(12) United States Patent Marpe et al.

Transcription

1 I (12) United States Patent Marpe et al. US B2 (10) Patent N0.: (45) Date of Patent: US 6,581,039 B2 Jun. 17, 2003 (54) REPORT SEARCHING IN A MERGER AND 5,381,332 A * ACQUISITION ENVIRONMENT 5,504,890 A * 5,537,590 A * (75) Inventors: James S. Marpe, Westport, CT (US); A : David W. Coyle,A1pharetta, GA (US); 5,671,361 A. _ 5,701,400 Bruce P. Klene, Mesa, AZ (US), A * Gregory P. Chestnut, Boothwyn, PA 5:930:76) A * (US); John F. Durocher, Dedham, MA 5,953,707 A 4 (US); Scott R. Adler, Boston, MA 5,991,751 A * (US); Laura L. Farner, Mt. Lebanon, 6,006,193 A * PA (US); Robin Pepper, New York, 6,092,048 A * NY (US); Robert Kim, Chicago, IL 6,202,062 B1 * (US); Pascal R. Yammine, Chicago, IL B1 : (US); Colin K. Dangel, Brookline, MA 6,260,050 B1 * (Us) 6,269,393 B1 6,321,374 B1 * (73) Assignee: Accenture LLP, Palo Alto, CA (US) * ( ) _ Notice: SubJect to any disclaimer, the term of this 6,353,447 B1 2OO1/0O41995 A1 * * patent is extended or adjusted under / A1 * U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. 2002/ A1 * (21) Appl. N0.: 09/447,934 * Cited by examiner 1/1995 4/1996 7/1996 8/1997 9/ /1997 3/1999 7/1999 9/ / /1999 7/2000 3/2001 5/2001 7/2001 7/ / /2001 2/2002 3/ /2001 2/2002 2/2002 Wood /8 Sanford /934 Amado /600 Heindel et al /14 Brown et al /9 Amado /45 Ebert et al /7 Melchione et al. 705/10 Huang et al /10 Rivette et al. 707/1 Gibson et al /8 Nakaoka /8 Cameron et al. 707/102 Reese /10 Yost et al /501.1 Yost et al. 709/201 Choy /2 Bowman-Amuah /217 Sandoval /100 Truluck et al. 345/705 Eder /7 Nguyen et al /1 PoliZZi et al /202 (22) Filed: NOV Primary Examiner John Breene (65) Prior Publication Data Assistant Examiner Leslie Wong (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm Oppenheimer Wolff & US 2002/ A1 Dec. 5, 2002 Donneny LLP (51) Int. Cl G06F 17/60 (57) (52) U.S. Cl /7; 345/650; 345/594; 345/733; 345/751; 345/810; 345/834; 709/200; 709/253; 706/61; 705/1; 705/7; 705/11; 707/3; 707/104.1 (58) Field of Search /3; 345/594, 345/650, 733, 751, 810, 834, 854, 841, 963; 709/200, 253; 706/61; 705/1, 7, 11 (56) References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,884,218 A * 11/1989 Agnew et al /50 ABSTRACT A method of searching for a report in a database including a plurality of items generated by multiple users. Users are allowed to create an item with a plurality of?elds. The item is stored in a database with an identi?er corresponding to the user. Upon receipt of a search query, the database is searched using the search query. The identi?ers of a plurality of items found during the search are displayed. Upon selection of the associated identi?er of one of the items, the?elds of that item are depicted. 18 Claims, 26 Drawing Sheets ALLOWTNGAFLURALTTYOFUSER CREA APLURALTTY /8EZ OF STATUS REPORTS AND WORK 5 EACH TNCLUDTNGA 4 PIURALTTV 0F FTELDS STORTNG THE STATUS REPORTS AND WORKPLANS IN ADATAEASE RETRTEVTNG THE STATUS REPORTS AND WORKPLANS FROM THE DATABASE BY SEARCHTNG FOR TNEORMATTUN TN THE FIELDS THEREOF DETERMINTNG WHETHERTHE MTLESTONES HAVE BEEN 310 ACCOMPUSHED BASED ON THE COMPARISON OUTPUT'TTNGASUMMARY OFTHE STATUS REPORTS, WORKPLANS, /B12 AND ACCOMPLTSHED MILESTONES ON A STNGLE TNTERFACE

2 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 1 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 112 SYSTEM BUS 120 DISK STORAGE UNIT 124 KEYBOARD 126 MOUSE 128 SPEAKER 132 MICROPHONE 138 DISPLAY DEVICE 12o NE WORK(135) \ \ \ \ f / I/O COMMUNICATION CPU ROM RAM ADAPTER ADAPTER \ \ / USER INTERFACE ADAPTER DISPLAY ADAPTER I28 FIG. 1

3 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 2 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B NAVIGATION CHEVRON \ 202 DISCRETE PHASE CHEVRONS DEVELOP STRATEGY ANALYZE TARGET STRUCTURE DEAL MOBTLTZE EFFORT T D EFINE EXECUTE CONVE N>CE \GRATION T NTEGRATION QONVERGENCE MANAGE TRANSITION -- ' - " -'_" FIG. 2

4 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 3 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 200 NAVIGATION CHEVRON 202 DISCRETE PHASE CHEVRONS 300 KNOWLEDGE DATABASE TOPIC PAGE i, [E] [Tm Z? M mom-1mm " mm Oblodvl: numhmmwummmmmmmmdnmm chm- Md mmnwmmmm FIG. 3

5 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 4 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 200 NAVIGATION CHEVRON 400 > 202 DISCRETE PHASE CHEVRONS 400 EXEMPLARY GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE 202 FIG. 4

6 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 5 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 500 Discussion Database 502\ W TRANSITION MANAGEMENT I 504 / /, T I BILL BOB TED SUE JOE I.._I TMGT STATUS REPORTS TMGT SPECIAL PROJECTS I DISCUSSION DATABASE BROAD TOPIC FIELD 503 DISCUSSION GROUPS 504 DISCUSSION GROUPS 505 USER POSTS 506 USER POSTS

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9 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 8 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 220E252 5% 558g 2% 5522 gm $826 1 _ \[j E o: we we 5 j J \/ E2; me; % 23% 550E 205% _ / ~ I \ _ r L mazes aim? was, EEG ME 2% $ % 22:2 558 mg 2% 1 11 m2: 1 $3 1 gmawés 1 Egg GEE 22% 1 ms; 11 Z %: 1 E28 $225: 1 as: 22% 2 was E E22 J swag was 5E5: 11 zwzwm? 2222 EB 52% 1; a 0

10 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 9 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 ALLOWING A PLURALITY OF USERS TO CREATE A PLURALITY 802 OF STATUS REPORTS AND WORKPLANS EACH INCLUDING A f 800\ PLURALITY OF FIELDS STORING THE STATUS REPORTS AND WORKPLANS IN A DATABASE 804 I RETRIEVING THE STATUS REPORTS AND WORKPLANS FROM THE DATABASE BY SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION IN THE FIELDS THEREOF M806 COMPARING THE STATUS REPORTS WITH PREDETERMINED MILESTONES M808 i DETERMINING WHETHER THE MILESTONES HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BASED ON THE COMPARISON M810 OUTPUTTING A SUMMARY OF THE STATUS REPORTS, WORKPLANS, 4/812 AND ACCOMPLISHED MILESTONES ON A SINGLE INTERFACE FIG. 8

11 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 10 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 IDENTIFYING A PLURALITY OF ISSUES RELATING TO A MERGER OR ACQUISITION DETERMINING APLURALITY OF MILESTONES ASSOCIATED WITH THE MERGER OR ACQUISITION {B24 IDENTIFYING APLURALITY OF LINES OF BUSINESS CORRESPONDING TO THE MERGER OR ACQUISITION 4/826 V GAUGING A PROGRESS OF THE LINES OF BUSINESS IN TERMS OF A PLURALITY OF CRITERION 4/82B I OUTPUTI'ING THE ISSUES, THE MIIJESTONES, AND THE GAUGED PROGRESS OF THE LINES OF BUSINESS /830 FIG. 8A

12 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 11 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 900 ISSUE Get ssue_tot0 Open_,lssue Reso ved_lssue EXECUTIVE DASHBOARD CALENDAR Get date, month, year KEY 902 MILESTONE Run query for Current_Milesto 904 Figure 9

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14 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 13 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 ALLOWINGAUSER T0 CREATEAN ITEM WITHA PLURALITY OF FIELDS _/1022 STORING THE ITEM IN A DATABASE WITH AN IDENTIFIER 4/1024 CORRESPONDING To THE USER REcEIvING/ISEARDII QUERY / 126 SEARCHING THE DATABASE USING THE SEARCH QUERY /1030 DISPLAYING THE IDENTIFIERS OF APLURALITY OF ITEMS FOUND DURING THE SEARCH DEPICTING THE FIELDS OF ONE OF THE ITEMS UPON SELECTION OF 4/1032 THE ASSOCIATED IDENTIFIER FIG. 10A

15 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 14 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 7 MAIN SCREEN fmo 1102 \ F 1 I CREATE SEARCH HELP \ CREATE SEARCH RESULTS I I I T PREVIEW DISPLAY REPORT L-IsT FULL \ EDIT FIG. 11

16 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 15 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 > DISPLAY SCREEN f m 1202 \ T v V CREATE SEARCH HELP \1206 T 1204 SEARCH REsuLTs 1 V * + L- PREv1Ew DISPLAY REPORT SUMMARY REPORT DETAIL REPoRT k 1 EDIT FIG MAIN SCREEN / 1220 CREATE FILE SEARCH HELP \ \ v 1224 UPLOAD FILE SEARCH RESULTS 1 overwrrre FILE FIG. 12A

17 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 16 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B \ ALLOWING A PLURALITY OF USERS To INPUT DECISIONS AS THEY 4/1302 ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO A PROCESS STORING THE DECISIONS IN A DATABASE VIAA NETWORK LISTING THE DECISIONS IN AN INTERFACE IN REAL-TIME via THE 4/1306 NETWORK ALLOWING THE USERS TO CREATE A PLURALITY OF ITEMS RELATING 4/1308 TO THE PROCESS I310 STORING THE ITEMS IN THE DATABASE VIA THE NETWORK / ALLOWING THE USERS TO RETRIEvE THE ITEMS FROM THE 4/1312 DATABASE via THE NETWORK COMMUNICATING INFORMATION REIATINC TO THE PROCESS AMONG /1314 THE USERS viaa BULLETIN BOARD ACCESSIBLE viathe NETWORK FIG. 13

18 U.S. Patent Jun. 17, 2003 Sheet 17 0f 26 US 6,581,039 B2 MAIN SCREEN / 4402 I \ 1 1 v CREATE FILE SEARCH HELP \ l 1404 UPLOAD FILE SEARCH RESULTS OVERWRITE FILE FIG. 14

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