Document tracking tool

• US 9,639,870 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Keshkamat, Sameer, GhoushalKumar, Prabir, Choudhury, Gautam, Hagalwadi, Suhail
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Seye
• Application Number:
  US13/842,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20140279322A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 705 32, 705 722, 385 113, 385 115
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Tracking technology, in which document information for at least one document received for processing by a document processing system is obtained. The document processing system is configured to process the at least one document in stages that are performed by at least two different applications operated by at least two separate hardware systems. Status updates indicative of processing of the at least one document in each of the stages are obtained. A progress of the processing of the at least one document in each of the stages based on the status updates is tracked. The at least one document meets one or more pre-defined processing requirements related to the processing are evaluated. Information about the stages of the processing of the at least one document based on the tracked progress and the evaluation is reported.

Claims

1. A document tracking system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a document processing system and through a communication network, document information for at least one document received for processing by the document processing system, the document processing system configured to process the at least one document in stages that are performed by at least two different applications operated by at least two separate hardware systems that are remote from the document tracking system, wherein each of the at least two different applications performs at least one same stage of the stages that are performed to process the at least one document;

receiving, from the document processing system and through the communication network, status updates indicative of a current stage of processing and a start time of the current stage of processing of the at least one document by the at least two different applications operated by the at least two separate hardware systems;

tracking a progress of the processing of the at least one document in each of the stages based on the status updates;

determining, based on the current stage and the start time of the current stage, whether a processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed a processing delay limit; and

transmitting, to a customer device and a service provider device through the communication network and based on a determination that the processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit, an alert indicating that the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein tracking the progress comprises tracking data that describes, for each of the at least one document, one or more completed stages of the stages, an in progress stage of the stages, and one or more next stages of the stages, and

wherein transmitting the alert further comprises transmitting the tracking data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the status updates comprises receiving, from each of the at least two separate hardware systems, the status updates associated with the stages performed by the at least two different applications operated by the at least two separate hardware systems.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the status updates comprises, for each stage that has been completed for a document, receiving the start time describing when processing of the document in the stage was begun and an end time describing when processing of the document in the stage was completed.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the status updates comprises, for each stage that has been begun processing for a document, receiving the start time describing when processing of the document in the stage was begun.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the status updates comprises receiving, for each stage, the unique reference number for each document being processed by the stage,

wherein tracking the progress comprises, for each document, determining the stage of processing the document based on the unique reference number of the document in the status updates.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the document information comprises receiving at least one document or at least one indication that identifies at least one document received for processing by the document processing system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining whether the processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit comprises:

comparing a progress of the processing to one or more processing requirements for the current stage;

detecting that the processing is estimated to fail to satisfy the one or more processing requirements based on the comparison; and

generating an alert based on the detection.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein comparing comprises:

determining that an estimated processing time for remaining stages is greater than a time remaining for processing based on the one or more processing requirements.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the estimated process time for the remaining stages based on received status updates.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving document information for at least one document received for processing by a document processing system comprises receiving document information for at least a physical paper, a writing conveying information, a computer file containing information, product packaging, images, or video.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein transmitting, to a customer device and a service provider device through the communication network, the alert comprises transmitting information, to the customer device, that enables the customer device to display to a user a summary of different documents being processed that have failed to satisfy one or more processing requirements.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein transmitting the alert comprises:

receiving a search query identifying the at least one document; and

transmitting information regarding the progress of the at least one document in response to the query.

14. They system of claim 13, wherein transmitting the alert further comprises:

transmitting an interface to the customer device for a user to input the search query.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein transmitting the alert comprises:

transmitting a summary of processing progress of different documents by customer.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations are performed in a real-time manner.

17. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

a status database storing the obtained status updates; and

a requirement database storing the one or more processing requirements.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the two different applications comprise different stages.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, from a document processing system and through a communication network, document information for at least one document received for processing by the document processing system, the document processing system configured to process the at least one document in stages that are performed by at least two different applications operated by at least two separate hardware systems that are remote from the document tracking system, wherein each of the at least two different applications performs at least one same stage of the stages that are performed to process the at least one document;

receiving, from the document processing system and through the communication network, status updates indicative of a current stage of processing and a start time of the current stage of processing of the at least one document by the at least two different applications operated by the at least two separate hardware systems;

tracking a progress of the processing of the at least one document in each of the stages based on the status updates;

determining, based on the current stage and the start time of the current stage, whether a processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed a processing delay limit; and

transmitting, to a customer device and a service provider device through the communication network and based on a determination that the processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit, an alert indicating that the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit.

20. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a document processing system and through a communication network, document information for at least one document received for processing by the document processing system, the document processing system configured to process the at least one document in stages that are performed by at least two different applications operated by at least two separate hardware systems that are remote from the document tracking system, wherein each of the at least two different applications performs at least one same stage of the stages that are performed to process the at least one document;

receiving, from the document processing system and through the communication network, status updates indicative of a current stage of processing and a start time of the current stage of processing of the at least one document by the at least two different applications operated by the at least two separate hardware systems;

tracking a progress of the processing of the at least one document in each of the stages based on the status updates;

determining, based on the current stage and the start time of the current stage, whether a processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed a processing delay limit; and

transmitting, to a customer device and a service provider device through the communication network and based on a determination that the processing delay of the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit, an alert indicating that the current stage is expected to exceed the processing delay limit.