Method and apparatus for a corporate education system

• US 6,587,668 B1
• Filed: 04/30/2001
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cornerstone Ondemand Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CyberU, Inc.
• Inventors: Miller, Adam L., Seymour, Steven D., Christopoulos, Anthony C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Hieu T.
• Application Number:
  US09/846,602
• Time in Patent Office: 792 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/322, 434/323, 434/118, 434/219
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/18 Book-keeping or economics
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F

Abstract

An enterprise wide integrated training system. On-line training offering are aggregated into a searchable database. A corporation is a model in a relational database with each employee modeled as a user object have rights defined by the corporation and customized on an individual basis. A user interface permits access to the on-line offerings based on the defined rights. The user interface provides a portal for access to a corporate knowledge base that may be accessed for just in time training or to query an expert regarding a specific topic. Off-line training is facilitated through an entity wide events calendar individually adapted for the particular user based or attributes of the corresponding user object.

Claims

1. A system to manage training across a business entity comprising:

a relational database to uniquely model a business entity;

a course catalog database containing an aggregation of course offerings available to employees of the business entity;

a plurality of user objects each corresponding to an employee at the business entity retained as part of the model; and

a web server to serve web pages dynamically generated responsive to preferences contained in the model.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a knowledge bank for the business entity, the knowledge bank permitting posting of resources by users within the business entity related to defined subject areas.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein a resource comprises one of:

a question related to a subject area;

an answer to a prior question;

technical information about a subject area; and

a notice of a resource related to a subject area.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein when a question resource is posted to the knowledge bank, the question resource is automatically associated with a user object having expertise in the subject area.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each user object is associated with a cost center within the model such that cost incurred by a user by accessing a course from the course catalog are automatically allocated to the associated cost center.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the model defines access rights for each user object within the model.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the model defines a subset of offering from the course catalog be available to a user based on at least one of level, division, location, cost, offering institution and current competency.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the model comprises:

a competency assessment module to determine a users competency in at least one area.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the competency assessment module assesses competency by at least one of collecting evaluations of co-workers and administering an assessment in at least one area.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the model comprises:

an on-line training module to provide access to on-line training offerings;

an off-line training module to facilitate scheduling and posting of off-line training offerings; and

a just in time training module to permit at least one of on demand access to experts within the enterprise and on demand access to just in time learning objects.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein each user object is assigned default rights based on a division and a level of a corresponding employee and is independently customizable to define rights of the user outside the scope of the default rights.

12. A computer readable storage media containing executable computer program instructions which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method comprising:

aggregating a population of training offerings;

generating a virtual model of a business entity;

establishing relationships for a plurality of user objects within the model each user object having a unique identifier and corresponding to an employee of the business entity; and

enabling access by a user at the business entity to a subset of the population based on criteria defined in a corresponding user object.

13. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

dynamically generating a web page consistent with preferences and rights related to the user object corresponding to a user; and

serving the page to the user in a form viewable with a thin web browser.

14. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

establishing a set of manager rights including at least one of approving or disapproving on-line or off-line course registration for a subordinate user;

assigning assessments to a subordinate user; and

assigning training to a subordinate user.

15. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

receiving a posting to a subject area of knowledge bank of the business entity; and

notifying an expert in the subject area if the posting is a question.

16. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

determining a competency of a user by one of administering a competency assessment test to the user and collecting at least one evaluation of the user from at least one co-worker; and

assigning a competency rating to the user at least partially based on the evaluation or assessment test.

17. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

associating events and users with physical locations; and

granting a user at a physical location access to an events calendar for the location including at least some of the right to;

add, modify, and delete an event;

register for an event;

record attendance at an event;

view a months worth of events;

send a message to event invitees;

request facilities and equipment for an event;

waitlist for an event; and

request a not yet scheduled event.

18. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

receiving from a user an indication of intent to register for an offering; and

registering the user for the offering if authorized by a manager.

19. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:

automatically generating a cost report responsive to an authorized user request.

20. A method comprising:

aggregating a population of training offerings;

generating a virtual model of a business entity;

establishing relationships for a plurality of user objects within the model each user object having a unique identifier and corresponding to an employee of the business entity; and

enabling access by a user at the business entity to a subset of the population based on criteria defined in a corresponding user object.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

establishing a set of manager rights including at least one of approving or disapproving on-line or off-line course registration for a subordinate user;

assigning assessments to a subordinate user; and

assigning training to a subordinate user.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

filtering the population of training offerings by at least one of employee level, employee division, course cost, employee expert area, and course institution; and

serving a listing of at least a subset of a filtered population to a user.

23. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

receiving from a user an indication of intent to register for an offering; and

registering the user for the offering if authorized by a manager.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

automatically forwarding a request for approval to a manager of the user responsive to the indication of intent to register.

25. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

associating events and users with physical locations; and

granting a user at a physical location access to an events calendar for the location including at least some of the right to;

add, modify, and delete an event;

register for an event;

record attendance at an event;

view a months worth of events;

send a message to event invitees;

request facilities and equipment for events;

waitlist for an event; and

request a not yet scheduled event.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

notifying the user if promoted from a waitlist;

resolving conflicts between request for one of facilities and equipment; and

generating a forecast of interest in a not yet scheduled event.

27. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

receiving a posting to a subject area of knowledge bank of the business entity; and

notifying an expert in the subject area if the posting is a question.

28. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

aggregating a population of learning objects;

indexing the learning objects; and

providing access on demand to the learning object.

29. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

administering one of a locally created test and a third party provided test to a user; and

evaluating results of the test.

30. The method of claim 20 wherein enabling comprising:

dynamically generating a web page consistent with preferences and rights related to the user object corresponding to a user; and

serving the page to the user in a form viewable with a thin web browser.

31. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

determining a competency of a user by one of administering a competency assessment test to the user and collecting at least one evaluation of the user from at least one co-worker; and

assigning a competency rating to the user at least partially based on the evaluation or assessment test.

32. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

maintaining a history for a first user reflecting prior access to members of the population; and

serving the history to a second user responsive to a request form the second user.

33. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

automatically generating a cost report responsive to an authorized user request.

34. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

aggregating training costs due to access to the population by the plurality of users at the business entity; and

invoicing the training cost such that aggregate costs are paid by the business entity to one recipient.

35. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

accepting a request for a physical resource of the business entity not already in use; and

tracking possession of the physical resource until receiving an indication that the resource has been returned.

36. A method comprising:

establishing a set of user preferences and rights defined for an entity of which the user is an employee;

receiving a dynamically generated web page viewable through a thin web browser conforming to the user preferences and rights, the web page permitting access to an aggregated population of training offerings.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the rights include at least one of approving or disapproving on-line or off-line course registration for a subordinate user;

assigning assessments to a subordinate user; and

assigning training to a subordinate user.

38. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

posting to a subject area of a knowledge bank of the business entity; and

transmitting the posting to an expert in the subject area if the posting is a question.

39. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

receiving a competency assessment test as part of the web page;

responding to the competency test; and

receiving assigned training as a result of the responding.

41. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

browsing a training offering within the population; and

registering for the offering through the thin web browser.

42. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

requesting a cost report on one of a user, a level and a division basis; and

receiving the cost report displayable through the thin web browser on a basis request.

40. The method of 36 further comprising:

accessing an events calendar for the business entity to at least one of associating events and users with physical locations; and

granting a user at a physical location access to an events calendar for the location including at least some of the right to;

add, modify, and delete an event;

register for an event;

record attendance at an event;

view a months worth of events;

send a message to event invitees;

request facilities and equipment for an event;

waitlist for an event; and

request a not yet scheduled event.

43. The method of 36 further comprising:

providing a competency indicator by one of taking an assessment test on-line through the thin web browser and submitting an evaluation of a third party through the thin web browser; and

receiving an indication of competency rating drive from a result of the assessment test.

44. The method of 36 further comprising:

taking one of a locally created test and a third party provided test on-line through the thin web browser; and

submitting the test for evaluation.