US 7,890,361 B2 · Method for the immediate escalation of at least one rule change in a catalog management system

Abstract

In a rules based management system for controlling multiple levels of related catalogs, a method for immediate escalation of, and response to, a request from a customer to change a rule associated with the customer. The rules associated with the customer are used to derive the customer's catalog and each rule is associated with the person imposing the rule, called the owner of the rule. The method prevents, or at least minimizes, customer frustration with administrators of the catalogs by providing automated escalation of the customer's rule change request to the owner of the rule. The owner of the rule may physically reside in the same geographic location as the customer or in an entirely different country than the customer. Starting with the catalog used by the customer, catalogs are search in order of ancestry until the owner of the rule is found. The rule owner is alerted to the presence of the customer's request and a response, which may be an approval, a denial, or a request to discuss the matter further, is sent to the customer. If the response is an approval, then the rule is changed and the catalog reflects the rule change the next time the customer accesses the catalog.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method for immediate escalation of a rule change request from a customer to change a rule that applies to a catalog associated with the customer, wherein the rule is a member of a set of rules that are used to create the catalog and the request is escalated until it reaches an owner of the rule, and wherein the catalog and the set of rules are stored and executed on networked computer hardware, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a means for the customer to submit the rule change request;
receiving the rule change request by a software module associated with the catalog;
processing the request to see if the rule change request has been pre-approved, wherein if the request has been pre-approved an automated response indicating approval of the request is sent to the customer and the set of rules are changed to reflect the approved rule change, and if the request has not been pre-approved;
locating the owner of the rule;
forwarding the request to the owner of the rule;
alerting the owner of the rule to the presence of the request;
and,
sending a response from the owner of the rule to the customer, wherein the response indicates an approval of the request, a disapproval of the request with a reason for the disapproval, or a subsequent request from the owner of the rule to hold a dialog with the customer to discuss the rule change request, and wherein if the response is an approval, the set of rules are changed to reflect the approved rule change.

5 more elements

An electronic catalog that provides immediate escalation of a rule change request from a customer associated with the catalog to change a rule that applies to the catalog, wherein the rule is a member of a set of rules that are used to create the catalog and the request is escalated until it reaches an owner of the rule, and wherein the catalog and the set of rules are stored and executed on networked computer hardware, the catalog comprising:

a means for the customer to submit the rule change request;
a software module that receives the rule change request and processes the request to see if the rule change request has been pre-approved, wherein if the request has been pre-approved the software module sends an automated response indicating approval of the request to the customer and changes the set of rules to reflect the approved rule change;
a search and forward program that receives rule change requests from the software module that have not been pre-approved and searches for the owner of the rule, and upon locating the owner of the rule, forwards the rule change request to the owner of the rule;
and,
an alerting program that receives information from the search and forward program when the rule change request has been forwarded to the owner of the rule and sends out one or more alerts to the owner of the rule to alert the owner of the rule to the presence of the request.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method for the immediate escalation of at least one rule change in a catalog management system

Life of this patent

Method for the immediate escalation of at least one rule change in a catalog management system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19