US 2007/0168871 A1 · Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management system

Abstract

Method and apparatus for a Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management application in the form of a software application are described. In one embodiment, the application is the first Web-enabled, fully interactive transaction and collaborative management application designed from the user's perspective. In this embodiment, the application is centered around a user-friendly home navigation page designed to facilitate convenience for the user in accessing information or entering and tracking data. All information is sorted by project or matter name. The number of matters is virtually unlimited. A client user may view information one matter at a time, all matters at one, or any user-specified number of matters. Access is restricted to authorized users with password access rights. The application enables the tracking of information that is beneficial to all levels of the user's organization, that is substantive and relevant to different levels of the user's staff, and that aids the client in making informed decisions regarding its current transactions and documents relating thereto. The application is flexible and adaptable to the users specific types of transactions and matters. The information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any location in the world and connectivity is simple yet dependable. The application permits users to connect to multiple outside entities so that the user has the benefit of flowing transaction and matter information to and from such outside entities in a uniform way.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method of implementing a collaborative management application, the method comprising:

logging on to the collaborative management application;
configuring an appearance of the collaborative management application:
and
viewing, adding, or modifying items of information pertaining to one or more clients;
wherein said configuring further comprises:
specifying identifying information for a client;
specifying information for at least one matter of the client, wherein the at least one matter conceptually links a plurality of related items and the specified information is applicable to each of the plurality of items;
selecting a component in connection with all matters of the client;
specifying at least one category for the component;
identifying a user group for the client, the user group comprising a set of users having some level of authorization with respect to matters of the client;
wherein said viewing, adding, or modifying further comprises:
selecting a client;
selecting one or more matters in connection with the selected client, wherein the one or more matters comprise a group of matters;
selecting a component in connection with the selected group of matters;
selecting a filter for filtering items for the selected client, matters and component;
displaying the filtered items to a user;
selecting a user;
displaying only items for which the selected user has been designated;
and
wherein said configuring and said viewing, adding, or modifying are performed via an Internet web site.

17 more elements

A software program embodied in a storage medium for implementing a website by which documents can be shared between a service provider and a client, the software program comprising:

instructions for accessing a repository, the repository for storing a plurality of documents;
a first graphical interface by which a first user associated with the service provider can log into the network application, can add one or more documents to the repository, and can assign a category, an authorization, and a matter for each document, wherein the matter conceptually links a plurality of related documents and information associated with the matter is applicable to each of the plurality of documents;
instructions for identifying one or more clients, each client comprising one or more users having a level of authorization with respect to matters of the client;
an email interface linked to the first graphical interface, the email interface including a list of potential email recipients selected according to at least one client, the category and the matter;
a second graphical interface by which a second user associated with a client can log into the network application and can access one or more of the documents in the repository, based on the category, authorization, and matter for the one or more documents;
and
instructions for allowing the second user to view, add, or modify any one of the documents in the repository according to the authorization of the second user with respect to a particular matter.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management system

Life of this patent

Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18