System for managing equipment, services and service provider agreements

• US 7,065,496 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2003
• Issued: 06/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tangoe US, Inc. (Asentinel Holdings LP)
• Original Assignee: Tangoe Incorporated
• Inventors: Gamble, Charles, Schmidt, Paul, Subbloie, Al
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US10/365,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20030154123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/11, 705/1
• US Class Current: 705/7.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors

Abstract

A system for managing service provider agreements, the system comprising a server, an agreements database accessible by the server, the agreements database having stored thereon contracted performance data indicative of minimum service performance required by at least one service provider agreement, a user preferences database accessible by the server, the preferences database having stored thereon user preference data indicative of a user specified maximum allowable deviance from the minimum service performance, a performance measurement module in communication with the server; the performance measurement module gathering actual performance data indicative of actual service performance and a variance calculator in communication with the server, the variance calculator determining agreement conformity status by determining whether the actual system performance indicated by the actual service performance data corresponds with the minimum service performance indicated by the contracted performance data within the maximum allowable deviance indicated by the user preference data.

Claims

1. A system for managing a telecommunications service provider contract between a telecommunications service provider and a user, the system comprising:

a server;

an agreements database accessible by the server, the agreements database having stored thereon telecommunications performance data indicative of minimum telecommunications service performance required by at least one service provider agreement;

a user preferences database accessible by the server, the preferences database having stored thereon user preference data indicative of a user specified threshold corresponding to a maximum allowable deviance from the minimum telecommunications service performance;

a performance measurement module in communication with the server;

the performance measurement module gathering actual telecommunications performance data indicative of actual telecommunications service performance provided to the user for a telecommunications network configuration;

a variance calculator module in communication with the server, the variance calculator module determining agreement conformity status by determining whether the telecommunications service performance provided to the user and indicated by the gathered actual telecommunications service performance data corresponds with the minimum telecommunications service performance indicated by the contracted performance data within the maximum allowable deviance indicated by the user preference data;

said threshold defining a limit for the maximum allowable deviation from the minimum telecommunications service performance; and

a notification module in communication with the server, the notification module notifying a recipient that the determined agreement conformity status has exceeded the threshold;

wherein the telecommunications service provider agreement comprises a performance metric selected from the group consisting of;

market rates, contract constructs, service level agreement constructs, network design optimization and utilization and combinations of these.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a network connection in communication with the server;

a host interface coupled to the server, the host interface used for hosting the system; and

a user interface in communication with the server, the user interface used for updating user preferences database and checking variance calculator module determinations.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a network connection in communication with the server;

a host interface coupled to the server, the host interface used for hosting the system; and

a user interface in communication with the server, the user interface used for updating user preferences database and thresholds and for receiving notification from the notification module.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduling module coupled to the server, the scheduling module used to define chronological timing of the variance calculator module'"'"'s determination of agreement conformity status.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the telecommunications service provider agreement comprises a type selected from the group consisting of application, storage, management, internet service level, data, voice and/or combinations of these.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein when the performance metric comprises market rates, the system searches for optimal rates available in the market for telecommunications service provider services and products.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein when the performance metric comprises service level agreement constructs, the service level agreement constructs include the telecommunications service provider'"'"'s obligation to deliver a certain level of service selected from the group consisting of:

percentage of downtime, mean time to repair, credits that the telecommunications service provider must issue to the user in the event of failure to meet contracted obligations.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein when the performance metric comprises network design optimization, the telecommunications network configuration is analyzed and modified to increase the level of service provided to and to lower a price offered to the user.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein when the performance metric comprises network design utilization, the telecommunications network configuration is analyzed to determine whether the network is either over-utilized or under-utilized.

10. A system for facilitating the procurement of networked telecommunications services between a telecommunications service provider and a user, the system comprising the steps of:

a server;

a user preferences database accessible by the server, the user preferences database having stored thereon user telecommunications need data indicative of a user'"'"'s requirements for networked telecommunications services;

a service provider database accessible by the server;

the service provider database having stored thereon available telecommunications services data indicative of telecommunications services offered by a plurality of networked telecommunications service providers;

a provider module in communication with the server, the provider module updating in real-time the available telecommunications services data;

a variance calculator module in communication with the server, the variance calculator module determining telecommunications procurement prospects by calculating which of the telecommunications services offered by the plurality of networked telecommunications service providers indicated in the available services data satisfies the user'"'"'s requirements for networked telecommunications services indicated in the user telecommunications need data; and

a scheduling module coupled to the server, the scheduling module used to define chronological timing of the variance calculator module'"'"'s determination of available telecommunications procurement prospects;

a performance metric for monitoring the networked telecommunications services selected from the group consisting of;

market rates, contract constructs, service level agreement constructs, network design optimization and utilization and combinations of these.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

a network connection in communication with the server;

a host interface coupled to the server, the host interface used for hosting the system; and

a user interface in communication with the server, the user interface used for updating user preferences database and checking variance calculator module determinations.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

at least one threshold set in the user preferences database; and

a notification module in communication with the server, the notification module notifies a recipient that a procurement prospect has been identified.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a network connection in communication with the server;

a host interface coupled to the server, the host interface used for hosting the system; and

a user interface in communication with the network connection, the user interface used for updating user preferences database and thresholds data.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the networked telecommunications services comprises a type selected from the group consisting of application, storage, management, internet, service level, data, voice, and/or combinations of these.