ACTIONABLE BUSINESS PLAN CREATION AND EXECUTION

• US 20080288320A1
• Filed: 05/17/2007
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bernard C. Lee, Jay R. Ockers
• Original Assignee: Bernard C. Lee, Jay R. Ockers
• Inventors: Ockers, Jay R., Lee, Bernard C.
• Application Number:
  US11/750,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20080288320A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for creating and executing business plans. A business plan is created as an actionable business plan using an interactive knowledgebase. The actionable business plan is stored in an electronic format using a hierarchical parent/child storage structure, such as a structure that may be created in a database. The actionable business plan is presented to a user for reporting and maintenance through an interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI). The system and method may further support managing multiple business plans on a single system by placing each individual actionable business plan into a separate folder. The folders may be incorporated as an extension of the hierarchical parent/child structure of an actionable business plan. Each folder and the associated child business plan elements may have unique access permissions such that each individual user is presented with the business plan elements that are related to folders that the individual has permission to access. The system and method may also support tracking a business plan that spans multiple quarters with an ability to focus on plan elements that occur within a definable range of quarters and then view calculated weighted progress for the specified range of quarters. The system and method may generate an interactive report that shows all business plan elements that span the specified quarters. Two primary reports are a weighted average for all business plan actions that are due during the chosen quarters and a weighted average for all business plan actions due throughout the entire course of the business plan.

Claims

1. A method to create and execute an actionable business plan comprising:

creating a business plan storage structure on a computer readable storage medium, said computer readable storage system being part of a computer system;

gathering business plan information for said actionable business plan from a business plan construction user by having an interactive knowledgebase guide said business plan construction user through a series of questions where suitable questions are selected based on prior responses to previous questions;

separating said business plan information into separate business elements to create actionable business elements;

dynamically linking said actionable business elements to related actionable business elements;

storing said business plan information in said business plan storage structure employing a hierarchical parent/child storage structure such that an actionable business element that is a piece of a parent element is stored as a child element of said parent element;

presenting said actionable business plan to end users via a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

assigning said actionable business elements to individuals for execution of said actionable business elements by said assigned individuals; and

communicating progress towards completion of said actionable business elements on an ongoing basis.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of communicating progress towards completion of said actionable business elements comprises sending progress reports to said end users.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said separate business elements are comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

business objectives, business strategies, initiatives, programs, deliverables, and metrics and milestones.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said step of dynamically linking said actionable business elements to said related actionable business elements further comprises dynamically linking said business objectives and said business strategies to said initiatives, said programs, said deliverables, and said metrics and milestones that support said business objectives and said business strategies.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

managing execution of said actionable business plan based on said progress reports.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein said progress reports are communicated via at least one of the group comprising:

said GUI, e-mail, text messaging, facsimile, other electronic formats, and hard copy.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said GUI is made available via a web browser.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said web browser is available on said computer system and on other computers connected via a network connection.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each question in said series of questions has an acceptable response restricted to a predetermined list of possible answers.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising said business plan construction user adding a new possible answer to said predetermined list of possible answers.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said business plan storage structure is comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

a database storage system, a dedicated electronic file, and a plurality of related electronic files.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

assigning access permission rules to each actionable business element of said actionable business elements; and

restricting access to said actionable business elements based on a user permission level and said access permission rules such that individual users are granted access to a subset of said actionable business elements appropriate for each individual user of said individual users.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

repeating said steps of creating said business plan storage structure, gathering said business plan information, separating said business plan information into said separate business plan elements to create said actionable business elements, dynamically linking said actionable business elements to said related actionable business elements, storing said business plan information in said business plan storage file, presenting said actionable business plan to said end user via said GUI, assigning said actionable business elements to said individuals, and communicating progress towards completion of said actionable business elements on an ongoing basis via progress report a plurality times creating a plurality of actionable business plans;

creating a plurality of electronic folders such that there is an electronic folder for each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans on said computer readable storage medium;

storing said business plan storage structure of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans within said electronic folder of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

creating a global storage structure on said computer readable storage medium; and

storing said electronic folder containing said business plan storage structure of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans in said global storage structure.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said global storage structure is comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

a database storage system, a dedicated electronic file, and a plurality of related electronic files.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

assigning access permission rules to each electronic folder of said plurality of electronic folders; and

restricting access to each electronic folder of said plurality of electronic folders based on a user permission level and said access permission rules such that individual users are granted access to a subset of said plurality of electronic folders appropriate for each individual user of said individual users.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

assigning a weight value to each actionable business element of said actionable business elements;

selecting a range of calendar quarters to track;

filtering said actionable business elements into a selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements such that actionable business elements that have due dates that span said selected range of quarters are included in said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements; and

generating a selected quarters progress report that displays a weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said selected quarters progress report displays said weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements as weighted averages calculated with regard to actions due during said selected range of quarters for said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said selected quarters progress report displays said weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements as weighted averages calculated with regard to actions due during the entirety of said actionable business plan.

20. An actionable business plan creation and execution system comprising:

a computer system containing a computer readable storage medium that stores a business plan storage structure;

a business plan information gathering subsystem that gathers business plan information for said actionable business plan from a business plan construction user by having an interactive knowledgebase guide said business plan construction user through a series of questions where suitable questions are selected based on prior responses to previous questions;

an actionable business elements subsystem that separates said business plan information into separate business elements to create actionable business elements, dynamically links said actionable business elements to related actionable business elements, and stores said business plan information in said business plan storage structure employing a hierarchical parent/child storage structure such that an actionable business element that is a piece of a parent element is stored as a child element of said parent element; and

a user interaction subsystem that presents said actionable business plan to end users via a Graphical User Interface (GUT), permits end users to assign said actionable business elements to individuals for execution of said actionable business elements by said assigned individuals, and communicates progress towards completion of said actionable business elements on an ongoing basis.

21. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 wherein said user interaction subsystem communicates progress towards completion of said actionable business elements by sending progress reports to said end users.

22. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 wherein said separate business elements are comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

business objectives, business strategies, initiatives, programs, deliverables, and metrics and milestones.

23. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 22 wherein said actionable business elements subsystem dynamically links said actionable business elements to related actionable business elements by dynamically linking said business objectives and said business strategies to said initiatives, said programs, said deliverables, and said metrics and milestones that support said business objectives and said business strategies

24. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 wherein said business plan storage structure is comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

a database storage system, a dedicated electronic file, and a plurality of related electronic files.

25. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 further comprising:

a business element access permission subsystem that permits said end user to assign access permission rules to each actionable business element of said actionable business elements, and that restricts access to said actionable business elements based on a user permission level and said access permission rules such that individual users are granted access to a subset of said actionable business elements appropriate for each individual user of said individual users.

26. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 further comprising:

a multiple business plan handling subsystem that creates a plurality of electronic folders such that there is an electronic folder for each actionable business plan of a plurality of actionable business plans on said computer readable storage medium, and stores said business plan storage structure of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans within said electronic folder of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans.

27. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 26 wherein said multiple business plan handling subsystem further creates a global storage structure on said computer readable storage medium, and stores said electronic folder containing said business plan storage structure of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans in said global storage structure.

28. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 27 wherein said global storage structure is comprised of at least one of the group comprising:

a database storage system, a dedicated electronic file, and a plurality of related electronic files.

29. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 26 further comprising:

a folder access permission subsystem that assigns access permission rules to each electronic folder of said plurality of electronic folders, and restricts access to each electronic folder of said plurality of electronic folders based on a user permission level and said access permission rules such that individual users are granted access to a subset of said plurality of electronic folders appropriate for each individual user of said individual users.

30. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 20 further comprising:

a calendar quarter subsystem that permits said end user to assign a weight value to each actionable business element of said actionable business elements, further permits said end user to select a range of calendar quarters to track, filters said actionable business elements into a selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements such that actionable business elements that have due dates that span said selected range of quarters are included in said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements, and generates a selected quarters progress report that displays a weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements.

31. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 30 wherein said selected quarters progress report displays said weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements as weighted averages calculated with regard to actions due during said selected range of quarters for said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements.

32. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 30 wherein said selected quarters progress report displays said weighted progress of said selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements as weighted averages calculated with regard to actions due during the entirety of said actionable business plan.

33. An actionable business plan creation and execution system comprising:

means for creating a business plan storage structure on a computer readable storage medium, said computer readable storage system being part of a computer system;

means for gathering business plan information for said actionable business plan from a business plan construction user;

means for separating said business plan information into separate business elements to create actionable business elements;

means for dynamically linking said actionable business elements to related actionable business elements;

means for storing said business plan information in said business plan storage structure;

means for presenting said actionable business plan to end users;

means for assigning said actionable business elements to individuals for execution of said actionable business elements by said assigned individuals; and

means for communicating progress towards completion of said actionable business elements.

34. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 33 further comprising:

means for creating a plurality of electronic folders such that there is an electronic folder for each actionable business plan of a plurality of actionable business plans on said computer readable storage medium;

means for storing said business plan storage structure of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans within said electronic folder of each actionable business plan of said plurality of actionable business plans.

35. The actionable business plan creation and execution system of claim 33 further comprising:

means for assigning a weight value to each actionable business element of said actionable business elements;

means for selecting a range of calendar quarters to track;

means for filtering said actionable business elements into a selected range of calendar quarters subset of said actionable business elements; and

means for generating a selected quarters progress report.