Lubrication Program Management System and Methods

• US 20090106227A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Noria Corp.
• Original Assignee: Noria Corp.
• Inventors: Davis, Adam M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,840 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system for scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks. The system comprises one or more storage media and a processor. The one or more storage media store data indicative of a plurality of maintenance points, a plurality of task templates, and a plurality of maintenance task definitions as associations between maintenance points and task templates. At least one maintenance point has a plurality of maintenance point parameters and is associated with at least one task template having a plurality of task parameters, such that upon accessing at least one of the maintenance task definitions, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template. The processor selectively applies one or more queries to the stored data to generate an assignment including one or more selected maintenance tasks. The one or more queries have a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships defined between the filter criteria to selectively include maintenance task definitions matching the one or more queries and exclude maintenance task definitions not matching the one or more queries. The system further comprises at least one means for outputting the generated assignment.

Claims

1. A system for scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks, comprising:

one or more storage media storing data indicative of a plurality of maintenance points, a plurality of task templates, and a plurality of maintenance task definitions as associations between maintenance points and task templates, at least one maintenance point having a plurality of maintenance point parameters and associated with at least one task template having a plurality of task parameters, such that upon accessing at least one of the maintenance task definitions, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template;

a processor selectively applying one or more queries to the stored data to generate an assignment including one or more selected maintenance tasks, the one or more queries having a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships defined between the filter criteria to selectively include maintenance task definitions matching the one or more queries and exclude maintenance task definitions not matching the one or more queries;

at least one means for outputting the generated assignment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the task templates are globally-defined, such that changes to the one or more globally-defined task templates are reflected in all of the maintenance task definitions associated with the respective globally-defined task templates.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more means for permitting a user to selectively define one or more queries by selecting a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships between the filter criteria, the one or more queries corresponding to one or more parameters associated with one or more maintenance task definitions to be selectively included or excluded by the one or more queries; and

for permitting the user to selectively store the one or more queries to be selectively accessible.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein two or more of the maintenance points have a plurality of maintenance point parameters and are each associated with at least one task template having a plurality of task parameters, such that upon any of the two or more maintenance task definitions being accessed, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of maintenance point parameters are associated with the at least one maintenance point in a hierarchical fashion, and wherein the plurality of task parameters are associated with the at least one task template in an hierarchical fashion.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes a virtual hierarchy.

7. A system for scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks, comprising:

one or more storage media storing data indicative of a plurality of maintenance tasks to be performed on a plurality of maintenance points, at least a portion of the plurality of maintenance tasks having a task importance and at least one criticality;

a processor selectively applying one or more queries to the stored data to select a plurality of currently-due maintenance tasks matching the one or more queries, the processor further ordering the plurality of selected maintenance task definitions in accordance with a prioritization metric derived independently of whether or not the selected maintenance tasks are due;

at least one means for outputting an assignment including the selected maintenance task.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the prioritization metric is derived for each selected maintenance task from at least the respective task importance and at least one criticality.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual hierarchy.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual set.

11. A method for scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks, comprising:

accessing one or more storage media storing data indicative of a plurality of maintenance task definitions;

defining one or more queries including a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships between the filter criteria, the filter criteria and relationships corresponding to one or more maintenance task definitions to be selectively included or excluded by the one or more queries;

storing the one or more queries;

applying at least one of the one or more queries to the stored data to generate an assignment including the maintenance task definitions matching the at least one of the one or more queries; and

outputting the generated assignment.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more storage media further store data indicative of a plurality of maintenance points and a plurality of task templates, and wherein the data indicative of the plurality of maintenance tasks is stored as a plurality of associations between maintenance points and task templates, at least one maintenance point having a plurality of maintenance point parameters and associated with at least one task template having a plurality of task parameters, such that upon accessing at least one of the maintenance task definitions, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the task templates are globally-defined, such that changes to the one or more globally-defined task templates are reflected in all of the maintenance task definitions associated with the respective globally-defined task templates.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual hierarchy.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual set.

16. A system for scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks, comprising:

one or more storage media storing data indicative of a plurality of maintenance task definitions;

at least one means for permitting a user to selectively define one or more queries by selecting a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships between the filter criteria, the one or more queries corresponding to one or more maintenance task definitions to be selectively included or excluded by the one or more queries, and for permitting the user to selectively store the one or more queries;

a processor selectively applying at least one of the one or more queries to the stored data to generate an assignment including the maintenance task definitions matching the at least one of the one or more queries; and

at least one means for outputting the generated assignment.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more storage media further store data indicative of a plurality of maintenance points and a plurality of task templates, and wherein the data indicative of the plurality of maintenance tasks is stored as a plurality of associations between maintenance points and task templates, at least one maintenance point having a plurality of maintenance point parameters and associated with at least one task template having a plurality of task parameters, such that upon accessing at least one of the maintenance task definitions, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein one or more of the task templates are globally-defined, such that changes to the one or more globally-defined task templates are reflected in all of the maintenance task definitions associated with the respective globally-defined task templates.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual hierarchy.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the one or more queries includes at least one virtual set.

21. A business method for enabling a customer to practice a method of scheduling a plurality of selected maintenance tasks, the business method comprising:

associating a plurality of maintenance points with a plurality of task templates to generate a plurality of maintenance task definitions defined by the association of maintenance points and task templates, at least one maintenance task definition defined by the association of a maintenance point having a plurality of maintenance point parameters and a task template having a plurality of task parameters;

providing instructions to the customer for;

accessing data stored on or more storage media, the stored data indicative of the plurality of maintenance task definitions, the plurality of maintenance points, and the plurality of task templates, such that upon accessing at least one maintenance task definition, such maintenance task definition is dynamically generated from the plurality of maintenance point parameters of the at least one maintenance point and from the plurality of task parameters of the at least one task template;

applying a query to the stored data to generate an assignment including selected maintenance task definitions matching the query, the query having a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships defined between the filter criteria to selectively include maintenance task definitions matching the query and exclude maintenance task definitions not matching the query; and

outputting the generated assignment.

22. The business method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the task templates are globally-defined, such that changes to the one or more globally-defined task templates are reflected in all of the maintenance task definitions associated with the respective globally-defined task templates.

23. The business method of claim 21, wherein the instructions provided are further for:

selecting a plurality of filter criteria and a plurality of logical relationships between the filter criteria to define one or more queries corresponding to one or more parameters associated with one or more maintenance task definitions to be selectively included or excluded by the one or more queries; and

storing the one or more queries.

24. The business method of claim 21, wherein the instructions are provided in the form of software comprising the instructions stored one or more computer-readable media.

25. The business of method of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable media is selectively executed by a processor associated with a computer accessing the one or more computer-readable media.