the results text box;   detecting a user selection of one of the navigation links presented in the results text box; and   presenting, on the display screen, content from the user experience pages associated with the selected navigation link.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the financial management system comprises one or more of a personal financial management system, a business financial management system, or a tax return preparation financial management system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of incremental search results are generated by a search algorithm based at least in part on topics of the one or more search query terms. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the search algorithm includes one or more of a probabilistic topic model and a predictive model. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of incremental search results includes references to actions available to the user, and the user experience pages are configured to enable the user to complete the available actions. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting a type of incremental search results;   identifying, from the plurality of incremental search results, one or more incremental search results of the selected type; and   presenting only the one or more incremental search results of the selected type in the search results box.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the selected type of incremental search results comprises one of a first type of incremental search results associated with performing a new action, a second type of incremental search results associated with reviewing a transaction record, or a third type of incremental search results associated with requesting help to provide to the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one navigation link comprises a hyperlink embedded within one or more words of a corresponding one of the plurality of incremental search results presented in the results text box. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating the incremental search results and the navigation links presented in the results text box concurrently with receiving additional search query terms from the user via the search text box.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the updated incremental search results comprise potential search queries the user is likely to form with the search query terms. 
     
     
         11 . A customer self-service system, comprising:
 a database;   one or more processors; and   a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the customer self-service system to perform operations comprising:
 storing, in the database, user profile information, customer self-service content, and navigation history of a user within a financial management system, the user profile information including one or more of an estimated income level of the user, an estimated education level of the user, business financial records of the user, tax return information of the user, or personal financial records of the user; 
 identifying one or more relevant portions of the user profile information and the customer self-service content based at least in part on the navigation history of the user within the financial management system; 
 providing, on a display screen, a user interface including a search text box and a results text box; 
 receiving, from the user via the search text box, a number of search query terms that comprise at least a portion of a plurality of potential search queries that are formable with the one or more search query terms; 
 generating, based at least in part on the number of search query terms, a plurality of incremental search results including at least the one or more relevant portions of the user profile information and the customer self-service content; 
 identifying user experience pages for one or more of the plurality of incremental search results; 
 presenting navigation links to the identified user experience pages in the results text box concurrently with presenting the plurality of incremental search results in the results text box; 
 detecting a user selection of one of the navigation links presented in the results text box; and 
 presenting, on the display screen, content from the user experience pages associated with the selected navigation link. 
   
     
     
         12 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein the financial management system comprises one or more of a personal financial management system, a business financial management system, or a tax return preparation financial management system. 
     
     
         13 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of incremental search results are generated by a search algorithm based at least in part on topics of the one or more search query terms. 
     
     
         14 . The customer self-service system of  claim 13 , wherein the search algorithm includes one or more of a probabilistic topic model and a predictive model. 
     
     
         15 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of incremental search results includes references to actions available to the user, and the user experience pages are configured to enable the user to complete the available actions. 
     
     
         16 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the customer self-service system to perform operations further comprising:
 selecting a type of incremental search results;   identifying, from the plurality of incremental search results, one or more incremental search results of the selected type; and   presenting only the one or more incremental search results of the selected type in the search results box.   
     
     
         17 . The customer self-service system of  claim 16 , wherein the selected type of incremental search results comprises one of a first type of incremental search results associated with performing a new action, a second type of incremental search results associated with reviewing a transaction record, or a third type of incremental search results associated with requesting help to provide to the user. 
     
     
         18 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one navigation link comprises a hyperlink embedded within one or more words of a corresponding one of the plurality of incremental search results presented in the results text box. 
     
     
         19 . The customer self-service system of  claim 11 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the customer self-service system to perform operations further comprising:
 updating the incremental search results and the navigation links presented in the results text box concurrently with receiving additional search query terms from the user via the search text box.   
     
     
         20 . The customer self-service system of  claim 19 , wherein the updated incremental search results comprise potential search queries the user is likely to form with the search query terms.