System and method for managing customer productivity through central repository

• US 20020174004A1
• Filed: 05/21/2001
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Howard, Patrick Joseph, Godbey, Michael Scott, McKee, James Geoffrey Chirumbolo, Wagner, Michael James, Brocklehurst, Craig Leonard, Wilson, Dwight Collins
• Granted Patent: US 7,082,403 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A system and a method for managing various Customer Productivity Applications utilize a web-enabled interactive database to organize, store and retrieve information for the benefit of the customer community to effectively manage the business. The system captures all customers related information and provides on-line, up-to-date information to the users upon request. The system is configured to manage various Customer Productivity Applications to increase the customers'"'"' productivity and minimizes cost of ownership by analyzing the customers'"'"' fleet, perform industry comparisons, and run iterations to develop fleet optimal performance requirements.

Claims

1. A method for organizing customer productivity applications to provide recommendations on product and service offerings using a web-based system including a server system coupled to a centralized interactive database and at least one client system, said method comprising the steps of:

defining customer productivity applications and users of customer productivity applications;

identifying tools and information relating to customer productivity applications;

defining pre-defined modules for each customer productivity application; and

providing users access to a specific customer productivity application and associated modules to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, perform industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of organizing customer productivity applications into sub-sections of the database.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of defining customer productivity applications categories including at least one of an Engine Value Analyzer, a Spare Engine Calculator, an Engine Workscoping Wizard, a Maintenance Evaluator, and a Fan Speed Modifier Wizard.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the steps of:

developing methodologies that addresses customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions; and

designing web-sites that implement the developed methodologies that address customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions.

5. A method according to claim 3 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of designing individual wizard applications that provide recommendations on product and service offerings based on the customer'"'"'s response to a set of specific questions.

6. A method according to claim 3 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of configuring the server system to combine new technology, product specific applications, and customer and industry data to give the customer the ability to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, performing industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of identifying tools and information relating to customer productivity applications further comprises the steps of:

identifying information necessary to customer productivity applications; and

storing the information in the centralized database in a plurality of subsections defined within the database.

8. A customer applications web-site managed by an administrator for organizing customer productivity applications using a web-based system including a server system coupled to a centralized interactive database and at least one client system, said web-site configured to:

complete customer enrollments such that each individual customer is defined in a centralized database based on individual customer'"'"'s needs and unique identifiers; and

provide access to a customer productivity application and associated modules to increasing customer'"'"'s productivity.

9. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein to complete customer enrollment, said web-site further configured to define individual access privileges for users.

10. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein to provide access to a customer productivity application, said web-site further configured to provide access through at least one of pull down menus, check boxes, and hypertext links.

11. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein said web-site further configured to:

retrieve information from the centralized database in response to a specific inquiry by the customer; and

download information in response to the inquiry.

12. A web-site according to claim 11 wherein to download information in response to the inquiry, said web-site further configured to:

access the centralized database;

search the database regarding the specific inquiry;

retrieve information from the database; and

transmit the retrieved information to the client system for display by the client system.

13. A web-site according to claim 14 wherein the client system and the server system are connected via a network and wherein the network is one of a wide area network, a local area network, an intranet and the Internet.

15. A system according to claim 14 wherein said client system is further configured with:

a displaying component; and

a sending component for sending an inquiry to the server system such that the server system can process and download the requested information to the client system.

16. A system according to claim 15 wherein the sending component functions in response to at least one of a click of a mouse button and a voice command, and said system is further configured to be protected from access by unauthorized individuals.

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein said data storage device embodied on a computer readable medium for managing various Customer Productivity Applications for a corporation, said computer program comprising:

a code segment programmed to set up and manage at least one of an Engine Value Analyzer, a Spare Engine Calculator, an Engine Workscoping Wizard, a Maintenance Evaluator, and a Fan Speed Modifier Wizard;

a code segment programmed to organize information into the centralized database against at least one of the Engine Value Analyzer, the Spare Engine Calculator, the Engine Workscoping Wizard, the Maintenance Evaluator, and the Fan Speed Modifier Wizard; and

a code segment programmed to provide users access to a specific Customer Productivity Application and associated modules of the Customer Productivity Application to provide recommendations on product and services offerings based on the customer'"'"'s response to a set of specific questions.

18. A system according to claim 17 wherein said computer program further comprises a code segment programmed to:

define various customer productivity applications and users of various customer productivity applications through an enrollment process;

define a plurality of modules for each customer productivity application;

identify information relating to various customer productivity applications;

accumulate information within the centralized database; and

maintain the database by adding, deleting and updating information.

19. A system according to claim 18 wherein the client system and the server system are connected via a network and wherein the network is one of a wide area network, a local area network, an intranet and the Internet, said system further comprising a code segment programmed to:

generate various management productivity reports; and

monitor the security of the system by restricting access to unauthorized individuals.

20. A system according to claim 19 wherein to be protected from access by unauthorized individuals, said data storage device further comprising:

data corresponding to at least one of an Engine Value Analyzer, a Spare Engine Calculator, an Engine Workscoping Wizard, a Maintenance Evaluator, and a Fan Speed Modifier Wizard;

data corresponding to customers, and customers'"'"' preferences for products and services, and cross referencing the customers'"'"' data against unique identifiers;

data corresponding to users and cross referencing the users data against unique identifiers; and

data corresponding to various products and services of a corporation.

14. A web-based system for managing customer productivity applications, said system comprising:

a client system comprising a browser;

a data storage device for storing information;

a server system configured to be coupled to said client system and said database, said server system further configured to;

create a directory structure to organize customer productivity applications and associated modules;

receive information into a centralized database;

store information in a plurality of sub-sections defined within the centralized database, such that the information is cross-referenced against unique identifiers for retrieval and update; and

retrieve information from the centralized database in response to an inquiry to provide requested information to the customer.