Method and system for providing advisory information to a field service provider

• US 20030033156A1
• Filed: 08/06/2001
• Published: 02/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCall, John E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,505,914 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation

Abstract

A network advisory system that provides advisory information to a field service provider is disclosed. The network advisory system receives collected data from one or more destination facilities and analyzes the information to generate advisory information. The advisory information is used by the field service provider to provide a service at the destination facility. The field service provider may receive the advisory information while in transit to the destination facility or while located at a destination facility. The field service provider receives the advisory information through a network connection. The network connection may be either a wireless connection or a land-based connection.

Claims

1. In a computer network having a server computer communicating with a field service provider through a network device, a method in the server computer for providing advisory information to the field service provider, the method comprising:

receiving collected data related to a destination facility, the collected data being associated with a data type;

generating a data conclusion based on an analysis between the collected data and an advisory rule corresponding to the data type;

mapping the data conclusion to advisory information; and

presenting the advisory information to a field service provider through the network device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving act comprises:

collecting device data associated with a utility device maintained at the destination location;

collecting business data associated with a customer of a service providing company employing the field service provider to provide a service to the customer at the destination facility; and

collecting census data associated with the destination facility.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the network device is a wireless interface module and the presenting act comprises:

transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider via the wireless interface module.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the presenting act further comprises transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider as the field service provider is in transit between a first destination facility and a second destination facility.

5. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the wireless interface module is a wireless telephone and the presenting act comprises:

providing the advisory information as a script in an audio format.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the presenting act comprises:

providing the advisory information as a script in a format based on the network device through which the field service provider is communicating to the computer network.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the script is in an audio format.

8. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the script is in a visual format.

9. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the script is in a textual format.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

providing a service at the destination facility based on the presented advisory information.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the generating act comprises:

analyzing the collected data against at least one advisory condition of the advisory rule.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the advisory information is stored in a storage module having one or more customer account records and one or more data-type records, the presenting act comprising:

accessing a specific customer account record associated with a customer account code input to the computer network by the field service provider communicating via the network device;

accessing a specific data-type record of the customer account record based on an identification code associated with the field service provider;

retrieving the advisory information stored in the specific data-type record; and

transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider via the network device.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the accessing a specific data-type record act comprises:

selecting the specific data-type record based on a specialty area associated with the field service provider and specified in the identification code.

14. A network advisory system interacting with a field service provider, the network advisory system comprising:

a data collector receiving collected data related to a destination facility, the collected data being associated with a data type;

an advisory module receiving the collected data from the data collector, generating advisory information relating the collected data to an advisory rule corresponding to the data type and presenting the advisory information to a field service provider as the field service provider is in transit between a first destination facility and a second destination facility.

15. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the data collector receives device data associated with a utility device located at the destination facility.

16. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the data type includes account data associated with a service being provided by the field service provider at the destination facility.

17. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the data collector receives data associated with a utility device located at the destination facility and the collected data is a data type selected from the group consisting of device data, business data and census data.

18. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the advisory information is in the form of a script in a format based on the network device through which the field service provider is connected to the advisory module.

19. A network advisory system as defined in claim 18, wherein the script is in an audio format.

20. A network advisory system as defined in claim 18, wherein the script is in a visual format.

21. A network advisory system as defined in claim 18, wherein the script is in a textual format.

22. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the advisory module comprises:

an intelligence module receiving the collected data from the data collector and generating a data conclusion based on an analysis between the collected data and at least one advisory condition of the advisory rule; and

a mapping module mapping the data conclusion to the advisory information based on the data type of the collected data.

23. A network advisory system as defined in claim 22, wherein the field service provider accesses the registration/communication module with a wireless network device and the advisory information is transmitted to the field service provider over a wireless network connection.

24. A network advisory system as defined in claim 23, wherein the wireless network device is a wireless telephone.

25. A network advisory system as defined in claim 23, wherein the wireless network device is a mobile computing device.

26. A network advisory system as defined in claim 14, wherein the advisory module further comprises:

a registration/communication module granting the field service provider access to the network advisory system and transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider over a network connection.

27. In a network advisory system interacting with a user through a network device, the network advisory system having a data collector collecting data associated with a data type related to a utility device maintained at a destination facility, a database receiving and storing the collected data, an advisory module for generating advisory information, the advisory module comprising:

an intelligence module retrieving the stored data from the database and generating a data conclusion relating the retrieved data to an advisory rule corresponding to the data type;

a mapping module mapping the data conclusion to advisory information; and

a registration/communication module granting the user access to the network advisory system and providing the advisory information to the user.

28. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the registration/communication module transmits the advisory information to the user over a wireless network connection as the user is in transit between a first destination facility and a second destination facility.

29. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the registration/communication module transmits the advisory information to the user over a wireless network connection as the user is located at a destination facility.

30. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the mapping module maps the data conclusion to advisory information as the user is granted access to the network advisory system.

31. An advisory module as defined in claim 27 further comprising:

a storage module storing the advisory information mapped to the data conclusion wherein the registration/communication module retrieves the advisory information from the storage module and transmits the advisory information to the user as the user is granted access to the network advisory system by the registration/communication module.

32. An advisory module as defined in claim 31, wherein the storage module comprises a customer account record identifying a customer account to which the advisory information is associated.

33. An advisory module as defined in claim 32, wherein the customer account record comprises:

a device data-type record storing advisory information derived from device data associated with the utility device maintained at the destination facility; and

an account data-type record storing advisory information derived from account data associated with the utility device maintained at the destination facility.

34. An advisory module as defined in claim 33, wherein the account data-type record is a business data-type record storing advisory information derived from business data associated with a customer of a service providing company employing the user to provide a service to the customer at the destination facility.

35. An advisory module as defined in claim 33, wherein the account record is a census data-type record storing advisory information derived from census data associated with the destination facility.

36. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the advisory information is in the form of a script in a format based on the network device through which the user interacts with the advisory module.

37. An advisory module as defined in claim 36, wherein the script is in an audio format.

38. An advisory module as defined in claim 36, wherein the script is in an audio/visual format.

39. An advisory module as defined in claim 36, wherein the script is in a textual format.

40. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the utility device is maintained at a destination facility associated with a service providing company employing the user to provide service at the destination facility.

41. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the utility device is maintained at a destination facility associated with a customer employing a service providing company to provide service at the destination facility through the user.

42. An advisory module as defined in claim 27, wherein the registration/communication module transmits the advisory information to the user over a land-based network connection as the user.

43. A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for providing advisory information to a field service provider communicating with a computer network via a network device, the computer process comprising:

receiving collected data related to a destination facility, the collected data being associated with a data type;

generating a data conclusion based on an analysis between the collected data and an advisory rule corresponding to the data type;

mapping the data conclusion to advisory information; and

presenting the advisory information to a field service provider through the network device.

44. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the receiving act comprises:

collecting device data associated with a utility device maintained at the destination location;

collecting business data associated with a customer of a service providing company employing the field service provider to provide a service to the customer at the destination facility; and

collecting census data associated with the destination facility.

45. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the network device is a wireless interface module and the presenting act comprises:

transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider via the wireless interface module.

46. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 45, wherein the presenting act further comprises transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider as the field service provider is in transit between a first destination facility and a second destination facility.

47. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 45, wherein the wireless interface module is a wireless telephone and the presenting act comprises:

providing the advisory information as a script in an audio format.

48. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the presenting act comprises:

providing the advisory information as a script in a format based on the network device through which the field service provider is communicating to the computer network.

49. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 48, wherein the script is in an audio format.

50. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 48, wherein the script is in a visual format.

51. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 48, wherein the script is in a textual format.

52. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the computer process for providing advisory information to a field service provider communicating with a computer network via a network device further comprises:

providing a service at the destination facility based on the presented advisory information.

53. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the generating act comprises:

analyzing the collected data against at least one advisory condition of the advisory rule.

54. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 43, wherein the presenting act comprises:

accessing a customer account record associated with a customer account code input to the computer network by the field service provider communicating via the network device;

accessing a specific data-type record of the customer account record based on an identification code associated with the field service provider;

retrieving the advisory information stored in the specific data-type record; and

transmitting the advisory information to the field service provider via the network device.

55. The computer process in the computer program product of claim 54, wherein the accessing a specific data-type record act comprises:

selecting the specific data-type record based on a specialty area associated with the field service provider and specified in the identification code.