Automatic generation of personal homepages for a sales force

• US 7,739,590 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2002
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Corriero, Joseph, Greenberg, Brian M., Stocker, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn; Gregory J
• Application Number:
  US10/087,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20020152197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,028 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500, 715/501.1, 715/513, 715/522, 715/526, 715/200, 715/205, 715/208, 715/234, 715/235, 715/248, 715/273
• US Class Current: 715/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system for and a method of automatically generating personal homepages accessible through the Internet. The method includes entering data indicative of the identity of a salesperson, harvesting personal data associated with the identified salesperson from a human resource database, and automatically generating a personal homepage by populating the template with the personal data. Preferably, the homepage is automatically disabled when data from the human resource database indicates that the person is no longer employed with the organization.

The system includes an application server linked to a database of personal data of the sales force members. The application server includes a homepage template. Personal data is available in the database to be communicated to the application server to automatically populate the homepage template when requested, thereby generating a personal homepage for the member for viewing on an Internet.

Claims

1. A computer system for generating personal homepages, comprising:

an application server comprising a content management server including a homepage template;

a database of personal data for members of a sales force, the database in communication with the application server,

wherein the personal data for the members of the sales force is accessible to the application server to automatically populate said homepage template to generate a personal homepage of a selected member of the sales force, said personal homepage having a unique Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to be provided to a customer as an identification of the selected member of the sales force, and the personal homepage operating as a local portal to allow the customer to access to tailored information and to establish a virtual salesperson-customer relationship;

wherein the database of personal data includes employment status data indicative of the employment status of the members and said application server includes a component for periodically retrieving updated personal data and recognizing said employment status data from the updated personal data wherein the personal homepage for the selected member is automatically disabled from any viewing on the Internet when said employment status data indicates the selected member is not employed by an organization;

a developmental content application server being internally accessible to allow pre-published viewing of personal homepages on a privately accessible network, storing the personal homepage of the selected member upon review by the selected member and posting the personal homepage of the selected member to the Internet after review by a manager; and

a production server in communication with the developmental content application server and the database of personal data and operable to post the personal homepage of the selected member for viewing through the Internet after the application server or the developmental content application server receives indicia of approval;

wherein the production server is operable to capture data from the customer viewing the personal homepage, to aggregate the data and make the data available for the members of the sales force; and

wherein using geographical data from the customer, a request from the customer is directed to the personal homepage of a member of the sales force near a geographical location of the customer.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the developmental content application server is in contact with the database and the production server and configured to generate, develop, test, store, or experiment with personal homepages.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the personal data includes biographical information.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the personal data includes photos of the members.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the personal homepage includes personal data for a plurality of members of the sales force making up a sales team, the sales team being a subset of the sales force.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the homepages generated for the sales team is populated with a single point of contact.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the application server includes a database containing pre-selected information from one or more of a business philosophy, offered products and offered services, and said pre-selected information is available to populate the homepage.

8. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising live information content servers in communication with the application server, wherein said live information may be selected to populate the homepage.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein said live information comprises at least one of news reports, market updates, local seminars, investor information, and lifestyle information.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the members of the sales force are financial consultants, and the organization is a retail investment broker.

11. The computer system of claim 10, further comprising information on selected financial products or services.

12. A method of automatically generating customized personal Web homepages for members of a sales force of an organization using a computer system including a human resource database resident to a privately accessible network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing in a database an existing human resources database loaded with personal data for members of a sales force;

defining a template for a personal homepage;

identifying a member of the sales force;

retrieving from the human resources database the personal data associated with the identified member of the sales force;

automatically generating with a processor a personal homepage for the identified member by populating the template with the personal data retrieved from the human resources database;

receiving an indicia of approval on the personal homepage through the privately accessible network;

storing the personal homepage upon review by the identified member;

posting on a web server the personal homepage after review by a manager;

making said personal homepage accessible for viewing through the Internet;

transmitting to a customer a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the personal homepage of the identified member of the sales force;

capturing data from the customer viewing the personal homepage, aggregating the data and making the data available for the members of the sales force; and

redirecting a request from the customer received via the internet to a member of the sales force near a geographical location of the customer;

periodically retrieving updated personal data from the human resources database and updating said personal homepage with the updated personal data; and

,

automatically disabling the personal homepage for any viewing on the Internet when said updated personal data includes data indicating that the member is not employed by the organization.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said member of a sales force is a financial consultant for an investment broker.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the personal homepage includes personal data of more than one member of the sales force who work for a sales team.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the personal data includes biographical information describing the members.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the personal data includes photos or images of the members.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the personal homepage is associated with a member who is a manager of a branch office, and the homepage generated represents the branch office of the organization.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting at least one live information content from a plurality of predetermined information content sources in communication with the computer system, automatically populating the personal homepage with the selected information content.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising populating said home page with descriptive information about said member wherein said descriptive information is input into the system by said member or said descriptive information is selected from a predetermined list of descriptive information in the system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said descriptive information includes information to enhance customer perception of the qualifications of the member of the sales force.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said descriptive information includes information on products or services available from said member.