Reengineering event-driven field processes with a self-managed team approach

• US 20080183513A1
• Filed: 01/09/2004
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Brian Keedwell
• Original Assignee: Brian Keedwell
• Inventors: Keedwell, Brian
• Application Number:
  US10/405,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20080183513A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The invention provides a globally scalable, business-to-business (B2B) Mobile Process Service (MPS) that creates value for users and furthermore, through a franchise arrangement, allows value to be captured especially by telecom service providers. The MPS is characterized by conducting mass-customized, event-driven processes with teams dynamically maintained by requisition of these resources from virtual competence centers using an information system that notifies team members of changes of state that require activity. The information required, derived from both the field and from back-office, to execute that activity is made available at local, single-user server, distributed-databases maintained by replication over packet-switched radio. This required information is identified from business process object collaboration models in which the parameters (rows/columns) are specified in the modelled messages between the business objects. Main and supporting process frameworks are specified.

Claims

1. Resolution of the Productivity Paradox of Information Technology by a mobile process service (abbreviated to MPS) that increases the effectiveness and efficiency of any (main or supporting) event-driven, business-to-business (abbreviated to B2B) mobile, processes and is realized by combining three components:

object-engineered processes (abbreviated to P),

competence-centric organizations (abbreviated to O), and

an information handling software that includes distributed relational databases maintained over radio (abbreviated to S);

furthermore this claim is made only when all three components (P, O and S) are invoked and offered as a MPS, rather than as individual components, since it is the synergy between multi-disciplines (P, O and S) that is claimed as innovative and not obvious.

2. Mass customization of the mobile process service of claim-1 by rapid application development (RAD) wherein the object-oriented model of the intended business process and organization shall semi-automatically create system models (including data models) and these system models shall be one input for semi-automatic creation of the system executable programs (optionally including replication rules and triggers) to be employed as a component of the ultimate mobile process service (MPS) the intention being that such automation makes mass customization (for each individual end-user company) of processes economically feasible.

3. An ‘

ABC’

refinement of the mobile process service of any preceding claim in which the main processes are enhanced by invoking three engineered supporting processes;

Assessing (abbreviated to A),

Building team (abbreviated to B), under the conditions that

a) participant competence centers are within a single organization, or if

b) several companies cooperate by allowing one or more companies to requisition resources from another'"'"'s virtual, or more formal, competence centers (for example when a company requisitions resources from an up- or down-stream channel member), or if

c) partner companies agree that resources in one company will conduct processes traditionally performed by the other (for example, if a service organization spots sales leads for the selling company), or if

d) partner companies (for example one being a vendor of capital equipment and the other a vendor of related supplies) share the activities and information related to the customer, or if

e) two or more vendor companies co-fund and collaboratively conduct the marketing/sales of a solution that utilizes the products/services from such participating vendors.

Coordinating contact occasions (abbreviated to C).

furthermore this claim is made only when all three components (A, B and C) are invoked since it is the synergy between these three processes that is claimed as innovative and not obvious.

4. An interface database that enables a refinement of the mobile process service (MPS) of any preceding claim, inserted as an information link between

the resource team-members as engaging in preceding claims, and

the so-called ‘

back-office’

(or other) information storage sites

the interface database being a replicated subset of the primary database, the latter maintained at the data center, wherein the interface database contains only those data elements flowing between the teams in the field and the back-office (or other) information storage sites, there being an option for the interface database to reside either at the data center of the mobile process service provider or at the premises of the mobile process user (MPU).

6. A selling process that is dependent on any preceding claim and has the following sequence of sub-processes:

understanding customer fulfillment (abbreviated to UCF), in which Need and Solution are explicitly represented as business objects and Fulfillment (satisfaction) represents the relationship, with associated ‘

states’

between Need and Solution reflecting the customer satisfaction level,

inspiring customer (abbreviated to IC), and

pursuing prospect (abbreviated to PP)

7. A mobile process service that globally deploys the SELLING process (which is a main, event-driven, B2B process) and is dependent on any preceding claim;

the claimed delivering process service supports sub-processes that include, but are not limited to;

understanding customer fulfillment (abbreviated to UCF),

inspiring customer (abbreviated to IC), and

pursuing prospect (abbreviated to PP)

8. A mobile process service that globally deploys the DELIVERING process (which is a main, event-driven, B2B process) and is dependent on any preceding claim;

the claimed delivering process service supports sub-processes that include, but are not limited to;

recognising (abbreviated to RE),

planning (abbreviated to PL),

committing and dispatching (abbreviated to CD),

delivering (abbreviated to DE),

documenting (abbreviated to DO),

financial transactions (FT).

9. The organization and mechanisms to grow a market for mobile process service as articulated in the preceding claims, then explicit capture of a fair share of the value created during execution of any of the preceding claims within the telecom industry, by establishing telecom infrastructure providers as Franchisers that will:

appoint expert resources by certification to design, construct and deploy the mobile process service for the business-to-business (B2B) mobile process users (MPUs);

appoint ‘

Inspiration Franchisees’

that will build the market for these mobile process services;

appoint ‘

System Service’

franchisees that will be responsible for constructing and continuously updating the system consisting of processes, organization and software;

appoint ‘

ICT Service’

franchisees that will be responsible for operating the system that distributes the data by radio and/or wire-line communication as a mobile process service (MPS),

all this being explicitly such that the Franchiser may, at its discretion, appoint companies (such as network operators) as ICT Service franchisees that are customers, or potential customers, for products and services (such as base-stations) offered by the Franchiser and thus capture value indirectly.

10. A service specific basis for billing the user for mobile process service support to each instance of the process articulated in any of the preceding claims which may include, but are not limited to, a specific charge for supporting each selling instance, or each delivering instance, or each assessing instance, or each building team instance, or each coordinating contact occasion instance. This is in contrast to billing for products (like computer hardware), consulting services (utilized to design the system), horizontal applications (such as E-mail) and low-level service (such as time on the network or packets of data transported).

11. An inter-franchisee pricing mechanism, dependent on any of the preceding claims, mandated by the Franchiser such that all members of the channel, including certified expert resources, Inspiration Franchisees, System Service Franchisees and ICT Franchisees will be remunerated partly at the time when services are delivered to the next downstream level in the channel (for example when the system simulator is delivered to ICT provider) and partly at the time when the mobile process service is delivered to the mobile process user.

5. Worldwide deployment of the mobile process service of preceding claims, economically scalable, and achieved by information communication technology (ICT) wherein the data flow is orchestrated by data service (DS) from a single data center, and delivery executed by network service (NS) through, usually national, carriers to the teams in the local, usually national, field sites.