Search and display of human resources information

• US 9,098,831 B1
• Filed: 12/13/2011
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Miles, Helen Anne, Griffith, Linda, Paterson, Scott, Zeng, Zhen, Levin, Jen M., Spenko, Elizabeth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rayyan, Susan F
• Application Number:
  US13/324,575
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring

Abstract

In various embodiments, tools and user interfaces are provided that cater to the way that many employees desire to view their human resources data and human resources related transactions. These tools can be configured to provide appropriate, distilled contextual information, and transparency to the employment situation of the employee.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing human resources information, the apparatus comprising:

a computer processor programmed for executing computer-readable instructions included within at least one module;

at least one data storage media operatively associated with the computer processor, each data storage media configured to store human resources information;

a tag cloud comprising at least one term or phrase associated with content of the human resources information, wherein;

each term or phrase is programmed to search the human resources information stored in the at least one data storage media and retrieve search results in response to selection of the term or phrase;

each term or phrase having a higher frequency of instantiation is displayed in a larger font compared to terms or phrases having lesser frequency of instantiation; and

,

each term or phrase designated as having greater impetus and importance is highlighted;

wherein each module is programmed for generating a screen display including at least one link associated with the human resources information stored in the at least one data storage media;

wherein at least one screen display is programmed to search for and display the human resources information in accordance with at least one panel, is configured to receive user inputs, and is provided with a toggle feature enabling different views of the human resources information, wherein;

at least one panel is configured to discriminatorily display and highlight information based upon a user'"'"'s status;

at least one panel is configured to display the human resources information as sub-sections and/or sub-portions, wherein selection of the sub-section and/or sub-portion enlarges and/or pops out from the screen display;

at least one panel is configured to provide time-based action notifications in at least one of a calendar view or a list view, each time-based action notification having a relative position on the screen display and provided with status indicators and color-code schemes to illustrate impetus and importance thereof, wherein the relative position is associated with a status of the time-based notification and the time-based notification is automatically moved relative to other time-based notifications based upon the status thereof, wherein the status indicators consist of indicators selected from the group of a to-do indicator, a recommendation indicator, and a confirmation indicator;

at least one panel is provided with an options function enabling access via the links to forms and timelines associated with recommended benefits available to the user of the apparatus, wherein the recommended benefits displayed are automatically determined by the user inputs and the human resources information associated with the at least one panel;

at least one panel is configured to automatically select and display career development classes based upon the user inputs related to identification for future placement or promotion; and

,

at least one panel is configured to demonstrate an impact of various options;

wherein at least one module is a learning center module and the apparatus is configured to utilize the learning center module as a central location for presenting a plurality of the panels in a hierarchy and facilitating access to each data storage media;

wherein at least one panel is configured to communicate alerts to users; and

,

wherein communication preferences are predetermined to facilitate communications between the apparatus and the user through a medium or in a format that is desired by the user.

2. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the modules further comprise a user presentation module, a notification module, a compensation module, a benefits module, a retirement module, a career development module, and a profile module.

3. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the panels comprise a notification panel, a compensation panel, a benefits panel, a retirement panel, and a career development panel.

4. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the time-based action notifications are configured to be exported to a Lotus Notes or Outlook calendar.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one module is further programmed to display a human resources information center including at least one step-by-step guide, each step-by-step guide being programmed to include all areas that affect an employee for a given topic and provided with at least one of the links to the forms and timelines.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one module is provided with a browse by category function programmed to search the human resources information by at least one category.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one module is further programmed for communicating a set of most popular topics as possible search terms.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the learning center module is programmed to display the hierarchy in response to the user'"'"'s entry point for accessing the learning center module.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the human resources information includes at least one article.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one panel is configured to enable scheduling of future events.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one timeline is configured to highlight upcoming events in response to user inputs and existing human resources information.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one options function is configured to provide the recommended benefits in response to user inputs and existing human resources information.