Method of organizing and analyzing field warranty data

• US 7,516,175 B1
• Filed: 04/11/2003
• Issued: 04/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kelsey-Hayes Co. (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Original Assignee: Kelsey-Hayes Co. (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Inventors: Greene, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): MADAMBA, GLENFORD J
• Application Number:
  US10/412,141
• Time in Patent Office: 2,188 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229, 705/1, 705/10, 705/11, 705/29, 705/33, 705/35
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/012 Providing warranty services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A system and method for organizing and analyzing field warranty data including a warranty interface provided with warranty data from a warranty group. The warranty interface being capable of allowing a user to select prioritization data, and then displaying a list of warranty data items related to the prioritization data by relevance. The user selects a warranty data item, and then selects a dynamic report template from a list of dynamic report templates and criteria to produce an analysis report.

Claims

1. A method of collecting and analyzing warranty data comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a warranty system including a warrant interface and a storage unit, whereto the warranty system is administered by a warranty group;

(b) displaying a representation of available prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(c) selecting prioritization data through the warranty interface;

(d) displaying a representation of warranty data items in order of relevance to the selected prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(e) determining that a desired warranty data item is available from the representation of warranty data items;

(f) selecting the desired warranty data item through the warranty interface;

(g) displaying at least one dynamic report template for the selected warranty data item as recalled from the storage unit, the dynamic report templates configured to be modified by a user as desired by entering criteria through the warranty interface;

(h) determining that at least one of the dynamic report templates is adequate to perform the desired analysis of the selected warranty data item;

(i) selecting the adequate dynamic report template;

(j) entering criteria into the selected adequate dynamic report template for the selected warranty data item to create a modified report template;

(k) recalling data stored for the selected warranty data item from the storage unit and importing the data into the modified report template; and

(l) generating an analysis report, using the modified report template and the recalled data.

2. The method according to claim 1 further including, subsequent to step (l):

storing the analysis report in storage.

3. The method according to claim 2 further including, subsequent to step (l):

downloading the analysis report from the warranty interface.

4. The method according to claim 1 further including, subsequent to step (l):

downloading the analysis report from the warranty interface.

5. The method according to claim 1 further including, at any point during the method,

adding a comment generated by the user regarding the warranty data to a discussion thread provided within the warranty interface.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method is repeated upon determining that at least one of additional warranty data and dynamic report templates is desired.

7. The method according to claim 1 further including, reporting a deficiency in the warranty interface to a warranty group via a communication system of the warranty interface.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the system provided in step (a) includes a communication system.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein step (e) further includes, upon determining that the desired warranty data item is not available,

reporting the lack of the desired warranty data item.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein step (h) further includes, upon determining that the dynamic report templates are not adequate,

reporting the lack of adequate dynamic report templates.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein step (f) includes, subsequent to a first user selecting the desired warranty data item,

determining that the analysis should be performed by a second user outside of the system, and

communicating a selected warranty data item to the second user via the communication system, with the second user entering the warranty interface to continue the method.

12. The method according to claim 8 wherein the method includes, at any point during the method,

requesting an information item selected from the group consisting of an additional warranty data item dynamic report template, and dynamic report template criteria, from the warranty group via the communication system of the warranty interface.

13. The method according to claim 12 further including, determining whether the requested item is available from the warranty group, and alerting the user to the unavailability of the requested item, upon determining that the requested item is not available from the warranty group.

14. The method according to claim 13 further including, alerting the user to the availability of the requested item from the warranty interface, when the requested item is available from the warranty interface, and

transmitting the requested item to the user, when the requested item is not available from the warranty interface.

15. A system for organizing warranty data comprising:

a storage unit adapted to receive and store a plurality of warranty data items processed by a warranty group; and

an interface adapted for access by at least one user, said interface connected to said storage unit, said interface operable upon receiving a request from said user to search said storage unit for at least one selected warranty data item, with said user selecting a warranty data item through said interface, said interface further operable to retrieve said selected warranty data item from said storage unit and retrieve a dynamic report template, said dynamic report template modified by a user as desired by entering criteria through the interface to produce an analysis report for said selected warranty data item.

16. The system according to claim 15 wherein said plurality of warranty data items are processed by the warranty group from information received from a plurality of data sources.

17. The system according to claim 16 wherein said plurality of warranty data items are produced by the warranty group from the information received from a plurality of data sources after manipulation of said information.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein said plurality of warranty data items are produced by the warranty group from the information received from a plurality of data sources after collection and collation of said information.

19. The system according to claim 15 wherein said user is a warranty group.

20. The system according to claim 15 further including a discussion thread operably connected with said storage unit and said interface such that said user can enter comments and related data into said discussion thread, said comments being stored with related data within said storage unit for later retrieval.

21. The system according to claim 20 wherein all data entered with said discussion thread may be retrieved from the storage unit for display by said interface.

22. The system according to claim 15 wherein said interface is operable to display a plurality of dynamic report templates for said selected warranty data item, and further wherein said interface is operable to allow said user to select a dynamic report template, wherein said interface is operable to retrieve said selected warranty data item from the storage unit and import said selected warranty data item into said selected dynamic report template to produce an analysis report for said selected warranty data item.

23. The system according to claim 22 wherein said interface is operable to display a list of available criteria and allow said user to select criteria for modifying said selected dynamic report template, and further wherein said interface is operable to incorporate said criteria into said selected dynamic report template to produce a modified analysis report for said selected warranty data item.

24. The system according to claim 15 further including a communication system for communication between said user and said warranty group.

25. The system according to claim 24 wherein said user is a first user and further wherein said communication system is operable to allow said first user and said warranty group to communicate with a second user outside the system.

26. The system according to claim 24 wherein said user is a first user and further wherein said communication system is operable to transmit said selected warranty item to a second user outside of the system, such that said second user may use said system to analyze said selected warranty data item.

27. A method of collecting and analyzing warranty data comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a warranty system including a warranty interface and a storage unit;

(b) displaying a representation of available prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(c) selecting prioritization data trough the warranty interface;

(d) displaying a representation of warranty data items in order of relevance to the selected prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(e) selecting the desired warranty data item trough the warranty interface;

(f) displaying a plurality of dynamic report templates for the selected warranty data item as recalled from the storage unit;

(g) selecting a dynamic report template, the dynamic report template adapted to be modified by criteria that may be selected as needed, wherein the data stored for the selected warranty data item is recalled from the storage unit and imported into the selected dynamic report template;

(h) modifying the selected dynamic report template by entering criteria trough the warranty interface to modify the dynamic report template; and

(i) generating an analysis report using the selected modified dynamic report template and selected warranty data item.

28. The method according to claim 27 wherein no criteria is selected in step (g) to modify the dynamic report template.

29. A method of collecting and analyzing warranty data comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a warranty system including a warranty interface and a storage unit, wherein the warranty system is administered by a warranty group;

(b) displaying a representation of available prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(c) selecting prioritization data through the warranty interface;

(d) displaying a representation of warranty data items in order of relevance to the selected prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(e) determining that a desired warranty data item is available from the representation of warranty data items;

(f) selecting the desired warranty data item through the warranty interface;

(g) displaying at least one dynamic report template for the selected warranty data item as recalled from the storage unit, the dynamic report templates configured to be modified by a user as desired by entering criteria through the warranty interface;

(h) determining that at least one of the dynamic report templates is adequate to perform the desired analysis of the selected warranty data item;

(i) selecting the adequate dynamic report template;

(j) modifying the selected dynamic report template based on criteria entered through the warranty interface,

(k) recalling data stored for the selected warranty data item from the storage unit and importing the data into the modified dynamic report template,

(l) generating an analysis report, using the modified dynamic report template and the recalled data.

30. A method of collecting and analyzing warranty data comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a warranty system including a warranty interface and a storage unit, wherein the warranty system is administered by a warranty group;

(b) displaying a representation of available prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(c) selecting prioritization data through the warranty interface;

(d) displaying a representation of warranty data items in order of relevance to the selected prioritization data upon the warranty interface as recalled from the storage unit;

(e) determining that a desired warranty data item is available from the representation of warranty data items;

(f) selecting the desired warranty data item through the warranty interface;

(g) displaying at least one dynamic report template for the selected warranty data item as recalled from the storage unit, the dynamic report templates configured to be modified by a user as desired by entering criteria through the warranty interface;

(h) determining that at least one of the dynamic report templates is adequate to perform the desired analysis of the selected warranty data item;

(i) selecting the adequate dynamic report template;

(j) recalling data stored for the selected warranty data item from the storage unit and importing the data into the selected dynamic report template,

(k) modifying the selected dynamic report template based on criteria entered through the warranty interface,

(l) generating an analysis report, using the modified dynamic report template and the recalled data.