Methods and apparatus for assessing operational process quality and risk

• US 8,036,928 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2009
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fred E. Sommers, Robert A. Fawls
• Original Assignee: Fred E. Sommers, Robert A. Fawls
• Inventors: Sommers, Fred E., Fawls, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett; Scott L
• Application Number:
  US12/468,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/7.28
• US Class Current: 705/7.28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for assessing operational process quality and risk of an entity or a group of entities. The present invention enables a user to effectively compare one or more events, representing what actually happened, with a reference, which represents ideal performance in terms of operational process quality and risk, and express the corresponding results in quantitative terms. The present invention is capable of presenting results in a form and with sufficient rapidity that a human decision-maker is able to timely observe conditions which represent unacceptable quality or excessive risk and respond appropriately.

Claims

1. A method for assessing operational process quality comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one entity which holds a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest in or obligation with respect to cash and at least one metric with respect to a pre-selected cash-affecting operational process of interest of said at least one entity, said at least one metric having substantial correlation to cash-affecting operational process quality for said operational process, wherein said at least one metric includes one or more factors or dimensions each of which is represented by a combination of an identifier and one or more values which correspond, respectively, to one or more values of the factors or dimensions at different points in time, and wherein said operational process comprises one or more events, which follow from or are necessary to initiate, sustain, maintain or terminate a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest or obligation with respect to said cash;

obtaining data from one or more sources which represent at least one actual initial cash-affecting condition for said at least one entity;

selecting event data which represent continuous observations of the actual performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process during a time period of interest wherein said event data comprises a plurality of events and each of said events comprises an action, transaction or omission with respect to said cash that affects the value of said at least one entity;

applying, using at least one processor of a computer system, one or more process measures and rules, which represent ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality, to the selected event data to produce intermediate results, wherein said intermediate results represent a comparison of actual performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process with ideal performance in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality for said at least one entity, wherein said ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process is defined by at least one rule and said comparison comprises a determination whether each of said events is compliant with said at least one rule, wherein said at least one rule comprises one or more logical expressions which represent an express, implied or mandated legal requirement or other expectation, wherein said at least one process measure comprises one or more logical expressions used to calculate operational process quality;

applying the identified at least one metric to said intermediate results, using said at least one processor of a computer system, to calculate an operational value at risk in quantitative terms, whereby a condition which represents a potential loss for said at least one entity is identified prior to recognition of an actual loss occurring; and

expressing substantially in real-time, using a graphical display of said computer system, said calculated operational value at risk in quantitative terms.

2. A computer readable medium, including program instructions executing on at least one processor of a computer, the computer readable medium including program instructions for a method for assessing operational process quality comprising:

identifying at least one entity which holds a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest in or obligation with respect to cash and at least one metric with respect to a pre-selected cash-affecting operational process of interest of said at least one entity, said at least one metric having substantial correlation to cash-affecting operational process quality for said operational process, wherein said at least one metric includes one or more factors or dimensions each of which is represented by a combination of an identifier and one or more values which correspond, respectively, to one or more values of the factors or dimensions at different points in time, and wherein said operational process comprises one or more events, which follow from or are necessary to initiate, sustain, maintain or terminate a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest or obligation with respect to said cash;

providing a data store using a computer memory or computer data storage device;

obtaining data from said data store which represent at least one actual initial cash-affecting condition for said at least one entity;

selecting event data from said data store which represent continuous observations of the actual performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process during a time period of interest wherein said event data comprises a plurality of events and each of said events comprises an action, transaction or omission with respect to said cash that affects the value of said at least one entity;

providing a process measures and rules store using said computer memory or computer data storage device, which contains at least one process measure and at least one rule pertaining to said preselected cash-affecting operational process;

applying, using at least one processor of a computer system and said process measures and rules store, one or more process measures and rules, which represents ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality, to the selected event data to produce intermediate results which represent a comparison of actual performance of said preselected cash-affecting operational process with ideal performance in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality for said at least one entity, wherein said ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process is defined by at least one rule and said comparison comprises a determination whether each of said events is compliant with said at least one rule, wherein said at least one rule comprises one or more logical expressions which represent an express, implied or mandated legal requirement or other expectation, wherein said at least one process measure comprises one or more logical expressions used to calculate operational process quality;

providing a metric store, using said computer memory or computer data storage device, which contains said at least one metric;

applying said at least one metric to said intermediate results, using said metric store and said at least one processor of a computer system, to calculate an operational value at risk in quantitative terms for said at least one entity, whereby a condition which represents a potential loss for said at least one entity is identified prior to recognition of an actual loss occurring; and

expressing substantially in real-time, using a graphical display of said computer system, said calculated operational value at risk in quantitative terms.

3. A computer system for assessing operational process quality comprising:

at least one computer operable by a user to identify at least one entity which holds a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest in or obligation with respect to cash and at least one metric with respect to a pre-selected cash-affecting operational process of interest of said at least one entity, said at least one metric having substantial correlation to cash-affecting operational process quality for said operational process, wherein said at least one metric includes one or more factors or dimensions each of which is represented by a combination of an identifier and one or more values which correspond, respectively, to one or more values of the factors or dimensions at different points in time, and wherein said operational process comprises one or more events, which follow from or are necessary to initiate, sustain, maintain or terminate a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest or obligation with respect to said cash;

at least one computer memory or computer data storage device providing a data store that includes data which represents at least one actual initial cash-affecting condition for said at least one entity;

said at least one computer operable by said user to select event data from said data store which represent continuous observations of the actual performance of a pre-selected cash-affecting operational process during a time period of interest wherein said event data comprises a plurality of events and each of said events comprises an action, transaction or omission with respect to said cash that affects the value of said at least one entity;

said at least one computer operable by said user to apply one or more process measures and rules, which represents ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality, to the selected event data to produce intermediate results which represent a comparison of actual performance of said preselected cash-affecting operational process with ideal performance in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality for said at least one entity, wherein said ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process is defined by at least one rule and said comparison comprises a determination whether each of said events is compliant with said at least one rule, wherein said at least one rule comprises one or more logical expressions which represent an express, implied or mandated legal requirement or other expectation, wherein said at least one process measure comprises one or more logical expressions used to calculate operational process quality;

said at least one computer operable by said user to apply said at least one metric to said intermediate results, to calculate an operational value at risk in quantitative terms, whereby a condition which represents a potential loss for said at least one entity is identified prior to recognition of an actual loss occurring; and

said at least one computer coupled to a graphical display operable by said user to display said calculated operational value at risk substantially in real-time, whereby a condition which represents a potential loss for said at least one entity is identified prior to recognition of an actual loss occurring.

4. A method for assessing operational process quality comprising the steps of:

identifying a plurality of entities each of which holds a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest in or obligation with respect to cash;

pre-selecting at least one cash-affecting operational process for quality assessment, wherein said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process comprises one or more events which follow from or are necessary to initiate, sustain, maintain or terminate a legal, beneficial, contractual, regulatory or other interest or obligation with respect to said cash;

identifying, for said at least one cash-affecting operational process, at least one metric which has substantial correlation to cash-affecting operational process quality for said at least one cash-affecting operational process, wherein said at least one metric includes one or more factors or dimensions each of which is represented by a combination of an identifier and one or more values which correspond, respectively, to one or more values of the factors or dimensions at different points in time;

obtaining data from one or more sources which represent at least one actual initial condition for each of said entities;

continuously observing, for a pre-selected period of time, events which relate to all of said entities and which represent actual performance of said at least one cash-affecting operational process, wherein each of said events comprises an action, transaction or omission with respect to said cash that affects the value of all of said entities;

applying, using at least one processor of a computer system, one or more process measures and rules, which represent ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality, to the selected event data to produce intermediate results, wherein said intermediate results represent a comparison of actual performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process with ideal performance in terms of cash-affecting operational process quality for said plurality of entities, wherein said ideal performance of said pre-selected cash-affecting operational process is defined by at least one rule and said comparison comprises a determination whether each of said events is compliant with said at least one rule, wherein said at least one rule comprises one or more logical expressions which represent an express, implied or mandated legal requirement or other expectation, wherein said at least one process measure comprises one or more logical expressions used to calculate operational process quality;

applying said at least one metric to said intermediate results, using said at least one processor of a computer system, to calculate an operational value at risk for at least one of said plurality of entities in quantitative terms, whereby a condition which represents a potential loss for said at least one entity is identified prior to recognition of an actual loss occurring; and

expressing substantially in real-time, using a graphical display of said computer system, said calculated operational value at risk for at least one of said entities in quantitative terms.