DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR COLLISION REPAIR COACHING

• US 20090197228A1
• Filed: 01/30/2009
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VeriFacts Automotive, LLC
• Original Assignee: VeriFacts Automotive, LLC
• Inventors: Olson, Mark E., Granse, Cynthia L., Afshar, Farzam
• Granted Patent: US 8,428,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system for on-site collection of evaluation data at a vehicle repair installation site is disclosed. Generally the system includes a computing tool connected to a database, a workflow operations guiding module that runs on the computing tool, an evaluation module, a comparison module, a data-mining module, a certification module, a legal compliance module, and a repair procedure compliance module. As a vehicle is repaired, the workflow operations guiding module prompts a coach with questions. The evaluation module performs a quantitative analysis of the answers provided by the coach and the comparison module compares the result of the quantitative analysis against aggregated or averaged information. The certification module compares information from the comparison module against predetermined certification criteria and the data mining module identifies correlations, trends or patterns in collected data by the system.

Claims

1. A system for collection of evaluation data, comprising:

a computing tool configured to communicate with a database;

a workflow operations guiding module operable on the computing tool and configured to query a user for evaluation information on steps performed by technicians in a vehicle repair procedure as specified in the database; and

an evaluation module configured to receive the evaluation information and to generate a review summary based on the evaluation information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing tool is configured to receive digital images of the vehicle repair procedure at the installation site.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the digital images comprise photographs.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the computing tool is configured to receive an e-mail including the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the digital images comprise video of the vehicle repair procedure at the installation site.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing tool is configured to receive an e-mail including the video of the vehicle repair procedure.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the video of the vehicle repair procedure is received in substantially real time.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the video of the vehicle repair procedure is part of a video teleconference between a coach and the technicians at the installation site.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the database in communication with the computing tool is operative to store the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure received by the computing tool and wherein the database is operative to be searched by technicians to retrieve the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing tool is a mobile computing tool.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing tool is further configured to determine a suggested vehicle repair procedure and to suggest the suggested vehicle repair procedure to the technicians.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein to determine the suggested vehicle repair procedure, the computing tool is further configured to determine whether to suggest replacing a damaged component of a vehicle or whether to repair the damaged component of the vehicle based on a cost of any components that will need to be replaced when replacing the damaged component, labor costs associated with replacing any components that will need to be replaced when replacing the damaged component, labor costs associated with repairing the damaged component of the vehicle, a cost of painting any components that will need to be replaced when replacing the damaged component, a cost of painting any components surrounding the components that will need to be replaced when replacing the damaged component, an amount of time the vehicle must be present in an installation site to repair the damaged component of the vehicle, and an amount of time the vehicle must be present in the installation site to replace the damaged component of the vehicle.

13. A method for providing coaching for repair technicians, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computing tool, digital images of a vehicle repair procedure performed at an installation site by a technician;

generating a query from a database on a repair step of the vehicle repair procedure;

displaying the generated query on an interface of the computing tool;

receiving an input in response to the query whose value is based on the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure; and

generating at least one of coaching, evaluation, verification or certification information for the technician based on the response to the query.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital images comprise video of the repair procedure.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the video of the repair procedure is received in substantially real time.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital images comprise a photograph.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing the received digital images of the vehicle repair procedure in a database in communication with the computing tool;

receiving a search query associated with the vehicle repair procedure from a second technician; and

sending the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure to the second technician.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions for providing coaching for repair procedures, the set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

receiving, at a computing tool, digital images of a vehicle repair procedure performed at an installation site by a technician;

generating a query from a database on a repair step of the vehicle repair procedure;

displaying the generated query on an interface of the computing tool;

receiving an input in response to the query whose value is based on the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure; and

generating at least one of coaching, evaluation, verification or certification information for the technician based on the response to the query.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the digital images comprise video of the repair procedure.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the video of the repair procedure is received in substantially real time.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the digital images comprise a photograph.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

storing the received digital images of the vehicle repair procedure in a database in communication with the computing tool;

receiving a search query associated with the vehicle repair procedure from a second technician; and

sending the digital images of the vehicle repair procedure to the second technician.