Management of tasks required of trade subcontractors in the construction industry

• US 20050222942A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Donald Stanley Pheil, Patrick Eugene Finucane
• Original Assignee: Donald Stanley Pheil, Patrick Eugene Finucane
• Inventors: Finucane, Patrick Eugene, Pheil, Donald Stanley
• Application Number:
  US11/095,966
• Publication Number:
  US 20050222942A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The management of tasks required of trade subcontractors in the construction industry data base is performed comprehensively, quickly, and with little opportunity for error or omission by the use of a novel method, preferably implemented by computer. A method, user interface, computer program, and system are described that makes as much project information available as quickly as possible to those working within a subcontractor'"'"'s office, and that provides a flexible workflow process to allow for the seemingly endless possibilities and variations of demands placed on a subcontractor.

Claims

1. A system for managing tasks required of a trade subcontractor in the construction industry, the trade contractor having a plurality of users, the system comprising:

means for furnishing a plurality of bids for a job to a plurality of contractors;

means for, upon acceptance of one of the plurality of bids by one of the contractors, converting the accepted bid to a job;

means for generating the tasks in response to the conversion of the accepted bid into the job;

means for associating each of the tasks with one of the users on the basis of the user'"'"'s identity and job capacity;

means for maintaining a plurality of counters for each of the users of the tasks associated therewith in respective task categories;

means for displaying to each of the users when logged on the counters maintained therefor, in association with respective controls for the respective task categories;

means for displaying to each of the users when logged on the total number of tasks in the respective task categories, in association with the respective controls for each of the task categories;

means for furnishing a list to the logged on user of the tasks associated therewith in one of the task categories, in response to selection of the control therefor;

means for providing a capability to the logged on user to act upon the list furnished thereto in the list furnishing step; and

means for adjusting the counter for the logged on user upon action thereby on the list furnished thereto.

2. A user interface for facilitating management of tasks required of a trade subcontractor in the construction industry by various users associated with the subcontractor, the user interface having a main menu with a Bids and Jobs area, a Project Administration area, and an Office Administration area and comprising:

a bid log control disposed in the Bids and Jobs area for managing a log of bids and converting successful ones of the bids into jobs, a first one of the counters being a number of active bids based on identity of a first user, and the first counter being associated with the bid log control;

a billing control disposed in the Project Administration area for initiating progress billings for the jobs, a second one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring billing during a particular time period based on identity of a second user, a third one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring billing during a particular time period for the trade subcontractor, and the second and third counters being associated with the billing control;

an invoicing control disposed in the Office Administration area for invoicing progress billings for the jobs, a forth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring invoicing during a particular time period, and the fourth counter being associated with the invoicing control;

a retention control disposed in the Office Administration area for invoicing retention billings for the jobs, a fifth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring retention invoicing during a particular time period, and the fifth counter being associated with the retention control; and

a close out control disposed in the Office Administration area for closing out jobs, a sixth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring close out during a particular time period, and the sixth counter being associated with the close out control.

3. A user interface for facilitating management of tasks required of a trade subcontractor in the construction industry by various users associated with the subcontractor, the user interface having a main menu with a Bids and Jobs area, a Project Administration area, and an Office Administration area and comprising:

a bid log control disposed in the Bids and Jobs area for managing a log of bids and converting successful ones of the bids into jobs, a first one of the counters being a number of active bids based on identity of a first user, and the first counter being associated with the bid log control;

a confirming correspondence control disposed in the Project Administration area for initiating sending of correspondence confirming the conversion of the successful bids into the jobs, a second one of the counters being a number of confirming correspondence requiring sending during a particular time period based on identity of a second user, a third one of the counters being a number of all confirming correspondence requiring sending during a particular time period for the trade subcontractor, and the second and third counters being associated with the confirming correspondence control;

an insurance control disposed in the Office Administration area for initiating insurance applications for the jobs, a forth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring new insurance applications during a particular time period, a fifth one of the counters being a number of incomplete insurance applications during a particular time period, and the fourth and fifth counters being associated with the insurance control;

a permits control disposed in the Office Administration area for initiating permit applications for the jobs, a sixth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring new permit applications during a particular time period, a seventh one of the counters being a number of incomplete permit applications requiring check numbers during a particular time period, an eighth one of the counters being a number of incomplete permit applications requiring permit numbers during a particular time period, and the sixth and seventh and eighth counters being associated with the insurance control; and

a pre-liens control disposed in the Office Administration area for initiating pre-lien documents for the jobs, a ninth one of the counters being a number of jobs requiring new pre-lien documents during a particular time period, a tenth one of the counters being a number of incomplete pre-lien documents during a particular time period, and the ninth and tenth counters being associated with the pre-lien control.