System and method for providing handheld field force data gathering automation in a big box retail environment

• US 9,785,895 B1
• Filed: 11/10/2013
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Reflexis Systems, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Stan, Maranville, Joe, Steele, Nick
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Folashade
• Application Number:
  US14/076,262
• Time in Patent Office: 1,430 Days
• Field of Search: 705 8, 705 742
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for tracking service representative activity and data. Service representatives are equipped with handheld devices that are configured to execute question and instruction sequences during a service call. Worksheets containing such surveys and instruction sequences may be periodically transmitted to the handheld device from a backend server. The handheld device records the times at which the service representative enters and exits a retail location and the times at which particular tasks are started and completed. The worksheets allow service representatives to enter relevant data into the handheld device. Such data may include digital images, signatures and the like. All data collected at the handheld devices may be transmitted via a network or other communication link to a secure backend server, where it stored in a database and made available for query by a reporting module.

Claims

1. A system for providing service representation for a vendor which prevents tampering of data associated with one or more products sold at a retail location, the method comprising:

a beacon provided at the retail location that emits a first signal encoded with a unique retail center identifier and the current date and time;

a handheld device configured for displaying a sequence of prompts from a worksheet, and for receiving user input in response to said prompts, said user input comprising data from the worksheet collected during a service call at the retail location, each worksheet comprising a survey that includes sequence of instructions and questions about one or more products of the vendor sold at the retail location that guide a service representative through a service call at the retail location, the handheld device comprises a digital camera device for recording digital images during the service call, the digital images corresponding to answers of questions provided in the survey, the handheld device further comprises a bar code scanner device for scanning bar codes during the service call;

wherein the handheld device is configured with a receiver for receiving a first signal upon entry into the retail location, the handheld device automatically records and associates the unique retail center identifier and a current date and time with the worksheet on the handheld device in response to detecting the first signal and in response to the handheld device being physically located within the retail location, the handheld device receiving a second signal upon exiting the retail location, the second signal causing the handheld device to display a message asking if the service representative is ready to synchronize the data from the worksheet with the server and if a communication link exists between the handheld device and a server, the second signal comprising the current date and time which is associated by the handheld device with the worksheet to indicate a completion time and date for the worksheet, wherein the service call comprises multiple tasks;

wherein the handheld device is further configured to record as data the times at which the service representative begins and completes the service call; and

wherein the handheld device is further configured to record as data the times at which the service representative begins and completes each task during the service call;

the beacon at the retail center prevents tampering of the data in the worksheet from the service representative by emitting the first and second signals for supplying accurate time, date, and the unique retail center identifier which are associated with the completed worksheet, the unique retail center identifier is only available from the first signal emitted by the beacon and helps prevents tampering of the user input comprising data from the worksheet collected during the service call at the retail location since the handheld device will not display the sequence of prompts from the worksheet without the unique retail center identifier provided by the beacon at the retail location.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a server in communication with said handheld device via a network, said server configured for receiving the data from the handheld device and storing the data in a database.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a network device in communication with said server via the network, said network device configured for interacting with a reporting module for querying the database and for generating a report based on the data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the reporting module is hosted by the server and is accessed via the network by the network device.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the reporting module is executed locally by the network device.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the server stores uploaded data in the database that is queried by a reporting module in order to generate reports;

and wherein said reporting module is hosted by the server and is accessed via a network by a network device.

7. A system for field force automation in a retail environment that prevents tampering of data associated with one or more products sold in the retail environment, the system comprising:

means for providing a plurality of computer-implemented worksheets, each worksheet comprising a survey that includes sequence of instructions and questions about one or more products of the vendor sold at retail centers that are intended to guide service representatives through service calls in the retail centers;

means for storing said worksheets at a server;

means for downloading said worksheets from the server to a plurality of handheld devices operated by the service representatives, wherein each service representative enters a plurality of retail centers to perform the service calls while interacting with selected ones of the worksheets, each handheld device comprising a digital camera device for recording digital images during a service call, the digital images corresponding to answers of questions provided in the survey, each handheld device further comprising a bar code scanner device for scanning bar codes during a service call;

receiving data with each handheld device based on a respective service representative interacting with a worksheet;

means for emitting a first signal with a beacon at a respective retail center encoded with a unique retail center identifier and the current date and time;

means for configuring each handheld device with a receiver for receiving the first signal upon entry into a retail center;

means for automatically recording and associating the unique retail center identifier and the current date and time with a worksheet on each handheld device in response to detecting the first signal and in response to the handheld device being physically located within a retail center having the beacon; and

means for emitting a second signal with the beacon at the respective retail center that is received by each handheld device upon exiting a retail location, the second signal comprising the current date and time which is associated by the handheld device with the worksheet to indicate a completion time and date for the worksheet;

in response to receiving the second signal, each handheld device displaying a message asking if the service representative is ready to synchronize data from a worksheet with the server and if a communication link exists between the handheld device and the server, the beacon at the retail center preventing tampering of the data in the worksheet from the service representative by emitting the first and second signals for supplying accurate time, date, and the unique retail center identifier which are associated with a completed worksheet;

wherein the means for providing said worksheets comprises means for selecting a plurality of questions and instructions from a database of re-usable questions and instructions, each re-usable question and instruction identified by a unique identifier;

the unique retail center identifier is only available from the first signal emitted by the beacon and helps prevents tampering of the user input comprising data from the worksheet collected during the service call at the retail location since the handheld device will not display the sequence of prompts from the worksheet without the unique retail center identifier provided by the beacon at the retail location.

8. The system of claim 7, comprising means for receiving the data input to the handheld devices at the server for storage in a database.

9. The system of claim 8, comprising means or querying the database to generate a report that indicates the service levels provided by the service representatives.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the data input to the handheld devices includes digital signatures of retail associates.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the signal comprises an infrared signal.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising means for assigning a relative complexity rating to each worksheet that is used to evaluate the level of effort required by the services representatives to complete the worksheet.

13. A method for field force automation in a retail environment that prevents tampering of data associated with one or more products sold in the retail environment, the method comprising:

receiving at the handheld device a plurality of worksheets, each comprising a survey that includes sequence of instructions and questions related to one or more tasks to be performed in a retail center during a service call, each handheld device comprising a digital camera device for recording digital images during a service call, the digital images corresponding to answers of questions provided in the survey, each handheld device further comprising a bar code scanner device for scanning bar codes during a service call;

generating a first signal with a beacon provided at the retail center, the first signal being encoded with a unique retail center identifier and the current date and time;

receiving the first signal with the handheld device upon entry into the retail center;

executing a selected worksheet with the handheld device,

automatically recording and associating the current date and time and a retail center identifier from a first signal with the selected worksheet by the handheld device in response to the handheld device being physically located within a retail center;

receiving data with the handheld device that is in response to the sequence of instructions and questions of the selected worksheet in order to input data relating to products of a vendor sold at the retail center into the handheld device;

obtaining at least one digital signature with the handheld device from an associate of the retail center to indicate that a service call is complete;

generating a second signal with the beacon at the retail center;

receiving the second signal by the handheld device upon exiting a retail location, the second signal comprising the current date and time which is associated by the handheld device with the worksheet to indicate a completion time and date for the worksheet;

in response to receiving the second signal, the handheld device displaying a message asking if the service representative is ready to synchronize data from a worksheet with the server and if a communication link exists between the handheld device and the server, wherein the service call comprises multiple tasks executed by the handheld device; and

recording as data with the handheld device the times at which the service representative begins and completes each task during the service call, wherein the beacon at the retail center prevents tampering of the data in the worksheet from the service representative by emitting the first and second signals for supplying accurate time, date, and the unique retail center identifier which are associated with the completed worksheet, the unique retail center identifier is only available from the first signal emitted by the beacon and helps prevents tampering of the user input comprising data from the worksheet collected during the service call at the retail location since the handheld device will not display the sequence of prompts from the worksheet without the unique retail center identifier provided by the beacon at the retail location.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising uploading the data from the handheld device to a secure server.