System and method for providing funding approval associated with a project based on a document collection

• US 7,321,864 B1
• Filed: 11/03/2000
• Issued: 01/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: GENDLER, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jarrett, Scott L.
• Application Number:
  US09/705,486
• Time in Patent Office: 2,636 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/8, 705/1, 705/10, 382/789, 918/5
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments

Abstract

A system and method for providing project management tools to support construction, renovations, maintenance and other projects. The system automates the creation, processing and approval cycles of the numerous documents involved with each project. The system provides standardized work processes through processing templates. The system provides automated control and management of the process. The system allows project initiation and funding approval by clients throughout the corporation via a desktop browser coupled to a corporate Intranet. A software application embodying the present invention and its underlying technology are appropriate for a paper intensive area. It reduces the approval cycle of projects. It automates the creation, processing and approval cycle of documents by routing documents electronically for on-line approval.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing a construction project using a processing system, the method comprising:

establishing a database in the processing system, the processing system maintained by a project management entity;

providing funding approval associated with the project through a funding approval process, the funding approval being effected in association with a document collection associated with the project, the document collection maintained in the database, the document collection including a plurality of documents;

performing the funding approval process for the project in the processing system, the funding approval process including;

identifying approvers that comprise an approval hierarchy, the approval hierarchy being a series of approvers;

automatically forwarding a notice requesting approval of at least one electronic document, in the document collection, from a previous approver to a successive one of the approvers upon approval of the at least one electronic document by the previous approver in the approval hierarchy; and

wherein the successive one of the approvers returns the funding approval to the previous approver, the previous approver not being a requestor, the successive one of the approvers returns the funding approval to the requestor;

accessing the document collection in the database by a vendor;

the vendor entering and submitting electronically information related to the project;

the vendor determining that funding approval for the project has been secured through access to the document collection;

transferring monetary funds to the vendor after a predetermined event has occurred;

wherein the predetermined event is the completion of a portion of the project associated with the vendor, and upon completion of the portion of the project associated with the vendor, the vendor submits an invoice via the system, wherein the invoice is electronically transmitted from a vendor workstation;

obtaining an invoice from each vendor once the respective vendor'"'"'s portion of the project is completed;

subsequent to submission of the invoice by the vendor, a payment associated with the invoice goes through a validation process and is charged against portions of a contract associated with the project;

providing a contract to the vendor, the contract defining tasks to be performed by the vendor, the contract included in the document collection;

generating, by the processing system, a list of all projects associated with a particular user, each of the projects associated with a document collection;

wherein each of the plurality of documents in the document collection being associated with a respective electronic notebook, the documents in the document collection being electronic documents, each electronic notebook including associated categories, for each electronic notebook the categories provided including;

a comment category that includes general notes;

a status category that includes a status of the project; and

a published notes category, the method including publishing notes in the published notes category to a team working on the project; and

wherein each of the plurality of documents is associated with an object, and the method further including maintaining a state of the object, the state of the object controlling whether documents associated with the object are modifiable, the at least one object being a bid; and

the object is associated with multiple documents of the plurality of documents; and

utilizing a table to contain the state of the object, along with a plurality of other objects associated with other documents; and

maintaining a history of revisions to the objects, such that chances in state of the object during the approval process is maintained for auditing purposes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the document collection in the database by the vendor is controlled by access rights, which include a password.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor determining that approval for the project has been secured through access to the document collection is effected by the vendor reviewing an electronic copy of a purchase order.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the vendor accesses payment confirmations via the processing system.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the purchase order is issued to the vendor electronically.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the purchase order is issued to the vendor electronically, with a notification being made to a project manager.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the contract further provides for the issuance of change orders by a project manager.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the project is assigned a project number, which is associated with the document collection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the funding approval is part of a Request for Assistance initiated by a client.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes soliciting work from the vendors using the processing system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing system provides for accessing a listing of Request for Assistance associated with a particular business unit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing system provides for a user to access all funding documents for projects on which the user is involved.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a review entity provides an evaluation of an offer extended by a vendor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the review entity is a project manager and the offer extended by a vendor is a bid.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the funding approval is effected by a client hierarchy.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor is a construction entity.

17. The method of claim 1, further including organizing the document collection into a variety of tree structures for viewing, one of the tree structures displaying all the documents that a user has approved within a predetermined period of time.

18. The method of claim 1, the construction project being a contract and document collection including contract documents.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the construction project is engineering related.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the construction project is architectural related.

21. A processing system for managing a construction project, the processing system performing:

establishing a database in the processing system, the processing system maintained by a project management entity;

providing funding approval associated with the project through a funding approval process, the funding approval being effected in association with a document collection associated with the project, the document collection maintained in the database, the document collection including a plurality of documents;

performing the funding approval process for the project in the processing system, the funding approval process including;

identifying approvers that comprise an approval hierarchy, the approval hierarchy being a series of approvers;

automatically forwarding a notice requesting approval of at least one electronic document, in the document collection, from a previous approver to a successive one of the approvers upon approval of the at least one electronic document by the previous approver in the approval hierarchy; and

wherein the successive one of the approvers returns the funding approval to the previous approver, the previous approver not being the requester, the successive one of the approvers returns the funding approval to a requestor;

accessing the document collection in the database by a vendor;

the vendor entering and submitting electronically information related to the project;

the vendor determining that funding approval for the project has been secured through access to the document collection; and

transferring monetary funds to the vendor after a predetermined event has occurred;

wherein the predetermined event is the completion of a portion of the project associated with the vendor, and upon completion of the portion of the project associated with the vendor, the vendor submits an invoice via the system, wherein the invoice is electronically transmitted from a vendor workstation;

obtaining an invoice from each vendor once the respective vendor'"'"'s portion of the project is completed;

subsequent to submission of the invoice by the vendor, a payment associated with the invoice goes through a validation process and is charged against portions of a contract associated with the project;

providing a contract to the vendor, the contract defining tasks to be performed by the vendor, the contract included in the document collection;

generating, by the processing system, a list of all projects associated with a particular user, each of the projects associated with a document collection;

wherein each of the plurality of documents in the document collection being associated with a respective electronic notebook, the documents in the document collection being electronic documents, each electronic notebook including associated categories, for each electronic notebook the categories provided including;

a comment category that includes general notes;

a status category that includes a status of the project; and

a published notes category, the method including publishing notes in the published notes category to a team working on the project; and

each of the plurality of documents is associated with an object, and the method further including maintaining a state of the object, the state of the object controlling whether documents associated with the object are modifiable, the at least one object being a bid;

the object is associated with multiple documents of the plurality of documents; and

utilizing a table to contain the state of the object, along with a plurality of other objects associated with other documents; and

maintaining a history of revisions to the objects, such that changes in state of the object during the approval process is maintained for auditing purposes.