Systems and methods for facility optimization

• US 9,818,072 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2010
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Perez, Jr., Jorge, Bell, Jr., Hunter C., Kerster, Robert Graham, Schach, Thomas Michael, Young, Mark A., McGrath, Robert James
• Primary Examiner(s): Gills, Kurtis
• Application Number:
  US12/782,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20110288895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,737 Days
• Field of Search: 705 712
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management

Abstract

Systems and methods create a digital geospatial display of facilities to aid facility management. In one implementation, a system retrieves data for a plurality of facilities from various databases, including, but not limited to, map data for creating maps, location data for the facilities, and resource data for the facilities. The system marks the locations of the facilities on a map display using a facility icon. The facility icon comprises one or more resource status areas, each of which convey information about the state of a resource at a facility. The system calculates the resource status areas of the facility icons based at least on the resource data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilities maintenance, the method comprising:

receiving, from an electronic storage medium, data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising;

map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of facilities;

creating, using at least one processor, one or more facility icons based on the map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data, wherein each of the facility icons is associated with at least one of the selected facilities, each facility icon comprising;

a plurality of geometric areas, wherein each geometric area represents a resource status corresponding to at least one facility resource; and

a visual indicator corresponding to a numerical value or range of the resource status, wherein the visual indicator is associated with the geometric area representing the resource status, and the visual indicator comprises at least one of;

a color coding scheme, a shading scheme, and a geometric pattern;

creating map information for showing locations of the selected facilities on a map, wherein the locations are marked using the facility icons;

displaying the facility icons on a display based on the map information;

receiving a selection of at least one maintenance request related to the at least one facility resource;

recalculating, using the at least one processor, the resource statuses of the selected facilities based on the selection;

updating, using the at least one processor, the map information based on the recalculated resource statuses of the facility icons;

updating, on the display, at least one of the plurality of geometric areas or the visual indicator associated with the facility icons based on the updated map information;

identifying a subset of facilities associated with the at least one maintenance request from the selected facilities, wherein the distances between the subset of facilities are less than a threshold distance;

generating a work order corresponding to the at least one maintenance request for the subset of facilities; and

assigning the work order to a service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request for additional data about at least one selected facility.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating information used to display a facility detail display area for at least one selected facility, the facility detail display area comprising;

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility icon further comprises a shape representing a facility type.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a three-dimensional image of the at least one selected facility at street level.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the work order comprises:

a description of the maintenance issue; and

an identifier of one of the subset of facilities associated with the maintenance issue.

47. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents an optimum level for a facility resource.

48. The method of claim 6, wherein the resource status corresponds to a status comprising one of:

deficient, adequate, and excess.

56. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource status corresponds to at least one projected future facility resource.

12. A system for facilities maintenance, the system comprising:

an electronic storage medium storing data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising;

map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data;

a processor configured to;

create, based on the map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data, one or more facility icons, wherein each of the facility icons is associated with one or more of the plurality of facilities, each facility icon comprising;

a plurality of geometric areas, wherein each geometric area represents a resource status corresponding to at least one facility resource; and

a visual indicator corresponding to a numerical value or range of the resource status, wherein the visual indicator is associated with the geometric area representing the resource status, and the visual indicator comprises at least one of;

a color coding scheme, a shading scheme, and a geometric pattern;

create map information for showing locations of the facilities on a map;

display the facility icons based on the map information;

receive an input regarding at least one maintenance request related to the at least one facility resource;

recalculate the resource statuses of the facilities based on the input;

update the map information with the recalculated resource statuses of the facility icons;

identify a subset of facilities associated with the at least one maintenance request from the selected facilities, wherein the distances between the subset of facilities are less than a threshold distance;

generate a work order corresponding to the at least one maintenance request for the subset of facilities; and

assign the work order to a service provider; and

a display device configured to;

show a map including locations of the plurality of facilities, wherein the locations are marked using the facility icons; and

update at least one of the plurality of geometric areas or the visual indicator associated with the facility icons based on the updated map information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the display device shows a facility detail display area for the first facility, the facility detail display area comprising:

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the work order comprises:

a description of the maintenance issue; and

an identifier of one of the plurality of facilities associated with the maintenance issue.

49. The system of claim 13, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents an optimum level for a facility resource.

50. The system of claim 16, wherein the resource status corresponds to a status comprising one of:

deficient, adequate, and excess.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for creating a digital geospatial display of facilities, including one or more computer readable instructions and configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform operations, comprising:

receiving data for a plurality of facilities, the data comprising;

map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of facilities;

creating, based on the map data, location data, resource data, and competitor data, one or more facility icons, wherein each of the facility icons is associated with one or more of the plurality of facilities, each facility icon comprising;

a plurality of geometric areas, wherein each geometric area represents a resource status corresponding to at least one facility resource; and

a visual indicator corresponding to a numerical value or range of the resource status, wherein the visual indicator is associated with the geometric area representing the resource status, and the visual indicator comprises at least one of;

a color coding scheme, a shading scheme, and a geometric pattern;

creating map information for showing locations of the selected facilities on a map, wherein the locations are marked using the one or more facility icons;

displaying the facility icons on a display based on the map information;

receiving a selection of at least one maintenance request related to the at least one facility resource;

recalculating the resource statuses of the selected facilities based on the selection;

updating the map information based on the recalculated resource statuses of the facility icons;

updating, on the display, at least one of the one or more geometric areas or the visual indicator associated with the facility icons based on the updated map information;

identifying a subset of facilities associated with the at least one maintenance request from the selected facilities, wherein the distances between the subset of facilities are less than a threshold distance;

generating a work order corresponding to the at least one maintenance request for the subset of facilities; and

assigning the work order to a service provider.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, the operations further comprising:

receiving a request for additional data about at least one selected facility.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, the operations further comprising:

creating information used to display a facility detail display area for at least one selected facility comprising;

a facility identifier;

a value for a resource category; and

a desired value for the resource category.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a projected value.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents a current need.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the resource status is based on the difference between the value for the resource category and the desired value for the resource category.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the facility icon further comprises a shape representing a facility type.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the facility icon indicates the facility is part of an active facility node study.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, the operations further comprising displaying a three-dimensional image of at least one selected facility at street level.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the resource data comprises parking capacity, workroom capacity, or retail capacity.

51. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the desired value for the resource category represents an optimum level for a facility resource.

52. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the resource status corresponds to a status comprising one of:

deficient, adequate, and excess.

30. A computer-implemented method for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, comprising:

retrieving, from an electronic storage medium, identifiers of the plurality of facilities;

creating, using at least one processor, information used to display a map showing locations of the plurality of facilities using facility icons, each facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on a resource category comprising at least one of retail capacity, workroom capacity, and lease expense;

displaying the facility icon on a display;

receiving a reassignment of a re-locatable resource from a first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities;

recalculating, using the at least one processor, the resource statuses of facility icons associated with the first facility and the second facility based on the reassignment;

updating, using the at least one processor, the information used to display the map with the recalculated resource statuses of the facility icons;

determining whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint, wherein the restraint prevents reassignment of the re-locatable resource from the first facility to the second facility of the plurality of facilities;

displaying a warning message to a user when the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates the restraint; and

reallocating the re-locatable resource to the second facility when the reassignment does not violate the restraint.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

creating an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising;

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising assigning an expiration date to the facility node study.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the output is a report.

34. The method of claim 30, further comprising creating information to display an identifier for the re-locatable resource, wherein the identifier is capable of being moved through a drag-and-drop operation.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.

53. The method of claim 30, wherein the restraint comprises at least one of:

an internal regulation, a union contract, and an organizational policy.

57. The method of claim 30, further comprising preventing the reassignment of the re-locatable resource that violates the restraint.

36. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, including one or more computer readable instructions configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:

retrieving identifiers of the plurality of facilities;

creating information used to display a map showing locations of the plurality of facilities using facility icons, each facility icon comprising a resource status based at least on a resource category comprising at least one of retail capacity, workroom capacity, and lease expense;

displaying the facility icons on a display;

receiving a reassignment of a re-locatable resource from a first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities;

recalculating the resource statuses of facility icons associated with the first facility and the second facility based on the reassignment;

updating the information used to display the map with the recalculated resource statuses of the facility icons associated with the first facility and the second facility;

determining whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint, wherein the restraint prevents reassignment of the re-locatable resource from the first facility to the second facility of the plurality of facilities;

display a warning message to a user when the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates the restraint; and

reallocating the re-locatable resource to the second facility when the reassignment does not violate the restraint.

37. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 36, the operations further comprising:

creating an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising;

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

38. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 37, the operations further comprising assigning an expiration date to the facility node study.

39. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the output is a report.

40. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 36, the operations further comprising creating information used to display an identifier for the re-locatable resource, wherein the identifier is capable of being moved through a drag-and-drop operation.

41. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.

54. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the restraint comprises at least one of:

an internal regulation, a union contract, and an organizational policy.

42. A system for reallocating resources by creating a digital geospatial display of a plurality of facilities, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions to direct the processor to perform operations;

a display device coupled to the processor, the display having a map showing;

a location of a first facility of the plurality of facilities as a first facility icon, the first facility icon comprising a resource status of the first facility based at least on a resource category comprising at least one of retail capacity, workroom capacity, and lease expense; and

wherein the processor;

receives a reassignment of a re-locatable resource from the first facility to a second facility of the plurality of facilities;

recalculates the resource statuses of the first facility icon and a second facility icon based on the reassignment, the second facility icon comprising a resource status of the second facility based at least on the resource category;

updates the map with the recalculated resource statuses of the first facility icon and the second facility icon;

determines whether the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates a restraint, wherein the restraint prevents reassignment of the re-locatable resource from the first facility to the second facility of the plurality of facilities;

display a warning message to a user when the reassignment of the re-locatable resource violates the restraint; and

reallocates the re-locatable resource to the second facility when the reassignment does not violate the restraint.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the processor creates an output that contains information on a facility node study, the output comprising:

data reflecting the reassignment of the re-locatable resource; and

the resource status of the first facility and the second facility after the reassignment of the re-locatable resource.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the processor assigns an expiration date to the facility node study.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the output is a report.

46. The system of claim 42, wherein the restraint comprises regulations, law, contract obligations, or policies.

55. The system of claim 42, wherein the restraint comprises at least one of:

an internal regulation, a union contract, and an organizational policy.