Method of and apparatus for communicating and scheduling change requests

A method of communicating and scheduling maintenance requests, the method comprising steps of:

• providing to a maintenance requester a maintenance request form having fields with which the maintenance requester can provide information about a maintenance request, including fields identifying the maintenance requester, and a proposed date when maintenance will take place;
• receiving maintenance request information that the maintenance requester provided using the maintenance request form;
• storing the maintenance request information in a database;
• providing to a user a calendar having boxes corresponding to days of a month, showing the maintenance request in a box corresponding to the maintenance requester's proposed date when the maintenance will take place, and showing status information associated with the maintenance request indicating whether the maintenance request has been approved, denied, or is pending an approval decision;
• and
• providing to the maintenance administrator an administrator interface with which the administrator can make changes to the status information associated with the maintenance request.

An apparatus comprising:

• a server having a memory, and a database defined in the memory;
• and
• a plurality of user's client machines configured to selectively communicate with the server, one of the user's client machines defining a change administrator's client machine, one of the user's client machines defining a change requester's client machine, the server being configured to provide to the change requester's client machine a change request form having fields with which a change requester can provide information indicating an e-mail address for the change requester, a maintenance request type, a proposed date and time when maintenance will take place, an estimated duration for the maintenance, who will be impacted by the maintenance, the nature of the impact, and the impact if the maintenance is not performed;
• the server being configured to receive from the change requester's client machine change request information from the change requester in response to the change requester providing information for at least some of the fields of the change request form;
• the server being configured to store the change request information in the database, to provide the change request information to the change administrator's client machine, and to transmit the change request information to user's client machines associated with whoever was indicated as being impacted by the maintenance;
• and the server being configured to provide to a user's client machine a calendar displaying indicia associated with the change request information, as well as status information associated with the change request information.

A program storage device readable by a server machine, the program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the server machine to cause the server machine to:

• provide to a maintenance requester's client machine a maintenance request form having fields with which a maintenance requester can provide information about a maintenance request, including fields identifying the maintenance requester, and a proposed date when maintenance will take place;
• receive maintenance request information that the maintenance requester provided using the request form;
• store the maintenance request information in a database, and transmit the maintenance request information to a maintenance administrator's client machine;
• provide to a user's client machine a calendar having boxes for days of a month, showing the maintenance request in a box corresponding to the maintenance requester's proposed date when the maintenance will take place, and showing status information associated with the maintenance request indicating whether the maintenance request has been approved, denied, or is pending an approval decision;
• and
• provide to an administrator's client machine an administrator interface with which the administrator can make changes to the status information for the maintenance request.

A method of communicating and scheduling requests for computer system maintenance, the method comprising:

• providing to a change requester a change request form having fields with which the change requester can provide information indicating contact information for the change requester, the maintenance request type, a proposed date when the computer system maintenance will take place, and who will be impacted by the computer system maintenance;
• receiving change request information from the change requester in response to the change requester providing information for at least some of the fields of the change request form;
• storing the change request information in a database, transmitting the change request information to a change administrator, and transmitting the change request information to whoever was indicated as being impacted by the maintenance;
• providing to a user a calendar displaying indicia associated with the change request information, as well as status information associated with the change request information;
• providing to the change administrator an administrator interface with which the administrator can make changes to the status information associated with change request information;
• and
• after providing to the change administrator the administrator interface, receiving changed status information, and providing to a user the calendar with the calendar showing the changed status information.

A method of communicating and scheduling maintenance requests, the method comprising steps of:

• providing to a maintenance requester a maintenance request form having fields with which the maintenance requester can provide information about a maintenance request, including fields identifying the maintenance requester, the maintenance request type, and a proposed date when maintenance will take place;
• receiving maintenance request information that the maintenance requester provided using the maintenance request form;
• storing the maintenance request information in a database;
• providing to a user a calendar having boxes corresponding to days of a month, showing the maintenance request in a box corresponding to the maintenance requester's proposed date when the maintenance will take place, and showing status information associated with the maintenance request indicating whether the maintenance request has been approved, denied, or is pending an approval decision;
• providing to the maintenance administrator an administrator interface with which the administrator can make changes to the status information associated with the maintenance request;
• receiving changed status information from the maintenance administrator in response to the maintenance administrator providing changed status information on the administrator interface;
• and
• after providing to the maintenance administrator the administrator interface and receiving changed status information, providing to a user the calendar with the calendar showing the changed status information.

An apparatus comprising:

• a server having a memory, and a database defined in the memory;
• and
• a plurality of user's client machines configured to selectively communicate with the server, one of the user's client machines defining a change administrator's client machine, one of the users client machines defining a change requester's client machine,
• the server being configured to provide to the change requester's client machine a change request form having fields with which a change requester can provide information indicating an e-mail address for the change requester, a maintenance request type, a proposed date and time when maintenance will take place, an estimated duration for the maintenance, who will be impacted by the maintenance, the nature of the impact, and the impact if the maintenance is not performed;
• the server being configured to receive from the change requester's client machine change request information from the change requester in response to the change requester providing information for at least some of the fields of the change request form;
• the server being configured to store the change request information in the database, to provide the change request information to the change administrator's client machine, and to transmit the change request information to user's client machines associated with whoever was indicated as being impacted by the maintenance;
• the server being configured to provide to a user's client machine a calendar displaying indicia associated with the change request information, as well as status information associated with the change request information;
• wherein the server is further configured to provide to the change administrator's client machine an administrator interface with which the administrator can make changes to the status information, and wherein, with the administrator interface, the change administrator can change the status information to indicate whether the maintenance is approved or denied, and the server being further configured to receive changed status information and provide to a user's client machine the calendar with the changed status information.

A program storage device readable by a server-machine, the program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the server machine to cause the server machine to:

• provide to a maintenance requester's client machine a maintenance request form having fields with which a maintenance requester can provide information about a maintenance request, including fields identifying the maintenance requester, a maintenance request type, and a proposed date when maintenance will take place;
• receive maintenance request information that the maintenance requester provided using the request form;
• store the maintenance request information in a database, and transmit the maintenance request information to a maintenance administrator's client machine;
• provide to a user's client machine a calendar having boxes for days of a month, showing the maintenance request in a box corresponding to the maintenance requester's proposed date when the maintenance will take place, and showing status information associated with the maintenance request indicating whether the maintenance request has been approved, denied, or is pending an approval decision;
• provide to an administrator's client machine an administrator interface with.which the administrator can make changes to the status information for the maintenance request;
• and
• after providing to an administrator an administrator interface, receive changed status information and provide to a user the calendar with the changed status information.