System and methods for managing dynamic teams

• US 8,527,312 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2012
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Orbidyne Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Orbidyne Incorporated
• Inventors: Taix, Ron, McAninch, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): RANKINS, WILLIAM E
• Application Number:
  US13/482,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20120239454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• Field of Search: 705 713- 716, 705/7.21, 705/7.26
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A system and methods for managing dynamic teams and workflows is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system and methods include processes for dynamically creating and modifying a team-based workflow. In one instance, the system and methods may include processes for defining a plurality of generic roles, assigning participants to the team, defining focus items, associating the focus items with the plurality of generic roles, and assigning each of the participants at least one of the plurality of generic roles. Additionally, the system and methods may include processes that manage workflows by providing interactive prompts that provide information to direct participants to perform certain actions and providing mechanisms to communicate responses to the interactive responses to other participants based on their assigned generic roles.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for dynamically creating and modifying a team-based workflow, comprising:

assigning, by a computer system, participants to a team;

receiving, by the computer system, information defining generic roles for the participants;

defining, by the computer system, a plurality of focus items;

assigning, by the computer system, participants to one or more of the generic roles;

associating, by the computer system in response to the assigning participants to one or more generic roles, the focus items with the generic role assignments such that for each assigned generic role there is a corresponding unique focus item;

creating, by the computer system, a workflow that presents messages related to a focus item to participants with a role assignment for the focus item; and

automatically modifying, by the computer system, the workflow in response to a received change to one or more generic role assignments for one or more participants of the team.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying the workflow includes:

modifying, by the computer system, the workflow such that a notification relating to a first focus item associated with a first generic role assignment that is to be provided to a first participant of the team is changed to reflect the change in the one or more generic role assignments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying the workflow includes modifying the assignment of participants to the team based on the change to the one or more generic role assignments.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, a communication corresponding to a first focus item;

filtering, by the computer system, the communication based upon the first focus item; and

presenting, by the computer system, the communication only to the participants assigned generic roles associated with the first focus item, wherein the communication is presented differently to each of the participants based on the participant'"'"'s assigned generic role.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, a request for authorization to access protected content relating to a first focus item;

providing, by the computer system, an identifier to verify that a participant is assigned to the team;

verifying, by the computer system, the participant has a role assignment for the first focus item; and

granting, by the computer system, access to the protected focus item content if the role assignment includes access privileges or denying access to the protected focus item content if the role assignment does not include access privileges.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigning participants to one or more generic roles includes applying the generic role assignments to a responsibility assignment matrix that associates the one or more generic role assignments to the participants, and wherein modifying the workflow includes:

receiving a change to the responsibility assignment matrix that reflects the change of one or more generic role assignments for one or more participants of the team; and

automatically modifying the workflow in response to the change to the one or more generic role assignments in the responsibility assignment matrix.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including program instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a process to dynamically create and modify a team-based workflow, the process comprising:

assigning participants to a team;

defining a plurality of generic roles for the participants;

defining a plurality of focus items;

assigning participants to one or more of the generic roles;

associating, in response to the assigning participants to one or more generic roles, the focus items with the generic role assignments such that for each assigned generic role there is a corresponding unique focus item;

creating a workflow that presents messages related to a focus item to participants with a role assignment for the focus item; and

automatically modifying the workflow in response to a received change to one or more generic role assignments for one or more participants of the team.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein automatically modifying the workflow includes:

modifying the workflow such that a notification relating to a focus item associated with a first generic role that is to be provided to a first participant of the team is changed to reflect the change in the one or more generic role assignments.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the process further comprises:

receiving a communication corresponding to a first focus item;

filtering the communication based upon the first focus item; and

presenting the communication only to the participants assigned roles associated with the first focus item, such that the communication is presented differently to each of the participants based on the participant'"'"'s assigned generic roles.

10. A system for managing workflows, comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable code relating to managing workflows; and

a processor that executes the computer-executable code to perform a workflow management process, the process including;

determining from a group of participants a first set of participants based on a first focus item such that participants assigned generic roles associated with the first focus item are included in the first set of participants, wherein the generic role assignments include an ‘

R’

role, reflecting a participant responsible to perform work relating to the first focus item, an ‘

A’

role, reflecting a participant accountable for approving the first focus item work, a ‘

C’

role, reflecting a participant that contributes to the completion of the first focus item work, and an ‘

I’

role, reflecting a participant that stays informed of work progress for the first focus item,

generating, for each participant in the first set of participants based on the first focus item, an interactive prompt relating to the participant'"'"'s assigned generic role, the interactive prompt including information reflecting one or more actions to be performed by the participant based on the participant'"'"'s assigned generic role, wherein the interactive prompts include information reflecting at least one of requests to perform the first focus item work, requests to approve or reject the first focus item work, requests to contribute to the completion of the first focus item work, and requests to stay informed of progress relating to the first focus item work,

providing to each participant in the first set of participants, a corresponding interactive prompt based on the participant'"'"'s assigned generic role for the first focus item, wherein the corresponding interactive prompts for a participant with a first generic role is different than the corresponding interactive prompt for a second participant with a second generic role that is different from the first generic role,

receiving responses to the corresponding interactive prompts by one or more of the participants in the first set of participants, and

managing the workflow of the first set of participants based on the received responses.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the workflow management process includes:

generating, for each participant with an ‘

R’

role assignment an interactive prompt requesting performance of the corresponding first focus item work;

generating, for each participant with a ‘

C’

role assignment an interactive prompt requesting contribution to the completion of the first focus item work;

generating, for each participant with an ‘

R’

role assignment an interactive prompt requesting submission of information reflecting the completion of the first focus item work; and

generating for a participant with an ‘

A’

role assignment, in response to receiving from one or more participants having an ‘

R’

role the submission of information reflecting the completion of the first focus item work, an interactive prompt requesting approval of the submitted first focus item work.