Method and apparatus for a corporate education system
First Claim
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.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A system to manage training across a business entity comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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.
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3. The system of claim 2 wherein a resource comprises one of:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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6. The system of claim 1 wherein the model defines access rights for each user object within the model.
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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.
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8. The system of claim 1 wherein the model comprises:
a competency assessment module to determine a users competency in at least one area.
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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.
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10. The system of claim 1 wherein the model comprises:
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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.
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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.
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12. A computer readable storage media containing executable computer program instructions which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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.
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14. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:
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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.
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15. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:
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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.
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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.
- 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
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17. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:
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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.
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18. The computer readable storage media of claim 12 which when executed cause a digital processing system to perform a method further comprising:
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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.
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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.
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20. A method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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.
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22. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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23. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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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.
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25. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:
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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.
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27. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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28. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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aggregating a population of learning objects;
indexing the learning objects; and
providing access on demand to the learning object.
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29. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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administering one of a locally created test and a third party provided test to a user; and
evaluating results of the test.
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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.
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31. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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32. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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33. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
automatically generating a cost report responsive to an authorized user request.
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34. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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35. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
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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.
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36. A method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 41, 42)
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.
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39. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
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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.
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41. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
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browsing a training offering within the population; and
registering for the offering through the thin web browser.
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42. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
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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.
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40. The method of 36 further comprising:
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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.
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43. The method of 36 further comprising:
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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.
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44. The method of 36 further comprising:
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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.
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Specification