Computer-implemented method and system for collecting and communicating inspection information for a mechanism

• US 7,613,627 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2004
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Graham, John, Doyle, Dennis, Santer, Kevin, Benakovich, Michael, Retzbach, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): DeCady; Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Robertson; Dave
• Application Number:
  US10/770,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20050171829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,101 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls

Abstract

An automated and computer-implemented method for collecting and communicating inspection information for a mechanism. The method includes receiving repair order information from a repair order, generating an electronic inspection form, including a questionnaire for inputting inspection information, receiving inspection information which is input into the questionnaire of the electronic inspection form, and transmitting at least a portion of each of the inspection information and the repair information to cause the repair order to be appended with the transmitted information to obtain an appended repair order. The information contained on the appended repair order is suitable for communication to an individual requesting repair of the mechanism.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for collecting and communicating inspection information for a mechanism, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first computer, repair order information from an original electronic repair order to initiate a repair on the mechanism;

generating, at the first computer, an electronic inspection form including a questionnaire for inputting inspection information;

receiving, into the electronic inspection form, the inspection information while in the process of repairing the mechanism based on the repair order information;

determining whether the electronic inspection form is complete based on whether at least one of the electronic inspection form is generated and the inspection information is received;

transmitting, to a second computer, concurrent with the process of repairing the mechanism based on the repair order information, at least a portion of the received inspection information and the repair order information;

causing the original electronic repair order, at the second computer, to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain an electronic appended repair order, wherein information contained on the electronic appended repair order is suitable for communication to an individual requesting repair of the mechanism;

executing at least one of the steps of generating the electronic inspection form and receiving the inspection information, and the step of determining whether the electronic inspection form is complete one or more times; and

determining a value for a technician based metric which corresponds to a number of electronic inspection forms processed with a complete inspection as a percentage of those available to be completed by a technician based on the number of times the at least one of the steps of generating the electronic inspection form and receiving the inspection information are executed, and the step of determining whether the electronic inspection form is executed.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating information from the electronic appended repair order to the individual.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting an e-mail alert or electronic notification for alerting a service advisor of at least a portion of the inspection information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the repair order information is received by a service management (SM) computer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the questionnaire includes a plurality of inspection items, each inspection item including two or more attention level indicators, the two or more attention level indicators including a green indicator, a yellow indicator, and a red indicator.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising accessing the appended repair order, wherein the attention level for each inspection item contained in the electronic appended repair order is used as the basis for following up with the customer regarding potential service on the mechanism.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the mechanism is an automobile.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a first value for a first technician based metric which corresponds to a number of electronic inspection forms processed per day by the technician.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising executing the steps of causing the original electronic repair order to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain the electronic appended repair order and determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print one or more times.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining a value for a cashier based metric which corresponds to a number of electronic appended repair orders printed as a percentage of those available to print based on the number of times the steps of causing the original electronic repair order to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain the electronic appended repair order and determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print are executed.

12. A computer-implemented method for collecting and communicating inspection information for a mechanism, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first computer, repair order information from an original electronic repair order to initiate a repair on the mechanism;

generating, at the first computer, an electronic inspection form including a questionnaire for inputting inspection information;

receiving, into the electronic inspection form, the inspection information while in the process of repairing the mechanism based on the repair order information;

transmitting, to a second computer, concurrent with the process of repairing the mechanism based on the repair order information, at least a portion of the received inspection information and the repair order information;

causing the original electronic repair order, at the second computer, to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain an electronic appended repair order;

wherein information contained on the electronic appended repair order is suitable for communication to an individual requesting repair of the mechanism;

determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print;

executing the steps of causing the original electronic repair order to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain the electronic appended repair order and determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print one or more times; and

determining a value for a cashier based metric which corresponds to a number of the electronic appended repair orders printed as a percentage of those available to print based on the number of times the steps of causing the original electronic repair order to be appended with the at least a portion of the received inspection information to obtain the electronic appended repair order and determining whether the electronic appended repair order is available to print is executed.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining whether the electronic inspection form is complete based on whether at least one of the electronic inspection form is generated and the inspection information is received.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising executing at least one of the steps of generating the electronic inspection form and receiving the inspection information, and the step of determining whether the electronic inspection form is complete one or more times.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining a value for a technician based metric which corresponds to a number of electronic inspection forms processed with a complete inspection as a percentage of those available to be completed by a technician based on the number of times the at least one of the steps of generating the electronic inspection form and receiving the inspection information are executed, and the step of determining whether the electronic inspection form is executed.