Method and system for research and development management in an enterprise

• US 20100063859A1
• Filed: 09/09/2008
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inspird, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Inspird, Inc.
• Inventors: Mehta, Sandeep
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,702 B2
• 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 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

Abstract

A method and system for capturing research decision flow in a Research and Development (R&D) activity are provided. The method includes defining an objective of the R&D activity and determining one or more requirements for fulfilling the objective of the R&D activity. Further, the method includes identifying a set of risks associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements. Furthermore, the method also includes developing a task plan to satisfy the one or more requirements and mitigate one or more risks of the set of risks. Furthermore, the method also includes linking the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks and the task plan, to generate a linked information record.

Claims

1. A method for capturing research decision flow in a Research and Development (R&

D) activity, the method comprising;

defining an objective of the R&

D activity;

determining one or more requirements for fulfilling the objective of the R&

D activity;

identifying a set of risks associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements;

developing a task plan to perform at least one of;

satisfying the one or more requirements; and

mitigating one or more risks of the set of risks; and

linking the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks and the task plan, to generate a linked information record.

2. A method for managing Research and Development (R&

D) activities in an enterprise, the enterprise comprising one or more divisions, the one or more divisions comprising one or more members, the method comprising;

capturing research decision flow in the R&

D activities, wherein capturing comprises;

inputting an objective of each R&

D activity of the R&

D activities;

inputting one or more requirements, wherein the one or more requirements are determined for fulfilling the objective of each R&

D activity;

inputting a set of risks, wherein the set of risks are identified to be associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements; and

inputting a task plan, wherein the task plan is developed to perform at least one of;

satisfying the one or more requirements; and

mitigating one or more risks of the set of risks;

capturing a set of task information associated with one or more tasks performed by the one or more members, wherein the one or more tasks are related to the R&

D activities;

linking the inputted objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks, the task plan and the set of task information related to each R&

D activity to generate a linked information database in a linked information module for the R&

D activities; and

providing access to the linked information module to the one or more members.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising classifying data in the linked information database into one or more categories, wherein the one or more categories are selected from the group consisting of a product category, a technology category, and a skill-set category.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising distributing an investment between the R&

D activities based on data related to each R&

D activity in the linked information database in the linked information module.

5. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising collating data associated with a member of the one or more members from the linked information module, wherein the collated data is used for performance review of the member.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 further comprising providing the collated data to a set of members of the one or more members, wherein the set of members comprises each member under whom the member being evaluated has worked, further wherein the set of members comprises members from at least one division of the one or more divisions.

7. The method as recited in claim 5 further comprising identifying a member with a predetermined skill based on the performance review of the member.

8. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising collating data associated with an R&

D activity of the R&

D activities from the linked information module, wherein the collated data is used for conducting a review of the R&

D activity.

9. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising implementing an access control policy based on a role of a member in the enterprise to authorize the member to perform at least one step selected from the group consisting of inputting the objective, determining the one or more requirements, identifying the set of risks, defining the task plan, performing the one or more tasks;

and selectively accessing the linked information module based on the role of the member.

10. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising generating intellectual property data associated with the R&

D activities based on the set of task information regarding the one or more tasks, wherein the intellectual property data is used for at least one of;

generating a set of intellectual property assets associated with the R&

D activities; and

classifying the set of intellectual property assets based on a set of predefined criteria.

11. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the linked information module comprises data from the one or more divisions.

12. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising modifying at least one of the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks, and the task plan based on the linked information database in the linked information module.

13. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising capturing a set of communication data associated with the one or more tasks performed by the one or more members.

14. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the linked information module further comprises an investment data, a skill-set data, an intellectual property data, and a set of communication data.

15. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the linked information module comprises a plurality of predefined data fields to store data.

16. A system for managing Research and Development (R&

D) activities in an enterprise, the enterprise comprising one or more divisions, the one or more divisions comprising one or more members, the system comprising;

a knowledge capture module configured to;

capture research decision flow in the R&

D activities by;

receiving an objective of each R&

D activity of the R&

D activities, wherein the objective is input by the one or more members;

receiving one or more requirements for fulfilling the objective of each R&

D activity, wherein the one or more requirements are determined by the one or more members;

receiving a set of risks associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements, wherein the set of risks is identified by the one or more members; and

receiving a task plan, wherein the task plan is developed to perform at least one of;

satisfying the one or more requirements; and

mitigating one or more risks of the set of risks, wherein the task plan is defined by the one or more members; and

capture a set of task information associated with one or more tasks performed by the one or more members, wherein the one or more tasks are related to the R&

D activities;

a linked information module configured to link the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks, the task plan and the set of task information related to each R&

D activity; and

an access module for providing access to the linked information module to the one or more members.

17. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising an investment management module configured to distribute an investment between the R&

D activities based on data related to each R&

D activity in the linked information database in the linked information module.

18. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising a skill-set management module configured to:

collate data associated with a member of the one or more members from the linked information module, wherein the collated data is used for performance review of the member; and

identify a member with a predetermined skill based on the performance review of the member.

19. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising an activity management module configured to process data from the linked information module related to an activity of the R&

D activities to generate an activity review data based on at least one predefined parameter associated with the activity.

20. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the linked information database in the linked information module is modified based on the activity review data.

21. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising a communication channel configured to enable the one or more members to communicate regarding the one or more tasks associated with the R&

D activities.

22. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising an intellectual property management module configured to generate an intellectual property data associated with the R&

D activities based on the set of task information regarding the one or more tasks, wherein the intellectual property data is used for at least one of;

generating a set of intellectual property assets associated with the R&

D activities; and

classifying the set of intellectual property assets based on a set of predefined criteria.

23. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprising one or more linking modules configured to process data from a plurality of R&

D tools used to perform the one or more tasks, wherein the processed data is stored in the linked information database in the linked information module.

24. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer program product performing:

defining an objective of the R&

D activity;

determining one or more requirements for fulfilling the objective of the R&

D activity;

identifying a set of risks associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements;

developing a task plan to perform at least one of;

satisfying the one or more requirements; and

mitigating one or more risks of the set of risks; and

linking the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks and the task plan, to generate a linked information record.

25. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer program product performing:

capturing research decision flow in the R&

D activities, wherein capturing comprises;

inputting an objective of each R&

D activity of the R&

D activities;

inputting one or more requirements, wherein the one or more requirements are determined for fulfilling the objective of each R&

D activity;

inputting a set of risks, wherein the set of risks are identified to be associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements; and

inputting a task plan, wherein the task plan is developed to perform at least one of;

satisfying the one or more requirements; and

mitigating one or more risks of the set of risks;

capturing a set of task information associated with one or more tasks performed by the one or more members, wherein the one or more tasks are related to the R&

D activities;

linking the inputted objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks, the task plan and the set of task information related to each R&

D activity to generate a linked information database in a linked information module for the R&

D activities; and

providing access to the linked information module to the one or more members.