Method and apparatus for tracking retail performance metrics during a transaction at a point of sale station

• US 7,093,748 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2000
• Issued: 08/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Lehman, Katherine R., Matsko, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOI, PETER H
• Application Number:
  US09/629,171
• Time in Patent Office: 2,213 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/10, 705/16, 705/9, 705/11, 177/25, 235/377, 235/379, 700/174, 702/187
• US Class Current: 235/377
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of and apparatus for associating a retail performance metric with individual entries within a transaction and/or time type categories. The retail performance metric is determined by recording the time the system waited for and received an input. The retail performance metric type is determined as a function of the input received by the system. A retail performance metric is recorded as a function of the time the system waited for and received an input and includes a reference to the specific event causing the RPM and/or the time type category of the input.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction and recording a transaction entry record, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station comprise at least scan operations, and key operations;

recording retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, each retail performance metric record associating an event type and a time related to performance of the event;

associating the retail performance metric records with a transaction entry record; and

recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating retail performance metrics for at least two different types of events occurring within the transaction, said at least two different types of events including at least one scan operation and at least one key operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating step comprises combining the retail performance metric record with the transaction entry record.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction entry record includes a unique entry identifier value and the associating step comprises including the unique entry identifier value of the transaction entry record with the retail performance metric record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating step comprises adding a pointer to the retail performance metric record, wherein the pointer references the transaction entry record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating step comprises adding a link to the retail performance metric record, wherein the link references the transaction entry record.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction entry record after addition of the retail performance metric record comprises an entry identifier field, an entry type field, a time of entry field, and an elapsed time field.

7. A computer implemented system for tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction, the system comprising:

a processor for receiving and transmitting data; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station comprise at least scan operations, and key operations, record retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, the processor associating an event type and a time related to performance of the event for each retail performance metric record, associating the retail performance metric record with a transaction entry record, and recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating multiple retail performance metrics for different types of events occurring within the transaction, said different types of events including at least one scan operation and at least one key operation.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to combine the retail performance metric record with the transaction entry record.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to include an entry identifier value in the transaction entry record and to associate the retail performance metric record with the entry record by including the entry identifier value of the transaction entry record in the retail performance metric record.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to associate the retail performance metric record to the transaction entry record by adding a pointer to the retail performance metric record wherein the pointer references the transaction entry record.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to associate the retail performance metric record to the transaction entry record by adding a link to the retail performance metric record wherein the link references the transaction entry record.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the entry record after combination with the retail performance metric record comprises an entry identification field, an entry type field, a time of entry field, and an elapsed time field.

13. A computer implemented method of tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station comprise scan operations, weighing operations, key operations, or tender operations;

recording a transaction entry record indicative of the transaction;

determining time type categories of the events received;

recording retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, each retail performance metric record associating a time type category and the time related to performance of the event, the time type category is a time category indicating ring time, tender time, secure time, non-sales time, idle time, or no time;

associating the retail performance metric records with the time type categories; and

recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating multiple retail performance metrics for at least two different types of events occurring within the transaction.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the associating step comprises adding a pointer to the retail performance metric record, wherein the pointer references a time type category.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the associating step comprises adding a link to the retail performance metric record, wherein the link references a time type category.

16. A computer implemented system for tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction, comprising:

a processor for receiving and transmitting data; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station during the transaction comprise a scan operation, a weighing operation, a key operation, and a tender operation, the processor recording a transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, determining time type categories of the events received, recording retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, associating a time type category and the time related to performance of the event for each retail performance metric record, wherein the time type category is a time category indicating ring time, tender time, secure time, non-sales time, idle time, or no time, the processor associating retail performance metric records with the time type categories, and recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating multiple retail performance metrics for at least two different types of events occurring with the transaction, the at least two different types of events including at least one scan operation and at least one key operation.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to associate each retail performance metric record to the time type category by adding a pointer to the retail performance metric record wherein the pointer references the time type category.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory further includes sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to associate the retail performance metric record to the time type category by adding a link to the retail performance metric record wherein the link references the time type category.

19. A computer implemented method of tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station comprise scan operations, weighing operations, key operations, or tender operations;

recording a transaction entry record indicative of the transaction;

determining time type categories of the input received;

recording retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, each retail performance metric record associating the retail performance metric type, the time type category and the time related to performance of the event, the time type category is a time category indicating ring time, tender time, secure time, non-sales time, idle time, or no time;

associating retail performance metric records with the transaction entry record and with the time type categories; and

recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating multiple retail performance metrics for at least two different types of events occurring within the transaction.

20. A computer implemented system for tracking a plurality of retail performance metric records for different types of events within a transaction, the system comprising:

a processor for receiving and transmitting data; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive inputs for a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events occurring at the POS station during a transaction comprise a scan operation, a weighing operation, a key operation, and a tender operation, the processor recording a transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, determining time type categories of the events received, recording retail performance metric records for the plurality of different types of events, associating a retail performance metric type, a time type category and the time related to performance of the event for each retail performance metric record, wherein the time type category is a time category indicating ring time, tender time, secure time, non-sales, idle time and no time, the processor associating retail performance metric records with the time type categories and the entry record, and recording the transaction entry record indicative of the transaction, said transaction entry record associating multiple retail performance metrics for at least two different types of events occurring with the transaction, the at least two different types of events including at least one scan operation and at least one key operation.

21. A computer implemented method of tracking performance of different types of events within a transaction, the method comprising:

determining a start and a stop time for a first event of a first type from a plurality of different types of events occurring at a point of sale (POS) station during a transaction, wherein the types of events comprise at least scan operations and key operations;

determining the type of the first event;

associating the type and an elapsed time related to performance of the first event in a retail performance metric for the first event;

determining a start and a stop time for a second event of a second type;

determining the type of the second event;

associating the type and an elapsed time related to performance of the second event in a retail performance metric for the second event; and

storing the retail performance metric for the first event and the retail performance metric for the second event in a transaction record for the transaction.