SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN COMPLIANCE
First Claim
1. A Country of Origin portal for user-specific and product/service-specific Country of Origin functionality, comprising:
- a database for storage of a plurality of product/service Country of Origin data and a plurality of product/service Country of Origin executable functional data manipulation modules, and a plurality of portal user personality data and a plurality of portal user personality executable functional definition modules,wherein, each of said plurality of Country of Origin data has a corresponding status; and
at least one computer operatively connected to the database for access thereto and instantiation of at least one user personality by executing at least one of said plurality of personality functional definition modules using at least one of said user personality data, wherein, said instantiated personality is persistently stored in said database for use by a corresponding class of users to access said plurality of product/service Country of Origin executable functional modules to define, store, manipulate and retrieve at least one of said plurality of product/service Country of Origin data as normally accomplished by the corresponding class of users,wherein, each said product/service comprises a tree structure of at least one component product, each said at least one component product/service being capable of further definition as comprising at least one component product/service thereof in said database until each said at least one component product/service only comprises at least one product/service produced by a single Country of Origin.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-faceted portal and method is provided for the pursuit, capture, maintenance and provisioning of Country of Origin data that confirms a government-contractor'"'"'s compliance with at least one of the Buy Americas Act, the Trade Agreement Acts, and other trade acts as will be determined in the future. The current invention flexibly provides these capabilities and includes at least one of a hosted service and enterprise software licensing agreement that allows at least one of a manufacturer, importer, supplier, distributor or other government contractor, or auditor to manage the Country of Origin information included about products/services it supplies, by providing a self-authoring portal. The portal also trains users and certifies their training.
36 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A Country of Origin portal for user-specific and product/service-specific Country of Origin functionality, comprising:
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a database for storage of a plurality of product/service Country of Origin data and a plurality of product/service Country of Origin executable functional data manipulation modules, and a plurality of portal user personality data and a plurality of portal user personality executable functional definition modules, wherein, each of said plurality of Country of Origin data has a corresponding status; and at least one computer operatively connected to the database for access thereto and instantiation of at least one user personality by executing at least one of said plurality of personality functional definition modules using at least one of said user personality data, wherein, said instantiated personality is persistently stored in said database for use by a corresponding class of users to access said plurality of product/service Country of Origin executable functional modules to define, store, manipulate and retrieve at least one of said plurality of product/service Country of Origin data as normally accomplished by the corresponding class of users, wherein, each said product/service comprises a tree structure of at least one component product, each said at least one component product/service being capable of further definition as comprising at least one component product/service thereof in said database until each said at least one component product/service only comprises at least one product/service produced by a single Country of Origin. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
the at least one computer-aided-instruction module is updatable, as needed, to comply with changes to Country of Origin requirements and procedures.
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17. The portal of claim 1, further comprising at least one Country of Origin functional data manipulation module that certifies Country of Origin data a product/service stored in the database for a certification duration according to pre-determined requirements and procedures for products/services of at least one designated user and that recertifies said Country of Origin data of said products/services whenever said certification duration expires.
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18. The portal of claim 1, further comprising at least one Country of Origin functional data manipulation module for each of cleanse, rationalize and normalize product/service and service data prior to storage thereof in the database.
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19. The portal of claim 18, wherein cleanse further includes definition of characters to be removed from entered data and capture of said defined characters for re-use in a subsequent cleanse of entered data.
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20. The portal of claim 18, wherein rationalize further includes executable functional data manipulation modules for:
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conversion of hard copy data to an electronic format, movement of data from improper fields to improve data organization, correction of misspelling to improve data consistency, modification of data to meet standards, removal of duplicate data, and addition of tags to data to facilitate its proper classification, wherein application of each said module results in rationalized data that is more structured and consistent, such that processing said rationalized data is quicker, easier and more efficient.
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21. The portal of claim 18, wherein normalize further includes representing a same information in a consistent manner across all stored data.
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22. The portal of claim 1, further comprising:
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a product/service Country of Origin executable functional data manipulation module to define label information for a product/service that includes Country of Origin code, and print the label information using text and barcodes to be affixed to the product/service; and a product/service Country of Origin executable functional data manipulation module that outputs the label information as an RFID tag to be affixed to the product/service.
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23. The portal of claim 1, further comprising product/service Country of Origin executable functional data manipulation modules that enable users to specify selection criteria and generate report output from all data stored in the database, said report output selected from the group consisting of:
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product/service breakdown reports including information about product/service components, including a listing of Country of Origin data associated with each component, any documentation supporting the data elements, and a graphic image of the parts, sub-assemblies, and processes that comprise the product/service, user information wherein user is selected from the group consisting of manufacturer, importer, supplier, distributor, and government contractor and includes user profile data, user certification data, and user associated products/services, workflow process control data that identifies at least one workflow process, users and tasks involved in each said identified workflow process, and a status of each identified workflow process, inventory data to allow a user to manage an inventory, Country of Origin related rules and regulations, and change management information to track when, where, by whom, and approved by whom whenever stored data are changed.
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24. The portal of claim 1, further comprising executable data manipulation modules that allow an auditor to review and report on any stored data that supports a basis for a Country of Origin certification of a product/service;
- and view a user profile of any user that performed the certification of the product/service.
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25. A method for a Country of Origin certification portal, comprising the steps of:
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providing a database for storage of a plurality of product/service data that includes Country of Origin data; selecting by a user a personality from the group consisting of manufacturer, importer, supplier, distributor, government contractor and contract auditor to perform at least one of function selected from the group consisting of capture, approve, quality control, store, maintain, export, syndicate the product/service Country of Origin data stored in the database. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A system for Country of Origin compliance, comprising:
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data quality control modules to control data quality; data approval processes to approve quality controlled data for storage in a product/service database; product/service Country of Origin determination and certification modules for Country of Origin data management, said Country of Origin determination an certification module to determine, certify and store in the database the country of origin of each component of a quality controlled and approved product/service stored in said database; network communication elements for remote user access to the data quality control modules, data approval processes and data stored in the product/service database; computer-aided training and certification modules that employ the data quality control and data approval processes to train local users and the network communication elements to train remote users; syndication modules that syndicate data stored in the product/service database using said network communication elements; and report generation modules that report data stored in the product/service database. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification