Construction payment management system and method with document tracking features

• US 7,925,584 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2006
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Textura LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Textura LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Eichhorn, William H., Allin, Patrick J., Cherry, Charles C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Apple; Kirsten S
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIU, I JUNG
• Application Number:
  US11/509,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1- 80, 709/232, 702/188, 455/73, 455/78
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction

Abstract

A system and method of managing a construction payment process involving a plurality of participants associated with the construction project and at least one document to be transferred between at least two participants of the plurality participants during the course of the construction project. One method can include assigning at least one enforcement action to the at least one document wherein the enforcement action is automatically effected if the document is not transferred between the at least two participants.

Claims

1. A method of managing a construction payment process involving a plurality of participants associated with a construction project, the method comprising:

defining, using a computer, a plurality of required documents that must be transferred between at least two participants of the plurality of participants during the course of the construction project, wherein the plurality of participants includes a first participant, a second participant, and a third participant;

displaying on a participant device a list of the plurality of required documents that must be provided by the first participant to the third participant;

receiving, from the second participant through the participant device, a selection of one of the plurality of required documents;

receiving, from the second participant through the participant device, a selection of an enforcement action from a list of enforcement actions, wherein the list of enforcement actions includes a withhold payment action;

assigning, by the computer the selected enforcement action to the selected document;

monitoring, by the computer, a status of the selected document; and

automatically effecting, by the computer, the enforcement action if the selected document is not provided by the first participant to the second participant through the computer, wherein, when the selected enforcement action includes the withhold payment action, automatically effecting the enforcement action includes withholding a payment from the third participant to the first participant.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising assigning a status to the selected document.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the status includes at least one of not complete, not signed, signed, not received, received, not received, active, expired, and not applicable.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the status is assigned to the selected document based on a selection electronically received from at least one of the plurality of participants.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the status is automatically assigned.

6. The method of claim 2 and further comprising automatically electronically notifying the at least two participants of the status.

7. The method of claim 2 and further comprising updating the status and automatically electronically notifying the at least two participants of the updated status.

8. The method of claim 1 and further comprising automatically electronically notifying the at least two participants of the selected enforcement action.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of enforcement actions includes a notification action, wherein the selected enforcement action is the notification action, and wherein automatically effecting the enforcement action includes automatically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants if the selected document is not transferred between the at least two participants.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein, when the selected enforcement action is the withhold payment action, automatically effecting the enforcement action further includes automatically electronically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of the held payment.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected document includes at least one of an agreement, a form, and a certificate.

12. The method of claim 1 and further comprising assigning an expiration date to the selected document.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the expiration date is assigned based on a selection electronically received from at least one of the plurality of participants.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the expiration date is automatically assigned.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein automatically effecting the enforcement action includes automatically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of the expiration date on the expiration date.

16. The method of claim 12 and further comprising assigning an expiration notice date to the expiration date.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein automatically effecting the enforcement action includes automatically electronically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of the expiration date on the expiration notice date.

18. The method of claim 1 and further comprising electronically transferring the selected document between the first participant and the second participant.

19. The method of claim 18 and further comprising automatically electronically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of the selected document electronically transferred between the first participant and the second participant.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected document is a lien waiver.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of enforcement actions includes a notification action, a document expiration notification action, and a withhold payment action, and wherein automatically effecting the enforcement action includes

automatically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants if the selected document is not transferred between the at least two participants when the selected enforcement action is the notification action,

automatically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of an expiration date assigned to an expiring document when the selected enforcement action is the document expiration notification action and the selected document is an updated version of the expiring document, and

automatically holding a payment to at least one of the plurality of participants if the selected document is not transferred between the at least two participants when the selected enforcement action is the withhold payment action.

22. The method of claim 1 and further comprising accessing a construction project profile stored on a memory of the computer that identifies the plurality of participants associated with the construction project and a role for each of the plurality of participants in the construction project,

wherein, according to the construction project profile, the third participant is a payor for the construction project, the second participant is a contractor that is contractually subordinate to the third participant for the construction project, the first participant is a contractor that is contractually subordinate to the second participant for the construction project, and the first participant is not directly in contract with the third participant for the construction project.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein, when the selected enforcement action is the withhold payment action, automatically effecting the enforcement action further includes automatically electronically notifying at least one of the plurality of participants of the withhold payment action in response to electronically receiving an invoice from the first participant.