Patent Application
20070299718
As briefly described above, a management activity tracking utility may be provided to track work activities, exceptions, and lost time by supervising and non-supervising managers. In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustrations specific embodiments or examples. These aspects may be combined, other aspects may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Referring now to the drawings, aspects and an exemplary operating environment will be described.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Embodiments may be implemented as a computer process (method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readable media. The computer program product may be a computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process. The computer program product may also be a propagated signal on a carrier readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process.
With reference to
According to some embodiments, performance management application 120 may include one or more modules responsible to individual tasks in managing performance related activities. One such module may be tracking utility 122. Tracking utility 122 may perform tasks such as monitoring work activities based on inputs from employees and/or managers, preparing and providing reports to higher level managers, other applications, and the like. Tracking utility 122 may be an integrated part of the performance management application 120 or a separate application. Tracking utility 122 and performance management application 120 may communicate with other applications running on computing device 100 or on other devices. Furthermore, performance management application 120 may be executed in an operating system other than operating system 106.
The computing device 100 may have additional features or functionality. For example, the computing device 100 may also include data storage devices 110 (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. System memory 104 and storage devices 110 are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computing device 100. Any such computer storage media may be part of device 100.
Computing device 100 may also include input device(s) 112 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a voice input device, a touch input device, etc. Furthermore, output device(s) 114 such as a display, a speaker, a printer, etc. may also be included. These devices are well known in the art.
Communication connections 116 may be included in computing device 100 to allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 118, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, for example, an intranet or the Internet. Communication connection 116 exemplifies various communication media. Communication media may be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and include any information delivery media.
By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein refers to both storage media and communication media.
Referring to
The performance management application 120 and tracking utility 122 may be run centrally on server 202 or in a distributed manner over several servers and/or client devices. Performance management application 120 may include implementation of a number of organizational management systems such as time tracking, performance evaluation, activity scheduling, and the like. A number of other applications may also be configured, deployed, and shared in system 200. In addition, the performance management application 120 may also be run in one or more client devices and information exchanged over network(s) 210.
Data store 212 is an example of a number of data stores that may be utilized to store data associated with activity tracking. Data store 212 may be managed by data storage server 204 or directly accessed by server 202 or any one of the clients.
Users such as employees, managers, and administrators may interact with server 202 running the performance management application 120 from client devices 222, 224, 226, and 228 over network(s) 210. In one embodiment, portions or all of the performance management application 120 may reside on any one of the client devices 222, 224, 226, and 228. In such an embodiment, data may be stored in data store 212 without an involvement of server 202.
According to some embodiments, users may be provided one or more UIs to enter activity data such as activity type, time, exceptions, and the like. Other users, such as supervising managers, may receive reports prepared by performance management application 120.
Network(s) 210 may include a secure network such as an enterprise network, or an unsecure network such as a wireless open network. Network(s) 210 provide communication between the nodes described above. By way of example, and not limitation, network(s) 210 may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Many other configurations of computing devices, applications, and data storage may be employed to implement a performance management system with activity tracking.
Now referring to
At the core of the system 200 is tracking utility 122 that is configured to receive input associated with activities, receive configuration information associated with activities and employees whose activities are being tracked, and prepare reports based on the received information.
Input associated with activities, e,g, inputs 302-1 through 302-N, may be entered through user interface 304. As explained below in conjunction with
User interface 304 may be configured to enable the users to enter their input information in any way known in the art. For example, a graphical user interface (GUI) may be used for efficient and user friendly entry of information. According to some embodiments, user interface 304 may be an integral part of tracking utility program 306 or a component of another application such as a calendar application that communicates with tracking utility 122.
Another input to tracking utility 122 may be provided by administrative users 308 for configuring employee and/or activity information, or other parameters associated with tracking utility 122. Examples of administrative information include, but are not limited to, employee personal information, activity types, input entry restrictions, report types that can be generated, schedule of report generation, and the like. Administrative users 308 may be separate personnel or managers with predefined permission levels.
Tracking utility 122 may provide its output in the form of reports 310 based on the activity input and receive configuration information. The reports 310 may include any form of activity presentation such as charts, histograms, diagrams, and the like. According to other embodiments, the reports 310 may also include raw or formatted data that can be consumed by other applications such as statistical analysis applications, scheduling applications, and the like. The reports 310 may be provided on demand, periodically, and the like.
According to further embodiments, providing input (activity or configuration) to or receiving output from tracking utility 122 may be associated with user credentials. For example, providing input may be based on a permission level of an employee (or manager). Permission levels may determine whether a user can provide any input at all or whether the user can provide certain portions of activity input. According to another example, a permission level may authorize an employee to select from predefined activity types only, while another permission level may authorize an employee to define their own activity type(s). Similarly, who may receive what types of reports may also be based on a permission level of the recipient manager.
Tracking utility 122 may be any application such as an executable computer program, a web application, and the like. The examples provided above are for illustration purposes only. Individual components of an activity tracking system may be implemented in any way using the principles described herein.
In one embodiment, employees 426 may also perform tasks that are associated with non-supervising manager 424. Non-supervising manager 424 may also provide input for activities performed by the employees associated with him/her.
Administrative user 418 may provide configuration information as described previously. Administrative user 418 may be an organization member designated for configuration tasks (e.g. human resources personnel) or some of the managers 422 or 424. According to some embodiments, the employees 426 themselves may even be designated as administrative user e.g. to modify configuration associated with their own personal information.
Higher level manager 412 represents any user that is authorized to receive reports prepared by tracking utility 122 based on the received information. As suggested by the name, higher level manager 412 may be an organization member at a higher hierarchy level or one of the managers providing activity input. The reports 310 may be prepared real time or in an accrued mode at individual member level, at group level, or any combination thereof.
Differently from
The scenarios and systems described in
Process 600 begins with operation 602, where the tracking utility 122 receives activity information from a manager or reporting employee. The activity information may include activity type, description, time and/or duration of the activity, and any other information associated with the activity such as exceptions. Processing moves from operation 602 to optional operation 604.
At optional operation 604, the tracking utility 122 receives administrative information. Administrative information may include any information associated with configuring the tracking utility program, such as employee personal information, available activity types, report preparation schedule, group structures for group reports, and the like. Processing advances from optional operation 604 to operation 606.
At operation 606, the tracking utility 122 prepares one or more reports based on the received information. According to some embodiments, reports may be prepared in real time mode and made available to recipients. According to other embodiments, reports may be prepared on demand at the time of request.
As illustrated by the dashed progress line, processing by the performance management application 120 may proceed from operation 606 to operation 608, where the tracking utility 122 receives a request for a report 310. Permission levels may be utilized to restrict who can request a report 310 from the system 200 or what type of report(s) 310 may be requested. Processing moves from operation 608 to operation 610.
At operation 610, the tracking utility 122 determines the requested report type. Report types may include reports for individual activity reporters, reports for groups of employees, and the like. Report types may also include presentation types such as charts, diagrams, histograms, raw data, formatted data, and the like. Processing advances from operation 610 to operation 612.
At operation 612, the tracking utility 122 provides the requested report(s) 310 to the requesting user or application. After operation 610, processing within the performance management application 120 moves to a calling process for further actions.
The operations included in process 600 are for illustration purposes. Tracking work activities, exceptions, and lost time by supervising and non-supervising managers may be implemented by similar processes with fewer or additional steps, as well as in different order of operations using the principles described herein.
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the embodiments. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims and embodiments.
