Private entity profile network

• US 20050131830A1
• Filed: 06/17/2004
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AlphaCap Ventures LLC
• Original Assignee: AlphaCap Ventures LLC
• Inventors: Juarez, Richard A., Brown, Zachary J. J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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

Abstract

In private equity and debt funding operations, resource providers define electronic data collection templates to be filled in by prospective resource consumers to form semi-homogeneous profiles. Providers and/or consumers can assign themselves and/or selected third parties various individualized levels of permissions to access and to perform activities on the profiles. Providers can organize profiles into portfolios to further manage the data. All accesses and activities, such as changes to the data, are tracked and recorded in logs useful for audit purposes.

Claims

1. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template for resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

allowing at least one user to input information into the template;

storing the information input into the template as a profile in an electronic database system;

assigning UserNames to users;

establishing access permissions that determine which profiles a specific UserName is permitted to access; and

establishing activity permissions which determine what a specific UserName is permitted to do with an accessed profile.

2. A method of working with portfolios, comprising the steps of:

organizing fiduciary oversight and related information into a portfolio record,

storing the portfolio records into an electronic database system;

defining portfolio categories;

defining, for each portfolio category, a template of items of information that will be contained in a portfolio record;

allowing a party to input information into the portfolio templates to form portfolio records, and storing the records in the electronic database system;

associating profiles to appropriate portfolio records; and

allowing the party to access portfolio records stored in the system.

3. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template of fields for a semi-homogenous profile of resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

allowing the resource provider to, in real time, customize the template by inserting, deleting, or modifying sections and/or fields;

allowing at least one user to input information into the fields;

storing the information as a semi-homogenous profile in an electronic database system; and

allowing at least one authorized party to access information stored in the system.

4. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template of fields for a semi-homogenous profile of resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

assigning UserNames to users;

allowing at least one UserName to input information into the fields;

storing the information as a profile in an electronic database system;

allowing at least one UserName to access and perform certain activities, including appending files of any type and comments, on profiles stored in the system;

recording a Change History log that indicates all accesses, activities and changes and the date and time that they are made, and what UserName made them, to a particular profile; and

recording a Site Audit log that indicates which UserName has accessed a profile, the network address of the site from which the UserName accessed the profile, the date and time, and what major activities the UserName performed on the profile.

5. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template of fields for a profile of resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

allowing a resource consumer to input primary data information directly into the fields;

storing the information as a profile in an electronic database system; and

allowing at least one authorized party to access information stored in the system.

6. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template of fields for a semi-homogenous profile of resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

allowing at least one user to input information into the fields;

storing the input information as a profile in an electronic database system;

assigning UserNames to users;

establishing access permissions that determine which profiles a specific UserName is permitted to access;

establishing activity permissions which determine what a specific UserName is permitted to do with an accessed profile; and

allowing at least one authorized party to access information stored in the system;

wherein the electronic database system is administered by a trusted third party, who is neutral to resource providers and to resource consumers, who implements desired semi-homogenous profile data collection templates and independently manages UserName access and activity permissions specified by a resource provider or a resource consumer.

7. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

storing the information as one or more profiles in an electronic database system;

assigning UserNames to users;

allowing at least one UserName to access and perform certain activities on profiles stored in the system;

recording a Change History log that indicates all accesses, activities and changes and the date and time that they are made, and what UserName made them, to a particular profile; and

recording a Site Audit log that indicates which UserName has accessed a profile, the network address of the site from which the UserName accessed the profile, the date and time, and what major activities the UserName has performed on the profile.

8. A method of managing resource consumer information, comprising the steps of:

defining a data collection template of fields for a semi-homogenous profile of resource consumer information desired by a resource provider;

allowing at least one user to input information into the fields;

storing the information input into the template as a profile in an electronic database system; and

allowing at least one authorized party to access information stored in the system.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein files of any type can be attached to each profile.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of defining the template is done by the resource provider.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of allowing a user to append comments to the profile.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising enabling resource providers and resource consumers to see a list of UserNames who have been granted access to a specific profile along with the authorized activity entitlements for that profile.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising indexing, sorting, tracking, calculating aggregate metrics from, or reporting, the information.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the resource provider can classify profiles as

Pending for newly registered or edited profiles that can be either accepted and moved to active status or declined and moved to watch list status;

Watch List for newly registered profiles and/or active profiles that a resource provider believes may need additional time to mature; and

Active for profiles that have been reviewed and accepted by a resource provider and typically represent active commercial relationships.

15. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of

assigning UserNames to resource consumers and to resource providers;

establishing access permissions which determine a set of profiles that a specific UserName is permitted to access; and

establishing activity permissions which determine what a specific UserName is permitted to do with an accessed profile.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein a third party partner can be assigned a UserName and receive access and activity permissions.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the system authorizes certain UserNames to tune access permissions by changing the profile-specific disclosure levels including

None, to remove access to a profile for all UserNames except those of the resource provider designated as a profile “

owner” and

those of the resource consumer who supplied the information;

General Information without Financials, to prohibit any UserName other than those of the resource provider designated as a profile “

owner” and

the resource consumer who supplied the information from accessing any financial information in a profile or any financially designated file attachments; and

General Information with Financials, to allow all authorized UserNames to see all information and file attachments in a profile.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein authorized UserNames can input information into the fields and tune access permissions independently, autonomously, and in real-time, via the Internet and/or private network.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein a provider can define a portfolio group of profiles to include an industry, a sub-sector, a single company, selected groups of companies, a geographical area, or be based on other criteria contained in the profile.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the activity permissions include view only, global edit, single section edit, single line item in a single section edit, file download, file delete, file add, access to the comments, access to reports, access to portfolio records, ability to save or send HTML copies of profiles, ability to save XML copies, the ability to import XML data, create new profiles, change the status of a profile, and change sharing levels.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the electronic database system is maintained by a trusted third party, who is neutral to resource providers and to resource consumers, who implements a desired profile data collection template and independently manages the UserName access and activity permissions specified by the resource provider and a consumer.

22. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

recording a Change History log that indicates all accesses, activities and changes and the date and time that they are made, and what UserName made them, to a particular profile; and

recording a Site Audit log that indicates which UserName has accessed a profile, the Internet address of the site from which the UserName accessed the profile, the date and time, and what major activities the UserName has performed; and

wherein access permissions include access to the change history log and to the site audit log.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein:

the Change History log identifies and records the former and new values of any information that was changed;

the Site Audit log identifies and records the date and time of logins, new profile creations, profile accesses, profile deletions, and logouts;

a Profile Metrics log identifies and records the date and time that a profile is viewed by any authorized UserName;

a File Metrics log identifies and records the date and time when a file attachment is accessed by an authorized UserName; and

a Permitted Users log identifies which UserName may access any given profile and/or portfolio records.

24. The method of claim 15 further comprising providing a summary list detailing, for a particular profile, the UserNames that have accessed the profile, the number of times the UserName accessed the profile and the date and times the UserName spent accessing the profile.

25. The method of claim 15 further comprising providing a summary list, for a particular UserName, of the files that the UserName has accessed and the date and time of each access.

26. The method of claim 15 further comprising enabling the sending of UserName specific alerts based upon resource consumer or provider criteria including new profile registrations, profile changes, profile deletions, specifically defined metrics including cash burn, cash remaining, or quick ratios.

27. The method of claim 8 further comprising enabling the definition and deployment of real-time, customizable, management audit, tracking and compliance data collection template portfolios by the steps of:

defining portfolio categories;

enabling, for each defined portfolio category, the creation of portfolio records and the association of profiles to them;

defining, for each portfolio category, items that will be contained in a portfolio record;

allowing a party to input information into the records, and storing the information in the electronic database system;

associating and appending Watch List, Pending, or Active profiles to appropriate portfolio records; and

allowing the party to access, via the Internet or a private network, information stored in the system.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein authorized UserNames can create new portfolio records within portfolio categories.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein files of any type can be attached to each portfolio record.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein comments can be appended to each portfolio record.

31. The method of claim 27 further comprising the steps of indexing, sorting, tracking, calculating aggregate metrics, and reporting.

32. The method of claim 27 further comprising providing a summary list of the UserNames that have accessed a portfolio record, detailing the number of times a UserName has accessed a portfolio record and the date and time and elapsed time spent accessing a particular portfolio record.

33. The method of claim 27 further comprising providing a summary list of the profiles associated with a portfolio record that have been accessed by a particular UserName and each date and time that a particular profile was accessed.

34. The method of claim 27 further comprising enabling the sending of UserName specific alerts based upon resource provider'"'"'s or regulator'"'"'s defined criteria including the addition of new portfolio records, changes to existing portfolio records, new profile registrations, profile changes, profile deletions, or specifically defined metrics including less than timely updates of profiles, cash burn, cash remaining, or quick ratios.

35. The method of claim 27 further comprising enabling resource providers and other authorized third parties to see a list of UserNames who have been granted access to a portfolio records and their authorized activity permissions for each portfolio record.

36. The method of claim 27 further comprising the steps of:

recording a Change History log that indicates all accesses, activities and changes and the date and time that they are made to a particular portfolio record by any UserName; and

recording a Site Audit log that indicates which UserName has accessed a portfolio record, the Internet address of the site from which the UserName accessed the portfolio record, the date and time, and what activities they have performed during the access.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein:

the Change History log identifies and records the former and new values of any information that was changed on a portfolio record; and

the Site Audit log identifies and records the date and time of new portfolio record creations, portfolio record deletions, logins, portfolio records accessed, and logoffs.

38. The method of claim 27 further comprising enabling a deploying firm to manage their fiduciary responsibilities across their resource provider relationships by:

allowing the deploying firm to construct portfolio categories and to append portfolio records for each unique relationship along with that relationship'"'"'s related profiles; and

providing a mechanism enabling the association of consumer profiles to specific portfolio records.

39. The method of claim 27 further comprising enabling profile data to be updated and appended to portfolio records in real-time.

40. The method of claim 27 further comprising the steps of

establishing access permissions which determine the specific portfolio categories, portfolio records, or specific section of items within sections on a portfolio record that a specific UserName is permitted to access;

and

establishing activity permissions which determine what a specific UserName is permitted to do with an accessed portfolio category or portfolio record.

41. The method of claim 27 wherein the electronic database system is maintained by a trusted third party, who is neutral to resource providers and to resource consumers, who implements the desired portfolio categories and portfolio records/data collection template and independently manages the UserName access and activity permissions specified by various resource providers, resource consumers, and any other deploying organization.