System and method for managing customer productivity through central repository

• US 7,082,403 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2001
• Issued: 07/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Wagner, Michael James, Wilson, Dwight Collins, Howard, Patrick Joseph, Godbey, Michael Scott, McKee, James Geoffrey Chirumbolo, Brocklehurst, Craig Leonard
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sterrett, Jonathan G
• Application Number:
  US09/862,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20020174004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,891 Days
• Field of Search: 705 8- 10
• US Class Current: 705/7.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A system and a method for managing various Customer Productivity Applications utilize a web-enabled interactive database to organize, store and retrieve information for the benefit of the customer community to effectively manage the business. The system captures all customers related information and provides on-line, up-to-date information to the users upon request. The system is configured to manage various Customer Productivity Applications to increase the customers'"'"' productivity and minimizes cost of ownership by analyzing the customers'"'"' fleet, perform industry comparisons, and run iterations to develop fleet optimal performance requirements.

Claims

1. A method for organizing customer productivity applications to provide recommendations on product and service offerings relating to aircraft engines using a web-based system including a server system coupled to a centralized interactive database and at least one client system, said method comprising the steps of:

defining customer productivity applications and users of customer productivity applications, wherein the customer productivity applications relate to an aircraft engine evaluator;

selecting at least one module for each customer productivity application, wherein the at least one module is selected from a group comprising an engine value analyzer and a spare engine calculator;

provide access to the customer productivity applications and associated modules to increase customer'"'"'s productivity, wherein the customer productivity applications and associated modules relate to;

comparing an actual cost of a customer'"'"'s aircraft engine ownership with a projected cost of aircraft engine ownership of a different make using actual Airframer data;

calculating a number of spare engines required for a customer'"'"'s fleet of aircraft;

recommending a customer'"'"'s work scope for a shop visit;

evaluating a customer'"'"'s maintenance program; and

identifying an excess thrust margin of a customer'"'"'s aircraft engine;

populating the selected modules with user input information, wherein the user input information for the engine value analyzer is based on maintenance and reliability costs, and the user input information for the spare engine calculator is based on a customer'"'"'s delivery schedule, a customer'"'"'s fleet utilization, and a customer'"'"'s engine shop visit rate;

generating tools and information relating to the customer productivity applications based on the user input information; and

providing users access to the generated tools and information to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, perform industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of organizing customer productivity applications into sub-sections of the database.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of populating the selected modules with user input information further comprises populating the selected modules with cost information of engines from multiple manufacturers, said method further comprising performing iterations to develop cost comparisons.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the steps of:

developing methodologies that addresses customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions; and

designing web-sites that implement the developed methodologies that address customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of designing individual wizard applications that provide recommendations on product and service offerings based on the customer'"'"'s response to a set of specific questions.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of configuring the server system to combine new technology, product specific applications, and customer and industry data to give the customer the ability to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, performing industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein said step of populating the selected modules with user input information further comprises the steps of:

identifying information necessary to customer productivity applications; and

storing the information in the centralized database in a plurality of sub-sections defined within the database.

8. A customer applications web-site managed by an administrator for organizing customer productivity applications relating to aircraft engines using a web-based system including a server system coupled to a centralized interactive database and at least one client system, said web-site configured to:

complete customer enrollments such that each individual customer is defined in a centralized database based on individual customer'"'"'s aircraft engine needs and unique identifiers;

provide access to a customer productivity application and associated modules to increase customer'"'"'s productivity, wherein the customer productivity application and associated modules relate to;

comparing an actual cost of the customer'"'"'s aircraft engine ownership with a projected cost of aircraft engine ownership of a different make using actual Airframer data;

calculating a number of spare engines required for a customer'"'"'s fleet of aircraft;

recommending a customer'"'"'s work scope for a shop visit;

evaluating a customer'"'"'s maintenance program; and

identifying an excess thrust margin of a customer'"'"'s aircraft engine;

populate the customer productivity application and associated modules with user supplied information; and

generate reports relating to the customer productivity application and associated modules based on the user supplied information.

9. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein to complete customer enrollment, said web-site further configured to define individual access privileges for users.

10. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein to provide access to a customer productivity application, said web-site further configured to provide access through at least one of pull down menus, check boxes, and hypertext links.

11. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein said web-site further configured to:

retrieve information from the centralized database in response to a specific inquiry by the customer; and

download information in response to the inquiry.

12. A web-site according to claim 11 wherein to download information in response to the inquiry, said web-site further configured to:

access the centralized database;

search the database regarding the specific inquiry;

retrieve information from the database; and

transmit the retrieved information to the client system for display by the client system.

13. A web-site according to claim 8 wherein the client system and the server system are connected via a network and wherein the network is one of a wide area network, a local area network, an intranet and the Internet.

14. A method for organizing customer productivity applications to provide recommendations on product and service offerings relating to aircraft engines using a web-based system including a server system coupled to a centralized interactive database and at least one client system, said method comprising the steps of:

defining customer productivity applications and users of customer productivity applications, wherein the customer productivity applications relate to an aircraft engine service evaluator;

selecting at least one module for each customer productivity application, the at least one module being selected from a group comprising an engine workscoping wizard and a maintenance evaluator;

providing access to the customer productivity applications and associated modules to increase customer'"'"'s productivity, wherein the customer productivity applications and associated modules relate to;

comparing an actual cost of a customer'"'"'s aircraft engine ownership with a projected cost of aircraft engine ownership of a different make using actual Airframer data;

calculating a number of spare engines required for a customer'"'"'s fleet of aircraft;

recommending a customer'"'"'s work scope for a shop visit;

evaluating a customer'"'"'s maintenance program; and

identifying an excess thrust margin of a customer'"'"'s aircraft engine;

populating the selected modules with user input information, wherein the user input information for the engine workscoping wizard is based on a maintenance matrix for a particular engine type and with user requested maintenance requests, wherein the user input information for the maintenance evaluator is based on at least one of technical expertise, cashflow management, program time span, risk transfer products and maintenance program management;

generating tools and information relating to the customer productivity applications based on the user input information; and

providing users access to the generated tools and information to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, perform industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of organizing customer productivity applications into sub-sections of the database.

16. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of populating the selected modules with user input information further comprises populating the selected modules with additional maintenance needs.

17. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the steps of:

developing methodologies that addresses customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions; and

designing web-sites that implement the developed methodologies that address customer inquiries based on a set of specific questions.

18. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of designing individual wizard applications that provide recommendations on product and service offerings based on the customer'"'"'s response to a set of specific questions.

19. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of defining customer productivity applications further comprises the step of configuring the server system to combine new technology, product specific applications, and customer and industry data to give the customer the ability to facilitate increasing their productivity and minimizing a cost of ownership by analyzing their fleet, performing industry comparisons, and running iterations to develop their optimal performance requirements.

20. A method according to claim 14 wherein said step of populating the selected modules with user input information further comprises the steps of:

identifying information necessary to customer productivity applications; and

storing the information in the centralized database in a plurality of sub-sections defined within the database.