Value diagnostic tool

• US 20070239466A1
• Filed: 09/11/2003
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Stevens, Mark, Janes, Cameron, Paulson, Michael, Salinas, Marc, McCullagh, Peter, Cheung, Anastasia, Leonard, Edmund
• Granted Patent: US 7,684,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

User-specified information pertaining to business challenges of an organization is received, and one or more predefined business processes that address the business challenges of the organization are identified. Further, the one or more predefined business processes are recommended to a user. In one embodiment, the user is provided with recommendations on best practices addressing the business challenges of the organization.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization;

identifying one or more predefined business processes that address the one or more business challenges of the organization; and

recommending the one or more predefined business processes to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization comprises:

communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies;

receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list; and

considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization further comprises:

receiving user-specified information indicating importance of business challenges within the list to the organization; and

considering the importance of the business challenges when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the list of commonly experienced business challenges is specific to a one of a plurality of functions that is selected by the user for evaluation.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

maintaining a database of commonly experiences business challenges associated with the plurality of functions.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

maintaining a database of commonly experiences business challenges associated with specific industries.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising requesting the user to enter industry and revenue data associated with the organization.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising assessing an adoption level of an automated technology by the organization based on the one or more business challenges and the industry and revenue data.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the automated technology is at least one of customer relationship management (CRM), partner relationship management (PRM), and employee relationship management (ERM).

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

estimating benefits that are to be gained by the organization when the one or more business challenges are successfully addressed; and

communicating the estimated benefits to the user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the benefits are estimated using statistical data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein recommending the one or more predefined business processes to a user comprises:

displaying to the user each of the one or more business challenges with at least one of the one or more predefined business processes that addresses said each of the one or more business challenges.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

allowing the user to view detailed business process information for the at least one of the one or more predefined business processes.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a software product required to implement each of the one or more predefined business processes.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

mapping each of the one or more predefined business processes to a corresponding best practice strategy recommendation and a corresponding best practice functionality recommendation; and

allowing the user to view the corresponding best practice strategy recommendation and the corresponding best practice functionality recommendation.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

allowing the user to view performance metrics associated with the one or more predefined business processes; and

allowing the user to view a success story of a customer who has implemented at least one of the one or more predefined business processes.

17. A method comprising:

receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization;

identifying one or more best practices that address the one or more business challenges of the organization; and

recommending the one or more best practices to a user.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization comprises:

communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies;

receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list; and

considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization further comprises:

receiving user-specified information indicating importance of business challenges within the list to the organization; and

considering the importance of the business challenges when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the list of commonly experienced business challenges is specific to a one of a plurality of functions that is selected by the user for evaluation.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein recommending the one or more best practices to a user comprises:

displaying to the user each of the one or more business challenges with at least one of the one or more best practices that addresses said each of the one or more business challenges.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

allowing the user to view detailed best practice information for the at least one of the one or more best practices.

23. A machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization;

identifying one or more predefined business processes that address the one or more business challenges of the organization; and

recommending the one or more predefined business processes to a user.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 23 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization comprises:

communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies;

receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list; and

considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 23 wherein receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization comprises:

communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies;

receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list; and

considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

26. A machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

receiving user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization;

identifying one or more best practices that address the one or more business challenges of the organization; and

recommending the one or more best practices to a user.

27. The machine readable medium of claim 26 wherein recommending the one or more best practices to a user comprises:

displaying to the user each of the one or more business challenges with at least one of the one or more best practices that addresses said each of the one or more business challenges.

28. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least on processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a set of instructions which cause the processor to receive user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization,

identify one or more predefined business processes that address the one or more business challenges of the organization, and

recommend the one or more predefined business processes to a user.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the processor is to receive user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization by communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies, receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list, and considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the processor is to receive user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization by receiving user-specified information indicating importance of business challenges within the list to the organization, and considering the importance of the business challenges when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

31. The system of claim 28 wherein the processor is to further to assess an adoption level of an automated technology by the organization based on the one or more business challenges and industry and revenue data provided by the user.

32. The system of claim 28 wherein the processor is further to estimate benefits that are to be gained by the organization when the one or more business challenges are successfully addressed, and to communicate the estimated benefits to the user.

33. The system of claim 28 wherein the processor is to recommend the one or more predefined business processes to a user by displaying to the user each of the one or more business challenges with at least one of the one or more predefined business processes that addresses said each of the one or more business challenges.

34. The system of claim 28 wherein the processor is further to map each of the one or more predefined business processes to a corresponding best practice strategy recommendation and a corresponding best practice functionality recommendation, and to allow the user to view the corresponding best practice strategy recommendation and the corresponding best practice functionality recommendation.

35. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least on processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a set of instructions which cause the processor to

receive user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization,

identify one or more best practices that address the one or more business challenges of the organization, and

recommend the one or more best practices to a user.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the processor is to receive user-specified information pertaining to one or more business challenges of an organization by communicating to the user a list of business challenges commonly experienced by a plurality of companies, receiving a user-specified ranking of an organization performance with respect to each business challenge in the list, and considering the user-specified ranking when identifying the one or more predefined business processes.

37. The system of claim 35 wherein the processor is to recommend the one or more best practices to a user by displaying to the user each of the one or more business challenges with at least one of the one or more best practices that addresses said each of the one or more business challenges.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the processor is further to allow the user to view detailed best practice information for the at least one of the one or more best practices.