System and method for selecting a service provider
First Claim
1. A computerised method of enabling a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service, said method including:
- (a) processing a service enquiry for a particular service;
(b) retrieving historical cost data associated with said service in respect of a plurality of service providers in response to said service enquiry;
(c) processing said historical cost data to arrive at comparable cost data in respect of said plurality of service providers for enabling the selection of a service provider to perform the particular service;
(d) capturing cost data relating to the provision of the particular service by the selected service provider; and
(e) updating the historical cost data by incorporating said captured cost data wherein the historical cost data includes corresponding historical service enquiry data, and wherein the step of processing said historical cost data includes processing said related service enquiry data to arrive at comparable cost data.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a selection system and method to facilitate the provision of services on a computer network to prospective service users. In a preferred embodiment a computerised method of enabling a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service is described. The method includes processing a service enquiry for a particular service, and retrieving historical cost or invoicing data associated with said service in respect of a plurality of service providers in response to the enquiry. The historical cost data is processed to arrive at comparable cost data for enabling the selection of a service provider to perform the particular service. Cost or invoicing data relating to the provision of the particular service by the selected service provider is then captured, and the historical cost data is updated by incorporating the captured cost data. In this way, separate quoting or tendering is eliminated and job selection is effectively based on historical invoicing data.
57 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A computerised method of enabling a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service, said method including:
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(a) processing a service enquiry for a particular service;
(b) retrieving historical cost data associated with said service in respect of a plurality of service providers in response to said service enquiry;
(c) processing said historical cost data to arrive at comparable cost data in respect of said plurality of service providers for enabling the selection of a service provider to perform the particular service;
(d) capturing cost data relating to the provision of the particular service by the selected service provider; and
(e) updating the historical cost data by incorporating said captured cost data wherein the historical cost data includes corresponding historical service enquiry data, and wherein the step of processing said historical cost data includes processing said related service enquiry data to arrive at comparable cost data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21)
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15. (canceled)
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17. A computerised method of enabling a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service, said method including:
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(a) compiling historical cost and quality datasets including historical cost and quality data associated with the provision of at least one previous service by each service provider;
(b) receiving and processing a service enquiry from the buyer for a particular service;
(c) retrieving historical cost and quality data associated with said service in respect of a plurality of service providers in response to said enquiry; and
(d) processing said historical cost and quality data to arrive at comparable cost and quality data in respect of said service providers for enabling the selection of a service provider to perform the particular service. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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22. A computer system to enable a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service, said system including:
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an enquiry processing device configured to receive and process a service enquiry for a particular service from the buyer;
a database configured to store historical cost data associated with said service in respect of a plurality of service providers; and
a processor carrying instructions to retrieve and process said historical cost data from said database in response to said query to arrive at comparable cost data in respect of said service providers for enabling the buyer to select a service provider, on the basis of said comparable cost data, to perform the particular service. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 34, 35, 36)
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29. A computer system to enable a buyer to select a service provider for performing a service, said system including:
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a database configured to store a first dataset including a plurality of service providers, a plurality of associated services and a plurality of associated historical costs;
a processor in communication with said database, wherein said processor is configured to receive historical cost data associated with each service provider and to generate comparative cost data for each service provider according to a predetermined algorithm; and
a communication device configured to communicate said comparative cost data to said buyer to enable the buyer to select a service provider. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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37. (canceled)
Specification