Computer system and method for producing analytical data related to the project bid and requisition process

• US 7,925,568 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2003
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IQNavigator Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Volt Information Sciences Incorporated
• Inventors: Cullen, Andrew A. III, Zilberman, Leonid, Danilov, Ivan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer; James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEMIEUX, JESSICA
• Application Number:
  US10/412,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20040039681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,924 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/37
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A comprehensive, web-enabled computer system and method is provided for producing analytical data related a project bid management system. Transactional data related to the bid and project are entered into the computer system through an on-line bid, project requisition and payment process. Using the transactional data stored within the system, virtually any type of analytical data related to single or multiple projects performed by one or more vendors for one or more buyers can be generated.

Claims

1. A method for producing analytical data in a system for managing one or more projects and one or more bids and having transactional data stored therein, comprising:

conducting an on-line bid process on the system;

entering bid data into data fields of a bid during the on-line bid process as part of the transactional data, the data fields being part of a uniform data structure for the transactional data;

associating the transactional data with a plurality of profiles having a profile type according to the uniform data structure, the plurality of profiles comprising profiles of each having at least one profile type selected from among a vendor-profile type, a buyer-profile type, a commodity-profile type, and a project-profile type;

wherein each of the plurality of profiles comprises profile properties defined for the profile type;

receiving a request for analytical data as a function of the transactional data from a requestor, the request for analytical data comprising a request for aggregate analytical data related to at least one of;

a plurality of projects, a plurality of vendors, a plurality of buyers, and a plurality of commodities;

filtering the transactional data via at least one of the profile properties;

generating the analytical data based on the transactional data in response to the request, the generation comprising aggregately analyzing the filtered transactional data responsive to the request;

providing information indicative of the aggregate analytical data to the requestor; and

wherein the method is performed via one or more computers comprising a processor and memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generation comprises:

aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the at least one of;

a plurality of projects, a plurality of vendors, a plurality of buyers, and a plurality of commodities; and

producing the aggregate transactional data responsive to the aggregation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generation comprises:

computing statistical data; and

aggregating the statistical data to generate the aggregate analytical data responsive to the request.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the plurality of profiles comprises one or more profiles of the project-profile type;

the aggregate analytical data is related to the plurality of projects based on a property of the one or more profiles of the project-profile type; and

the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of projects based on the property of the one or more profiles of the project-profile type to generate the aggregate analytical data.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the request specifies a particular vendor; and

the aggregate analytical data is related to the plurality of projects, the plurality of projects being projects involving the particular vendor; and

the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the particular vendor across the plurality of projects to generate the aggregate analytical data.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of buyers to generate the aggregate analytical data.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of commodities to generate the aggregate analytical data.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with more than one selected from the group consisting of:

the plurality of projects, the plurality of vendors, the plurality of buyers, and the plurality of commodities.

9. The method of claim 1, the method comprising:

collecting, using a computer processor, at least a portion of the transactional data from at least one of;

one or more buyers; and

one or more vendors; and

wherein the collecting is during a plurality of project-work processes comprising pre-bid, bid, and post-bid activities.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transactional data comprises a plurality of components according to the uniform data structure, the plurality of components comprising at least two selected from a group comprising:

bid data, project tracking parameters, voucher information, and project-performance data.

11. The method of claim 1, the method comprising wherein the uniform data structure comprises a structured representation of a portion of the transactional data related to the plurality of buyers, the plurality of vendors, the plurality of commodities, and the plurality of projects.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the transactional data comprises project-tracking parameters.

13. The method of claim 12, the collection comprising receiving voucher information during a project payment process.

14. The method of claim 13, the collection comprising systematically producing project-performance data, the systematically producing comprising comparing the voucher information to ones of the project-tracking parameters.

15. The method of claim 13, the method comprising:

wherein the transactional data comprises project-performance data; and

wherein the collection comprises systematically modifying at least a portion of the project-performance data based on the voucher information, the systematically modifying comprising;

comparing the voucher information to ones of the project tracking parameters; and

modifying the at least a portion of the project-performance data responsive to the comparing.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the project-performance data comprises project-cost information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregate analytical data comprises industry analytical data related to multiple projects commissioned by multiple buyers within an industry.

18. The method of claim 1, the method comprising:

wherein the request includes one or more filters, the one or more filters comprising the at least one of the at least one profile property.

19. The method of claim 1, the method comprising, responsive to the requestor preventing a portion of the transactional data related to the requestor from being accessed by other requestors, limiting the requestor to analytical data based on the portion of the transactional data related to the requestor.

20. A computer-program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

conducting an on-line bid process on the system;

entering bid data into data fields of a bid during the on-line bid process as part of the transactional data, the data fields being part of a uniform data structure for the transactional data;

associating the transactional data with a plurality of profiles having a profile type according to the uniform data structure, the plurality of profiles comprising profiles of each having at least one profile type selected from among a vendor-profile type, a buyer-profile type, a commodity-profile type, and a project-profile type;

wherein each of the plurality of profiles comprises profile properties defined for the profile type;

receiving a request for analytical data as a function of the transactional data from a requestor, the request for analytical data comprising a request for aggregate analytical data related to at least one of;

a plurality of projects, a plurality of vendors, a plurality of buyers, and a plurality of commodities;

filtering the transactional data via at least one of the profile properties;

generating the analytical data based on the transactional data in response to the request, the generation comprising aggregately analyzing the filtered transactional data responsive to the request; and

providing information indicative of the aggregate analytical data to the requestor.

21. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the generation comprises:

aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the at least one of;

a plurality of projects, a plurality of vendors, a plurality of buyers, and a plurality of commodities; and

producing the aggregate transactional data responsive to the aggregation.

22. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the generation comprises:

computing statistical data; and

aggregating the statistical data to generate the aggregate analytical data responsive to the request.

23. The computer-program product of claim 21, wherein:

the plurality of profiles comprises one or more profiles of the project-profile type;

the aggregate analytical data is related to the plurality of projects based on a property of the one or more profiles of the project-profile type; and

the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of projects based on the property of the one or more profiles of the project-profile type to generate the aggregate analytical data.

24. The computer-program product of claim 21, wherein:

the request specifies a particular vendor; and

the aggregate analytical data is related to the plurality of projects, the plurality of projects being projects involving the particular vendor; and

the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the particular vendor across the plurality of projects to generate the aggregate analytical data.

25. The computer-program product of claim 21, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of buyers to generate the aggregate analytical data.

26. The computer-program product of claim 21, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with the plurality of commodities to generate the aggregate analytical data.

27. The computer-program product of claim 21, wherein the generation comprises aggregating a portion of the transactional data that is associated with more than one selected from the group consisting of:

the plurality of projects, the plurality of vendors, the plurality of buyers, and the plurality of commodities.

28. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the method comprises:

collecting, using a computer processor, at least a portion of the transactional data from at least one of;

one or more buyers; and

one or more vendors; and

wherein the collecting is during a plurality of project-work processes comprising pre-bid, bid, and post-bid activities.

29. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the transactional data comprises a plurality of components according to the uniform data structure, the plurality of components comprising at least two selected from a group comprising:

bid data, project tracking parameters, voucher information, and project-performance data.

30. The computer-program product of claim 20, the method comprising wherein the uniform data structure comprises a structured representation of a portion of the transactional data that is related to the plurality of buyers, the plurality of vendors, the plurality of commodities, and the plurality of projects.

31. The computer-program product of claim 28, wherein the transactional data comprises project-tracking parameters.

32. The computer-program product of claim 31, the collection comprising receiving voucher information during a project payment process.

33. The computer-program product of claim 32, the collection comprising systematically producing project-performance data, the systematically producing comprising comparing the voucher information to ones of the project-tracking parameters.

34. The computer-program product of claim 32, the method comprising:

wherein the transactional data comprises project-performance data; and

wherein the collection comprises systematically modifying at least a portion of the project-performance data based on the voucher information, the systematically modifying comprising;

comparing the voucher information to ones of the project tracking parameters; and

modifying the at least a portion of the project-performance data responsive to the comparing.

35. The computer-program product of claim 33, wherein the project-performance data comprises project-cost information.

36. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the aggregate analytical data comprises industry analytical data related to multiple projects commissioned by multiple buyers within an industry.

37. The computer-program product of claim 20, the method comprising:

wherein the request includes one or more filters, the one or more filters comprising the at least one of the at least one profile property.

38. The computer-program product of claim 20, the method comprising, responsive to the requestor preventing a portion of the transactional data related to the requestor from being accessed by other requestors, limiting the requestor to analytical data based on the portion of the transactional data related to the requestor.