Project scheduling and management system that uses product data with product classes

• US 9,684,880 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ConnectWise, LLC
• Original Assignee: ConnectWise, LLC
• Inventors: Bellini, III, Arnold, Brotherton, Linda, Isaacs, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): MANSFIELD, THOMAS L
• Application Number:
  US13/837,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,558 Days
• Field of Search: 705 716
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group

Abstract

Systems and methods of the present disclosure facilitate scheduling and managing a project. In some embodiments, the system includes a quoting module, a product data module, and a project planning module executing on at least one processor of a server. The product data module may be configured to store at least one product. The product stored in the project module may have a product class indicating that the product is a labor product, parts product, or agreements product. The system may be configured to copy products from the product data module to the quoting module. The system may be configured to also copy products from the product data module to the project planning module, and generate tasks for the project planning module based on the products.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for automatically scheduling and managing projects, the instructions comprising instructions to:

receive, by a quoting application programming interface (“

API”

) library executed by one or more processors of a server, a first data record comprising a quote for an agreement product in a first format from a quoting module;

translate, via the quoting API library, the agreement product in the quote to a second data record comprising the agreement product in a second format for storage in a product data module, the product data module executed by a second server to manage a data structure, in memory of the second server, configured with a labor class to describe services performed by an entity, a parts class to describe items to be purchased and delivered to a customer, and an agreements class to describe actions performed periodically for the customer, the product data module executed to manage, in the data structure, the agreement product identifying a time interval for maintenance, an amount of time to perform the maintenance, and a skill level to perform the maintenance;

retrieve, via a planning API library executed by the server, the second data record comprising the agreement product in the second format from the product data module;

translate, via the planning API library, the second data record to a project planning data format for storage in a third data record in a project planning module, the third data record comprising the agreement product in the project planning data format;

generate, by the project planning module, schedule data using at least one of the time interval for the maintenance, the amount of time to perform the maintenance, and the skill level to perform the maintenance stored in the project planning data format in the third data record;

receive, via the planning API library, the schedule data from the project planning module in the project data format;

translate, via the planning API library, the schedule data to the second format for storage in the product data module;

receive, by the product data module executed by the second server, the schedule data in the second format;

update, by the product data module, the second data record with the schedule data in the second format;

retrieve, via the quoting API library from the product data module via a network, the updated second data record including the schedule data;

translate, via the quoting API library, the updated second data record to the first format for storage in the quoting module;

receive, by the quoting module executed by the server, via the quoting API library, the updated second data record including the schedule data translated into the first format; and

update, by the quoting module, the first data record with the translated updated second data record.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

obtain a product description and a product class for a second product provided via the product data module;

determine that the product class is a parts product;

determine an inventory sub-class for the second product based on the product description;

generate, based on the product class and the inventory sub-class, a first task for ordering a product corresponding to the product description, the first task comprising a first deadline set based on a timeline for the project; and

generate, responsive to an indication that the part arrived, a second task for installing the product based on the product description.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

identify, based on the second task, an available resource to perform the second task; and

assign the second task to the available resource.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

assign the first task to a staff member based on a skill level indicated by the second product provided via the product data module.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

generate, automatically, based on a plurality of tasks, a project plan.

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the project plan includes a subsequent task that is dependent on a previous task being completed first, and the instructions further comprise instructions to:

determine, based on the product description and the product class, that the subsequent task depends on the previous task being completed first;

identify, based on the product description and the product class, a first available resource to perform the previous task and a second available resource to perform the subsequent task;

generate a task for each of the previous task and the subsequent task;

assign the previous task to the first available resource; and

assign, to the second available resource, the subsequent task responsive to receiving an indication that the previous task has been completed.

7. A system to automatically schedule and manage projects, comprising:

a first server including one or more processors and memory;

a second server including one or more processors and memory;

a quoting application programming interface (“

API”

) library executed by the one or more processors of the first server to receive a first data record comprising a quote for an agreement product in a first format from a quoting module, and translate the agreement product in the quote to a second data record comprising the agreement product in a second format for storage in a product data module, the product data module executed by the second server to manage a data structure, in memory of the second server, configured with a labor class to describe services performed by an entity, a parts class to describe items to be purchased and delivered to a customer, and an agreements class to describe actions performed periodically for the customer, the product data module executed to manage, in the data structure, the agreement product identifying a time interval for maintenance, an amount of time to perform the maintenance, and a skill level to perform the maintenance;

a planning API library executed by the first server to retrieve the second data record comprising the agreement product in the second format from the product data module, and translate the second data record to a project planning data format for storage in a third data record in a project planning module, the third data record comprising the agreement product in the project planning data format;

the project planning module executed by the first server to generate schedule data using at least one of the time interval for the maintenance, the amount of time to perform the maintenance, and the skill level to perform the maintenance stored in the project planning data format in the third data record;

the planning API library executed by the first server to receive the schedule data from the project planning module in the project data format and translate the schedule data to the second format for storage in the product data module;

the product data module executed by the second server to receive the schedule data in the second format and update the second data record stored in the product data module with the schedule data in the second format;

the quoting API library executed by the first server to retrieve, from the product data module executed by the second server, the updated second data record including the schedule data and translate the updated second data record to the first format for storage in the quoting module; and

the quoting module executed by the first server to receive, via the quoting API library, the updated second data record including the schedule data translated into the first format, and store the translated updated second data record in the first data record of the quoting module.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

the project planning module executed by the first server to;

obtain a product description and a product class for a second product provided via the product data module;

determine that the product class is a parts product;

determine, based on the product description, an inventory sub-class for the second product;

generate, based on the product class and the inventory sub-class, a first task for ordering a product corresponding to the product description, the first task comprising a first deadline set based on a timeline for a project; and

generate, responsive to an indication that the part arrived, a second task for installing the product based on the product description.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the project planning module is further configured to:

identify, based on the generated second task, an available resource to perform the task; and

assign the second task to the available resource.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the project planning module is further configured to:

assign the second task to a staff member based on a skill level indicated by the second product provided via the product data module.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the project planning module is configured to:

generate, automatically, based on a plurality of tasks, a project plan.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the project planning module is configured to:

determine, based on the product description and the product class, that the second task depends on the first task being completed first;

identify, based on the product description and the product class, a first available resource to perform the first task and a second available resource to perform the second task;

assign, to the second available resource, the second task responsive to receiving an indication that the first task has been completed.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a ticketing system, and the system is further configured to:

generate, based on at least one of the first task or the second task, a service ticket for the ticketing system.

14. A method of automatically scheduling and managing projects, comprising:

receiving, by a quoting application programming interface (“

API”

) library executed by one or more processors of a server, a first data record comprising a quote for an agreement product in a first format from a quoting module;

translating, via the quoting API library, the agreement product in the quote to a second data record comprising the agreement product in a second format for storage in a product data module, the product data module executed by a second server to manage a data structure, in memory, configured with a labor class to describe services performed by an entity, a parts class to describe items to be purchased and delivered to a customer, and an agreements class to describe actions performed periodically for the customer, the product data module executed to manage, in the data structure, the agreement product identifying a time interval for maintenance, an amount of time to perform the maintenance, and a skill level to perform the maintenance;

retrieving, by a planning API library executed by the server, the second data record comprising the agreement product in the second format from the product data module;

translating, by the planning API library, the second data record to a project planning data format for storage in a third data record in a project planning module, the third data record comprising the agreement product in the project planning data format;

generating, by the project planning module, schedule data using at least one of the time interval for the maintenance, the amount of time to perform the maintenance, and the skill level to perform the maintenance stored in the project planning data format in the third data record;

receiving, via the planning API library, the schedule data from the project planning module in the project data format;

translating, via the planning API library, the schedule data to the second format for storage in the product data module;

receiving, by the product data module executed by the second server via a network, the schedule data in the second format;

updating, by the product data module, the second data record with the schedule data in the second format;

retrieving, via the quoting API library from the product data module via the network, the updated second data record including the schedule data;

translating, via the quoting API library, the updated second data record to the first format for storage in the quoting module;

receiving, by the quoting module executed by the server, via the quoting API library, the updated second data record including the schedule data translated into the first format; and

updating, by the quoting module, the first data record with the translated updated second data record.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

obtaining, by the project planning module executing on the server, a product description and a product class for a second product provided via the product data module;

determining, by the project planning module, that the product class is a parts product;

determining, by the project planning module, an inventory sub-class for the second product based on the product description;

generating, by the project planning module based on the product class and the inventory sub-class, a first task for ordering a product corresponding to the product description, the first task comprising a first deadline set based on a timeline for a project associated with the second product; and

generating, by the project planning module responsive to an indication that the part arrived, a second task for installing the product based on the product description.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying, based on at least one of the first task or the second task, an available resource to perform the at least one of the first task or the second task; and

assigning the at least one of the first task or the second task to the available resource.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

assigning the second task to a staff member based on a skill level indicated by the second product provided via the product data module.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

generating, automatically, a project plan comprising a plurality of tasks of the project.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the project plan includes a subsequent task that is dependent on a previous task being completed first, and the method further comprises:

determining, based on the product description and the product class, that the subsequent task depends on the previous task being completed first;

identifying, based on the product description and the product class, a first available resource to perform the previous task and a second available resource to perform the subsequent task, the first available resource different from the second available resource;

generating, based on the product description and the product class, a task for each of the previous task and the subsequent task;

assigning the previous task to the first available resource; and

assigning, to the second available resource, the subsequent task responsive to receiving an indication that the previous task has been completed.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

generating, based on the first task, a service ticket for a ticketing system executing on the server.