System and method of commitment management

• US 20050198103A1
• Filed: 01/07/2005
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ExecuSoft Corporation
• Original Assignee: ExecuSoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ching, Wei
• Granted Patent: US 10,248,930 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system for and method of managing a project that includes one or more tasks. In one embodiment the task comprises a first task dependent on a completion of a second task. The system and method allow a user to display the relationship between the tasks and scheduled completion dates. Those in charge of a task can thus be held accountable. The system comprises a server with a memory for storing a data structure corresponding to a commitment relationship for a task between a requester and a performer, the data structure containing task data corresponding to a commitment date for completing the task; a first host for use by the requester, the first host configured to exchange negotiation messages through the server with a second host for use by the performer, the negotiation messages containing data related to a proposed commitment date for completing the task; and a second host for use by the performer, the second host configured to exchange the negotiation messages through the server with the first host.

Claims

1. A system for managing a task comprising:

a. a server with a memory for storing a data structure corresponding to a commitment relationship for a task between a requester and a performer, the data structure containing task data corresponding to a commitment date for completing the task;

b. a first host for use by the requester, the first host configured to exchange negotiation messages through the server with a second host for use by the performer, the negotiation messages containing data related to a proposed commitment date for completing the task; and

c. a second host for use by the performer, the second host configured to exchange the negotiation messages through the server with the first host.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server couples the first host to the second host, thereby allowing the data structure and the task data to be accessed from both the first host and the second host, and further allowing negotiation messages to be exchanged between the first host and the second host.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the negotiation messages contain data corresponding to resources for completing the task.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the resources comprise any one or more of a budget for completing the task and a number of workers for completing the task.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises:

a. a commitment management service for exchanging negotiation messages between the first host and the second host;

b. a communications component for sending real-time notifications and instant user messages between the first host and the second host; and

c. a database for storing the task data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the server further comprises:

a. a first server process operatively coupled to the first host, the first sever process for exchanging information related to the task with the first host; and

b. a second server process operatively coupled to the second host, the second server process for exchanging information related to the task with the second host, wherein the first server process and the second server process are related by the data structure.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first host comprises an executing first agent process configured to communicate with the first server process, and the second host comprises an executing second agent process configured to communicate with the second server process.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein first host and the second host are configured to communicate with the commitment management service according to HTTP and with the communications component according to TCP/IP.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data structure comprises:

a. a first record corresponding to the requester of the task;

b. a second record corresponding to the performer of the task; and

c. a commitment record corresponding to the task.

10. A method of managing a task corresponding to a commitment relationship between a requester and a performer of the task, the method comprising:

a. communicating between a first host corresponding to the requester and a second host corresponding to the performer to negotiate a commitment for the task through a commitment management service on a server;

b. transmitting negotiation messages between the first host and the second host to determine at least one of a completion date, required resources, an acceptance of a negotiation message, and a declination of a commitment relationship;

c. storing in a database on the server a new version of task data comprising a completion date and required resources; and

d. repeating transmitting ans storing until receiving a message indicating either an acceptance or a declination of the commitment relationship.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the server further comprises a search engine for searching through the database using search criteria and formatting a corresponding search result for display on one of the first host and the second host.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising storing on a document module coupled to the server documents related to the task.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first host and the second host both comprise a corresponding graphical user interface for accessing and displaying data on the database.

14. A system for managing a project divisible into a plurality of tasks, the system defined by an architecture comprising a plurality of objects related by a tree structure, wherein each object and its corresponding zero or more child objects correspond respectively to a task and its corresponding zero or more component tasks, and further wherein each object and its corresponding child objects are configured for negotiating resources and committing to a completion date of a corresponding component task.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the resources comprise any one or more of a number of employees to staff a component task and a budget for completing the component task.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each object is configured to transmit and receive messages relating to resources, a completion date, or both for a component task corresponding to the object.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein one object from the plurality of objects is configured to automatically exchange messages with its parent object when a completion date corresponding to the object is modified.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising a server having a server memory, wherein each object corresponds to a data record stored in the server memory.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the server memory stores a commitment tree having a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to an object from the plurality of objects, its corresponding resources, and its corresponding completion date.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the server further comprises a database management system coupled to a database, the database management system for storing into and retrieving from the database data corresponding to each object, and further wherein the database stores an organization structure and one or more data records, wherein each requester and performer of an object corresponds to a data record.

21. The system of claim 18, further comprising a plurality of hosts, each host operatively coupled to the server through one of a plurality of processes executing in the server memory.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein each host system comprises a client portion for receiving real-time notifications and transmitting and receiving instant user messages related to commitments of a user on a host.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the server is configured to update the commitment tree based on the commitment between a source host and a destination host.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein each host is configured to perform at least one of displaying a graphical user interface used to transmit and receive messages and viewing a commitment tree.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the server comprises a commitment management system and a communications component, and further wherein each host is configured to communicate with the commitment management service according to HTTP and with the communications component according to TCP/IP.

26. A computer network for managing a project comprising a task divisible into a plurality of tasks, the network comprising:

a server executing a first process and a second process, the first process corresponding to requester of a task from the plurality of tasks, the second process corresponding to performer of the task, wherein the server stores an object used to display a commitment relationship between the requester and the performer, and the server further runs a commitment management service to enable the two processes to negotiate on a completion date for completing the task. The two processes don'"'"'t have to be running at the same time.

27. The computer network of claim 26, wherein the first process and the second process are configured to run concurrently and non-concurrently.

28. The computer network of claim 26, wherein the server comprises a document module.

29. The computer network of claim 27, further comprising:

a. a first host coupled to the server by the first process; and

b. a second host coupled to the server by the second process.

30. The computer network of claim 29, further comprising a plurality of hosts coupled to the server and a plurality of processes executing on the server, wherein the plurality of hosts comprise the first host and the second host and the plurality of processes comprise the first process and the second process, wherein each host from the plurality of hosts is coupled to the server by a respective one of the plurality of processes.

31. The computer network of claim 30, wherein each of the plurality of processes corresponds to an actively connected user sessions.

32. The computer network of claim 28, wherein the first host is configured to display a graphical user interface used to allow a first user on the first host to negotiate with a second user on a second host.

33. A method of managing a project comprising one or more tasks divisible into one or more final tasks, the method comprising:

a. dividing each task into one or more sub-tasks; and

b. negotiating with a plurality of entities each corresponding to one or more of the sub-tasks and receiving a commitment from each of the entities for completing a corresponding sub-task.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising repeating dividing and negotiating until each sub-task is a final task.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein at least one sub-task is also a task.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein negotiating with a plurality of entities comprises:

a. negotiating with each entity to receive a commitment for completing the corresponding sub-task;

b. negotiating with a requester for a commitment for completing the project; and

c. repeating steps a through b until a completion date for each sub-task is before a completion date for the project, and the requestor for the project has accepts the commitment date.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein dividing each task into one or more sub-tasks comprises creating one or more corresponding nodes in the commitment tree.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising relating each of the created node to two persons, one for the requester and the other for the performer.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising storing a commitment tree corresponding to the messages and completion dates for each of the tasks.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the connection and the transmissions of messages are both according to HTTP.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein negotiating comprises exchanging real-time notifications and instant user messages.

42. The method of claim 33, wherein data corresponding to each node in the commitment tree and requester and performer of the node is stored in a database.

43. The method of claim 39, further comprising presenting to a user on the host a graphical user interface for transmitting and receiving messages.

45. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

a. renegotiating a completion date between the first task and one of the component tasks to determine a revised completion date;

b. notifying the first task of the revised completion date; and

c. using the revised completion date to renegotiate a completion date for the first task.

44. A method of managing a task, the method comprising:

a. dividing a first task into one or more component tasks;

b. assigning the management of the one or more component tasks to a corresponding one or more entities;

c. negotiating with each of the one or more entities a completion date for each of the corresponding tasks; and

d. automatically generating for display on a host system data illustrating the relationship between the first task and each of the component tasks.

46. A method of managing tasks relating to persons from different organizations comprising:

a. storing on a server database commitment data corresponding to a structure of an organization, data corresponding to employees of the organization, and commitments between the employees; and

b. sharing the commitment data, thereby enabling a user on a first server to negotiate a commitment with a user on a second server.