Construction industry risk management clearinghouse

• US 20040083165A1
• Filed: 08/01/2003
• Published: 04/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regulatory DataCorp, Inc. (Moody's Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Regulatory DataCorp, Inc. (Moody's Corporation)
• Inventors: Lawrence, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,548,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means for gathering, organizing and presenting on a real time basis information pertinent to Risks associated with subjects related to the Construction Industry. Risks associated with the Construction Industry can be managed by gathering data relevant to the Construction Industry from multiple sources and aggregating the gathered data according to one or more Risk variables. An inquiry relating to a Risk subject can be received and portions of the aggregated data can be associated with the Risk subject. The associated portions of the aggregated data can be transmitted to an entity placing the inquiry or other designated destination.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing risk related to a construction industry, the method comprising:

indicating in a computer system that an entity is a construction industry entity according to the entity'"'"'s engagement in at least one of;

design, building, manufacture, repair and maintenance, of one or more man made structures;

gathering data into the computer system generally related to one or more construction industry entities;

receiving data into the computer system descriptive of details of a financial transaction involving a construction industry entity, wherein the data received comprises identification data for at least one construction industry entity;

structuring the gathered data and the data relating details of the financial transaction according to risk quotient criteria;

calculating a risk quotient by referencing the structured data; and

generating a report comprising the risk quotient and at least some of the structured data referenced to calculate the risk quotient.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the financial transaction comprises a financial investment in at least one of:

a construction industry entity and a construction industry project.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the financial transaction comprises engaging the services of a construction industry entity.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the risk quotient comprises an indication of a cost to defend an adverse position.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the risk quotient comprises an indication an amount of reputational risk.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the risk quotient comprises an indication of an amount of regulatory risk.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the risk quotient comprises an indication of an amount of legal risk.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the risk quotient comprises an indication of an amount of risk associated with monetary costs related to potential fines.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the gathered data comprises data descriptive of one or more world events which is received via a news feed.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the gathered data comprises at least one government advisory.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein calculating the risk quotient criteria comprises a value determined by the steps of:

associating a numerical weight with each of a plurality of risk variables;

associating one or more of the risk variables with the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction;

determining a numerical value based upon the content of the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction associated with the one or more risk variables; and

multiplying the numerical value based upon the content times the numerical weight associated with each of the risk variables associated with the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction.

12. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the steps of presenting the report as evidence of due diligence to at least one of:

a regulatory body, a shareholder and a news media.

13. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of generating a suggested action based upon the risk quotient and at least some of the structured data referenced to calculate the risk quotient.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the data gathered comprises data relating to one or more personnel employed by a construction industry entity.

15. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the steps of:

associating one or more statutes or regulations with the financial transaction; and

transmitting a description of the associated statute and the report.

16. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of transmitting the report to a subscriber, wherein transmission of the report is conditioned upon receipt of a contractual obligation not to use contents of the report for any purpose covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the report comprises a record of conviction of an employee or owner of a construction industry facility.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the report comprises data descriptive of fines levied against a construction industry facility or complaints filed against the facility.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the report comprises one or more sources of the gathered data.

21. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of transmitting an image of an informational artifact comprising data associated with the financial transaction.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein report does not comprise any content created or developed by a provider of the system implementing the method for managing risk associated with construction industry.

23. The method of claim 1 additionally comprises the steps of:

receiving a request for an alert;

monitoring the gathered data; and

transmitting a notification of new information received associated with the construction industry risk subject.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is gathered into a risk management clearinghouse.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction is received by a proprietary risk management system.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the gathered data and the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction;

comprise data provided by a recipient of construction industry services.

27. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of enhancing the gathered data.

29. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of augmenting at least one of:

the gathered data and the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction;

via data mining.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein structuring the gathered data and the data relating details of the financial transaction according to risk quotient criteria comprises processes based upon Boolean logic.

31. The method of claim 1 wherein structuring the gathered data and the data relating details of the financial transaction according to risk quotient criteria comprises relevance ranking.

20. The method of claim 20 wherein the source comprises an investigation firm.

28. The method of claim 28 wherein enhancing the data comprises scrubbing the data to incorporate changes in the spelling of words comprising the gathered data as compared to the data descriptive of details of a financial transaction.

32. A computerized system for managing risk associated with construction industry, the system comprising:

a computer server accessible with a system access device via a communications network; and

executable software stored on the server and executable on demand, the software operative with the server to cause the system to;

indicate in a computer system that an entity is a construction industry entity according to the entity'"'"'s engagement in at least one of;

design, building, manufacture, repair and maintenance, of one or more man made structures;

gather data into the computer system generally related to one or more construction industry entities;

receive data into the computer system descriptive of details of a financial transaction involving a construction industry entity, wherein the data received comprises identification data for at least one construction industry entity;

structure the gathered data and the data relating details of the financial transaction according to risk quotient criteria;

calculate a risk quotient by referencing the structured data; and

generate a report comprising the risk quotient and at least some of the~structured data referenced to calculate the risk quotient.

33. Computer executable program code residing on a computer-readable 30 medium, the program code comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

indicate in a computer system that an entity is a construction industry entity according to the entity'"'"'s engagement in at least one of;

design, building, manufacture, repair and maintenance, of one or more man made structures;

gather data into the computer system generally related to one or more construction industry entities;

receive data into the computer system descriptive of details of a financial transaction involving a construction industry entity, wherein the data received comprises identification data for at least one construction industry entity;

structure the gathered data and the data relating details of the financial transaction according to risk quotient criteria;

calculate a risk quotient by referencing the structured data; and

generate a report comprising the risk quotient and at least some of the structured data referenced to calculate the risk quotient.

34. A computer-implemented method for facilitating the quantification of risk due diligence related to the Construction Industry, the method comprising:

receiving into a computer system data relating to details of a financial transaction wherein the details of the transaction comprise identification data for at least one transaction participant;

indicating in the computer system that the transaction participant is a construction industry entity based upon the transaction participant'"'"'s engagement in at least one of;

design, building, manufacture, repair and maintenance, of one or more man made structures;

receiving data into the computer system generally related to one or more construction industry entities;

receiving into the computer system an indication of the source of the received data generally related to one or more construction industry entities;

structuring the received data generally related to one or more Construction Industry Entities according to risk criteria, wherein the risk criteria comprises at least one of;

personnel employed by the Construction Industry Entity;

litigations involving a Construction Industry Entity;

types of activities undertaken by a Construction Industry entity;

government or regulatory actions related to the Construction Industry;

history of fraud or money laundering associated with a Construction Industry Entity;

felony history associated with an employee of a Construction Industry Entity;

building materials associated with a Construction Industry project; and

labor relations involving a Construction Industry Entity; and

generating a report relating to risk due diligence wherein the report comprises an indication that the transaction participant is a construction industry entity, at least some of the structured data which relates to the Construction Industry Entity; and

an indication of the source of the at least some of the structured data.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the risk due diligence relates to a cost to defend an adverse position.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the risk due diligence relates to reputational risk.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein the risk due diligence relates to regulatory risk.

38. The method of claim 34 wherein the risk due diligence relates to legal risk.