The present invention relates to a method and associated system for configuring pricing rates.
Configuring compensation for individuals within an organization typically comprises an inefficient process with little flexibility. In diverse organizations, competition for individuals is great and therefore compensation for the individuals should be configured accordingly. Configuring a compensation package with respect to competition for individuals may comprise a complicated and time consuming process. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome at least one of the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.
The present invention provides a pricing method comprising:
receiving, by a computing system, first data associated with a business, said first data comprising a first list of negotiated pricing rates and associated skills, a second list of requesters associated with said business, and a third list of suppliers, each negotiated pricing rate of said negotiated pricing rates assigned to an associated skill of said associated skills, said negotiated pricing rates specifying bill rates paid by said business to said suppliers for providing resources to perform said associated skills, said computing system comprising a memory device;
storing, by said computing system, said first pricing data in said memory device;
receiving, by said computing system, business factors data, said business factors data comprising a plurality of business factors;
determining, by said computing system for said requesters, requester options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said requester options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for said suppliers, supplier options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said supplier options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for sourcing buyers, sourcing buyer authorization options with respect to said suppliers and said negotiated pricing rates; and
generating, by said computing system, a pricing report comprising said requester options, said supplier options, said sourcing buyer authorization options, and said business factors data.
The present invention provides a computing system comprising a processor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, said memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by the processor implement a pricing method, said method comprising:
receiving, by said computing system, first data associated with a business, said first data comprising a first list of negotiated pricing rates and associated skills, a second list of requesters associated with said business, and a third list of suppliers, each negotiated pricing rate of said negotiated pricing rates assigned to an associated skill of said associated skills, said negotiated pricing rates specifying bill rates paid by said business to said suppliers for providing resources to perform said associated skills;
storing, by said computing system, said first pricing data in said memory unit;
receiving, by said computing system, business factors data, said business factors data comprising a plurality of business factors;
determining, by said computing system for said requesters, requester options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said requester options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for said suppliers, supplier options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said supplier options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for sourcing buyers, sourcing buyer authorization options with respect to said suppliers and said negotiated pricing rates; and
generating, by said computing system, a pricing report comprising said requester options, said supplier options, said sourcing buyer authorization options, and said business factors data.
The present invention provides a computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to implement a pricing method within a computing system, said method comprising:
receiving, by said computing system, first data associated with a business, said first data comprising a first list of negotiated pricing rates and associated skills, a second list of requesters associated with said business, and a third list of suppliers, each negotiated pricing rate of said negotiated pricing rates assigned to an associated skill of said associated skills, said negotiated pricing rates specifying bill rates paid by said business to said suppliers for providing resources to perform said associated skills;
storing, by said computing system, said first pricing data in said computer usable medium;
receiving, by said computing system, business factors data, said business factors data comprising a plurality of business factors;
determining, by said computing system for said requesters, requester options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said requester options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for said suppliers, supplier options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said supplier options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for sourcing buyers, sourcing buyer authorization options with respect to said suppliers and said negotiated pricing rates; and
generating, by said computing system, a pricing report comprising said requester options, said supplier options, said sourcing buyer authorization options, and said business factors data.
The present invention provides a process for supporting computer infrastructure, said process comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a pricing method, said method comprising:
receiving, by said computing system, first data associated with a business, said first data comprising a first list of negotiated pricing rates and associated skills, a second list of requesters associated with said business, and a third list of suppliers, each negotiated pricing rate of said negotiated pricing rates assigned to an associated skill of said associated skills, said negotiated pricing rates specifying bill rates paid by said business to said suppliers for providing resources to perform said associated skills, said computing system comprising a memory device;
storing, by said computing system, said first pricing data in said memory device;
receiving, by said computing system, business factors data, said business factors data comprising a plurality of business factors;
determining, by said computing system for said requesters, requester options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said requester options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for said suppliers, supplier options with respect to said negotiated pricing rates, said supplier options dependent on said business factors data;
determining, by said computing system for sourcing buyers, sourcing buyer authorization options with respect to said suppliers and said negotiated pricing rates; and
generating, by said computing system, a pricing report comprising said requester options, said supplier options, said sourcing buyer authorization options, and said business factors data.
The present invention advantageously provides a method and associated system capable of configuring compensation for individuals within an organization.
System 2 comprises a computing system 4a (e.g., a server) connected to a computing system 4b (e.g., a server) through an interface 10. Interface 10 may comprise any type of interface known to a person of ordinary skill in the art including, inter alia, a local area network, (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, etc. Computing system 4a comprises a computing apparatus 5a and an interface terminal 8a. Computing system 4b comprises a computing apparatus 5b and an interface terminal 8b. Computing apparatus 5a comprises a CPU 9a and a memory device 14a. Alternatively, memory device 14a may be located external to computing apparatus 5a. Memory device 14a comprises a software application 16a and business data 11. Business data 11 may be inputted into computing apparatus through interface terminal 8a. Business data 11 comprises a list of requesters, a list of suppliers, a list of sourcing buyers, a list of negotiated pricing rates for skills or resources, and business factors data. Computing apparatus 5b comprises a CPU 9b and a memory device 14b. Alternatively, memory device 14b may be located external to computing apparatus 5b. Memory device 14b comprises a software application 16b and resource data 17. Resource data 17 may be inputted into computing apparatus through interface terminal 8b. Resource data 17 (i.e., comprising lists of resources for performing specified skills) may be inputted into computing apparatus 5b through interface terminal 8b.
Software application 16a and 16b may be configured to generate different pricing control options that determine a pricing flexibility (i.e., with respect to resources) for a requester and a supplier. The following six examples describe different pricing control configuration options for software application 16a and 16b.
Option 1
Option 1 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to restrict a requester at a requesting (i.e., for a resource) company and a supplier of a requested resource from deviating from negotiated rates configured for the requester and supplier.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Not applicable.
Markup Tolerance
Not applicable
The supplier is prevented from submitting a response that would require a sourcing buyer to authorize.
Option 2
Option 2 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to restrict a requester at the requesting company and a supplier of a requested skilled resource from deviating from negotiated rates configured for the requester and supplier. The requester ensures that the supplier is paying the resource an acceptable wage in comparison to the bill rate being paid to the supplier.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Markup Tolerance
Exception Rates:
Not applicable.
The supplier is prevented from submitting a response that would require a sourcing buyer to authorize.
Option 3
Option 3 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to allow flexibility to both a requester and a supplier. The requester may allow the supplier to respond with resources that are above the negotiated rate. The supplier may provide responses that are out of markup tolerance. A sourcing buyer will review each response that is out of markup tolerance or is above a negotiated bill rate.
A requester may control if a supplier will be allowed to provide responses that comprise exception pricing.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Markup Tolerance
Exception Rates:
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Markup Tolerance
Since a bill rate entered by the supplier is allowed to exceed a negotiated bill rate and the calculated markup tolerance is allowed to exceed configured markup tolerances, the sourcing buyer will authorize any response where any one of the following is true:
Option 4 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to allow flexibility to both a requester and a supplier. The requester may allow the supplier to respond with resources that are above the negotiated rate. The supplier may provide responses that are out of markup tolerance. A sourcing buyer will review each response that is out of markup tolerance or is above a negotiated bill rate.
A requester may control if a supplier will be allowed to provide responses that comprise exception pricing.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Not applicable.
Markup Tolerance
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Markup Tolerance
Since a bill rate entered by the supplier is allowed to exceed a negotiated bill rate and the calculated markup tolerance is allowed to exceed configured markup tolerances, the sourcing buyer will authorize any response where any one of the following is true:
Option 5 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to allow flexibility to both a requester and a supplier. A sourcing buyer will review each response that is above a negotiated bill rate.
A requester may control if a supplier will be allowed to provide responses that comprise exception pricing.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Not applicable.
Markup Tolerance
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Not applicable.
Markup Tolerance
Since a bill rate entered by the supplier is allowed to exceed a negotiated bill rate, the sourcing buyer will authorize any response where any one of the following is true:
Option 6 (i.e., illustrating pricing control configuration options) allows software application 16a and 16b to be configured to allow flexibility to both a requester and a supplier. The requester may allow the supplier to respond with resources that are above the negotiated rate. The requester ensures that the supplier is paying a resource an acceptable wage rate in comparison to a bill rate being paid to the supplier.
A requester may control if a supplier will be allowed to provide responses that comprise exception pricing.
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Not applicable.
Markup Tolerance
Bill Rate Options
Wage Rate Options
Markup Tolerance
Since a bill rate entered by the supplier is allowed to exceed a negotiated bill rate but the software application prevents the supplier from entering a wage rate that would cause a calculated markup to exceed a configured markup tolerance, the sourcing buyer at the requesting company will authorize a supplier response comprising entering a straight time bill rate is above the negotiated rate.
A report (e.g., see table 1 as described with reference to
In step 31, a pricing option and markup tolerance is configured. As part of deploying software application 16a and 16b, a requesting organization needs to configure pricing options and markup tolerances. The pricing options and markup tolerance are specific to the following characteristics of a request item:
For each combination of the above characteristics, the following pricing options are specified:
If values for the two pricing options are equal and the specified pricing option is configured to be a no exception pricing rates method, then the requester will not be asked if the supplier is allowed to specify pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate. The supplier will not be allowed to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate.
If values for the two pricing options are equal, and the specified pricing option is configured to be an exception pricing rates method, then the requester is not be asked if the supplier is allowed to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate. The supplier will be allowed to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate.
If values for the two pricing options are not equal, then the requester is asked if the supplier is allowed to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate. If the requester indicates no, then the supplier will not be able to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate. If the requester indicates yes, then the supplier will be able to enter a pricing rate that is above a negotiated pricing rate.
As an example, software application 16a and 16b is going to be deployed for use by Company A in India. Department A in Company A (i.e., in India) handles the following two types of business:
Table 1 below illustrates a sample pricing option and markup tolerance configuration (i.e., using options 1-6 from the description of
In step 32, requester options are determined. For each service request item that is created it must be determined if the supplier will be allowed to respond with exception bill rates that are above the negotiated bill rates. In order to accomplish this, the following sequence occurs:
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting department is “India IGS”. The following table 2 would be in a results set. Since both have equal values for non exception price method and exception price method, the requester would not have to designate if exception pricing rates are allowed by the supplier.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting department is “India BTO”. The following table 3 would be in the results set. Since at least one row has unequal values for non exception price method and exception price method (i.e., row 2), the request will be asked if the supplier is allowed to respond with prices above the negotiated rate.
In step 34, a pricing method is conveyed to the supplier(s). At various times in a service request item's processing life cycle, a list of suppliers whom may respond to the request item is maintained. For each of the suppliers that will be invited to respond to the service request item, their configured pricing method and markup information has to be determined. The pricing option and markup tolerance configuration table is read in the following sequence to determine which row from the configuration should be used for a specific supplier in the list. The order of processing is:
Within the pricing option configuration is the pricing method to be used if exception pricing rates are not allowed and the pricing method to be used if exception pricing is allowed by the supplier. Only the appropriate pricing method is conveyed to the supplier. In the previous execution step, the exception pricing question was asked of the requester. If the question is not asked, then the configuration indicates that the pricing method configured is the same for non exception pricing as it is for exception pricing. When the configuration does not have equal pricing methods for non exception and exception pricing, then the requester designates for a specific item if exception pricing is allowed. That designation is used to convey either the non exception or exception pricing method to a supplier for this service request item.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting department is “India IGS”. The following table 4 and table 5 will be sent to suppliers X and Y, respectively. In table 4, the requester was not asked if exception pricing is allowed. The following pricing method and markup values in table 4 were given to supplier X.
The following pricing method and markup values in table 5 were given to supplier X.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting department is “India BTO”. The following table 6 and table 7 will be sent to suppliers X and Y, respectively. The requester was asked if exception pricing is allowed and the requester answered yes. The following pricing method and markup values in table 6 were given to supplier X.
The following pricing method and markup values in table 7 were given to supplier Y.
In step 36, supplier responses are executed. When a supplier prepares a response to an item, the supplier will be governed by the pricing option within the requesting organizations configuration.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting department is “India IGS”. Therefore, option 6 response processing is executed for supplier X and option 1 response processing is executed for supplier Y.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting organization is “India BTO”. Therefore, option 3 response processing is executed for supplier X and option 1 response processing is executed for supplier Y.
In step 38, sourcing buyer options are determined.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting organization is “India IGS”. Therefore, option 6 response processing is executed for supplier X and Option 1 processing is executed for supplier Y. Since the supplier provided a straight time rate greater than the negotiated rate, the supplier X response will be routed for authorization by a sourcing buyer. Since the audits on the response prevent a straight time rate being provided that exceeds the negotiate rate, no sourcing buyer will ever be required to authorize the supplier Y response.
With respect to a service request item that comprises a service type of “Tech services”, the request is of type “New”, the request is not designated as a “Global resource” and the requesting organization is “India BTO”. Therefore, option 3 response processing is executed for supplier X and Option 1 processing is executed for supplier Y. Any one of three conditions could be present in the supplier X response. Assume supplier X entered a straight time rate that was equal to the negotiated rate, but supplier X entered straight time wage caused the calculated straight time markup to exceed the straight time markup tolerance. The supplier X response will be routed for authorization. Since the audits on the Supplier Y response prevents a straight time rate being provided that exceeds the negotiate rate, no sourcing buyer will ever be required to authorize the Supplier Y response.
In step 40, a pricing report comprising various options may be generated and in step 42, the process terminates.
Still yet, any of the components of the present invention could be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider who offers to configure pricing rates for contract employees. Thus the present invention discloses a process for deploying or integrating computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into the computer system 90, wherein the code in combination with the computer system 90 is capable of performing a method for configuring pricing rates for contract employees. In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method that performs the process steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a Solution Integrator, could offer to configure pricing rates for contract employees. In this case, the service provider can create, maintain, support, etc., a computer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the invention for one or more customers. In return, the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.
While
While embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
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