Method and Apparatus for Coordinating Services

• US 20030014295A1
• Filed: 07/18/2000
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LYNX Services LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: PPG Industries Ohio Incorporated (Nouryon BV)
• Inventors: Brookes, Robert, Langford, Lisa S, Umble, Christopher W, Molenda, Thomas S, Homison, Mark A, Latch, James V
• Granted Patent: US 6,950,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Abstract of Disclosure

The invention relates to a method of coordinating or arranging services, such as automotive glass repair services for the policyholders of an insurance company, and to an apparatus for practicing the method. The method includes providing a database of service providers, obtaining service need information regarding a customer, selecting at least a portion of the service providers in the database based on the service need information, ranking the selected service providers, and choosing one of the ranked service providers to perform the service.

Claims

1. A method of coordinating services, comprising the steps of:

providing a database of service providers;

obtaining service need information concerning a customer;

selecting at least a portion of the service providers in the database based on the service need information;

ranking the selected service providers; and

presenting at least one of the ranked service providers to the customer for choice to perform the service.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the providing step is practiced by:

defining a plurality of service zones;

establishing at least one service factor for each service zone, the service factor including a price adjustment for services provided by the service providers in the service zone;

identifying service providers in each service zone willing to provide services at a price incorporating the service factor; and

inputting the identified service providers into the database.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, including obtaining a first price for a repair service;

and

adjusting the first price by the at least one service factor to define a modified price.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, including establishing at least one supplemental service factor for at least a portion of the service providers in the database.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, including ranking the selected service providers by supplemental service factor.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, including adjusting a first price for services in a service zone by the service factor and supplemental service factor to obtain a total discount price.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, including establishing a satisfaction index for at least a portion of the service providers in the database.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, including ranking the selected service providers by satisfaction index.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selecting step is practiced by:

generating a reference area; and

identifying service providers in the database located in the reference area.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ranking step is practiced by:

obtaining a primary ranking by determining at least one of a last service date, a supplemental service factor, and a satisfaction index for each service provider and ranking the selected service providers by at least one of the last service date, supplemental service factor, and satisfaction index.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, obtaining a secondary ranking by:

selecting at least a portion of the service providers from the primary ranking;

ranking the selected portion of the selected service providers by at least one of the last service date, supplemental service factor, and satisfaction index to form the secondary ranking.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the selected service providers are selected by selecting the top 20% of the service providers from the primary ranking.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the selected service providers are selected by selecting the top five to ten listed service providers from the primary ranking.

14. A method of coordinating an automotive glass repair process for a customer, comprising the steps of:

providing a database of glass repair shops;

obtaining glass loss information;

selecting at least a portion of the glass repair shops in the database based on the glass loss information;

ranking the selected glass repair shops; and

presenting at least one of the ranked repair shops to the customer for choice to perform the glass repair.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the providing step is practiced by:

determining a plurality of service zones;

establishing at least one service factor for each service zone, the service factor including an adjustment to a first price to define a modified price; and

for each service zone, inputting into the database information for those repair shops that are willing to conduct repairs at the modified price.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, including:

establishing at least one supplemental service factor for at least a portion of the repair shops in the database, the supplemental service factor including an additional price adjustment to the first price to obtain a total discount price.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the selecting step is practiced by:

defining a reference point;

generating a reference area around the reference point; and

selecting glass repair shops in the database within that reference area.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the ranking step is practiced by:

determining a last service date for each repair shop in the reference area; and

listing at least a portion of the selected glass repair shops in the reference area in chronological order based on the last service date.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the ranking step includes:

determining a last service date for each repair shop in the reference area;

establishing at least one supplemental service factor for at least a portion of the repair shops in the database;

ranking the selected repair shops based on the at least one supplemental service factor to form a primary ranking;

selecting at least a portion of the selected repair shops from the primary ranking and forming a secondary ranking by ranking the selected repair shops based on the last service date.

20. A method of coordinating an automotive glass repair process for a policyholder of an insurance company, comprising the steps of:

inputting data for a plurality of glass repair shops into a data storage device, the data including a geographic location designation, a service factor and a supplemental service factor for each repair shop;

receiving glass loss information about the policyholder;

ranking at least a portion of the repair shops in the database based on at least one of the glass loss information, service factor and supplemental service factor; and

presenting at least one of the ranked repair shops to the policyholder for choice to perform the glass repair.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the inputting step is practiced by:

identifying a plurality of service zones;

identifying a comparison glass repair cost;

establishing at least one service factor for each service zone, the service factor including a price adjustment to the first price to define a modified price;

designating repair shops which are willing to conduct glass repairs for the modified price as approved repair shops;

establishing at least one supplemental service factor for at least one of the approved repair shops, the supplemental service factor including an additional price adjustment to the modified price to obtain a supplemental discount price; and

inputting the approved repair shops into the data storage device.

22. The method as claimed claim 20, wherein when the policyholder has a preferred repair shop and the preferred repair shop is one of the repair shops in the database, the method includes selecting that preferred repair shop to conduct the glass repair.

23. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein when the policyholder has a preferred repair shop and the preferred repair shop is not a repair shop in the database, the method includes determining whether the preferred repair shop will conduct the glass repair at about the modified price.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein when the preferred repair shop agrees to conduct the glass repair at about the modified price, the method includes selecting the preferred repair shop to conduct the glass repair.

25. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein when the preferred repair shop is not willing to conduct the glass repair at the modified price, the method includes:

conducting a competitive bidding between the preferred repair shop and at least one of the approved repair shops;

obtaining a lowest repair price from the bidding process; and

paying the policyholder the amount of the lowest bid.

26. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein when the policyholder does not have a preferred repair shop, the method includes:

selecting at least one approved glass repair shop from the data storage device; and

scheduling a repair visit for the policyholder at the selected approved repair shop.

27. The method as claimed in claim 26, including:

determining a policyholder reference location;

generating a reference area including the reference location;

capturing approved repair shops in the reference area;

ranking the captured approved repair shops from a first ranked to a last ranked repair shop; and

starting from the first ranked repair shop, presenting at least one of the ranked repair shops to the policyholder to select a repair shop to conduct the glass repair.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the repair shop ranking is conducted by:

identifying the last date on which the approved repair shops were assigned a repair service when the policyholder had no repair shop preference; and

ranking the repair shops by the last repair service date, with the most recent service date ranked last.

29. The method as claimed in claim 26, including:

sending a work order to the selected repair shop to confirm the repair visit;

receiving a repair bill from the selected repair shop after the repair visit is completed; and

invoicing the repair shop bill against the work order.

30. The method as claimed in claim 29, including:

sending a bill to the insurance company in the amount of the repair bill;

receiving payment from the insurance company for the repair shop bill; and

paying the selected repair shop for the repair visit.

31. The method as claimed in claim 30, including billing the insurance company a fixed fee for each glass repair transaction.

32. The method as claimed in claim 20, including verifying that the policyholder has a current insurance policy with the insurance company.

33. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the reference location is determined by:

obtaining a policyholder telephone number; and

geographically locating the telephone number.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the geographic region is determined by:

generating a reference area around the reference location having a radius of about 1-20 miles.

35. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the ranking step is practiced by:

obtaining a primary ranking by ranking the captured repair shops by supplemental service factor, with the repair shop having the largest supplemental service factor ranked first and the repair shop having the lowest supplemental service factor ranked last;

starting at the first ranked repair shop, selecting a plurality of repair shops;

obtaining a secondary ranking by ranking the selected repair shops by date of last repair service when the policyholder had no preferred repair shop, with the earliest date ranked first and the most recent date ranked last; and

offering the secondary ranked repair shop with the earliest date as the repair shop to conduct the glass repair.

36. The method as claimed in claim 35, wherein the selected repair shops for secondary ranking are selected by selecting the top 20% of repair shops from the primary ranking.

37. The method as claimed in claim 35, wherein the selected repair shops for secondary ranking are selected by selecting the top five to ten repair shops from the primary ranking.

38. An apparatus for coordinating services, comprising:

a data storage device;

a processor connected to the data storage device, the storage device storing a program and a database of service providers, wherein the processor is operative with the program to receive service need information, to select at least a portion of the service providers in the database based on the service need information, and to rank the selected service providers.

39. The apparatus as claimed in claim 38, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

receive a plurality of service zones; and

input at least one service factor for each service zone.

40. The apparatus as claimed in claim 39, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to establish at least one of a supplemental service factor and a satisfaction index for each service provider in the database.

41. An apparatus for coordinating an automotive glass repair process, comprising:

a data storage device; and

a processor connected to the data storage device, the storage device storing a program and a database of glass repair shops, wherein the processor is operative with the program to receive glass loss information, to select at least a portion of the glass repair shops in the database based on the glass loss information, and to rank the selected glass repair shops.

42. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

input a plurality of service zones;

establish at least one service factor for each service zone; and

input into the database for each service zone information for those repair shops that are willing to conduct glass repairs at a price incorporating the service factor.

43. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

establish at least one supplemental service factor for at least a portion of the repair shops in the database.

44. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

geographically locate a reference point based on the glass loss information;

generate a geographical reference area around the reference point; and

select glass repair shops in the database within that reference area.

45. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

determine a last service date for each repair shop in the reference area; and

list the selected glass repair shops in the reference area in chronological order based on the last service date.

46. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the processor is further operative with the program to:

determine a last service date for each repair shop in the reference area;

establish at least one supplemental service factor for at least a portion of the glass repair shops in the database;

rank the selected repair shops based on the supplemental service factor to form a primary ranking; and

select at least a portion of the selected repair shops from the primary ranking and forming a secondary ranking of the selected repair shops from the primary ranking based on the last service date.