Digital workroom

• US 9,940,594 B1
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elance Incorporation
• Original Assignee: Elance Incorporation
• Inventors: Rosati, Fabio, Poon, Yuet Ping, Kovuru, Rajasekhar L., Sinha, Ved Ranjan, Arasu, Ayyappan, Gianola, Maurizio A., Hahn, Anthony M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mansfield, Thomas L
• Assistant Examiner(s): GURSKI, AMANDA KAREN
• Application Number:
  US13/962,714
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring

Abstract

A workroom is automatically established for each job created and is associated with a unique email address. The workroom allows members to hold live meetings, communicate in real-time, including via email, upload/manage/share files, and automatically provide transcripts of communication. The workroom also allows team members to launch work trackers directly from the workroom. A work tracker collects work information and directly generates one or more status reports based on the work information collected. A status report includes a back-end version viewable and modifiable by a service provider and a front-end version viewable by a buyer. The status report directly generates an invoice based on the information from the status report. The invoice is submitted to the buyer and allows the buyer to directly pay the service provider.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for optimizing performance of a services exchange medium of tracking hours worked on an activity performed on a client device separate from a computing device comprising:

providing a work tracker to track the hours worked on the activity using a work tracker, the work tracker configured to run on the client device while information compiled by the work tracker is stored within a database accessible by the computing device;

automatically generating a status report at one or more predetermined intervals for the activity directly from multiple sessions of the work tracker running on the client device, based on a first set of information, wherein the first set of information comprises the hours worked on the activity by a service provider and one or more screen shots randomly taken when the work tracker running during the hours worked by the service provider, wherein the automatically generating a status report step also comprises validating the hours worked, and further wherein the automatically generating a status report step optimizes performance within the work tracker by simultaneously validating the hours worked by the service provider and monitoring the production and efficiency of the service provider;

storing the first set of information in the database that is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium accessible by the computing device such that the first set of information is presented on the work tracker the next time the work tracker is launched on the client device; and

generating an invoice at the computing device based on information relating to the one or more project milestones of the activity after starting the activity and before completing the activity, wherein the invoice is generated for the milestone directly from the status report based on a second set of information of the activity, after the start of the activity and before the completion of the activity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information is collected by the first work tracker, and the second set of information is from the at least one status report.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a link with the first work tracker before the automatically generating the status report.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the link is one of an open connection or a periodic poll.

5. The method of claim 1, notifying team members associated with the job of the status report after the automatically generating the status report.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the status report includes a back-end version for a service provider and a front-end version for a buyer, and the method further comprising, after the automatically generating the status report, allowing for manual modification of the back-end version of the status report by the service provider.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the first work tracker is launched automatically when a service provider logs on to the services exchange medium.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the first work tracker is manually launched when a service provider accesses a digital workroom in the services exchange medium, wherein the digital workroom is associated with the job.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information is stored locally on the client device that the first work tracker resides on.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically generating the status report comprises transmitting the first set of information to the services exchange medium for populating the status report.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting is in response to a service provider manually initiating a submission process.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first set of information is transmitted from the first work tracker to the services exchange medium automatically.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first set of information is transmitted from the first work tracker to the services exchange medium in real time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information comprises a random screen capture of what a service provider is currently working on the client device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information comprises comments entered by a service provider.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information comprises one of a quantity of keyboard actions and a quantity of mouse actions in a predetermined time interval.

17. The method of claim 6, allowing the buyer from the front-end version of the status report to notify the service provider regarding a disagreement about the status report after the automatically generating the status report.