Method, system, and program product for conditional rule-based billing with real-time error checking and for on-demand segmented labor recovery and reporting

• US 20070073602A1
• Filed: 09/20/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Murray, Douglas, Martin, James, Hicks, Scott, Kurtz, Rachele, Locke, Victoria, Thomas, Jerry, Stelljes, Linda
• Application Number:
  US11/230,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20070073602A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for conditional rule-based billing with real-time error checking and for on-demand segmented labor recovery and reporting. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: providing a record in a database for a device to be serviced; providing a record in the database for a customer associated with the device to be serviced; updating the record of the device in response to a servicing of the device, wherein the record for the serviced device is updated to reflect: materials and labor required for the servicing of the device; an indication of a completion of the servicing; and a completion date of the servicing; determining if all of a predetermined set of conditions required for proper billing have been met, upon completion of the servicing of the device; and billing for the servicing of the device only if all of the predetermined set of conditions have been met.

Claims

1. A method for conditional rule-based billing for a servicing project, comprising:

providing a record in a database for a device to be serviced;

providing a record in the database for a customer associated with the device to be serviced;

updating the record of the device in response to a servicing of the device, wherein the record for the serviced device is updated to reflect;

materials and labor required for the servicing of the device;

an indication of a completion of the servicing; and

a completion date of the servicing;

determining if all of a predetermined set of conditions required for proper billing have been met, upon completion of the servicing of the device; and

billing for the servicing of the device only if all of the predetermined set of conditions have been met.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the servicing project comprises a migration of the device from a first type of network to a second type of network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined set of conditions comprises:

verifying a name of the customer;

obtaining organizational information for the customer;

recording which materials were required during the servicing of the device;

recording who supplied the materials required during the servicing of the device;

recording how much labor was required for various tasks performed during the servicing;

recording a date of the servicing of the device; and

recording completion of the servicing of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing step further comprises:

billing at one or more specified levels of billing.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

differentiating between different categories of labor; and

reporting and billing the labor based upon the categorization.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the categories of labor comprise inventory, install, and other.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the labor is billed using at least one of:

actual expended time; and

a planned time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an interface for providing data associated with the servicing of the device.

9. Deploying an application for conditional rule-based billing, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to perform the method of claim 1.

10. Computer software embodied in a propagated signal for conditional rule-based billing, the computer software comprising instructions to cause a computer system to perform the method of claim 1.

11. A system for conditional rule-based billing for a servicing project, comprising:

a system for providing a record in a database for a device to be serviced;

a system for providing a record in the database for a customer associated with the device to be serviced;

a system for updating the record of the device in response to a servicing of the device, wherein the record for the serviced device is updated to reflect;

materials and labor required for the servicing of the device;

an indication of a completion of the servicing; and

a completion date of the servicing;

a system for determining if all of a predetermined set of conditions required for proper billing have been met, upon completion of the servicing of the device; and

a system for billing for the servicing of the device only if all of the predetermined set of conditions have been met.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the servicing project comprises a migration of the device from a first type of network to a second type of network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the system for determining if all of the predetermined set of conditions required for proper billing have been met is configured to:

verify a name of the customer;

obtain organizational information for the customer;

record which materials were required during the servicing of the device;

record who supplied the materials required during the servicing of the device;

record how much labor was required for various tasks performed during the servicing;

record a date of the servicing of the device; and

record completion of the servicing of the device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the system for billing further comprises:

a system for billing at one or more specified levels of billing.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a system for differentiating between different categories of labor; and

a system for reporting and billing the labor based upon the categorization.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the categories of labor comprise inventory, install, and other.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the labor is billed using at least one of:

actual expended time; and

a planned time.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a system for providing an interface for providing data associated with the servicing of the device.

19. A program product stored on a computer readable medium for conditional rule-based billing for a servicing project, the computer readable medium comprising program code for performing the following steps:

providing a record in a database for a device to be serviced;

providing a record in the database for a customer associated with the device to be serviced;

updating the record of the device in response to a servicing of the device, wherein the record for the serviced device is updated to reflect;

materials and labor required for the servicing of the device;

an indication of a completion of the servicing; and

a completion date of the servicing;

determining if all of a predetermined set of conditions required for proper billing have been met, upon completion of the servicing of the device; and

billing for the servicing of the device only if all of the predetermined set of conditions have been met.