Account management tool for e-billing system

• US 7,308,434 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Issued: 12/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Braverman, David K.
• Primary Examiner(s): LEROUX, ETIENNE PIERRE
• Application Number:
  US09/823,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20020052812A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,447 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/200, 705/27, 705/44, 705/38, 700/95, 709/101, 709/203, 701/1, 701/10, 379/67.1
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/922 Communications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

An account management methodology and system for sales representatives of an enterprise employing an e-billing system including a computer system accessible for on-line interactive communication of product and service invoices to users. The account management tool includes a database for storing customer account information including customer invoices, the customer information including information for associating a customer account with a particular sales representative; a mechanism for retrieving from the database a list of all customer accounts associated with the sales representative; and, a device for transmitting a list of customer accounts associated with the sales representative to a sales representative browser device for that sales representative'"'"'s review. The account management methodology and system includes an e-mail notification feature enabling receipt of email notifying a sales representative that a customer has signed up for (or) has been deleted from e-billing. A sales representative is further provided with the ability to turn off/on this email notification.

Claims

1. A method for providing an on-line billing system, the method comprising:

storing account information of a plurality of customers in a database, the account information including information for associating each of the plurality of customers with a particular agent among a plurality of agents;

generating a list of customer accounts corresponding to the particular agent from the account information;

displaying the list via a web browser to the particular agent;

detecting an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular agent;

determining whether the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes; and

in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes, generating an electronic mail message describing the event and sending the electronic mail message to the particular agent.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

drilling down to view a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the list.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the event includes a new enrollment of the one of the customers or an account cancellation of the one of the customers.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one option to the particular agent for selectively enabling or disabling the notification of account changes.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the customer account in the storing step is associated with a user identification of the particular agent.

6. A server apparatus for providing an on-line billing system, the server apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to retrieve account information of a plurality of customers in a database, the account information including information for associating each of the plurality of customers with a particular agent among a plurality of agents; and

a processor coupled to the communication interface and configured to generate a list of customer accounts corresponding to the particular agent from the account information,

instruct display of the list via a web browser to the particular agent,

detect an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular agent,

determine whether the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes, and

generate an electronic mail message describing the event and send the electronic mail message to the particular agent, in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes.

7. The server apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to drill down to view a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the list.

8. The server apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the event includes a new enrollment of the one of the customers or an account cancellation of the one of the customers.

9. The server apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to display at least one option to the particular agent for selectively enabling or disabling the notification of account changes.

10. The server apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the customer account is associated with a user identification of the particular agent.

11. An e-billing system comprising:

a database configured to store account information of a plurality of customers in a database, the account information including information for associating each of the plurality of customers with a particular agent among a plurality of agents;

a server communicating with the database, the server being configured to generate a list of customer accounts corresponding to the particular agent from the account information,

instruct display of the list via a web browser to the particular agent,

detect an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular agent,

determine whether the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes, and

generate an electronic mail message describing the event and send the electronic mail message to the particular agent, in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes; and

a client communicating with the server, the client being configured to run the web browser to display the list.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the server is configured to drill down to view a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the list.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the event includes a new enrollment of the one of the customers or an account cancellation of the one of the customers.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the server is configured to instruct display of at least one option to the particular agent for selectively enabling or disabling the notification of account changes.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the customer account is associated with a user identification of the particular agent.

16. A server apparatus for providing an on-line billing system, the server apparatus comprising:

means for storing account information of a plurality of customers in a database, the account information including information for associating each of the plurality of customers with a particular agent among a plurality of agents;

means for generating a list of customer accounts corresponding to the particular agent from the account information;

means for displaying the list via a web browser to the particular agent;

means for detecting an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular agent;

means for determining whether the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes; and

means for generating an electronic mail message describing the event and sending the electronic mail message to the particular agent, in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes.

17. The server apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

means for drilling down to view a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the list.

18. The server apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the event includes a new enrollment of the one of the customers or an account cancellation of the one of the customers.

19. The server apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

means for displaying at least one option to the particular agent for selectively enabling or disabling the notification of account changes.

20. The server apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the customer account is associated with a user identification of the particular agent.

21. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for providing an on-line billing system, the one or more sequences of one or more instructions including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

storing account information of a plurality of customers in a database, the account information including information for associating each of the plurality of customers with a particular agent among a plurality of agents;

generating a list of customer accounts corresponding to the particular agent from the account information;

displaying the list via a web browser to the particular agent;

detecting an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular agent;

determining whether the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes; and

in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular agent has enabled notification of account changes, generating an electronic mail message describing the event and sending the electronic mail message to the particular agent.

22. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, wherein the one or more processors further perform the step of:

drilling down to view a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the list.

23. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, wherein the event includes a new enrollment of the one of the customers or an account cancellation of the one of the customers.

24. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, wherein the one or more processors further perform the step of:

displaying at least one option to the particular agent for selectively enabling or disabling the notification of account changes.

25. The computer-readable medium according to claim 21, wherein the customer account in the storing step is associated with a user identification of the particular agent.

26. An account management tool for sales representatives of an enterprise employing an e-billing system including a computer system accessible for on-line interactive communication of product and service invoices to users, the account management tool comprising:

a database for storing customer account information including customer invoices, the customer information including information for associating a customer account with a particular sales representative;

a mechanism for retrieving from the database a list of all customer accounts associated with the particular sales representative;

a device for transmitting a list of the customer accounts associated with the particular sales representative to a sales representative browser device for display thereof, whereby customer account information associated with the particular sales representative is available for review;

a mechanism for detecting an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular sales representative;

a mechanism for determining whether the particular sales representative has enabled notification of account changes; and

a mechanism for generating an electronic mail message describing the event and sending the electronic mail message to the particular sales representative, in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular sales representative has enabled notification of account changes.

27. The account management tool according to claim 26, further including:

a drill-down mechanism for enabling viewing of a particular customer invoice associated with a particular customer account selected from the customer account list.

28. The account management tool according to claim 26, wherein the event includes enrollment by a new customer for e-billing.

29. The account management tool according to claim 26, wherein the event includes cancellation of an e-billing enrollment by the one of the customers.

30. The account management tool according to claim 26, further including a mechanism for enabling a sales representative to enable or disable the notification of account changes.

31. The account management tool according to claim 26, wherein the customer account is associated with a user ID of the sales representative and recognized by the e-billing system.

32. A method for tracking customers enrolled in an e-billing system employed by an enterprise, the e-billing system including a computer system accessible for online interactive communication of product and service invoices to customers, the method comprising:

tracking enrolled customers and associated customer account information, and storing customer account information including customer invoices of the enrolled customers in a database, associating enrolled customers with a particular sales representative of the enterprise;

retrieving from the database a list of all customer accounts associated with the particular sales representative;

transmitting a list of the customer accounts associated with the particular sales representative to a sales representative browser device for display thereof, whereby customer account information associated with the particular sales representative is available for review by the particular sales representative;

detecting an event that changes an association between one of the customers and the particular sales representative;

determining whether the particular sales representative has enabled notification of customer account changes; and

in response to detecting the event and determining that the particular sales representative has enabled notification of customer account changes, generating an electronic mail message describing the event and sending the electronic mail message to the particular sales representative.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the event includes a new enrollment in the e-billing system by the one of the customers.

34. The method according to claim 32, wherein the event includes a deletion of the one of the customers from the e-billing system.