System for Managing Risk in Employee Travel

• US 20130165153A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WorldAware, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aon Global Risk Research Limited (Aon Plc (Spain))
• Inventors: Turk, Douglas R., Faircloth, Abi, Holt, Christopher, Priestley, Justin, Nunn, Ian
• Granted Patent: US 9,313,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system for managing risk in employee travel may notify affected users of the travel risk management system of the occurrence of a risk management event during travel. The travel risk management system may store geographic location information for a plurality of users of the travel risk management system, determine the occurrence of a risk management event, determine a geographic location of the risk management event and compare the geographic location of the risk management event to the stored geographic location information for the users. The system may execute a risk management event response in response to determining that a geographic location of at least one of the users is at the geographic location of the risk management event. The response may include transmitting a risk management event notification message to a portable computing device for each user located in the affected area.

Claims

1. A method for notifying affected users of a travel risk management system of the occurrence of a risk management event during travel, the method comprising:

storing geographic location information for a plurality of users of the travel risk management system;

determining the occurrence of a risk management event;

determining a geographic location of the risk management event;

comparing the geographic location of the risk management event to the stored geographic location information for the users; and

executing a risk management event response in response to determining that a geographic location of at least one of the users is at the geographic location of the risk management event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the occurrence of the risk management event comprises receiving input information for the risk management event from a user at a computing device of the travel risk management system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the occurrence of the risk management event comprises receiving risk management event information from an emergency response system external to the travel risk management system at a business application server of the travel risk management system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event comprises determining that the geographic location of the user is within the boundaries of the same country as the geographic location of the risk management event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event comprises determining that the geographic location of the user is within a predetermined distance from the geographic location of the risk management event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event comprises:

storing travel itinerary information for the user of the travel risk management system in the user location database of the system, wherein the travel itinerary information includes user identification information, travel date information for the time period in which the user is traveling, and geographic location information for at least one destination of the user during the travel time period;

determining an anticipated duration of the risk management event; and

determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event where a current geographic location of the user is not at the geographic location of the risk management event and a future geographic location of the user within a time period from a current date to the anticipated duration of the risk management event is at the geographic location of the risk management event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein executing a risk management response comprises transmitting a risk management event notification message from a business application server of the travel risk management system to a portable computing device of the user located at the geographic location of the risk management event.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein executing a risk management response comprises receiving a risk management event notification response message from the portable computing device of the user at the business application server, wherein the risk management event notification response message contains user identification information for the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein executing a risk management response comprises updating user information stored at a database server of the travel risk management system with an indication of the receipt of the risk management event notification response message in response to receiving the risk management event notification response message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the occurrence of the risk management event comprises receiving a user event notification message containing risk management event information from a portable computing device of a user of the travel risk management system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user event notification message includes user identification information for the user, geographic location information and risk management event type information.

12. A computer readable medium with computer executable instructions for notifying affected users of a travel risk management system of the occurrence of a risk management event during travel, the computer executable instructions comprising instructions for:

storing geographic location information for a plurality of users of the travel risk management system;

determining the occurrence of a risk management event;

determining a geographic location of the risk management event;

comparing the geographic location of the risk management event to the stored geographic location information for the users; and

executing a risk management event response in response to determining that a geographic location of at least one of the users is at the geographic location of the risk management event.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining the occurrence of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instruction for receiving input information for the risk management event from a user at a computing device of the travel risk management system.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining the occurrence of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instructions for receiving risk management event information from an emergency response system external to the travel risk management system at a business application server of the travel risk management system.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instructions for determining that the geographic location of the user is within the boundaries of the same country as the geographic location of the risk management event.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instructions for determining that the geographic location of the user is within a predetermined distance from the geographic location of the risk management event.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instructions for:

storing travel itinerary information for the user of the travel risk management system in the user location database of the system, wherein the travel itinerary information includes user identification information, travel date information for the time period in which the user is traveling, and geographic location information for at least one destination of the user during the travel time period;

determining an anticipated duration of the risk management event; and

determining that the geographic location of the user is at the geographic location of the risk management event where a current geographic location of the user is not at the geographic location of the risk management event and a future geographic location of the user within a time period from a current date to the anticipated duration of the risk management event is at the geographic location of the risk management event.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for executing a risk management response further comprise computer readable instructions for transmitting a risk management event notification message from a business application server of the travel risk management system to a portable computing device of the user located at the geographic location of the risk management event.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions for executing a risk management response further comprise computer readable instructions for receiving a risk management event notification response message from the portable computing device of the user at the business application server, wherein the risk management event notification response message contains user identification information for the user.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer readable instructions for executing a risk management response further comprise computer readable instructions for updating user information stored at a database server of the travel risk management system with an indication of the receipt of the risk management event notification response message in response to receiving the risk management event notification response message.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions for determining the occurrence of the risk management event further comprise computer readable instructions for receiving a user event notification message containing risk management event information from a portable computing device of a user of the travel risk management system.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user event notification message includes user identification information for the user, geographic location information and risk management event type information.