System and method for generating an invoice to rebill charges to the elements of an organization

• US 6,125,354 A
• Filed: 03/30/1998
• Issued: 09/26/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Greenspan, Michael, Henley, Vivian C., Nielsen, Betty J., Driskell, Dwight D., MacFarlane, Lloyd, Lane, Nancy C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel Todd
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hayes, John W.
• Application Number:
  US09/050,721
• Time in Patent Office: 911 Days
• Field of Search: 705/34, 705/32, 705/30, 705/29, 705/33, 705/40, 705/20, 455/406
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/962 Operator interface for marketing or sales

Abstract

A method and system for automatically adjusting charges billed to an organization by a service provider, so as to create an invoice of rebill charges. An organizational hierarchy, comprising a list of elements of an organization, is displayed on a display device. Services that have been provided to a selected element by one or more service providers are associated with the selected element. The billed charges for the services are then adjusted, so as to calculate the rebill charges.

Adjustment of the billed charges is effected by applying reprice parameters and miscellaneous charges. The reprice parameters are used to adjust the billed charge by a desired percentage, by a fixed rate per time, or by a fixed charge per service. The miscellaneous charges are in addition to the billed charges. After adjustment of the billed charges, an invoice is generated based on the rebill charge.

Claims

1. In an electronic billing system for analyzing and managing billed charges which are billed to an organization by multiple service providers, a method of automatically adjusting the billed charges to create an invoice of rebill charges which are to be distributed among elements of the organization, the method comprising:

displaying an organizational hierarchy of the organization on a display device, the organizational hierarchy including at least one element of the organization;

associating a selected element with services that have been provided to the selected element by the multiple service providers;

categorizing into groups the billed charges corresponding to the services;

accepting respectively an independent reprice parameter for each of the groups of the billed charges;

applying respectively each of the independent reprice parameter to each of the groups of the billed charges in order to calculate rebill charges; and

generating an invoice including the rebill charges, whereby the billed charges can be automatically adjusted and rebilled to any element in the organizational hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the selected element with services further comprises restricting the services to those of a particular service provider, whereby the billed charges of the particular service provider can be rebilled independently from the charges of any other service providers.

3. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 1.

13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 2.

4. In an electronic billing system for analyzing and managing billed charges which are billed to an organization by multiple service providers, a method of automatically adding miscellaneous charges to the billed charges to create an invoice of rebill charges which are to be distributed among elements of the organization, said method comprising:

displaying an organizational hierarchy of the organization on a display device, the organizational hierarchy including at least one element of the organization;

associating a selected element with services that have been provided by a particular service provider to the selected element;

accepting at least one miscellaneous charge;

including said at least one miscellaneous charge with the billed charges corresponding to the services, so as to calculate the rebill charges; and

generating an invoice including the rebill charges, whereby the miscellaneous charges can be applied to the billed charges of the particular service provider and billed to any element of the organization independently of any other service providers.

5. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 4.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 4.

6. In a computer system including a display device and a user input device for generating an input signal, a display device having rendered thereon:

a field containing an organizational hierarchy of an organization, said hierarchy including at least one element of the organization;

a field containing a list of multiple service providers which have billed charges to the organization;

a field containing a list of the services that have been provided by the multiple service providers;

at least one field for categorizing into groups the billed charges corresponding to the services; and

at least one reprice parameter input field for accepting respectively an independent reprice parameter for each of the groups.

7. The display device of claim 6 having further rendered thereon a selectable graphic to effect the respective application of the reprice parameters to each of the groups of the billed charges so as to calculate rebill charges.

8. The display device of claim 6 having further rendered thereon a selectable graphic to effect generation of an invoice based on the billed charges and the rebilled charges.

9. The display device of claim 6, having further rendered thereon at least one miscellaneous charges input field for accepting miscellaneous charges that may be included with the billed charges from the multiple service providers, in order to calculate the rebill charges.

10. The display device of claim 6 having further rendered thereon a selectable graphic to effect restriction of the services to those of a particular service provider, whereby the billed charges of the particular service provider can be rebilled independently from the charges of any other service providers.

11. In an electronic billing system for analyzing and managing billed charges which are billed to an organization by multiple service providers, a method of automatically adjusting the billed charges to create an invoice of rebill charges which are to be distributed among elements of the organization, the method comprising:

displaying an organizational hierarchy of an organization on a display device, the organizational hierarchy including at least one element of the organization;

associating a selected element of the organization with services that have been provided to the selected element by a particular service provider so that the billed charges of the particular service provider can be rebilled independently from the billed charges of any other service providers;

identifying a reprice parameter;

applying the reprice parameter to the billed charges of the particular service provider, so as to calculate rebill charges; and

generating an invoice including the rebill charges,

whereby the billed charges can be automatically adjusted and rebilled to any element in the organizational hierarchy.