System and method for estimating costs, ordering products, and managing resources

• US 20020087378A1
• Filed: 12/29/2000
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pipedirect Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pipedirect Incorporated
• Inventors: Como, Brian
• Application Number:
  US09/681,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087378A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The invention comprises a system and method for estimating costs, purchasing goods, and managing resources which includes a gap analysis, a contractor locator, an estimator, an automated auction option, a procurement function, and a resource manager which also enables the operation of virtual jobsite office.

Claims

1. A system for estimating costs, purchasing goods and services, and managing resources for at least one designated location, comprising:

a gap analysis program for validating requested items against similar items valid for the designated location;

an estimator communicating with the gap analysis program for providing estimated costs of validated requested items;

a procurement function communicating with the gap analysis program for ordering validated requested items for the designated location;

a contractor locator for finding potential contractors for the designated location;

an automated auction program communicating with the procurement function for identifying the presence of a validated requested item available through auction;

a resource manager communicating with the procurement function, the estimator, the contractor locator and the automated auction program for managing resources at the designated location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the gap analysis program further comprises a integrity checker to verify that the requested item is internally consistent with other validated requested items.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the estimator further comprises a phase labor calculator which permits the estimation of labor costs by phase of a project.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the procurement function further comprises an ordering function for ordering validated requested items.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the procurement function further comprises a credit check for verifying the credit.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the procurement function further comprises a delivery handler for scheduling deliveries.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the procurement function further comprises an inventory updater for automatically updating ordered validated requested items into an inventory.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource manager further comprises a resource management program that enables the reservation and allocation of equipment, validated requested items and human resources, the scheduling of their use, and the tracking and reporting of costs associated with such use.

9. A method for estimating costs, purchasing goods and services, and managing resources for at least one designated location, comprising the steps of:

validating requested items against similar items valid for the designated location using a gap analysis program;

estimating costs of validated requested items through an estimator;

ordering validated requested items for the designated location through a procurement function;

locating potential contractors for the designated location using a contractor locator;

identifying the presence of a validated requested item available through auction using an automated auction program and communicating with the procurement function;

managing resources by communicating with the procurement function, the estimator, the contractor locator and the automated auction program to manage resources at the designated location.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of validating requested items further comprises the step of checking the integrity of the requested item by verifying that it is internally consistent with other validated requested items.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of estimating further comprises the step of estimating labor costs by phase of a project.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the procurement function further comprises an ordering function for ordering validated requested items.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of ordering further comprises the step of scheduling deliveries.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of ordering further comprises the step of automatically updating ordered validated requested items into an inventory.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of managing resources further comprises the steps of:

enabling the reservation and allocation of equipment, validated requested items and human resources;

the scheduling of their use; and

the tracking and reporting of costs associated with such use.