SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE ELEMENTS OF PARTS AND LABOR COSTS IN A FACILITIES MANAGEMENT COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140278644A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: First Service Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: First Service Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: FERREIRA, Michael, MOORE, Clyde
• Application Number:
  US13/844,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278644A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/125 Finance or payroll

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for controlling labor and component costs for a service request (SR). The method includes: defining a specific at-work labor rate; verifying the location of the recording of an arrival time and completion time by a technician using (GPS) information; defining a total labor cost as the at-work labor rate multiplied by the difference between the completion time and the arrival time; defining a total component part cost by displaying a list of parts on a mobile computing device, repeatedly applying an attribute value to successive subsets of the list of parts, and prompting a technician to select a unique entry from a final data set displayed on the mobile computing device; generating an electronic work ticket for the SR which includes only the total labor cost and the total component part cost; and capturing an electronic customer signature for the electronic work ticket.

Claims

1. A method for controlling labor costs and component part costs for a service request (SR) in a facilities management computing environment, the method comprising:

defining a specific at-work labor rate which accounts for an hourly rate plus at least one of;

trip charge;

fuel surcharge; and

an ancillary charge; and

recording an arrival time and a completion time on a mobile computing device for a technician at the job site associated with the SR;

verifying the location of the recording of the arrival time and completion time using global positioning system (GPS) information for the mobile computing device;

defining a total labor cost as the at-work labor rate multiplied by the difference between the completion time and the arrival time;

defining a total component part cost by, for each component part installed at the job site for the SR, displaying a list of parts on a mobile computing device, repeatedly applying an attribute value to successive subsets of the list of parts, and prompting a technician to select a unique entry from a final data set displayed on the mobile computing device;

generating an electronic work ticket for the SR which includes only the total labor cost and the total component part cost; and

capturing an electronic customer signature for the electronic work ticket.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying comprises presenting a graphical user interface on a tablet computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein repeatedly applying an attribute value comprises prompting the user to select a first attribute value from a menu of attribute values.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein repeatedly applying comprises applying an attribute value as an argument to a data set to thereby generate a data subset which includes only those entries in the original data set having the applied attribute value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of parts comprises one of the following product categories:

heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC);

plumbing;

electrical;

flooring;

lighting;

brewing;

coffee; and

upholstery.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of parts comprises a list of medium temperature HVAC compressors, and the attribute comprises one of:

temperature;

tonnage;

seal type;

motor type;

phase; and

OEM/generic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the final data set comprises a number of data entries in the range of three to five.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein ancillary costs include tolls, parking charges, environmental fees, disposal fees, livery charges, and freight charges.

9. A method for controlling labor and material costs for a preventive maintenance (PM) or a service request (SR) task at a customer job site, the method comprising:

defining an at-work labor rate which includes a fully loaded hourly rate inclusive of additional charges for fuel, trip, and ancillary charges;

recording, by a technician on a tablet computer at the job site, an arrival time and a completion time;

verifying the location of the technician during the recording of the arrival time an completion time using a global positioning system (GPS) embedded in the tablet computer;

displaying a first data set comprising the list of parts;

prompting the user to select a first attribute value;

applying the selected first attribute value to the first data set;

displaying a second data set comprising a subset of the first data set;

prompting the user to select a second attribute value;

applying the selected second attribute value to the second data set;

displaying a final data set comprising a subset of the second data set;

prompting the user to select a unique replacement part from the final data set;

defining the total labor cost by multiplying the at-work labor rate by the difference between the completion time and the arrival time; and

defining the total material cost as the cost of each unique replacement part by its attributes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first data set comprises a list of parts corresponding to one of the following product categories:

heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC);

plumbing;

electrical;

flooring;

lighting;

brewing;

coffee; and

upholstery.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first data set comprises a list of medium temperature HVAC compressors.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second attributes comprise one of:

temperature;

tonnage;

seal type;

motor type;

phase; and

OEM/generic.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein one of the first and second attributes comprises tonnage, and the corresponding tonnage attribute values include:

0.33;

0.25;

0.5;

1;

1.5; and

5.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein one of the first and second attributes comprises seal type, and the corresponding seal type attribute values include:

hermetic; and

non-hermetic.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein applying comprises applying an attribute value as an argument to a data set to thereby generate a data subset which includes only those entries in the original data set having the applied attribute value.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

prompting the user to select and additional attribute value; and

applying the selected additional attribute value to the then current data set.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the final data set comprises a number of data entries in the range of three to five.

18. A computer application embodied in a non-transitory medium for operation by a one or more computer processors for performing the steps of:

defining a specific at-work labor rate which accounts for an hourly rate plus at least one of;

trip charge;

fuel surcharge; and

an ancillary charge; and

recording an arrival time and a completion time on a mobile computing device for a technician at the job site associated with the SR;

verifying the location of the recording of the arrival time and completion time using global positioning system (GPS) information for the mobile computing device;

defining a total labor cost as the at-work labor rate multiplied by the difference between the completion time and the arrival time;

defining a total component part cost by, for each component part installed at the job site for the SR, displaying a list of parts on a mobile computing device, repeatedly applying an attribute value to successive subsets of the list of parts, and prompting a technician to select a unique entry from a final data set displayed on the mobile computing device;

generating an electronic work ticket for the SR which includes only the total labor cost and the total component part cost; and

capturing an electronic customer signature for the electronic work ticket.