Interactive drill down tool

• US 20050055662A1
• Filed: 09/08/2003
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FCA US LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Original Assignee: Chrysler LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Inventors: Vogel, Earl, Mills, Kenneth, Strausbaugh, Karen, Gasparovich, Charlene, Strausbaugh, James W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,426,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An interactive drill down tool having a first level of information defining the steps necessary to complete an objective. A second level of information defines interrelationships between work positions. A third level of information defines what each work position must accomplish. The first, second, and third levels are organized such that the second level is accessible from the first level and the third level is accessible from the second level.

Claims

1. An interactive organizational tool comprising:

a first level of information defining the steps necessary to complete an objective;

a second level of information defining interrelationships between work positions;

a third level of information defining what each work position must accomplish;

wherein the first, second, and third levels are organized such that the second level is accessible from the first level and the third level is accessible from the second level.

2. The interactive organizational tool of claim 1, wherein the second level of information includes those work positions that have a task to perform to complete any step from the first level of information.

3. The interactive organizational tool of claim 1, wherein the third level defines the sub-steps that each work position is responsible for completing.

4. The interactive organizational tool of claim 3, further comprising a fourth level of information defining a work product and a destination for the work product for each sub-step defined in the third level of information.

5. The interactive organizational tool of claim 4, further comprising a data store having a plurality of documents therein, the data store accessible from the fourth level of information.

6. The interactive organizational tool of claim 4, wherein the fourth level of information further defines what work positions must interact with each other.

7. The interactive organizational tool of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third levels are stored on a computer.

8. A drill down interactive tool for defining the steps necessary to complete an objective within an organization having at least one department, the drill down interactive tool comprising:

a first level having a plurality of major tasks that define how to accomplish an objective;

a second level for each major task that identifies departments that must perform at least one task to complete the major task;

a third level for each department that identifies each individual job within the department that must perform at least one task to complete the major task;

a fourth level for each individual job defining a plurality of specific tasks needed to complete the major task; and

wherein any one level may be accessed from a preceding or a succeeding level.

9. The drill down interactive tool of claim 8, further comprising a fifth level for each specific task defining at least one required work product.

10. The drill down interactive tool of claim 9, further comprising a sixth level having a plurality of documents for each fifth level.

11. The interactive organizational tool of claim 8, wherein the first, second, and third levels are accessible to the entire organization.

12. An online drill down interactive tool for defining the steps necessary to complete an objective comprising:

a map window having a plurality of major tasks organized on a timeline that define how to accomplish the objective, each major task identifying specific jobs that have at least one task necessary to complete the major task;

a task window for each job identified by the interdependency window, the task window including at least one specific task organized on the timeline that is needed to complete a given major task; and

wherein the task windows are accessible by selecting a major task from the map window.

13. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 12, wherein each major task includes a plurality of icons representing individual jobs or departments within the organization.

14. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 13, wherein for each major task at least one of the plurality of icons are selectable by a user, and only those plurality of icons that are selectable represent specific individual jobs or departments that have at least one task to perform to complete the major task.

15. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 14, wherein selecting a highlighted icon leads to the task window if the icon represents a specific job and leads to another plurality of selectable icons if the icon represents a department.

16. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 15, wherein the second plurality of icons represent specific jobs, and a selectable icon represents a specific job having at least one task to perform relating to the major task.

17. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 12, wherein each specific task in the task window includes a list of sub-tasks that define how to accomplish each specific task.

18. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 17, wherein each specific task includes a link to an interdependency chart identifying all others that the specific individual job must interact with in order to accomplish the specific task.

19. The online drill down interactive tool of claim 18, wherein each interdependency chart includes a link to a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents accessible by more than one interdependency chart.