Business goal incentives using gaming rewards

• US 20100169144A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synnex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Synnex Corporation
• Inventors: Estill, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,567 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• 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 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Gaming rewards are provided as an incentive for performing business goals. A business goal can be comprised of one or more tasks and a threshold for each task. When one or more participants perform tasks which satisfies the corresponding thresholds, a corresponding gaming reward is awarded to the participants. A business goal may require a single participant to satisfy a single task threshold, multiple participants to satisfy a threshold for one or more tasks, or a single participant to satisfy one or more thresholds for several tasks.

Claims

1. A method for providing business goal incentives using gaming rewards, the method comprising:

receiving at a server task data from a reporting device, the task data associated with participant progress toward a business goal, a definition of the business goal being stored in a memory at the server;

determining that the task data meets a threshold associated with the business goal, the determination taking place at the server;

assigning a gaming reward to the participant, the gaming reward being associated with the threshold met by the task data, the assignment taking place at the server; and

generating a report concerning the gaming reward assigned to the participant.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing information in a memory concerning the assigned gaming reward in association with information concerning the participant.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a query from the server to the reporting device, the query requesting information concerning the business task performed by the participant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the task data is further based on automatic detection of performance of the business task by the participant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the task data is further based on user input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the report includes generating a display of the gaming reward on a content page.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining the business goal as at least one task and a threshold associated with the task.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing in a memory the business goal in association with the task and the threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the task data concerns performance of a plurality of tasks by a plurality of participants and a portion of the task data is compared to a second threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a metric based on the task data and wherein determining that the task data meets the threshold comprises comparing the metric to the threshold.

11. A method for providing gaming rewards as business incentives, the method comprising:

defining a business goal as a task and a threshold associated with the task based on user input, the defined business goal being stored in a memory;

setting the threshold for the business goal, the threshold being set by a server;

storing in memory an association between a gaming reward and the business goal;

receiving task data by the server, the task data concerning a first participant performing the task; and

storing in memory the gaming reward in association with information concerning the first participant when the task data satisfies the threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the business goal further comprises a second task and a second threshold associated with the second task.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the business goal when the gaming reward is associated with the first participant information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating the gaming reward associated with the updated business goal.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the task data further concerns a second participant performing the task and wherein storing the gaming reward includes storing the gaming reward for the second participant when the task data concerning the performance of the task by the second participant satisfies the threshold.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for providing business goal incentives using gaming rewards, the method comprising:

receiving at a server task data from a reporting device, the task data associated with a participant performing a business task;

determining that the task data meets a threshold associated with the business task, the determination taking place at the server;

assigning a gaming reward to the participant, the gaming reward being associated with the business task and further associated with the threshold, the assignment taking place the server; and

generating a report concerning the gaming reward assigned to the participant.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the processor being further executable to generate a query directed to the reporting device, the query requesting information concerning performance of the business task.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the processor being further executable to generate the report as a display of the gaming reward on a content page.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the processor being further executable to define the business goal as at least one task and a threshold associated with the at least one task.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the processor being further executable to generate a metric based on the task data and to determine that the task data meets the threshold by comparing the metric to the threshold.