Systems and Methods for Facility Optimization

• US 20110288895A1
• Filed: 05/18/2010
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Young, Mark A., Bell, Hunter C. JR., McGrath, Robert James, PEREZ, JORGE JR., Schach, Thomas Michael, Kerster, Robert Graham
• Granted Patent: US 9,818,072 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• 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 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management

Abstract

Systems and methods create a digital geospatial display of facilities to aid facility management. In one implementation, a system retrieves data for a plurality of facilities from various databases, including, but not limited to, map data for creating maps, location data for the facilities, and resource data for the facilities. The system marks the locations of the facilities on a map display using a facility icon. The facility icon comprises one or more resource status areas, each of which convey information about the state of a resource at a facility. The system calculates the resource status areas of the facility icons based at least on the resource data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating a digital geospatial display of facilities, the method comprising:

receiving, from an electronic storage medium, data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising map data, location data, and resource data;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of facilities; and

creating information used to display a map showing a location of at least one selected facility, wherein the location is marked using a facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on the resource data for the at least one selected facility.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating information used to display a resource status range having a range delimiter;

recalculating, in response to receiving a change to the range delimiter, the resource status of the facility icon; and

updating the information used to display the map with the recalculated facility icon.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the range delimiter comprises a lower limit and an upper limit.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request for additional data about the at least one selected facility.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating information used to display a facility detail display area for the at least one selected facility, the facility detail display area comprising;

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility icon further comprises a shape representing a facility type.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a three-dimensional image of the at least one selected facility at street level.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a maintenance issue; and

creating a work order, the work order comprising;

a description of the maintenance issue; and

an identifier of one of the plurality of facilities associated with the maintenance issue.

14. A system for creating a digital geospatial display of facilities, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, storing instructions to direct the processor to perform operations;

an electronic storage medium storing data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising map data, location data, and resource data; and

a display device showing a map including a location of at least one of the plurality of facilities, wherein the location is marked using a facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on the resource data for the at least one of the plurality of facilities.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

the display device shows a resource status range having a range delimiter;

and

the processor;

recalculates, in response to receiving a change to the range delimiter, the resource status of the facility icon; and

updates the map with the recalculated facility icon.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the range delimiter comprises a lower limit and an upper limit.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the display device shows a facility detail display area for the first facility, the facility detail display area comprising:

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor creates a work order after receiving a selection of a maintenance issue, the work order comprising:

a description of the maintenance issue; and

an identifier of one of the plurality of facilities associated with the maintenance issue.

24. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for creating a digital geospatial display of facilities, including one or more computer readable instructions and configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform operations, comprising:

receiving data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising map data, location data, and resource data;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of facilities; and

creating information used to display a map showing a location of at least one selected facility, wherein the location is marked using a facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on the resource data for the at least one selected facility.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, the operations further comprising:

creating information used to display a resource status range having a range delimiter;

recalculating, in response to receiving a change to the range delimiter, the resource status of the facility icon; and

updating the information used to display the map with the recalculated facility icon.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the range delimiter comprises a lower limit and an upper limit.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, the operations further comprising:

receiving a request for additional data about the at least one selected facility.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, the operations further comprising:

creating information used to display a facility detail display area for the at least one selected facility comprising;

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

30. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

31. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

32. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the facility icon further comprises a shape representing a facility type.

33. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, the operations further comprising displaying a three-dimensional image of the at least one selected facility at street level.

35. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

36. A computer-implemented method for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, comprising:

retrieving, from an electronic storage medium, identifiers of the plurality of facilities;

creating information used to display a map showing a location of a first facility of the plurality of facilities as a facility icon, the facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on a resource category; and

receiving a reassignment of a re-locatable resource from the first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

recalculating the resource status of the facility icon based on the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

creating an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising;

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising assigning an expiration date to the facility node study.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the output is a report.

41. The method of claim 36, further comprising creating information to display an identifier for the re-locatable resource, wherein the identifier is capable of being moved through a drag-and-drop operation.

42. The method of claim 36, further comprising determining whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.

44. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, including one or more computer readable instructions and configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:

retrieving identifiers of the plurality of facilities;

creating information used to display a map showing a location of a first facility of the plurality of facilities as a facility icon, the facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on a resource category; and

receiving a reassignment of a re-locatable resource from the first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities.

45. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 44, the operations further comprising recalculating the resource status of the facility icon based on the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

46. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 44, the operations further comprising:

creating an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising;

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

47. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 46, the operations further comprising assigning an expiration date to the facility node study.

48. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the output is a report.

49. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 44, the operations further comprising creating information used to display an identifier for the re-locatable resource, wherein the identifier is capable of being moved through a drag-and-drop operation.

50. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 44, the operations further comprising determining whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint.

51. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 50, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.

52. A system for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions to direct the processor to perform operations;

a display device coupled to the processor, the display having a map showing a location of a first facility of the plurality of facilities as a facility icon, the facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on a resource category; and

wherein the processor reassigns a re-locatable resource from the first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the processor recalculates the resource status of the facility icon based on a reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the processor creates an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising:

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the processor assigns an expiration date to the facility node study.

56. The system of claim 54, wherein the output is a report.

57. The system of claim 52, wherein the processor determines whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.