Patent Application
20170024674
It is intended that each of the referenced applications may be applicable to the concepts and embodiments disclosed herein, even if such concepts and embodiments are disclosed in the referenced applications with different limitations and configurations and described using different examples and terminology.
It should be noted that a plurality of appendices are attached to the provisional application from which this present application claims priority. The appendices disclose a plurality of embodiments, as well user interface and functions associated therewith. Such embodiments are herein incorporated into the present disclosure as part of the detailed description below. Applicant reserves all right to expressly incorporate the disclosure of the appendices in the present application or any future patent application filed claiming priority to the present application.
The appendices disclose specific interfaces, user flows, functions, features, preferences, and limitations. Although these illustrated aspects are disclosed in a particular order with particular functions and limitations, it should be understood that the order and limitations are disclosed for illustrative purposes only. Elements may be combined, separated, reordered, and various intermediary stages may exist. Accordingly, it should be understood that the various stages illustrated within the appendices may be, in various embodiments, performed in arrangements that differ from the ones illustrated. Moreover, various elements may be added or removed from the flow charts without altering or deterring from the fundamental scope of the depicted methods and systems disclosed herein.
The present disclosure generally relates to virtualizing business analytics in a networking environment.
Organizations generally maintain and analyze data associated with the organization in order to function well. For instance, most businesses gather and analyze data related to operations to generate business analytic data. As an example, a clothing store may track its sales and inventory to find which products move more quickly and less quickly than others. Such data may be indicative of, for example, performance of a business. Further, business analytic data may be presented to users associated with the organization, such as for example, managers and staff members. For instance, graphs and/or charts may be presented to the users to indicate performance of different business units.
However, in cases of large business organizations, the amount of business analytical data generated may be huge. For example, an international retail organization may have several business units across the globe regularly generating large quantities of business analytical data. Accordingly, users may be overwhelmed by the amount of business intelligence presented to them. Further, some users may be presented with business analytical data which may not be relevant to their role and/or responsibility.
Additionally, the user interface of existing methods and systems of provisioning business intelligence is cumbersome and/or unfriendly to users due to the large amount of information being presented. For instance, a non-intuitive user interface may cause users to face inconvenience in navigating through business analytical data associated with various levels and/or units of a business.
Moreover, users now use a variety of devices such as laptop computers, desktop computers, smartphones and tablet computers. However, the existing user interfaces are designed to be compatible with a limited number of device types.
Further, in cases where an organization is structured hierarchically, there are several scenarios where business analytical data may need to be limited to one or more predetermined levels within the hierarchy. For instance, business analytical data may need to be selectively presented to users based on their access rights and privileges.
Moreover, there may be scenarios where users may be more interested in business analytical data associated with a business unit than others. However, existing methods and systems do not allow users to conveniently indicate a preference of receiving certain business analytical data with a higher priority. Accordingly, users may be inconvenienced to sift through large amounts of data that are provided to them in order to locate and consume business analytical data of interest.
Additionally, existing methods and systems of provisioning business intelligence provides very limited interaction with users. Such interaction is usually limited to users being able to view the business analytical data, save them for future reference and/or share them with other users over a separate communication channel such as, for example, email. Moreover, there is no provision for users to request and/or provide additional data to supplement the business analytical data. Further, any discussion on the business analytical data between users currently takes place offline, such as in meetings, and/or over emails. Moreover, any further actions such as requesting for additional data or providing additional data with regard to a business analytical data takes place in dissociation with the original business analytical data. In other words, such actions are currently dissociated from the corresponding business analytical data.
Since interaction of users with business analytical data in itself forms an important part of business intelligence, provisioning of such information in a user friendly manner is desirable. However, due to the dissociation between business analytical data and user interactions related to the business analytical data, existing methods and methods are ill equipped to provide comprehensive business intelligence information to users that includes user interaction data.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and systems for provisioning business intelligence to users of a business organization.
This brief overview is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This brief overview is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this brief overview intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a Business Intelligence (BI) networking platform (hereinafter also referred to as “BI platform”). A BI platform consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure may virtualize the provision of business analytical data such as, but not limited to, for example, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data to a plurality of interested users. Users of the BI platform may access the BI platform through a plurality of mediums, comprised of, but not limited to, a web-app, desktop, or mobile device application. The user's interface and functionality with the BI platform may be based on a defined role.
A BI platform role for the user may define the user's permissions and privileges which may, in turn, correspond to a user interface and functionality provided to the user. In this way, a business CEO may be provided with a first set of platform functionality while a Store Manager may be provided with a second set of platform functionality. In various embodiments, the first set of functionality provided to the ‘CEO’ may encompass the second set of functionality provided to a ‘Store Manager’, thereby establishing a hierarchal access system to the BI platform.
As mentioned above, BI may be comprised of a plurality of business analytical data including, but not be limited to, KPIs that are tracked, analyzed and displayed to a BI platform user. Accordingly, and still consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure, BI platform may enable a BI platform user to perform a plurality of functions to the provided analytical data including, but not limited to, promotion (e.g., favoring, promoting, or ‘Liking’), discussing (e.g., replying, noting, or ‘Commenting’), sharing (e.g., emailing, messaging, or ‘Re-Posting’), and reporting (e.g., detailed analysis). Further, the BI platform also allows users to upload information, data and different elements such as pictures, answers to questions, feedbacks, completed forms, etc.
The extent to which such functionality may enable an interaction from one BI platform user to another BI platform may be based on each corresponding user's platform privileges and permissions. In other words, and as will be detailed below, functions performed by a ‘CEO’ may be visible and/or shared with all roles below the ‘CEO’ (e.g., a ‘Regional Manager’) but not all actions taken by a ‘Regional Manager’ may be visible and/or shared with roles above the ‘Regional Manager’ (e.g., a ‘CEO’). In this fashion, information is compartmentalized and shared only with parties to whom the data is relevant.
In yet further embodiments of the present disclosure, various user interfaces may be provided to facilitate the interaction and functionality with the BI platform.
Additionally, in various embodiments, the user interface provided to users may be user friendly. Accordingly, users may be able to navigate through a plurality of visualizations corresponding to a plurality of business analytical data, such as, for example, KPIs using intuitive gestures. For instance, users may be able to transition between visualizations corresponding to different KPIs by performing horizontal swipe actions on a touch based user interface. Similarly, users may be able to transition between visualizations corresponding to KPIs of different levels within a business organization by performing vertical swipe actions.
Further, in various embodiments, actions performed by users on a visualization may generate notifications to other users. For example, when a country level manager performs an action such as, for example, a “like” action on a visualization of quarterly sales of a district, notifications may be generated and sent to users associated with business units within the district. Further, in some embodiments, such notifications may only propagate to users down the hierarchy. For instance, a notification may not be sent to users who are above the country level manager in organizational hierarchy. However, in some embodiments, an action performed on a global analytical data by a CEO and/or a CFO may be propagated to all users in the business organization. Accordingly, a user may be identified for sending of notifications related to actions performed on a visualization of business analytical data based on a level associated with the business analytical data and/or a role of the user.
Furthermore, in various embodiments, the user interface may be configured to allow users to set alerts on a visualization of business analytical data. The user interface may allow the user to specify the business analytical data, such as the KPI, to be monitored. Further, the user interface may include a drop down menu allowing the user to specify a condition for triggering the alert. The drop down menu may include options such as, for example, “when KPI falls below” or “when KPI rises above”. Further, the user interface may also allow the user to specify a limit, such as a numerical limit as part of the trigger condition. Consequently, when the KPI meets the trigger condition specified by the user, an alert may be generated and sent to the user.
Accordingly, the BI platform has the ability to communicate and integrate the whole business organization through KPI's, reports, content and data. Further, the provisioning of business intelligence not only communicates a result from the business organization to an employee, it also empowers the employees to discuss those results with their colleagues, team, etc.
Further disclosed is a method of provisioning business intelligence to a plurality of users in a business organization. The method may include creating a plurality of user accounts corresponding to the plurality of users. Further, the method may include assigning a role to each user of the plurality of users. Accordingly, a role assigned to a user may be associated with a user account of the user. Additionally, the method may include displaying a user interface to a user of the plurality of users based on a role assigned to the user. Further, the user interface may include a representation of a hierarchy of the business organization. In some instances, the hierarchy may include a plurality of levels. For instance, the plurality of levels may include at least two of global, regional, country, state, district, store and staff.
Additionally, the user interface may also include a plurality of dashboards corresponding to the plurality of levels. Further, each dashboard may include one or more KPIs. Furthermore, the user interface may be configured to receive a user input from the user in order to enable the user to navigate through the plurality of dashboards.
Accordingly, in some embodiments, the user input may be directed to one or more of the representation of the hierarchy and the plurality of dashboards. For instance, the user input may be a touch input received over a portion of a touch screen displaying the hierarchy. Similarly, in another instance, the touch input may be received over a portion of the touch screen displaying a dashboard of the plurality of dashboards.
Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to transition between displaying a first dashboard corresponding to a first level and displaying a second dashboard corresponding to a second level. Further, the transition may be based on the user input. For example, the user interface may be configured to receive a vertical swipe on a touch screen and accordingly transition between displaying a dashboard corresponding to district level and displaying a dashboard corresponding to country level. Accordingly, in some embodiments, based on an intuitive gesture such as an upward swipe or a downward swipe the user may be enabled to navigate across the plurality of dashboards across the multiple levels of the hierarchy.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to transition between displaying a first dashboard including the one or more KPIs associated with a plurality of entities and displaying a second dashboard including a ranking of the plurality of entities. Further, the ranking may be based on values of the one or more KPIs associated with the plurality of entities.
Further, the method may include providing a functionality associated with the user interface to the user. The functionality may enable the user to perform one or more actions. Further, the functionality may be based on the role assigned to the user. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the one or more actions may include one or more of promoting, discussing, sharing, uploading a report, requesting a report and a setting an alert. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a report from one or more users of the plurality of users. Further, the report may include business analytical data corresponding to the one or more KPIs.
Additionally, the method may include displaying interaction data corresponding to the functionality to a user. Further, the displaying may be based on the role assigned to the user.
Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be further configured to display a notification to a user based on receipt of the one or more actions. Additionally, the display of the notification may be further based on one or more of a level of business analytical data associated with a dashboard and a role assigned to the user.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, setting the alert may include specifying one or more of a lower limit and an upper limit. Further, the user interface may be further configured to display the notification based on a result of comparison of a business analytical data associated with a dashboard with one or more of the lower limit and the upper limit.
Moreover, in some embodiments, the method may further include aggregating the interaction data corresponding to the plurality of users. Accordingly, the user interface may be configured to display a community view of the interaction data based on the aggregating.
Both the foregoing brief overview and the following detailed description provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, the foregoing brief overview and the following detailed description should not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the detailed description.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure. The drawings contain representations of various trademarks and copyrights owned by the Applicants. In addition, the drawings may contain other marks owned by third parties and are being used for illustrative purposes only. All rights to various trademarks and copyrights represented herein, except those belonging to their respective owners, are vested in and the property of the Applicants. The Applicants retain and reserve all rights in their trademarks and copyrights included herein, and grant permission to reproduce the material only in connection with reproduction of the granted patent and for no other purpose.
Furthermore, the drawings may contain text or captions that may explain certain embodiments of the present disclosure. This text is included for illustrative, non-limiting, explanatory purposes of certain embodiments detailed in the present disclosure. In the drawings:
As a preliminary matter, it will readily be understood by one having ordinary skill in the relevant art that the present disclosure has broad utility and application. As should be understood, any embodiment may incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed aspects of the disclosure and may further incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed features. Furthermore, any embodiment discussed and identified as being “preferred” is considered to be part of a best mode contemplated for carrying out the embodiments of the present disclosure. Other embodiments also may be discussed for additional illustrative purposes in providing a full and enabling disclosure. Moreover, many embodiments, such as adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, will be implicitly disclosed by the embodiments described herein and fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Accordingly, while embodiments are described herein in detail in relation to one or more embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is illustrative and exemplary of the present disclosure, and are made merely for the purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure. The detailed disclosure herein of one or more embodiments is not intended, nor is to be construed, to limit the scope of patent protection afforded in any claim of a patent issuing here from, which scope is to be defined by the claims and the equivalents thereof. It is not intended that the scope of patent protection be defined by reading into any claim a limitation found herein that does not explicitly appear in the claim itself.
Thus, for example, any sequence(s) and/or temporal order of steps of various processes or methods that are described herein are illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, it should be understood that, although steps of various processes or methods may be shown and described as being in a sequence or temporal order, the steps of any such processes or methods are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence or order, absent an indication otherwise. Indeed, the steps in such processes or methods generally may be carried out in various different sequences and orders while still falling within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of patent protection is to be defined by the issued claim(s) rather than the description set forth herein.
Additionally, it is important to note that each term used herein refers to that which an ordinary artisan would understand such term to mean based on the contextual use of such term herein. To the extent that the meaning of a term used herein—as understood by the ordinary artisan based on the contextual use of such term—differs in any way from any particular dictionary definition of such term, it is intended that the meaning of the term as understood by the ordinary artisan should prevail. Regarding applicability of 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶6, no claim element is intended to be read in accordance with this statutory provision unless the explicit phrase “means for” or “step for” is actually used in such claim element, whereupon this statutory provision is intended to apply in the interpretation of such claim element.
Furthermore, it is important to note that, as used herein, “a” and “an” each generally denotes “at least one,” but does not exclude a plurality unless the contextual use dictates otherwise. When used herein to join a list of items, “or” denotes “at least one of the items,” but does not exclude a plurality of items of the list. Finally, when used herein to join a list of items, “and” denotes “all of the items of the list.”
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While many embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims. The present disclosure contains headers. It should be understood that these headers are used as references and are not to be construed as limiting upon the subjected matter disclosed under the header.
The present disclosure includes many aspects and features. Moreover, while many aspects and features relate to, and are described in, the context of retail business, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to use only in this context.
Consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure, a business intelligence networking platform may be provided. This overview is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below. This overview is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this overview intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.
The business intelligence networking platform may be used by individuals or companies to organize and communicate relevant information and, also, to gather relevant information from the market (users) like forecast, answer to questions, relevant forms, feedbacks, etc. Although the presented embodiments reference the retail industry, it should be understood that the retail industry is used as an example and that the embodiments may be applicable across business industries. Embodiments of the present disclosure may utilize pre-programmed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as well as user-provided KPIs. Although the present embodiments reference KPIs, it should be understood that KPIs are used as an example and that the embodiments may be applicable to various other forms of business intelligence and analytical data.
Accordingly, as will be disclosed herein for providing an example scenario of the presented embodiments, a BI platform disclosed herein may be configured to provide users with on-time analytics for retail environments. Further, embodiments may provide users with data visualization for users, across the organizations, from Store Managers to CEOs.
Embodiments of the BI platform may comprise a software application coupled with a computing system (e.g., a server). The application may be accessible through any suitable computing device, as detailed with reference to
A user may be provided with a dashboard view of the analytical data. Various user interfaces associated with the dashboard view may be provided as exemplarily illustrated in
Within these dashboards, a user may be enabled to not only view the analytical data to which the user is privileged and permitted, but engage in networking interaction to which the user is privileged and permitted. For example, the user interface may include a GUI element 902 may enable the user to indicate a “Like” on the visualization of the business analytical data, such as the KPI. Similarly, the user interface may include a GUI element 904 for enabling the user to discuss the visualization. Additionally, the user interface may also include a GUI element 906 enabling the user to provide further report on the KPI. Further, a user may be provided with a ‘news-feed’ style of analytical data through which the user may not only view the analytical data, but the social commentary to the data within the user's network. A user's network may be tied to a particular group of users and the business with which the business analytical data is associated.
Further, for each KPI, the platform may enable a user to perform actions, including, but not limited to, for example:
1. ‘Like,’ where a user may be able to flag a specific KPI to show that he or she endorses or appreciates. Other users within the network may be able to view the “Like”. Such liking may incentivize users to continue the performance that received the “Like”. Conversely, users may change performance where ‘Likes’ were not received, or even when a like is received, the “Like” of their particular performance is below a superior “Like”.
2. ‘Share,’ a user may be able to send a KPI to another user to inform the other user of the specific KPI. For instance, the share may be performed using an internal or external message application system like: SMS, Message, eMail, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Whatsapp, Gmail, Outlook or any other message app to be created. In some embodiments, when the KPI is shared with a recipient, the recipient may only receive a link to the KPI and no confidential information may be provided to the recipient. For instance, as illustrated in
3. ‘Report,’ where a user may send a detailed report regarding a specific KPI. The report may add other information that wasn't displayed in the visualization of the platform. Additionally, the report also could be specific to a specified date. Further, in some embodiments, a user may share a report other users. For example, the report in the form of a PDF file containing the KPIs presented in the metrics may be shared with one or more users. Additionally, in some embodiments, the report may be shared with any user independent of the user's role.
4. Further, users may ‘Comment’ on KPIs. Such ‘Commenting’ may enable users to discuss specific KPIs and relevant information surrounding the specific KPIs. Further, users may ‘Re-Post’ in order to share the ‘Comments’ with other users. Users may have access to certain information granted or denied, depending on their role.
The roles may be arranged in a hierarchy. For example, a hierarchy may include Global, Region, Country, District and Store. Users may be arranged by the associated hierarchy, such as, for example a CEO, a plurality of Regional Directors below the CEO, a plurality of Store Manages below the Regional Directors, and a plurality of Sales Representatives below the Store Managers. The CEO may, for example, “Like” a KPI of a specific Region. The Regional Director of that specific Region as well as associated Store Managers and Sales Representatives may be able to see that the KPI was ‘Liked’. Conversely, the Regional Directors, Store Managers and Sales Representatives not associated with the specific Region may be unable to view the ‘Liked’ KPI. Further, in some embodiments, a “Like” may be shared only with certain regions and/or levels within the hierarchy of the business organization. For instance, the “Likes” provided by a CEO on business analytical data associated with Latin America may not be shared with users in Europe.
KPIs may be displayed in a format such that the most important entities that produce the KPI displayed are highlighted. For example, the top 15 Stores and bottom 10 Stores may be displayed. The highlighted Stores may be displayed on a split screen that is separately scrollable (e.g., a user may be able to scroll through one list of Stores while keeping the other list static).
Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a streamlined user experience for on-the-job use. The embodiments may provide contextual awareness of the retail environment. Embodiments may be designed to eliminate burdens of system integration and provide for rapid deployment of the system.
Both the foregoing overview and the following detailed description provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, the foregoing overview and the following detailed description should not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the detailed description.
Data may be compiled from the plurality of sources into the platform, such as, for example, on centralized server 110 or data warehouse 115. Then, the platform may be configured to perform data analysis. The results of the analyzed data may then be distributed to users via, for example, the software application. Additionally, user devices may be configured to allow users to upload data such as reports to the BI platform.
As will be detailed with reference to
Although method 200 has been described to be performed by platform 100, it should be understood that computing device 1400 may be used to perform the various stages of method 200. Furthermore, in some embodiments, different operations may be performed by different networked elements in operative communication with computing device 1400. For example, server 110 may be employed in the performance of some or all of the stages in method 200. Moreover, server 110 may be configured much like computing device 1400. The server may be a part of, for example, comprise cloud computing platform.
Although the stages illustrated by the flow charts are disclosed in a particular order, it should be understood that the order is disclosed for illustrative purposes only. Stages may be combined, separated, reordered, and various intermediary stages may exist. Accordingly, it should be understood that the various stages illustrated within the flow chart may be, in various embodiments, performed in arrangements that differ from the ones illustrated. Moreover, various stages may be added or removed from the flow charts without altering or deterring from the fundamental scope of the depicted methods and systems disclosed herein. Ways to implement the stages of method 200 will be described in greater detail below.
Method 200 may begin at starting block 205 and proceed to stage 210 where platform 100 may receive new user parameters for creating a user account. An app administrator may be in charge of creating, editing and deleting users accessing the application.
The added user may be associated with a level within a hierarchy, such as, for example, a Global, Region, Country, District or Store.
The user may be further associated with a role within the level. The role of the user may be associated with the functionality that the platform provides to and restricts from such user. In this way, a business CEO may be provided with a first set of platform functionality while a Store Manager may be provided with a second set of platform functionality. In various embodiments, the first set of functionality provided to the ‘CEO’ may encompass the second set of functionality provided to a ‘Store Manager’, thereby establishing a hierarchal access system to the BI platform. Further, it may be noted that the hierarchy may not only determine user access, but may also show the organization view in a company. For instance, one company could have two different hierarchy views: 1—Geographical view. Global, Regions, Countries, Areas, Stores and staff view. 2—Channel View: Global, Distribution, Regions, Countries, Areas, Stores and Staff.
From stage 210, where platform 100 receives new user parameters, method 200 may advance to stage 220 where platform 100 may display information to users. Such information may be analyzed data Stores or other levels (Regions, Countries, Districts, or others that may be added) may be displayed in a format such that the most important Stores are highlighted. For example, Stores may be displayed in a split screen, where top Stores 505 are shown on top and low Stores 510 are show below. For example, the top 15 Stores and bottom 10 Stores may be displayed. Further, the top Stores 505 may be scrolled through independently of the bottom Stores 510, and vice versa.
In various embodiments, the data may be displayed to users in several ways. For example, the user may be provided with charts and graphs that illustrate relevant KPIs to the users. The dashboards may be preset or customized. In addition, the user may be provided with the raw data illustrated by the charts and graphs. Further, a user may be provided with a ‘news-feed’ style of analytical data through which the user may not only view the analytical data, but the social commentary to the data within the user's network.
In some embodiments, the KPIs may be displayed in a plurality of colors. Such colors may illustrate a range in which each KPI may lie. For example, the KPIs may be displayed in white, red and green. Such coloring may show the user whether each KPI is above, below or within in range of the benchmark, budget, or any other method of comparison defined with the owner of the network. Once platform 100 displays information to users in stage 220, method 200 may continue to stage 230 where platform 100 may receive and process actions. For example, a user may “Like”, ‘share’, and ‘request a report’. Platform 100 may restrict a user to ‘Liking’ only KPIs to which he or she has access.
For instance, as illustrated in
Further, when platform 100 receives a request to ‘share’ a KPI, platform 100 may send a notification, for example, via SMS or other messaging system, to the user to whom the KPI was ‘shared’. Such notification may include the KPI as well as associated information (e.g. location, level, etc.).
A user may choose to request a report based on data shown on a dashboard of the application. When platform 100 receives a request for a report, platform 100 may send, for example by email, a message. Platform 100 may generate and send an email comprised of a subject describing the report, a message with the same or similar graph as displayed by the application, and an attachment of the raw data stored, for example, as a .csv file. Other relevant data may be included in the message, such as, for example, benchmarks for the KPI. Additionally, in some embodiments, a user may proactively upload data such as reports corresponding to a business analytical data.
Furthermore, the user may be enabled to set an alert on a KPI by specifying a trigger condition. The trigger condition may be for example, “If the KPI falls below X” where X may be a numerical value. Accordingly, the KPI may be regularly monitored and when the KPI value falls below X, an alert may be transmitted to the user through a communication mode such as, but not limited to, SMS, email and/or instant message.
Once platform receives and processes an action in stage 230, method 200 may then end at stage 240.
Further in some embodiments, the platform 100 may be configured to enable users to perform one or more actions on a visualization of business analytical data, such as KPIs. Accordingly, the user interface may be configured to receive a user input, such as for example a touch input, representing the one or more actions as exemplarily described in conjunction with
Additionally, the user interface may be further configured to display data corresponding to the one or more actions. Such data may represent the interaction of users with the visualization of the business analytical data and may be referred to as interaction data. Accordingly, the data corresponding to the one or more actions may be displayed to one or more first users of the plurality of users, whereas the one or more actions may be received from one or more second users of the plurality of users. In other words, interaction data generated by a user may be presented to other users. Further, in some embodiments, by aggregating interaction data and presenting to users, a community-view of the business analytical data may be provided.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, the display of the interaction data to the one or more first users may be based on one or more of a level of the business analytical data associated with the visualization and a role associated with the one or more first users. For instance, an interaction performed by a CEO on a KPI designated as “Global level” may be displayed to all users within a business organization. However, an interaction performed by the CEO on a KPI designed as “District level” may be displayed only to users associated with business units falling under the district. Additionally, users may be able to view interaction data based on associated roles. For instance, interaction data corresponding to “District level” KPIs may not be displayed to users designated as “staff members”. However, users within the district designated as “Store Managers” may be allowed to view the interaction data associated with “District level” KPIs.
Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be further configured to display a notification to a user based on receipt of the one or more actions. For example, the notification may be transmitted to the user in the form of SMS, email and/or instant message. For instance, as illustrated in
Additionally, in some embodiments, the platform 100 may be configured to selectively propagate notifications to relevant users. For instance, in some embodiments, the display of the notification may be based further on one or more of a level of business analytical data associated with the visualization and a role associated with the user. For instance, referring to
Accordingly, only users related to a store such as “Store Manager 1”, “Staff 1” and “Staff 2” may be selected for transmitting the notification.
Further, in some embodiments, users of the platform 100 may be enabled to set alerts on business analytical data of interest. For instance, the user interface may be configured to display a GUI element, such as an icon, with each KPI displayed to the user. As an example, as illustrated in
Accordingly, the user interface may be further configured perform a comparison of a business analytical data, such as current KPI value, with one or more of the lower limit and the upper limit. Further, based on a result of the comparison, the user interface may be configured to display the notification to the user. Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to provide an indication of receipt of an alert to the user. For example, as illustrated in
Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments, the user interface may include a spotlight feature which may indicate various scenarios with regard to setting the alert and/or receipt of the alert. For instance, as illustrated in
Further, in some embodiments, the platform 100 may be configured to provide indication of entities associated with the business analytical data to users. Accordingly, the user interface may be further configured to display indication of one or more entities associated with a plurality of business analytical data, such as KPIs. The one or more entities may be for example, an individual such as staff member and/or a business unit such as a store, a district, a state, a country, a region and world.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the platform 100 may be configured to enable users to mark a visualization of a KPI and/or an associated entity as a favorite. Accordingly, the user interface may be further configured to receive an input from a user to include indication of the one or more entities and/or associated KPIs to a list of favorites. For instance, as illustrated in
Additionally, in some embodiments, the platform 100 may be configured to display business analytical data in the form of tables. For instance, as illustrated in
Further, the platform 100 may provide bi-directional Business Intelligence Communications that may enable a user of a higher level (e.g., region directors) to send surveys down to users at lower levels (e.g. store managers) in order to get quick feedback on certain metrics. Additionally, in some instances, instead of sending surveys, users may send forecasts. For example, certain users may have access to and specify forecasting data for the business organization. For instance,
Further, in accordance with some embodiments, a flow chart of a method for receiving forecast data from a user is disclosed. At step 1802, the user may open or re-open an app configured to display the user interface as described herein. The method then proceeds to step 1804, where a check is performed whether forecast data has already been entered for a store. If the result of the check is positive, then the method may terminate. However, if the result of the check is negative, then the method may proceed to step 1806 where a check may be performed to determine if a current date is later than or equal to the 15th of the current month. If the result of the check is negative, then the method may terminate. However, if the current date is later than or equal to the 15th of the current month, the method proceeds to step 1808 where a check is performed to determine whether the user is authorized to provide the forecast data. If the user is not authorized to provide the forecast data, the method may terminate. However, if the user is authorized, the method may proceed to step 1810 where the user is requested to enter the forecast data. Accordingly, the user may be presented with an interface exemplarily illustrated in
The platform 100 may be embodied as, for example, but not be limited to, a website, a web application, a desktop application, and a mobile application compatible with a computing device. The computing device may comprise, but not be limited to, a desktop computer, laptop, a tablet, or mobile telecommunications device. Moreover, platform 100 may be hosted on a centralized server, such as, for example, a cloud computing service. Although method 200 has been described to be performed by a computing device 1400, it should be understood that, in some embodiments, different operations may be performed by different networked elements in operative communication with computing device 1400.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise a system having a memory storage and a processing unit. The processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is configured to perform the stages of method 200.
In accordance with some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a system for provisioning business intelligence to a plurality of users in a business organization. In some instances, the plurality of business analytical data may include a plurality of KPIs. The system may include a storage configured to store a plurality of business analytical data. The business analytical data may correspond to a level of a plurality of levels in the business organization. The plurality of levels may include two or more of global, regional, country, state, district, store and staff.
Further, the system may include a processing unit configured to generate a user interface. The user interface may include a plurality of visualizations of the plurality of business analytical data, such as the KPIs.
In order to provide business intelligence to relevant users, the user interface may be configured such that a functionality associated with the user interface displayed to a user may be based on a role associated with the user. For instance, users designated as “Managers” may be provided with a functionality to upload reports while users designated as “Staff members” may only be able to view reports without being provided an option to upload reports.
Further, a visualization of the plurality of visualizations corresponding to a user may be based on a role associated with the user. For instance, a user may be provided with only certain KPIs depending on the role of the user.
Furthermore, the user interface may be configured to provide an intuitive way of navigating the plurality of business analytical data. Accordingly, the user interface may be configured to receive one or more touch inputs from the user, such as but not limited to, one of more of a horizontal swipe and a vertical swipe.
Further, based on the one or more touch inputs, the user interface may be configured to transition between a first visualization and a second visualization. For instance, the first visualization may be based on a business analytical data corresponding to a first level of the plurality of levels. Further, the second visualization may be based on the business analytical data corresponding to a second level of the plurality of levels. For example, the first visualization may indicate KPIs associated with “Store level” while the second visualization may indicate KPIs associated with “District level”. Accordingly, a user may provide touch input in the form of a vertical swipe to move up or down the organizational hierarchy and view associated KPIs.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, based on the one or more touch inputs, the user interface may be configured to transition between a first visualization of a first business analytical data and a second visualization of a second business analytical data. For instance, the plurality of visualizations may correspond to different KPIs arranged as horizontally scrollable screens. Each screen may include visualization of one set of KPIs. Accordingly, a user may provide a touch input, such as a horizontal swipe input to move across the screens to view different KPIs. Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be further configured to allow the user to customize the ordering of the horizontally scrollable screens. Accordingly, the user interface may be configured to receive an input from the user to customize an order of the plurality of visualizations.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to enabled to provide social networking features. Accordingly, the user interface may be further configured to receive one or more actions corresponding to a portion of a visualization from one or more users of the plurality of users. For instance, the one or more actions may include one or more of promoting, discussing, sharing, reporting, requesting a report and a setting an alert.
Further, in some embodiment, the user interface may be further configured to display data corresponding to the one or more actions. The data corresponding to the one or more actions may be displayed to one or more first users of the plurality of users, whereas the one or more actions may be received from one or more second users of the plurality of users. Further, the display of the data to the one or more first users may be based on at least one of a level of business analytical data associated with the visualization and a role associated with the at least one first user.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the user interface may be further configured to display a notification to a user based on receipt of the one or more actions. In some instances, the display of the notification may be based further on one or more of a level of business analytical data associated with the visualization and a role associated with the user.
Further, in some embodiments, an action of setting the alert may include specifying one or more of a lower limit and an upper limit. Furthermore, the user interface may be further configured to display the notification based on a result of comparison of a business analytical data with one or more of the lower limit and the upper limit. Additionally, in some embodiments, the notification may include a link to the visualization corresponding to the one or more actions.
Further, in some embodiments, the user interface may be further configured to display indication of one or more entities associated with the plurality of KPIs. Additionally, the user interface may be further configured receive an input from a user to include indication of the one or more entities to a list of favorites.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, each of the indication of a plurality of entities and corresponding plurality of KPIs may be displayed in a table. Additionally, the user interface may be further configured to display the plurality of KPIs in a sorted order based on a touch input received from a user.
Moreover, the system may include a communication connection configured to perform communication with a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of users. Further, the communication may include the user interface. Accordingly, the plurality of devices may be configured to display the user interface. As a result, the plurality of users may be able to view the plurality of visualizations of the plurality of business analytical data.
With reference to
Computing device 1400 may have additional features or functionality. For example, computing device 1400 may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
Computing device 1400 may also contain a communication connection 1416 that may allow device 1400 to communicate with other computing devices 1418, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, for example, an intranet or the Internet. Communication connection 1416 is one example of communication media. Communication media may typically 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 includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. 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, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein may include both storage media and communication media.
As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored in system memory 1404, including operating system 1405. While executing on processing unit 1402, programming modules 1406 (e.g., scrolling enablement application 1420) may perform processes including, for example, one or more of method 100′s stages as described above. The aforementioned process is an example, and processing unit 1402 may perform other processes. Other programming modules that may be used in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may include electronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentation applications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.
Generally, consistent with embodiments of the disclosure, program modules may include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that may perform particular tasks or that may implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, embodiments of the disclosure 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 of the disclosure 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.
Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. Embodiments of the disclosure may also be practiced using other technologies capable of performing logical operations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced within a general purpose computer or in any other circuits or systems.
Embodiments of the disclosure, for example, 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. Accordingly, the present disclosure may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.). In other words, embodiments of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. A computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific computer-readable medium examples (a non-exhaustive list), the computer-readable medium may include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
Embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
While certain embodiments of the disclosure have been described, other embodiments may exist. Furthermore, although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described as being associated with data stored in memory and other storage mediums, data can also be stored on or read from other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, solid state storage (e.g., USB drive), or a CD-ROM, a carrier wave from the Internet, or other forms of RAM or ROM. Further, the disclosed methods' stages may be modified in any manner, including by reordering stages and/or inserting or deleting stages, without departing from the disclosure.
All rights including copyrights in the code included herein are vested in and the property of the Applicant. The Applicant retains and reserves all rights in the code included herein, and grants permission to reproduce the material only in connection with reproduction of the granted patent and for no other purpose.
While the specification includes examples, the disclosure's scope is indicated by the following claims. Furthermore, while the specification has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, the claims are not limited to the features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example for embodiments of the disclosure.
Insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawing disclose any additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the claims below, the disclosures are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claims such additional disclosures is reserved.
Under provisions of 35 U.S.C. §119(e), the Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/145,658, filed Apr. 10, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62145658 | Apr 2015 | US |
