Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS PURCHASING AND USE
Cross-Reference to Related Applications
[0001] This application is related to U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
12/428,240 to
Trent McCracken and Troy McCracken, entitled "MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
PURCHASING AND USE" (SPENET-02US) filed on April 22, 2009, which application
is
incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/428265
to Trent
McCracken and Troy McCracken, entitled "MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
PURCHASING AND USE" (SPENET-02US2) filed on April 22, 2009, which application
is
incorporated by reference herein; and further related to and claims the
benefit of U.S. Patent
Application Serial No. 61/047,231 to Trent McCracken and Troy McCracken
entitled
"MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS PURCHASING AND USE" (SPENET-02P) and
filed on April 23, 2008, which application is incorporated by reference
herein.
Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an online service, and more
particularly to a
system that provides order processing and asset management, invoice
visibility, and unique
analytical tools to ensure telecommunications usage accountability within an
organization.
Background of the Invention
[0003] In the modern telecommunications environment, organizations (e.g.,
companies)
face significant challenges in managing communication expenses. Employees have
need for
multiple communication services, including Internet, wired telephone, and
wireless telephone
services, as well as various other services associated therewith, for use in
day-to-day business.
These services are typically acquired from multiple unrelated service
providers, such as
individual Internet service providers, wired telephone communication
providers, and wireless
telephone communication providers.
[0004] The diversity of sources of such services pose a substantial management
challenge to an organization. For example, each provider's services are
typically not reconcilable
with the others or with budgetary goals and constraints. Moreover, each
provider generally
requires equipment specific to that particular provider to enable the service
from said provider.
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
Additionally, analysis of individual usage of the various services from the
various providers is an
arduous task, and management of the use of the services to meet administrative
or budgetary
guidelines is often difficult to accomplish without extensive human
involvement in the parsing
and evaluation of invoices and orders with multiple service providers.
[0005] Consequently, there is a need to track, manage and present
communication
services, and related expenses thereof, to an organization in such a manner
that accounts for
multiple and different services, multiple and different providers, and
multiple and different
equipment requirements, among other considerations.
Summary of the Invention
[0006] Embodiments of the invention provide a system, method and program
product to
manage, track and present communication services consumed by an organization.
In particular,
embodiments of the invention provide for a system to centrally track and
present communication
services consumed by an organization from a plurality of communication service
providers. The
system comprises an invoices data store for information relating to
communication services
expenses of the organization from two or more service providers, a services
data store for
information relating to services approved for use by the organization, and an
inventory data store
for information relating to communications equipment in use by the
organization. In those
embodiments, the system provides an interface for an organization member for
viewing of one or
more of invoices, services, and inventory specific to that member, and an
interface for an
organization administrator for viewing one or more of invoices, services and
inventory
applicable to plural members of the organization.
[0007] In alternative embodiments, a system to centrally track and present
communication services consumed by an organization from a plurality of
communication service
providers is provided. The system comprises an invoices data store for
information relating to
communication services expenses of the organization from two or more service
providers, a
services data store for information relating to services approved for use by
the organization, and
an inventory data store for information relating to communications equipment
in use by the
organization. In those embodiments, the system provides an interface for the
tracking and
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
presentation of the consumption of both wireless and wired communications
services, including
invoices, services and inventory associated with the wired and wireless
communications
services.
[0008] In further alternative embodiments, a system to centrally track and
present
communication services consumed by an organization from a plurality of
communication
services providers is provided. The system comprises an invoices data store
for information
relating to communication services expenses of the organization from two or
more service
providers, a services data store for information relating to services approved
for use by the
organization, and an inventory data store for information relating to
communications equipment
in use by the organization. In those embodiments, the system is configured to
import invoices
from the plurality of communications services into said invoices data store,
and the system
further configured to receive first electronic invoice information for the
organization from a first
communications service and store the first electronic invoice information in
the invoices data
store associated with to the organization.
[0009] In still further alternative embodiments, a system to centrally track
and present
communication services consumed by an organization from a plurality of
communication
services providers is provided. The system comprises an invoices data store
for information
relating to communication services expenses of the organization from two or
more service
providers, a services data store for information relating to services approved
for use by the
organization, and an inventory data store for information relating to
communications equipment
in use by the organization. In those embodiments, the system is configured to
import invoices
from the plurality of communications services into said invoices data store,
the system further
configured to receive a paper based invoice for the organization from a
communications service,
extract electronic invoice information therefrom by character recognition, and
store the
electronic invoice information in the invoices data store associated with the
organization.
Moreover, in those embodiments, the system is further configured to generate
an image for at
least a portion of an imported paper based invoice that is relevant to a
particular organization
member for storage in said invoices data store.
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0010] These and other advantages will be apparent in light of the following
figures and
detailed description.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a
part of
this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with
a general
description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the
embodiments given
below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 1 is diagrammatic illustration of a system that may be used to
track, manage
and present communication services, and related expenses thereof, consistent
with embodiments
of the invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of components of a database
management
system of the system of FIG. 1;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of components of a communication
management application of the system of FIG. 1;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of components of a database of
the system of
FIG. 1;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may be
executed by
at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to import invoice information;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may be
executed by
at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request
for a new service;
[0018] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may be
executed by
at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request
for an order;
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0019] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may be
executed by
at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request to
view inventory
information:
[0020] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may be
executed by
at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request to
view carrier
information;
[0021] FIG, 10 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may
be executed
by at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request
to view invoice
information;
[0022] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations that may
be executed
by at least a portion of the system of FIG. 1 to receive and process a request
to view report
information and/or build a custom report;
[0023] FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. I to view system information;
[0024] FIG. 13 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view expense information
associated with
inventory;
[0025] FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view trends in expense
information
associated with inventory;
[0026] FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view invoice summary
information
associated with inventory;
[0027] FIG. 16 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view user information
associated with a
carrier;
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0028] FIG. 17 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view invoice summary
information
associated with a carrier;
[0029] FIG. 18 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. I to view account information
associated with at
least one invoice;
[0030] FIG. 19 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view user information
associated with at
least one invoice;
[0031] FIG. 20 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. I to select a report to view
and/or build a
custom report;
[0032] FIG. 21 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to view a report; and
[0033] FIG. 22 is a diagrammatic illustration of an interface, such as a web
page, that
may be provided to a user by the system of FIG. 1 to build a custom report.
[0034] It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily
to scale,
presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features
illustrative of the
basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the
sequence of operations as
disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations,
locations, and shapes
of various illustrated components, will be determined in part by the
particular intended
application and use environment. Certain features of the illustrated
embodiments may have been
enlarged or distorted relative to others to facilitate visualization and clear
understanding.
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
Detailed Description
Hardware and Software Environment
[0035] Turning more particularly to the drawings, wherein like numbers denote
like parts
through the several views, FIG. I generally illustrates a system 10 for
tracking, managing and
presenting communication services, and related expenses thereof, that includes
a data processing
apparatus 12 consistent with embodiments of the invention. Apparatus 12, in
specific
embodiments, may be a computer, computer system, computing device, server,
disk array, or
programmable device such as a multi-user computer, a single-user computer, a
handheld device,
a networked device (including a computer in a cluster configuration), a mobile
phone, a video
game console (or other gaming system), etc. Apparatus 12 may be referred to as
"computing
apparatus," but will be referred to as "computing system" for the sake of
brevity.
[0036] The computing system 12 includes at least one central processing unit
("CPU") 14
(or more simply, "processing unit" 14) coupled to a memory 16. Each CPU 14 may
be one or
more microprocessors, micro-controllers, field programmable gate arrays, or
ASICs, while
memory 16 may include random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory
(DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), flash memory, and/or another
digital storage
medium. As such, memory 16 may be considered to include memory storage
physically located
elsewhere in the computing system 12, e.g., any cache memory in the at least
one CPU 14, as
well as any storage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a
mass storage device
18, a computer, or another controller coupled to computer through at least one
network interface
20 (illustrated as, and hereinafter, "network I/F" 20) by way of at least one
network 22.
[0037] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the computing system 12 may be communicably
coupled
with an upstream interface 24 and/or a rebranding interface 26, both of which
may be computing
systems, either by way of the network 22 or directly. In some embodiments, the
computing
system 12 is configured to provide information to the upstream interface 24 in
response to
requests from a client 28. As such, the computing system 12 may provide
interfaces configured
to be interacted with by the client 28 (e.g., web pages) to the upstream
interface 24. To
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
customize those web pages, the rebranding interface 26 may include rebranding
data 30 and
provide that rebranding data 30 to the upstream interface 24, which may then
insert at least a
portion of the rebranding data 30 specific to a client 28 into a web page for
the client 28. In
some embodiments, the rebranding data 30 includes branding data (e.g., text,
images, video,
flash, etc.) specific to each client 28. As such, the client 28 may be
provided personalized web
pages that allow them to manage communication expenses.
[0038] The computing system 12 may be under the control of an operating system
32 and
execute or otherwise rely upon various computer software applications,
components, programs,
files, objects, modules, etc., consistent with embodiments of the invention.
In particular, the
computing system 12 may be configured with a database management system 34
(illustrated as,
and hereinafter, "DBMS" 34) to interface with and control a database 36, as
well as a
communication management application 38 configured to track, manage and
present
communication services information.
[0039] The computing system 12 may also include peripheral devices connected
to the
computer through an input/output device interface 40 (illustrated as, and
hereinafter, "I/O I/F"
40). In particular, the computing system 12 may receive data from a user
through at least one
user interface 42 (including, for example, a keyboard, mouse, a microphone,
and/or other user
interface) and/or output data to a user through at least one output device 44
(including, for
example, a display, speakers, a printer, and/or another output device).
Moreover, in some
embodiments, the 1/0 I/F 40 communicates with a device that is operative as a
user interface 42
and output device 44 in combination, such as a touchscreen display (not
shown).
[0040] In some embodiments, the DBMS 34 is configured to execute an operation
on the
database 36, such as a write, read and/or query consistent with embodiments of
the invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of the principal components of one
implementation of the
DBMS 34 consistent with embodiments of the invention. The principal components
of DBMS
34 that are generally relevant to query execution are a Structured Query
Language (SQL) parser
50, query optimizer 52 and database engine 54. SQL parser 50 receives a
database query 56
from the client communication management application 38, which in the
illustrated embodiment,
is provided in the form of an SQL statement. For example, a user of the client
28 may interact
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
with a web page provided by the upstream interface 24 that in turn contains
data and/or
rebranding data from the respective computing system 12 and/or rebranding
interface 26. In
turn, the interaction may be converted into a SQL statement by the
communication management
application 38. The SQL parser 50 then generates a parsed statement 58
therefrom, which is
passed to optimizer 52 for query optimization. As a result of query
optimization, an execution or
access plan 60 is generated. Once generated, the execution plan is forwarded
to database engine
54 for execution of the database query on the information in database 36. The
result of the
execution of the database query is typically stored in a result set, as
represented at block 62.
[0041] To facilitate the optimization of queries, the DBMS 34 may also include
a
statistics manager 64. Statistics manager 64 may be used to gather, create,
and/or analyze
statistical information using database 36 for the query optimizer 52. It will
be appreciated by
those of ordinary skill in the art, however, that optimizer 52, statistics
manager 64, database 36,
database engine 54, and/or other components may be accorded different
functionality in some
embodiments. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art
that the DBMS 34
may include more or fewer components without departing from the scope of the
invention.
[0042] In some embodiments, the communication management application 38 is
configured to be controlled to track, manage and present communication
services to the client 28.
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of the principal components of one
implementation of the
communication management application 38 consistent with embodiments of the
invention. 'The
communication management application 38 may include a graphical user interface
70 (illustrated
as "GUI" 70) to generate web pages, an invoice parser module 72 to parse an
invoice (e.g., an
electronic version of a invoice or an invoice that exists in an electronic
format) and extract
information from that invoice, a query converter module 74 to convert
interaction with a web
page into a database query or other operation that may be in turn presented to
the DBMS 34,
and/or a communication module 75 to communicate with at least one of the
network 22,
upstream interface 24 and/or rebranding interface 26.
[0043] Moreover, the communication management application 38 may include an
interface module 76 and an international module 77. In some embodiments, the
interface module
76 is configured to provide interfaces to the client 28. In specific
embodiments, the interface
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
module 76 is configured so selectively provide a plurality of interfaces to
the client 28 based
upon the identity of the client. For example, a first web page with
information related only to a
first client 28 may be accessed by that first client 28, while a second web
page with information
related to a plurality of clients may be accessed by a second client 28,
wherein the second client
28 is an administrator. Similarly, a third web page with information related
to financial
information may be offered to a third client 28, wherein the third client is a
chief financial
officer. As such, the interface module 76 may determine the identity of the
client, and thus
provide appropriate interfaces therefor. In some embodiments, the interface
module 76 is
configured to provide an administrator's web page for a respective
administrator to build the
plurality of interfaces.
[0044] In some embodiments, the international module 77 is configured to
convert
foreign currencies into domestic currencies, foreign text into domestic text,
and otherwise assist
in the conversion of invoices in a foreign language to items in a domestic
language for storage in
the database 36. For example, when the client is based in the United States
and an invoice from
a foreign country includes a monetary amount that is in pound sterling, the
amount may be
converted into the United States dollar by the international module 77. Also
for example, when
the client is based in Great Britain and an invoice from a foreign country is
written in French as
well as includes a monetary amount that is in the euro, an item of text of the
invoice may be
converted into English and the amount may be converted into pound sterling by
the international
module 77. Thus, it will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the
art that the
international module 77 may be configured to convert either text or monetary
amounts of an
invoice from one language to another or from one dialect of a language to
another consistent
with embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that a
conversion factor
and/or conversion dictionary for the international module 77 may be updated
consistent with
embodiments of the invention (e.g., on an hourly, daily, two-day, weekly,
monthly basis, etc.).
[0045] It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that the
communication management application 38 may include more or fewer interfaces
and/or
modules without departing from the scope of the invention. Specifically, and
although not
illustrated, it will be appreciated that the communication management
application 38 may
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
include interfaces configured to access and display information associated
with specific tables of
the database 36 and/or perform specific actions in response to user
interaction with the
communication management application 38. For example, the communication
management
application 38 may include at least one login interface that controls the
login and/or logoff of a
user, a help interface to provide support to the user, an administrative
interface to allow
administrators of the system 10 access to administrative tools, an inventory
management
interface to manage inventory and the presentation of information associated
therewith, an order
interface to manage orders and the presentation of information associated
therewith, an invoice
interface to manage invoices and the presentation of information associated
therewith, a
reporting interface to manage system and/or custom reports as well as the
presentation of
information associated therewith, and/or an error message interface to provide
error messages,
among other interfaces.
[0046] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the principal components of
one
implementation of the database 36 consistent with embodiments of the
invention. Specifically,
the database 36 may include a plurality of tables, or data stores, such as a
carrier table 80, a
companies table 82, and a contact table 84 that may respectively include
information associated
with a communications carrier, a company and/or organization configured to
utilize the system
10, and a contact for that company and/or organization. In some embodiments,
the carrier table
80 includes general information about a carrier of long distance, local
services and/or wireless
services, while the companies table 82 includes general information about a
company and/or
organization (e.g., a client 28) configured to utilize the system 10 for
tracking, managing and
presenting their communication services, purchasing and use. In some
embodiments, the contact
table 84 includes location and/or division information associated with a
company and/or an
organization (hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, a company and/or an
organization will be
referred to as a "company").
[0047] In addition to the carrier table 80, companies table 82 and/or contact
table 84, the
database 36 may be further configured with a plurality of additional tables,
or data stores. For
example, these additional tables may include a long distance services table 86
(illustrated as, and
hereinafter, "LD" services table 86) to store information associated with long
distance
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communication services and expenses thereof for at least one service provider,
a local services
table 88 to store information associated with local communication services and
expenses thereof
for at least one service provider, a wireless orders table 90 to store
information associated with
orders for wireless devices and/or a product table 92 to store information
associated with
products. Moreover, the database 36 may be configured with a wireless
inventory table 94 to
store information associated with wireless inventory, an invoices table 96 to
store information
associated with invoices and/or the invoices themselves, a data services table
98 to store
information associated with data communication services and expenses thereof
for at least one
service provider (e.g., for example, Internet data services, wireless data
services, etc.), an
equipment table 100 to store information associated with equipment, a reports
table 102 to store
information associated with reports and/or the reports themselves, a company
reports table 104 to
link at least one report to a company, and/or a wireless users table 106 to
store information
associated with wireless users. As such, the database 36 may be configured to
store data
associated with a company, its users, and/or the various types of
communication that company
uses (e.g., local, long distance, data, wireless phone and/or wireless data).
[0048] In general, the carrier table 80 includes information associated with a
carrier of
long distance, local services, data services and/or wireless services. For
example, the carrier
table 80 may include fields associated with the name of the carrier, the type
of the carrier, a path
to display a logo of the carrier, a link to a website illustrating the
coverage area of the carrier, as
well as other carrier information. Moreover, and in specific embodiments, the
carrier table 80
includes at least one field upon which the LD services table 86, local
services table 88, wireless
orders table 90, product table 92, wireless inventory table 94 and/or data
services table 98 rely to
access carrier information (e.g., a "primary key" of the carrier table 80, and
a "foreign key" of the
tables that use that field to access the carrier table 80). This field may be
a unique identification
of a carrier, or "CarrierID" field. It will be appreciated by one having
ordinary skill in the art
that the carrier table 80 may include more or fewer fields, and that those
fields discussed above
are merely illustrative and not intended to limit embodiments of the
invention.
[0049] In general, the companies table 82 includes information associated with
a
company configured to utilize the system 10 to track, manage and present their
communication
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services, purchasing and use. For example, the companies table 82 may include
fields associated
with the name of the company, an account number, a tax identification number,
a bit to indicate
whether the company has billable invoices outstanding, a bit to indicate
whether the company is
sent invoices by e-mail, as well as other company information. Moreover, and
in specific
embodiments, the companies table 82 includes at least one field upon which the
contact table 84,
the company reports table 104 and/or the wireless users table 106 rely to
access company
information (e.g., a "primary key" of the companies table 82, and a "foreign
key" of the tables
that use that field to access the companies table 82). This field may be a
unique identification of
a company, or "CompanyID" field. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary
skill in the art
that companies table 82may include more or fewer fields, and that those fields
discussed above
are merely illustrative and not intended to limit embodiments of the
invention.
[0050] In general, the contact table 84 includes information associated with a
company,
and in particular includes information about a location and/or division of the
company. For
example, the contact table 84 may include fields associated with the name of
the company, an
account number, a tax identification number, at least one contact number
(e.g., phone, fax,
extensions thereof, etc.), an address for the company (e.g., at least one
address line, a city,
state/province, county, zip, country, location code, etc.), a contact name, as
well as other contact
information. Moreover, and in specific embodiments, the contact table 84
includes at least one
field upon which the LD services table 86, local services table 88, wireless
orders table 90,
product table 92, wireless inventory table 94, data services table 98 and/or
equipment table 100
rely to access location and/or division information (e.g., a "primary key" of
the contact table 84,
and a "foreign key" of the tables that use that field to access the contact
table 84). This field may
be a unique identification of a division, location and/or contact, or
"DivisionlD" field. It will be
appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that the contact table 84
may include more or
fewer fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely illustrative
and not intended to
limit embodiments of the invention.
[0051] In general, the LD services table 86 includes information associated
with long
distance phone services in turn associated with a carrier and/or company. For
example, the LD
services table 86 may include fields associated with a long distance phone
number, data
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CA 02663999 2009-04-23
associated with a contract for long distance services (e.g., the date signed,
the effective date, the
term, the cost, the expiration date), intrastate rates, interstate rates,
international rates, directory
listings (e.g., local and national), billing and/or troubleshooting contact
information, routing
information (e.g., multi-carrier routing, time of day and/or day of week
routing, menu routing,
etc.), project information (e.g., a project associated with the long distance
service), long distance
circuit information (e.g., type of circuit, bandwidth, status, circuit cost,
install date, activation
date, a unique identification of the circuit, etc.), local exchange carrier
("LEC") information (e.g.,
name, unique identification, type, access type, cost, install date, bandwidth,
status, etc. of the
LEC), protocol associated with the long distance service, a bit as to whether
the long distance
service is an 8XX number (e.g., an "800" number), as well as other long
distance service
information. Similarly, and also in general, the local services table 88
includes information
associated with local phone services in turn associated with a particular
carrier and/or company.
For example, the local services table 88 may include fields associated with a
local phone
number, data associated with a contract for local services (e.g., the date
signed, the effective
date, the term, the cost, the expiration date), rates, billing and/or
troubleshooting contact
information, lines and/or channels associated with the local service, protocol
associated with the
local service, routing information, as well as other local service
information. It will be
appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that the LD services table
86 and/or local
services table 88 may include more or fewer fields, and that those fields
discussed above are
merely illustrative and not intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
[0052] In general, the wireless orders table 90 includes information
associated with
orders for wireless devices that are in turn associated with a carrier,
company and/or wireless
user. For example, the wireless orders table 90 may include fields associated
with an employee
and/or manager associated with an order (e.g., user identification, admin user
identification,
name, number, e-mail, etc.), the submitter of the order, an account associated
with the order, a
location associated with the order, address information associated with the
order (e.g., shipping
and/or billing information), an identification of inventory to replace, a
reason for replacement of
the inventory, minutes to add to a plan, the amount of the order, as well as
other wireless order
information. Also in general, the products table 92 includes information
associated with wireless
products that are in turn associated with a carrier and/or company. For
example, the products
14
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
table 92 may include fields associated with a product, signing date for the
product, effective date
of the product, expiration date of the product, the location to which the
product is assigned, the
carrier associated with the product and/or notes about the product, as well as
other product
information. Moreover, and in specific embodiments, the products table 92
includes at least one
field upon which the wireless orders table 90 and/or wireless inventory table
94 rely to access
wireless product information (e.g., a"primary key" of the products table 92,
and a "foreign key"
of the tables that use that field to access the products table 92). This field
may be a unique
identification of a product, or "ProductID" field. It will be appreciated by
one having ordinary
skill in the art that the wireless orders 90 and/or products table 92 may
include more or fewer
fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely illustrative and not
intended to limit
embodiments of the invention.
[0053] In general, the wireless inventory table 94 includes information
associated with
wireless inventory, such as extra inventory or inventory that is being used,
that is in turn
associated with a carrier and/or company. For example, the wireless inventory
table 94 may
include fields associated with a product associated with a piece of inventory,
a location and/or
division associated with a piece of inventory, and a carrier associated with a
piece of inventory.
The wireless inventory table 94 may further include fields associated with the
actual piece of
inventory (e.g., a name, a description, etc.), an employee assigned the piece
of inventory (e.g.,
their name, number, e-mail, manager, etc.), the status of the piece of
inventory, account
information associated with the piece of inventory (e.g., for example, an
employee account, a
corporate account and/or a general used to purchase the piece of inventory, as
well as respective
passwords associated therewith), purchase information associated with the
piece of inventory
(e.g., the purchase date and price, a warranty associated with the piece of
inventory, a corporate
discount used to purchase the piece of inventory, etc.), a vendor that
supplied the piece of
inventory, dates associated with the piece of inventor (e.g., for example, the
activation date,
expiration date, date the piece inventory may be upgraded and/or replaced,
date shipped, date
received, etc.), a phone number associated with the piece of inventory, a
project associated with
the piece of inventory (e.g., a project name, the project manager's name and e-
mail, etc.), as well
as other wireless inventory information. Moreover, and in specific
embodiments, the wireless
inventory table 94 includes at least one field upon which the invoices table
96 relies to access
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
wireless inventory information (e.g., a "primary key" of the wireless
inventory table 94, and a
"foreign key" of the tables that use that field to access the wireless
inventory table 94). This field
may be a unique identification of a piece of wireless inventory, or "WInID"
field. It will be
appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that the wireless
inventory table 94 may
include more or fewer fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely
illustrative and not
intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
[0054] The invoices table 96 generally includes information associated with
invoices
and/or invoices themselves that are in turn associated with wireless
inventory, and in specific
embodiments includes information relating to communication service expenses of
a company
from at least one service provider. Even further specifically, the invoices
table 96 includes
information relating to communication service expenses of a company from two
or more service
providers. In some embodiments, an invoice is an electronic document (e.g., e-
mails with
invoice information or files with invoice information, such as an electronic
document in the tiff
format and/or pdf format) and the information in the invoice is extracted then
stored in the
invoice table 96, along with a copy of the invoice. In alternative
embodiments, such as when an
invoice is a hard-copy document (e.g., a physical document that may be
received through the
mail), that invoice is scanned into an electronic document (e.g., into the
tiff format and/or pdf
format) and then information in the invoice is extracted and stored in the
invoice table, along
with an electronic copy of the invoice. It will be appreciated that, in either
embodiment, the
pages of the invoice may be singulated before they are stored. In the event
that information from
an invoice cannot be extracted, the information may be entered by hand. The
invoices table 96
may include fields associated with information about an invoice (e.g., a
carrier, name, item,
group, location/division associated with the invoice, etc.), a cell phone
associated with a portion
of the invoice, the portion of the invoice associated with the cell phone,
charges (e.g., typical
usage charges, additional usage charges, credits, direct connect charges,
monthly recurring
charges, taxes, other charges, etc.), information associated with minutes
(e.g., minutes in plan,
minutes imported, voice/data/text minutes used, remaining voice/data/text
minutes, etc.),
information associated with calls (e.g., calls made, calls received, direct
connects made, direct
connects received, other counts, etc.), as well as other invoice information.
It will be appreciated
by one having ordinary skill in the art that the invoices table 96 may include
more or fewer
16
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely illustrative and not
intended to limit
embodiments of the invention.
[0055] The data services table 98 generally includes information associated
with data
services in turn associated with a carrier and/or company. For example, the
data services may
include Internet services provided by an Internet service provider ("ISP")
(e.g., a carrier) and/or
wireless data services associated with a wireless service provider. For
example, the data services
table 98 may include fields associated with a type of data service request
(e.g., an order type, a
service type, etc.), a host, dates (e.g., the date the service is created, the
date the service is edited,
the date a contract is signed, effective dates associated with a contract, the
expiration date of a
contract, the term of a contract, an installation date, an activation date, a
service date, etc.),
whether a site is hosted, carrier information (e.g., the name of the carrier,
whether the carrier is a
specific type or brand of carrier, such as an LEC, an interexchange carrier, a
managed network
solutions carrier, a data carrier and/or a wireless carrier, whether the
carrier is specific to a
particular implementation, such as that the carrier is an ATM carrier, an
international carrier
and/or a service carrier, etc.), carrier account information (e.g., a carrier
account number, carrier
billing contacts, the monthly cost of the account, etc.), carrier contact
information (e.g., the
name, address, e-mail, phone number and/or fax number of a carrier, including
dedicated trouble
contact information for the carrier), information associated with the circuit
provided by the
carrier (e.g., an identification of the circuit, including an identification
of the circuit type, method
of access, loop type, bandwidth availability, whether it is international, as
well as circuit speeds,
etc.), information about access to the data service (e.g., port speeds,
bandwidth, whether the
access is burstable, primary DNS, secondary DNS, whether IP addresses are
dynamic or static,
whether IP addresses are serial or not, IP subnet masks, IP default gateways,
the access type to
the data service, a user name and password, etc.), the type of data service
(e.g., wireless, DSL,
the type of DSL, cable, a T-carrier, fiber, etc.), vendor information
associated with the data
service (e.g., an identification, contact, number, fax, cell, and e-mail of a
contact, as well as an
identification of the type of the vendor, etc.), data link connection
information associated with
the data service, network design information associated with the data service
(e.g., a network
design document, an approval number, an engineer, the engineer's number,
contact information
for the engineer, etc.), notes, as well as other data services information. It
will be appreciated by
17
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
one having ordinary skill in the art that the data services table 98 may
include more or fewer
fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely illustrative and not
intended to limit
embodiments of the invention.
[0056] The equipment table 100 generally includes information associated with
equipment, and more specifically equipment that may not be either wireless
inventory or a
product. For example, the equipment table 100 may include fields associated
with an
identification of the equipment (e.g., a unique identification of the
equipment as well as the type
of equipment, name, model identification, serial number, and version of the
equipment, etc.), an
order of the equipment (e.g., an order or order type, the purchase date, the
purchase price, a
warranty, a vendor associated with the order, etc.), a contract associated
with the equipment
(e.g., a customer number, a contract number, a contract term, a contract
amount, the date a
contract was signed, the expiration date of a contract, etc.), notes, as well
as other equipment
information. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art
that the equipment
table 100 may include more or fewer fields, and that those fields discussed
above are merely
illustrative and not intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
[0057] The reports table 102 generally includes information associated with
reports
and/or the reports themselves. As such, the reports table 102 may include
information associated
with system generated reports and/or custom reports. For example, the reports
table 102 may
include fields associated with a path for a report (e.g., a location to a
report), a group report
identification (in the event that a report is one of a group of a reports), a
designation whether the
report is custom, a custom report identification (if the report is custom),
information concerning
the type of report, and an identification of a company associated with the
report. Moreover, and
in specific embodiments, the reports table 102 includes at least one field
upon which the
company reports table 104 relies to access report information (e.g., a
"primary key" of the reports
table 102, and a "foreign key" of the tables that use that field to access the
reports table 102).
This field may be a unique identification of a report, or "ReportID" field. It
will be appreciated
by one having ordinary skill in the art that the reports table 102 may include
more or fewer
fields, and that those fields discussed above are merely illustrative and not
intended to limit
embodiments of the invention.
18
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0058] The company reports table 104 generally includes information to link at
least one
report to a company. For example, the company reports table 104 may include
fields associated
with an identification of a company and an identification of a report, among
other information. It
will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that the company
reports table 104
may include more or fewer fields, and that those fields discussed above are
merely illustrative
and not intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
[0059] Finally, the database 36 may include a wireless users table 106 that
generally
includes information associated with users. For example, the wireless users
table 106 may
include fields associated with a name of a user (e.g., first and last name),
their password, their
contact information (e.g., phone number and e-mail), the expiration date of
their wireless
contract, whether the user has seen the license agreement for a service
contract, the access level
allowed to the wireless user, whether the user has access to view information
for all users,
locations and/or divisions of a company, the most recent activity of the user
(e.g., last login, last
phone called, last web-page visited, last activity, etc.), as well as other
user information.
Moreover, and in specific embodiments, the wireless users table 106 includes
at least one field
upon which the company wireless orders table 90 relies to access wireless user
information (e.g.,
a "primary key" of the wireless users table 106, and a "foreign key" of the
tables that use that
field to access the wireless users table 106). This field may be a unique
identification of a user,
or "UserID" field. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the
art that the wireless
users table 106 may include more or fewer fields, and that those fields
discussed above are
merely illustrative and not intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
[0060] Those skilled in the art will recognize that environments illustrated
in FIGS. 1-4
are not intended to be limit embodiments of the invention. For example, and
with reference to
FIG. 1, the network 22 may include at least one network or a plurality of
networks to couple
computing system to upstream interface 24 and rebranding interface 26, as well
as couple
upstream interface 24 to client 28. As such, computing system 12, upstream
interface 24 and/or
rebranding interface 26 may be communicably coupled through a first network,
while upstream
interface 24 and client 28 may be communicably coupled through a second
network. It will be
appreciated that the first network may be a private network while the second
network may be a
19
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
public network, such as the Internet. Similarly, it will be appreciated by one
having ordinary
skill in the art that the system 10 may include more than one computing system
12, upstream
interface 24, rebranding interface 26 and/or client 28. In specific
embodiments, the system 12
may include a plurality of at least one of the computing system 12, upstream
interface 24,
rebranding interface 26 and/or client 28 without departing from the scope of
the invention.
[0061] Also for example, at least one of the computing system 12, upstream
interface 24,
rebranding interface 26 and/or client 28 may be configured on a public
network, such as the
Internet. As such, client 28 may be configured to communicate with the
upstream interface 24,
which may be a server configured to provide web pages to the client 28. In
turn, the upstream
interface 24 may be configured to communicate with the computing system 12 and
the
rebranding interface 30. Moreover, and in alternative embodiments, it will
appreciated that the
operation of the upstream interface 24 and/or rebranding interface 26 may be
combined with the
operation of the computing system 12. As such, the computing system 12 may be
in direct
communication with the client 28 through the network 22 rather than through
the upstream
interface 24 consistent with embodiments of the invention.
[0062] Moreover, it will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the
art that the
DBMS 34, the database 36, and the communication management application 38 may
include
more or fewer components than those illustrated in respective FIG. 2, FIG. 4
and FIG. 3. For
example, the database 36 may include more or fewer tables than those
illustrated in FIG. 4, and
in particular may include tables that combine one or more tables illustrated
in FIG. 4. For
example, the LD services table 86, local services table 88 and/or data
services table 98 may be
combined into a"services" table configured to store information relating to
services approved for
use by a company, while the product table 92, wireless inventory table 94
and/or equipment table
100 may be combined into an "inventory" table to store information relating to
communication
equipment in use by the organization table. Moreover, while some of the tables
of the database
36 have been referred to as being associated with a carrier and/or company, it
will be appreciated
by one having skill in the art that the information in said tables may further
be associated with a
user, employee and/or member of a company as well. Additionally, it will be
appreciated that
the names of the tables of the database 36 are merely illustrative and not
intended to be limiting.
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
For example, the wireless users table 106 may contain information about all
users, not just
wireless users. Thus, those having skill in the art will recognize that other
alternative hardware
and/or software environments may be used without departing from the scope of
the invention.
As such, one having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the
environments illustrated
through FIGS. 1-4 are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the
invention.
Therefore, other alternative hardware and/or software environments may be used
without
departing from the scope of the invention.
[0063] The routines executed to implement the embodiments of the invention,
whether
implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, system,
sequence of
operations, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions
executed to manage
communications consistent with embodiments of the invention will be referred
to herein as a
"sequence of operations" or "program code." The program code typically
comprises one or more
instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage
devices in the
system 10 and that, when read and executed by one or more processing units
and/or CPUs of the
computing system 12 and/or interface 24 and/or 26, cause that computing system
12 and/or
interface 24, 26 to perform the steps necessary to execute steps, elements,
and/or blocks
embodying the various aspects of the invention.
[0064] While the invention has and hereinafter will be described in the
context of fully
functioning computing systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that
the various
embodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as a program
product in a variety
of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular
type of computer
readable signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution.
Examples of computer
readable signal bearing media include but are not limited to recordable type
media such as
volatile and nonvolatile memory devices, floppy and other removable disks,
hard disk drives,
optical disks (e.g., CD-ROM's, DVD's, Blu-Ray discs, etc.), among others, and
transmission
type media such as digital and analog communication links.
[0065] In addition, various program code described hereinafter may be
identified based
upon the application or software component within which it is implemented in a
specific embodiment of the invention. However, it should be appreciated that
any particular program
21
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
nomenclature that follows is used merely for convenience, and thus the
invention should not be
limited to use solely in any specific application identified and/or implied by
such nomenclature.
Furthermore, given the typically endless number of manners in which computer
programs may
be organized into routines, procedures, methods, modules, objects, and the
like, as well as the
various manners in which program functionality may be allocated among various
software layers
that are resident within a typical computer (e.g., operating systems,
libraries, APIs, applications,
applets, etc.), it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to
the specific organization
and allocation of program functionality described herein.
Software Description and Flows
[0066] FIG. 5 is a flowchart 110 illustrating a sequence of operations that
may be
executed by a computing system to extract information from an invoice
consistent with
embodiments of the invention. Initially, data that includes information
associated with at least
one company and at least one user may be received (block 112). Specifically,
this information
may be entered during registration to allow the user to access a communication
management
application consistent with embodiments of the invention. Thus, after
registration, one or more
invoices may be imported (block 114) and at least one invoice may be initially
selected (block
116). In various embodiments, an invoice may be configured in an electronic
format (e.g., an
electronic document) or in at least one physical document (e.g., the invoice
includes at least one
physical paper). In the event that an invoice is configured in an electronic
format, importing that
invoice may include saving at least a portion of that invoice in a format
capable of being parsed
to extract information therefrom (e.g., in a.pdf and/or.tiff format, or in
another electronic
document format, and in specific embodiments in an image file format). In the
event that an
invoice is configured in at least one physical document, importing that
invoice may include
scanning the invoice into a format capable of being parsed to extract
information therefrom (e.g.,
in a.pdf and/or tiff format, or in another electronic document format, and in
specific
embodiments an image file format). Thus, selecting the at least one initial
invoice may include
selecting one or more pages of an invoice in a.pdf format, tiff format, and/or
in another
electronic document format.
22
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0067] As such, the selected invoice is parsed to extract information (block
118). In
specific embodiments, an invoice may be parsed with a parser (e.g., an invoice
parser module)
that includes a character recognition algorithm to break the invoice down into
its constituent
parts, and extract a plurality of items of data. An item of data may include
at least a portion of a
line of characters of an invoice, and specifically at least a portion of a
line of characters of an
invoice associated with data that corresponds to information configured to be
stored in the
database. For example, at least a portion of a line of an invoice may be
associated with the total
data services charge from a carrier and read "Total Data Charges: $819.80."
The parser may
therefore be configured to determine that at least a portion of an item is
1819.80" and/or
"819.80," which is in turn associated with the total data charges for a
company from a carrier. It
will be appreciated that the parser may be configured to recognize various
items of an invoice
based on previous iterations of parsing invoices and/or based upon a template
of the invoice that
identifies items in the invoice to the parser. Specifically, the parser may be
configured to
recognize items that correspond to information configured to be stored in the
database and
appropriately classify that information.
[0068] With reference back to FIG. 5, an initial item of the invoice may be
selected
(block 120) and the validity of the item may be determined (block 122). In
some embodiments,
the validity of the item is determined with reference to an expected type of
data associated with a
particular item. For example, when it is determined that an item is associated
with numbers
(e.g., for example, and not intending to be limiting, an item of the invoice
is associated with a
monetary charge), then that item may be invalid when it contains an
alphabetical character (e.g.,
the item contains one or more of the letters "a" through "z"). Similarly, when
it is determined
that an item is associated with one or more alphabetic characters, then that
item may be invalid
when it contains a number. As such, when an item is invalid ("No" branch of
decision block
124) an exception report may be generated and/or an entry about the item may
be added to an
existing exception report (block 126) and the item may be ignored,
reclassified, edited and/or
imported into at least one database (block 128). In some embodiments, the item
may be reclassified and/or edited with reference to user input (block 130).
For example, upon
determining an item is invalid the user may be queried as to the item and
provided with a display
representation of the portion of an invoice that the item was captured from.
The user may then
23
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
input a new classification of the item andlor edit the item. As an example,
the parser may parse a
number and mistakenly place a period (".") where they should be a comma The
user may
then edit the item to replace the period with a comma. Similarly, and also for
example, the
parser may parse the invoice and select an item that has no corresponding
database entry (e.g.,
for example, a legal paragraph at the bottom of an invoice). The user may then
classify the item
as unnecessary. When an item is classified as necessary and/or edited, the
item may be imported
into the database, and in specific embodiments to an appropriate table and
field of the database.
When an item is classified as unnecessary, the item may be ignored.
[0069] When the item is valid ("Yes" branch of decision block 124), the item
may be
imported into the database, and in specific embodiments to an appropriate
table and field of the
database (block 132). In response to importing the item into the database
(block 132) or in
response to reclassifying, editing and/or importing the item into the database
(block 128), it may
then be determined whether there is at least one item of the invoice remaining
to be validated
and/or imported (block 134). When there is at least one item of the invoice
remaining to be
validated and/or imported ("Yes" branch of decision block 134), an additional
item may be
selected (block 136) and the sequence of operations 110 may return to block
122 to determine
the validity of the item. When there is not at least one item of the invoice
remaining to validated
and/or imported ("No" branch of decision block 134), it may be determined
whether there is at
least one remaining invoice to parse (block 138). When there is at least one
remaining invoice to
parse ("Yes" branch of decision block 138) another invoice may be selected
(block 140) and the
sequence of operations 110 may proceed to block 118 to parse that invoice.
When there is not at
least one remaining invoice ("No" branch of decision block 138) the sequence
of operations 110
may end (block 142). Thus, it will be appreciated that an invoice may be
received, broken down
into its constituent parts, and those parts may undergo quality assurance
before being uploaded to
a corresponding portion of a database. It will be appreciated that, in some
embodiments, the
invoices are stored in the database as well. As such, an invoice may be stored
in whole or in
part, and, when stored in part, the pages of an invoice may be singulated and
stored individually.
In this manner, and in response to user interaction to view at least a portion
of an invoice, the
page upon which that portion is disposed may be displayed. Specifically, only
the page upon
which that portion is disposed may be provided to be displayed, or the entire
invoice may be
24
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
provided to be displayed and the display may resolve to that page upon which
the portion is
disposed.
[0070] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 150 that
may be
executed by a computing system to receive and process a request for a new
service consistent
with embodiments of the invention. The sequence of operations 150 may be
executed to order a
new phone service and/or data service, whether wired or wireless. As such, a
request for a new
service may be received (block 152). In response to this request for new
service, at least one
carrier associated with the request may be selectively provided, and a
selection for a carrier for
the service may be received (block 154). In some embodiments, the provided
carrier that is
associated with the request is specific to the type of service requested. For
example, when the
new service is a wireless phone and/or data service the carrier is a wireless
phone and/or data
service provider (e.g., Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc.), while when the new
service is a terrestrial
(e.g., wired) Internet service the carrier is a terrestrial ISP. In specific
embodiments, at least one
carrier is selectively provided based upon whether that carrier providing
services for the
company, location and/or user. For example, a first company may only use a
first carrier for a
particular service, while a second company may use a plurality of carriers for
that same service,
wherein that plurality of carriers includes that first carrier as well as a
second carrier. As such,
the first carrier may be selectively provided to the first company to select
from for a new service,
but the second carrier may not be provided. Similarly, at least the first
carrier and the second
carrier may be selectively provided to the second company to select from for a
new service.
[0071] In response to the selection of a carrier, at least one device and/or
network type
associated with the request and/or the selected carrier may be selectively
provided, and a
selection for a device and/or network type may be received (block 156). For
example, at least
one device from a plurality of devices may be selectively displayed based upon
devices that a
company may wish to display (e.g., on a cost basis, on a bulk order basis, on
the basis of
inventory, on the basis of compatibility with the request for service, on the
basis of compatibility
with a selected carrier, etc.), and at least one network type from a plurality
of network types may
be selectively displayed based upon network types that a company may wish to
display (e.g., on
a cost basis, on a bulk contract basis, on the basis of compatibility with the
request for service,
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
on the basis of compatibility with a selected carrier, etc.). In response to
the selection of a device
and/or network type, at least one service may be selectively provided, and a
selection for a
service may be received (block 158). Thus, at least one service from a
plurality of services may
be displayed based upon the services that a company may wish to display (e.g.,
on a cost basis,
on a bulk contract basis, on the basis of compatibility with the request for
service, on the basis of
compatibility with a selected carrier, on the basis of compatibility with a
selected device and/or
network type, etc.). For example, if a user requests a new wireless phone, a
plurality of wireless
phone service plans and/or wireless data service plans may be displayed. For a
more specific
example, the various wireless phone service plans may include indications of
the numbers of
minutes associated with the various wireless phone service plans, while the
various wireless data
service plans may include indications of the rates and level of accessibility
with the various
wireless data service plans. Thus, a company may display only certain types of
services (e.g.,
local phone services, long distance phone services, data services, wireless
phone services,
wireless data services, etc.), as well as certain specific services (e.g.,
various rate based local
and/or long distance services, bandwidth and/or access based data services,
minutes based
wireless phone services, direct connect wireless phone services, bandwidth
and/or access based
wireless data services, etc.).
[0072] In response to a selection of at least one service, it may be
determined whether
additional equipment associated with the requested service, the selected
carrier, the selected
device and/or network type, and/or the selected service is needed (block 160).
For example, if a
company is located in ajurisdiction that requires wireless phone users to use
a wireless headset
while driving, the company may determine that users located in that
jurisdiction should be issued
a wireless headset. When an additional piece of equipment and/or accessory is
needed ("Yes"
branch of decision block 160), the company may selectively provide at least
one additional piece
of equipment and/or accessory, and receive a selection for at least one
additional piece of
equipment and/or accessory (block 162). When an additional piece of equipment
and/or
accessory is not needed ("No" branch of decision block 160) and/or after a
selection of at least
one additional piece of equipment and/or accessory has been received (block
162), it may be
determined whether the selected device, piece of equipment and/or accessory is
present in
inventory associated with the company (block 164).
26
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0073] When the selected device, piece of equipment and/or accessory is not
present in
inventory ("No" branch of decision block 164), an exception report may be
generated and/or an
entry about the lack of the selected device, piece of equipment and/or
accessory in inventory may
be added to an existing exception report (block 166), and a notification about
the lack of
inventory may be issued (block 168). For example, the notification of the lack
of inventory may
be sent to a person who procures inventory for a company, to the user who
requested new
service, to an administrative user and/or to a user who is otherwise
associated with the request.
When the selected device, piece of equipment and/or accessory is present in
inventory ("Yes"
branch of decision block 164) and/or after a notification that the selected
device, piece of
equipment and/or accessory is not in inventory (block 168), it may be
determined whether a user
associated with the request is valid (block 170). When a user associated with
the request is
invalid ("No" branch of decision block 170) an exception report may be
generated and/or an
entry about the invalidity of a user may be added to an existing exception
report (block 172), and
a notification of the invalidity of the user may be issued (block 174). For
example, the
notification of the invalidity of a user may be sent to a manager of the user,
to the user who
requested new service and/or to an administrative user. When the user
associated with the
request is valid ("Yes" branch of decision block 170), the order may be placed
(block 176). In
response to the notification of the invalidity of a user (block 174) and/or in
response to the
placement of an order (block 176), the sequence of operations may end (block
178).
[0074] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 180 that
may be
executed by a computing system to process a user request to view order
information consistent
with embodiments of the invention. In specific embodiments, it is determined
that a user
interacts with a web page to request to view order information, such as to
request a new number
and/or service, request a replacement device, request a new accessory, request
maintenance,
and/or request to move a number to a new carrier (block 182). When it is
determined that a new
number and/or service is requested. a sequence of operations such as that
illustrated in FIG. 6
may be executed. Returning to FIG. 7, when it is determined that a user
requests for the
replacement of a device (block 184), at least one device for replacement is
selectively displayed
(block 186). For example, at least one device from a plurality of devices may
be selectively
displayed based upon devices that a company may wish to display (e.g., on a
cost basis, on a
27
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
bulk order basis, on the basis of inventory, on a compatibility with services
basis, on a
compatibility with a network the replacement device will interface with,
etc.). As such, the
number associated with the request (e.g., a phone number), along with an
identification of the
replacement device, order information (such as the identity of the person
requesting the
replacement device, the identity of their manager, the identity of the person
who will receive the
replacement device, where to ship the replacement device, an account to
charge, etc.) notes about
the request and/or a reason for the replacement (e.g., damaged, lost, stolen,
upgrade, equipment
failure, other, etc.) is captured (block 188).
[0075] When it is determined that a user requests a new accessory (block 190),
at least
one accessory is selectively displayed for the user to order (block 192). For
example, at least one
accessory from a plurality of accessories may be selectively displayed based
upon accessories
that a company may wish to display (e.g., on a cost basis, on a bulk order
basis, on the basis of
inventory, on a compatibility with devices basis, etc.). As such, the number
associated with the
request (e.g., a phone number), along with an identification of the accessory,
notes about the
request and/or order information (such as the identity of the person
requesting the accessory, the
identity of their manager, the identity of the person who will receive the
accessory, where to ship
the accessory, an account to charge, etc.) are captured (block 194).
[0076] When it is determined that a user requests maintenance (block 196) the
number
associated with the request (e.g., a phone number), along with information
about the equipment
and/or device associated with the maintenance request, as well as the
maintenance request itself
are captured (block 198). Similarly, when it is determined that a user
requests to move a number
to a new carrier (block 200), the number associated with the request, the
identification of the new
carrier, a selection of new equipment that may be required, a selection of at
least one new
accessory that may be required, notes about the request and/or order
information (such as the
identity of the person requesting the number transfer, the identity of their
manager, the identity
of the person whose number is subject to the transfer, an account to charge,
etc.) are captured
(block 202). In response to capturing information (blocks 188, 194, 198 and/or
202) order
information associated with an order and/or request may be displayed for the
user to confirm the
28
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
information (block 204). Upon confirmation, the order and/or request may be
submitted
electronically (block 206).
[0077] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 210 that
may be
executed by a computing system to selectively display information associated
with an inventory
consistent with embodiments of the invention. For example, it may be
determined that a user
requests to view information associated with inventory (block 212) and, as
such, the inventory
information that is associated with the user is determined (block 214). For
example, the
inventory information that is associated with the user may include inventory
information
associated with a company that is in turn associated with the user, as well as
inventory
information that the user is allowed to view. It will be appreciated that the
inventory information
associated with the user may include inventory information extracted from one
or more invoices
from one or more carriers, thus allowing the user to track, manage and view
inventory
information for an entire company. As such, the inventory information
associated with the user
that may be displayed is selectively displayed (block 216). In some
embodiments, expenses
associated with the inventory information are selectively displayed (block
218). For example,
the expenses selectively displayed may include an indication of the total
expenses by carrier
within the last billing cycle, the total expenses by carrier within a time
period (e.g., by year
and/or by month range) and/or the total expenses by carrier associated with a
particular location
of a company. In some embodiments, the expenses are illustrated as a bar graph
showing the
various expenses per carrier, while in alternative embodiments the expenses
are illustrated as a
pie chart showing the relative percentage of the expenses to the total
expenses per carrier.
[0078] In addition to displaying the expenses, trends of the expenses
associated with
inventory information may also be selectively displayed (block 220). For
example, a start date
and end date may be selected, and a graph displaying expense trends over that
selected data
range may be generated. Also, expenses associated with specific numbers may be
selectively
displayed (block 222). For example, the ten numbers associated with the most
expenses, in
relation to other numbers, may be displayed in regards to the last billing
cycle, the total expenses
within a time period (e.g., by year and/or by month range) and/or the total
expenses for numbers
associated with a particular location of a company_ The expenses associated
with specific
29
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
numbers may be illustrated as a bar graph showing the various expenses per
number and/or as a
pie chart showing the relative percentage of the expenses to the total of the
ten expenses with a
key showing the numbers associated with those expenses. Moreover, and also in
relation to
specific numbers, minutes of plans associated with numbers may also be
selectively displayed,
including used minutes and/or remaining minutes of the plan associated with
those numbers
(block 224). For example, the ten numbers associated with the usage of the
most minutes, in
relation to other numbers, may be displayed in regard to the last billing
cycle, the total minutes
within a time period (e.g., by year and/or by month range) and/or the total
minutes for numbers
associated with a particular location of a company may be selectively
displayed. The used
minutes associated with specific numbers may be illustrated as a bar graph
showing the various
minutes per number and/or as a pie chart showing the relative percentage of
the minutes to the
total of the ten number's minutes with a key showing the numbers associated
with those minutes.
Alternatively, the remaining minutes of various numbers may be selectively
displayed consistent
with alternative embodiments of the invention.
[0079] In addition to expenses, trends thereof, and minutes of numbers, a
summary of
invoices associated with inventory information may also be displayed (block
226). For example,
the summary of invoices may include information extracted from a plurality of
invoices from a
plurality of carriers for a specific location of a company. Thus, for a
location, this summary may
include an indication of the total monthly service charges, taxes, adjustments
(e.g., credits,
discounts, etc.), overages, an indication of the count of numbers associated
with that location, the
total number of minutes used and/or other charges. It will be appreciated that
the inventory
information, expenses, expense trends, expenses associated with specific
numbers, minutes
associated with specific numbers, and summary of invoices may be specific to a
particular
location of a company.
[0080] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 230 that
may be
executed by a computing system to selectively display information associated
with a carrier
consistent with embodiments of the invention. For example, it may be
determined that a user
requests to view information associated with at least one carrier (block 232)
and, as such,
information associated with at least one carrier that is in turn associated
with the user mav be
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
selectively displayed (block 234). In turn, it may be determined that a user
selects at least one
carrier to view additional information related to that at least one carrier
(block 236). Thus,
additional information related to the selected carrier, including at least one
number associated
with the carrier, may be selectively displayed (block 238). For example, each
number associated
with the selected carrier that is in turn associated with the user may be
listed, along with
information about each number. To view more information about a particular
number, a user
may select a number and, upon a determination that the user selects a number
(block 240),
information about the number, including user information, account information,
service plan
information, equipment associated with the number, shipping information about
the number,
accessories associated with the number, notes about the number and/or an
invoice summary
associated with the selected number may be selectively displayed (block 242).
In some
embodiments, the information associated with the carrier and the number (e.g.,
including the user
information, account information, service plan information, equipment
associated with the
number, shipping information about the number, accessories associated with the
number, notes
about the number and/or an invoice summary associated with the number) is
extracted from at
least one invoice consistent with embodiments of the invention.
[0081] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 250 that
may be
executed by a computing system to selectively display information associated
with at least one
invoice consistent with embodiments of the invention. Thus, it may be
determined that a user
requests to view information associated with at least one invoice (block 252)
and, in response to that determination, information associated with the at
least one invoice may be selectively
displayed (block 254). Specifically, information associated with the at least
one invoice that may
be displayed include general invoice information (e.g., for example, the name
of the carrier that
provided the at least one invoice, the account name for the at least one
invoice, the account
number of the at least one invoice, the date the at least one invoice was
mailed, the total amount
of the at least one invoice, the date the total amount is due, etc.), a
billing summary (e.g., for
example, the previous balance, credits to the previous balance, total current
charges, any
outstanding balance, costs of the invoice broken up by categories such as data
services, phone
services, messaging service, direct connection services, and/or other charges,
such as equipment
charges, rental charges, taxes, credits for this invoice, etc.), and/or an
equipment and shipping
31
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
summary (e.g., for example, equipment charges for equipment orders and/or
shipping charges for
that equipment, etc.), all of which may be based upon information extracted
from the at least one
invoice (block 254).
[0082] In some embodiments, a user may interact with at least a portion of the
equipment
and shipping summary, and in specific embodiments an entry (e.g., an equipment
and/or
shipping charge) of the equipment and shipping summary (block 256). In some
embodiments,
this interaction includes clicking and/or hovering over that entry. When a
user interacts with an
entry of the equipment and shipping summary ("Yes" branch of decision block
256) additional
information associated with that entry (e.g., a user name, number, and/or
account number
associated with that entry in the equipment and shipping summary, etc.) is
displayed (block 258).
When the user does not interact with an entry of the equipment and shipping
summary ("No"
branch of decision block 256) it may be determined whether the user interacts
with at least a
portion of the general invoice information, and in specific embodiments, a
link to an electronic
copy of at least a portion of the invoice (block 260). When the user interacts
with the link to the
electronic copy ("Yes" branch of decision block 260), an electronic copy of at
least a portion of
the invoice associated with the general information of the invoice is
displayed (block 262). It
will be appreciated that the electronic copy may include an image file (e.g.,
a.pdf image, a.tiff
image, etc.) of at least one page of the invoice. In some embodiments, to
display the electronic
copy, a singulated page is provided and displayed, while in alternative
embodiments at least a
portion of the invoice is provided and the page associated with the general
information is
displayed, while in further alternative embodiments the entire invoice is
provided and the page
associated with the general information is displayed. When the user does not
interact with the
link to the electronic copy ("No" branch of decision block 260), it may be
determined that a user
requests to view information associated with charges to at least one
individual user, and thus
information associated with charges to at least one individual user may be
selectively displayed
(block 264).
[0083] In response to displaying information associated with charges to at
least one
individual user, it may be determined whether a user interacts with at least a
portion of the
information associated with the at least one individual user, and in specific
embodiments a
32
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
graphical selection to display additional information about charges of the
user and/or a link to an
electronic copy of at least a portion of the invoice associated with that
individual user (block
266). When it is determined that a user interacts with at least a portion of
the information
associated with at least one individual user ("Yes" branch of decision block
266), specific
charges to at least one individual user may be selectively displayed in
response to the user
interaction when the user requests to display additional information about
charges through the
graphical selection (block 268) and/or an electronic copy of the at least a
portion of the invoice
associated with the individual user may be selectively displayed in response
to the user
interaction when the user selects the link to the electronic copy of the
invoice associated with
that individual user (block 270). For example, when additional information
about charges is
selectively displayed, information associated with monthly recurring charges,
credits, taxes,
additional usage charges, other charges, minutes and/or other usage of a
service associated with
that individual user may be displayed. Also for example, and similar to block
262, to display the
electronic copy of the at least a portion of the invoice associated with the
individual user, a
singulated page associated with the charges to the individual user may be
provided and
displayed, at least a portion of the invoice associated with the charges to
the individual user may
be provided and the first page associated with the charges to the individual
user may be
displayed, and/or the entire invoice may be provided and the first page
associated with the
charges to the individual user may be displayed.
[0084] When it is determined that the user does not interact with at least a
portion of the
information associated with at least one individual user ("No" branch of
decision block 266) the
sequence of operations 250 may continue monitoring for requests from the user
to view invoice
information and/or user interaction with invoice information (not shown), or
the sequence of
operations 250 may end (block 272).
[0085] FIG. I 1 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations 280 that
may be
executed by a computing system to selectively display reports and/or build
custom reports
consistent with embodiments of the invention. Specifically, a user may request
to view
information associated with a report and/or custom report (block 282) and, in
response,
information associated with at least one report may be displayed (block 284).
In some
33
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
embodiments, information associated with a report and/or custom report may
include financial
information, inventory information and/or information about a company,
location and/or user
thereof, as well as custom information and/or a combination thereof. For
example, the
information associated with a report and/or a custom report may include
information about
overages, charges for particular services, usage summaries, taxes, other
expenses, other services
rendered and/or other custom data. In some embodiments, the system may be
configured to
automatically build a plurality of reports in response to receiving
information extracted from at
least one invoice.
[0086] Alternatively, a user may request to build a custom report (block 282)
and, in
response to user interaction to build that custom report, information to
include in the custom
report may be determined from interaction to select at least one of a
location, a date range, a
dataset, at least one field of the dataset and/or comparison criteria (block
286). In response to the
selection of at least one criteria, a custom report may be built and displayed
(block 288). In
response to displaying at least one report and/or a custom report (e.g.,
blocks 284 and/or 288),
the report and/or the custom report may be saved, deleted, edited and/or
exported (block 290).
[0087] Further details and embodiments of the invention will be described by
way of
descriptions of the following display representations.
[0088] FIG. 12 is a display representation of a welcome screen 300 that may be
provided
for the user (e.g., a client) to view and manage information about
communications services of a
company, a division and/or a user thereof consistent with embodiments of the
invention.
Moreover, the welcome screen 300 also illustrates a number of features of a
web page that may
be provided to the user to track, manage and view communication services, and
related expenses
thereof. Specifically, the welcome screen 300 illustrates that web pages
provided by a system
consistent with embodiments of the invention may include branding date 302
specific to the user,
as well as a menu 304 from which to select information associated with a home
page, wireless
services, local services, long distance services, data services, internet
services and equipment.
Additionally, the web page may include various links (collectively, 306) that
allow the user to
view help topics and information, contact an administrator, log in as an
administrator and/or log
34
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
on or off. In some embodiments, the welcome screen 300 may include news and/or
outline
updates to the system as at 308, as well as give basic information about the
system as at 310.
[0089] FIG. 13 is a display representation of an inventory screen 320 that may
be
provided for the user to view inventory information consistent with
embodiments of the
invention. More specifically, FIG. 14 illustrates a wireless inventory
expenses screen 320
associated with wireless inventory of a company, location and/or user thereof
consistent with
embodiments of the invention. Specifically, the inventory screen 320
illustrates that web pages
provided by a system consistent with embodiments of the invention may include
a search bar 322
in which the user may search for information and a location menu 324 in which
a user may select
a location of a company in order to view inventory information related to that
location. The
inventory screen 320 may further include a carrier selection menu 326 and/or
an inventory
expenses menu 328. In some embodiments, the carrier selection menu 326
provides the user
with a menu to select information associated with one or more carriers, while
the inventory
expenses menu 328 provides the user with a menu to view more specific
inventory information
about the selected one or more carriers, including expenses, expense trends,
expenses associated
with phone numbers, minutes used by phone numbers andlor invoice summaries.
For example,
FIG. 13 illustrates that the user has selected to view general inventory
information for at least
two carriers as well as view the general expenses thereof. As such, general
inventory
information associated with the at least two carriers (e.g., the total cost of
the general inventory
information associated with the at least two carriers) is presented in a
graphic 330 consistent with
embodiments of the invention. Although the general inventory information of
the at least two
carriers is illustrated within as a pie chart in graphic 330, it will be
appreciated that the general
inventory information may be presented in a bar graph consistent with
alternative embodiments
of the invention. In some embodiments, the graphic 330 is dynamically created
in response to
user interaction to select a month, year and/or date range for the expenses
information in the
graphic 330. As such, the program code for the system may be configured to
analyze stored
expense data for at least one carrier and display that information consistent
with embodiments of
the invention.
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
[0090] FIG. 14 is a display representation of an expense trend screen 340 that
may be
provided for the user to view trends in expenses of inventory consistent with
embodiments of the
invention. In some embodiments, the trends in expenses of inventory may be
illustrated in a
graphic 342. As such, the user may view trends for expenses of inventory over
time. In some
embodiments, the graphic 342 is dynamically created in response to user
interaction to select a
month, year and/or date range for the trends in the graphic 342. As such, the
program code for
the system may be configured to analyze multiple instances of stored expense
data for at least
one carrier and display that information consistent with embodiments of the
invention. FIG. 15
is a display representation of an inventory invoice summary screen 350 to
display general
information associated with at least one invoice consistent with embodiments
of the invention.
In some embodiments, an invoice summary 352 may be provided in the inventory
invoice
summary screen consistent with embodiments of the invention. The invoice
summary 352 may
include summary information of the charges from one or more carrier, and in
specific
embodiments at least two carriers. Specifically, the invoice summary 352 may
include
information associated with monthly service charges, taxes, credits
and/adjustments, charges
associated with overages of users minutes, messaging and/or data plans, the
total number of users
associated with the invoice summary, the total number of minutes used by users
associated with
the invoice summary, as well as other charges. Moreover, the invoice summary
352 may be
specific to a particular year, month and/or date range, or simply be
associated with the most
recent month. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art
that expenses
associated with particular users, as well as wireless minutes usage of
particular users, may also
be displayed without departing from the scope of the invention.
[0091] FIG. 16 is a display representation of a carrier inventory screen 360
to display
information associated with a carrier, and in particular at least one user of
a carrier, consistent
with embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the user has
selected to view
information associated with a carrier (e.g., "Carrier 1") from the carrier
selection menu 326 to
view information associated with at least one user configured with a service
plan through that
carrier. In turn, the carrier inventory screen 360 may display general
information associated
with at least one user configured with a service plan through the carrier in
the user selection
menu 362 and, in response to a user selection of that user, display more
detailed information
36
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
associated with the user in a user information module 364. For example, the
user selection menu
362 may display a name and/or number associated with a user of a service from
the carrier. As
illustrated in FIG. 16, the user selection menu 362 illustrates the name and
phone number of a
wireless phone of a user. The user selection menu 362 may also display the
initial date of the
service, the expiration date of the service and/or the date upon which the
service and/or
equipment may be updated. Upon selection of an entry (e.g., a user) in the
user selection menu
362, the user information module 364 may be configured with information about
the user,
including their name, a number associated with the account, e-mail, contact
information,
manager, e-mail of the manager, an IP address associated with the user, their
employee number
and/or job number, account number, direct connect information, status, who
paid for the service,
the activation date, the expiration date, the date upon which the service
and/or equipment may be
updated, and/or other information associated with the selected user. It will
be appreciated that
additional information about the selected user may be displayed by interacting
with the user
information module 364. For example, account information, service plan
information,
equipment information, shipping information, accessories information, notes
and/or an invoice
summary associated with the user may be viewed by selecting appropriate
portions of the user
information module 364.
[0092] For example, FIG. 17 is a display representation of the carrier
inventory screen
360 in which a summary of information from an invoice associated with a user
and in turn
associated with a carrier is displayed in the user information module 364. For
example, and as
illustrated in FIG. 17, the monthly service charge, taxes, credits and/or
adjustments, minutes used
and other charges that are associated with a selected user are displayed in
the user information
module 364. Moreover, a year, a month, a date and/or a range of dates for a
summary may be
selected and the respective invoice summaries for invoices associated with
those dates, selected
user and carrier may be combined and displayed.
[0093] In addition to information associated with inventory, information
associated with
at least one invoice may also be displayed separate from inventory
information. For example,
FIG. 18 is a display representation of an invoice information screen 370
configured to provide
information associated with at least one invoice. The invoice information
screen 370 illustrates
37
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
that web pages may include an invoice selection menu 372 and an invoice
information selection
menu 374. In response to a selection of an invoice, the invoice information
selection menu 374
may, in turn, provide a user with general information about a carrier
associated with a selected
invoice in an general invoice information module 376, summary information
about the selected
invoice in an invoice summary module 378, and information about equipment
and/or shipping
associated with the selected invoice in an equipment and shipping summary
module 380. As
such, a user may view information associated with a selected invoice, and more
particularly
general information about a selected invoice consistent with embodiments of
the invention.
[0094] In addition to general information, the invoice information selection
menu 374
may be further configured to display more specific information about a
selected invoice,
including user totals, recurring charges, credits and/or adjustment, other
charges, taxes,
additional information, minutes and/or direct connection information
associated with the selected
invoice. For example, FIG. 19 is a display representation of the invoice
information screen 370
in which the user has selected to view user totals associated with the
selected invoice. As such,
the invoice information selection menu 374 includes a list of users 382
associated with a selected
invoice. In some embodiments, a user interacts with an entry (e.g., a user) of
the list of users 382
to view additional information about that user. For example, and as
illustrated in FIG. 19, an
entry associated with a first user in the list of users 382 has been expanded
to view a breakdown
of at least some of the charges associated with that first user. Specifically,
the monthly recurring
charges, credits and/or adjustments, taxes, additional usage charges, other
charges, minutes used,
and direction connection minutes used may be displayed.
[0095] Although not illustrated in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19, it will be appreciated
that
additional information may be displayed in the invoice information selection
menu 374. For
example, information associated with recurring charges, credits and/or
adjustments, other
charges, taxes, additional charges, minutes and/or direct connection services
may also be
displayed.
[0096] FIG. 20 is a display representation of a report selection screen 390 in
which
information associated with at least one report and/or custom report may be
displayed.
Moreover, the report selection screen 390 also illustrates a number of
features of a web page that
38
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
may be provided to the user to view reports and/or custom reports, as well as
build custom
reports. As such, the report selection screen 390 may include a report
selection menu 392 from
which to select categories of reports (e.g., financial reports, inventory
reports, location/user
reports, custom reports) as well as specific reports (e.g., for example, and
as illustrated, financial
reports associated with categorized overages, direct connection charges,
service usage, monthly
service charges, taxes, usage summaries and/or user overages, etc.) to view,
or "run." Moreover,
the report selection screen 390 may include a report building module 394 in
which the user may
select a location to view reports and/or custom reports associated with that
location, as well as to
specify a date range to view reports and/or custom reports associated with
that date range. As
illustrated in FIG. 20, the user has selected to view a financial report, and
more particular a
categorized overage financial report in the report selection menu 392, as well
as specified a
location and date in the report building module 394. To view, a selected
report associated with a
selected location and specified date range, the user may select the "View
Report" button 396 in
the report building module. In response to a user selection to view a report,
the report may be
generated based upon user selection in the report selection menu 392 and
report building module
394, then displayed. FIG. 20 is a display representation of a report screen
400 that illustrates at
least a portion of a report 402 that may be displayed to the user in response
to selecting to view a
report and/or build a custom report. Specifically, the report 402 may be
displayed in an
electronic format, such as an image file format, and in specific embodiments
the report may be
displayed in a.pdf format or a.tiff format. As illustrated, the report 402 may
include a report
menu 404 and an information section 406. The report menu 404 may be interacted
with to view
report information, while the information section 406 may display information
associated with
selections of the report menu 404.
[0097] FIG. 22 is a display representation of a custom report screen 410 in
which a
custom report may be built consistent with embodiments of the invention. In
particular, FIG. 22
illustrates a custom report creation module 412 that may be displayed in
response to a user
request to create a custom report by selecting a "Create Custom Report" button
414. The custom
report creation module 412 may be used to name a report, select a dataset for
the custom report,
select a field of the dataset to use in the custom report, and pick fields for
comparison. The
39
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
report may be viewed by selecting the "Show Report" button 416, saved by
selecting the "Save
Report" button 418, or deleted by selecting the "Delete Report" button 420.
[0098] While embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated by a
description
of the various embodiments and the examples, and while these embodiments have
been
described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to
restrict or in any way
limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages
and modifications
will readily appear to those skilled in the art. For example, orders and/or
requests submitted by a
user may be subject to approval. As such, an approving manager may be notified
of any order
and/or request. Specifically, the approving manager may be sent an e-mail
regarding an order
and/or request, or be notified of an order and/or request upon logging in. In
turn, a link may be
displayed to a web page that displays information associated with the order
and/or request. As
such, the approving manager may select the link and deny, modify or accept the
order and/or
request. In some embodiments, the approving manager modifies the order and/or
request by
substituting at least a portion of the order and/or request. In specific
embodiments, an order
and/or request involves a request for a new wireless phone. The approving
manager may modify
the order and/or request to specify that the user receives a different
wireless phone than the
requested wireless phone (e.g., the requested wireless phone is too expensive,
and the newly
specified wireless phone is less expensive). In response to the denial,
modification or acceptance
of the order and/or request, fields and/or tables associated therewith may be
updated
appropriately. It will be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, a user
profile includes an
indication whether an order and/or request by that user must be approved, such
that, if the
indication indicates that if that user's orders and/or request do not need to
be approved, an order
and/or request by that user is automatically approved and processed upon
submission.
[0099] Moreover, an interface for configuring alerts based upon rules may also
be
provided. For example, a rule may include providing an indication associated
with when a long
distance service associated with a location is set to expire. As such, an
administrator may set up
the rule such that, on a date that the long distance service is set to expire
and/or on a date in
advance of the expiration (e.g., by specifying the DD/MM/YYYY of the
expiration), an alert is
generated and e-mailed to one or more users. Also for example, a rule may
include providing an
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
indication associated with when a user is removed, such as in the event of
that user's termination,
resignation and/or death. The administrator may set up the rule such that,
upon an indication of
the user's termination, resignation and/or death, an alert is generated and e-
mail to one or more
users. As such, those users may begin removing services and/or expenditures
associated with the
user. It will be appreciated by one having skill in the art that the
administrator may configured
the alerts as appropriate.
[00100] Also for example, and with respect to FIG. 5, it will be appreciated
by one having
skill in the art that reclassification and/or editing performed by the user
may be used in
subsequent iterations to determine the validity of an item and/or to
automatically edit an item.
Moreover, and with respect to FIG. 8, it will be appreciated that the
flowchart may be used for
other data, and should not be limited to inventory information. Furthermore,
it will be
appreciated that the information displayed to a user may be dependent on that
use being allowed
to view that information. For example, a first web page may be provided to a
user to view only
information specific to that user, while a second web page may be provided to
an administrative
user to view information specific to a plurality of members. Additionally,
information may be
selectively displayed based upon the identity of the user. For example,
financial, inventory,
forecasting, trending and analytical information may be selectively displayed
on custom
configured web pages for various users, such as a Chief Financial Officer
("CFO"), an IT
manager, another executive, an administrator, etc. Moreover, the web pages for
those various
users (e.g., the CFO, IT manager, executive, administrator, etc.) may include
different menus,
selections, layouts and/or dashboards. Thus, any of the information
selectively displayed may be
selectively displayed based upon whether a user is allowed to view that
information. Moreover,
a layout of a web page may be selectively provided based upon the user.
Additionally, it will be
appreciated that information displayed to the user, information that is
included in a report and/or
information that is part of a graphic may include information extracted from
the at least one
invoice consistent with embodiments of the invention.
[00101] Thus, the invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to
the specific
details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative example shown
and described. In
particular, any of the blocks of the above flowcharts may be deleted,
augmented, made to be
41
CA 02663999 2009-04-23
simultaneous with another, combined, or be otherwise altered in accordance
with the principles
of the present invention. For example, although at least some blocks in FIGS.
5-11 are shown as
being executed sequentially, one having ordinary skill in the art will
appreciated that any of the
blocks may be executed concurrently and/or dependent upon a particular user
interaction
consistent with embodiments of the invention. Moreover, although some
illustrative screens are
illustrated in FIGS. 12-22, these screens are merely exemplary and not
intended to limit
embodiments of the invention. Specifically, alternative screen layouts,
graphics, images, and
textual information may be selectively displayed consistent with embodiments
of the invention.
For example, and although not shown, one having ordinary skill in the art will
appreciate that
information associated with local services, long distance services, data
services, internet services
and/or equipment therefor may be also be selectively displayed. This includes
information
associated with inventory, orders, invoices and/or reports, as well as general
information and
information specific to a particular carrier. Moreover, the information that
may be selectively
displayed further includes expense information, expense trends, expenses
associated with
specific phone numbers, minutes used by phone numbers, invoice summaries, as
well as user
information, account information, service plan information, equipment
information, shipping
information, accessory information, notes and/or an invoice summary specific
to a user. Finally,
the information that may be selectively displayed further includes account
information, user
totals, recurring charges, credits, other charges, taxes, additional charges,
minutes and/or direct
connection information specific to a carrier. Accordingly, departures may be
made from such
details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicants' general
inventive concept.
[00102] Other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the
art. Therefore,
the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended.
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