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Description  |
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FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a method for managing resources and particularly
to the method and system for the prospective scheduling and real time
dynamic management of a plurality of interdependent and interrelated
resources using a computer system for communicating information.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many different fields require the management of resources in order to carry
out programs and schedule activities effectively and efficiently. For
example, the construction of a building requires scheduling the use of
general and specialized personnel, of particular pieces of equipment and
of delivery vehicles. In addition, a number of these resources may have to
be shared with other construction projects at other sites. It also
involves managing the rescheduling of the use of those resources as time
passes and events unfold, often not in accordance with the original
schedule.
Similarly, the efficient and effective use of surgical operating rooms in a
hospital requires coordinating the use of numerous different resources,
usually requiring collecting and gaining access to and then making use of
information derived from many different sources. Some of the resources
which must be managed and coordinated in a surgical suite or wing include
the operating rooms, the surgeons, the anaesthesiologists, the residents,
the nurses, the technicians, specialized pieces of equipment and the like.
In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the use of
computers and computer display systems for accessing and displaying data.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,650 discloses a method and arrangement
for visually representing industrial management data. This patent teaches
the use of a computer display for representing data in the form of
bar-graphs or pie-graphs. The displays are for past and real time data and
do not include projections into the future. In addition, each graph is
independent of each other graph so that the impact of a change in one will
not affect another. There is no suggestion in this patent that the method
therein disclosed could be used for prospective or dynamic management of
the utilization of resources.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,238 relates to a computerized system for planning the
testing and grading of products as part of a manufacturing process. This
patent does not disclose any system for prospectively scheduling the
utilization of resources, nor does it disclose any method for monitoring
actual utilization of resources, nor does it disclose a system where
scheduling conflicts are noted.
U.S Pat. No. 4,547,851 relates to interactive communications systems used
in restaurants for processing food orders by patrons and for making
entertainment, like video games available to patrons. It does not relate
to resource scheduling, either prospectively or dynamically.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,983 discloses a hierarchical knowledge system and does
not appear to pertain at all to scheduling of interrelated and
interdependent resources.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,589 discloses a method and system for monitoring and
controlling the flow of articles in a warehouse. It is designed primarily
to keep track of orders and of the articles ordered as they are taken from
stock and prepared for shipment. There is no suggestion that such a system
could be used for resource scheduling, management or monitoring.
Project planners which employ computers are also well known. Such project
planners most commonly are task or activity focused. They are designed
primarily for sequential scheduling of related tasks. For example, if a
construction project must proceed through six phases, and phase 2 cannot
begin until phase 1 is 2/3 complete, and phases 3, 4 and 6 each must await
completion of the preceding phase, but phase 5 can begin simultaneously
with phase 4, a project planner could be used to set up the schedule at
the outset and to adjust that schedule to reflect slippages as they occur.
Project planners, however, are not well equipped to manage the resources
employed in the various activities or to alert the operators to the need
to adjust the scheduled activities in response to other demands upon those
resources.
The management of resources, utilization of which can change in time and
can have complex interrelationships, can present serious problems to
effective scheduling of the use of those resources and the tasks or
activities in which they are employed. Inefficient and particularly
incompatible solutions to these problems can be very costly in a
manufacturing setting, in the construction of a building and elsewhere.
Inappropriate solutions to such. problems become far more serious when
they involve medical facilities and the performance of surgery because
they can then present life and death issues.
What is needed is an effective display of at least some of the available
resources as a function of time associated with a data base of information
relating to displayed resources and perhaps to others as well. In
addition, such a system should, most advantageously, be capable of being
accessed in order to produce additional displays relating to additional
resources. In one of its more general forms, such a system should permit
changing the time scale to accommodate widely diverse applications. Most
desirably, it should also be able to display short range as well as long
range projected (and/or historical) utilization without distorting
relationships between displayed data when going from short to long range
or vice versa.
Additionally, and, in some settings, most importantly, the system should be
capable of showing interrelationships between resources so that changes in
utilization of one or more resources, reveal the impact of those changes
upon the availability and utilization of other resources as well as upon
anticipated future utilization of the same resource and upon the
activities in which they are employed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method for the dynamic management of a plurality
of resources, preferably using a computer system. The method includes
providing a data base that includes information about the available
resources and graphically displaying anticipated and/or actual utilization
of the resources as a function of time. Generally, the displays can be in
the form of bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs or other geometric shapes.
Various types of indicia may be employed to provide visual auditory or
other sensory communication of information pertinent to the resources
and/or the utilization thereof. "Scheduling indicia" may be used to
indicate utilization (historical and/or prospective) of resources, "status
indicia" may be employed to reflect current status of events and "conflict
indicia" may be used to alert operators to scheduling conflicts. In one of
its preferred configurations, the invention contemplates providing access
to a data base to permit continuous updating of the information stored
therein so that when resource utilization is displayed it reflects the
most recent data in the data base.
In another embodiment, the method and system of this invention gives access
to the data base in order to provide information, beyond that appearing on
the display, relative to a selected resource. Provision can also be made
for selectively changing the display in order to present data relating to
different aspects of one or more resources.
Further, the invention contemplates the automatic adjustment of schedules
as conflicts arise as well as the automatic communication of those
adjustments. It also contemplates automatic notification to relevant
personnel and automatic initiation of activities (cutting a purchase
order, turning on a furnace etc.) and procedures upon reaching certain
milestone points.
The system can also incorporate accountability means whereby it can be
determined whether resources are being used properly and procedures are
being followed in accordance with established rules. In addition, a record
keeping function can be incorporated to document what resources were used,
for what procedures, by whom and when.
Of course, not every application of this invention will necessarily
incorporate all of the above features. It is anticipated that some
applications will have need for only some of the features and other, more
complex or more sophisticated or more automated applications will make use
of more of the features contemplated by the instant invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A description of the invention will be given in connection with the
drawings which include:
FIG. 1 shows a prospective display of scheduled resources in accordance
with the invention.
FIG. 1A shows one of the cells from FIG. 1 after the first milestone has
been completed.
FIG. 1B shows one of the cells of FIG. 1 with the identifying label having
been moved to above the cell to denote that the patient is in the room.
FIG. 1C shows the same information as in FIG. 1A, but using a different
means to indicate completion of milestone 1.
FIG. 1D shows the same cell as FIG. 1A, but at a later point in time, after
the second milestone has been passed.
FIG. 1E shows a cell in which a circle or clock face is used to display
status indicia.
FIG. 2 shows the schedule of FIG. 1 as a dynamic display, modified in
accordance with the present invention by events as they have occurred.
FIG. 3 shows the schedule of FIG. 1 after completion. It is an historical
record generated in accordance with the present invention, showing not
only what took place, but also how reality varied from projected
utilization.
FIG. 4 shows an alternative method for graphically displaying scheduling
information while simultaneously displaying in textual form, information
about the scheduled resources.
FIG. 5 shows the display of FIG. 4 at a later point in time.
FIG. 6 shows a display of a prospective schedule of industrial projects in
accordance with the invention.
FIG. 7 shows an dynamic display of the schedule of FIG. 6, modified to take
into account some events as they have occurred.
FIG. 8 shows a reconfigured display of some of the information appearing on
FIG. 1.
FIG. 9 shows a display wherein a pop-up window, overlayed upon the display
of FIG. 1, shows information about case klm.
DISCUSSION OF THE INVENTION
The method according to the invention enables dynamic control of a complex
project involving a plurality of resources which are interrelated and
which can change with time. Preferably, the method utilizes a display
system such as the type associated with a personal computer and a keyboard
for selectively changing the display. In addition, a data base containing
data relating to the resources can be made available. The data base can be
updated from one or more real time sources and this in return can result
in an update of the data being displayed. The keyboard can also be used to
input data to the data base and to do prospective scheduling. The data
preferably is displayed graphically as a function of time to portray the
temporal relationships between various resources, activities and events.
Inputting, modifying, handling and accessing of the data can be carried out
using known methods and techniques. Similarly, generating appropriate
graphical displays can be done by using well known techniques.
There are numerous situations which can effectively be managed by the use
of the instant invention. One such situation is monitoring and planning
the use of the facilities and other resources available in the surgical
suite of a hospital. Each operating room represents a resource and
information can be provided in the data base about each operating room.
For example, some operating rooms may be limited to ambulatory procedures,
some may be specifically designed and equipped for open heart surgery,
some may require only 15 minutes for clean up between procedures and
others might need 20 minutes. Some specialized pieces of equipment may be
limited to use in only some of the operating rooms. Some equipment may
require long periods of sterilization between procedures, while others
require none. Also, some resources may be unavailable because of
construction, repair or maintenance activities. If the particular
application calls for a rule-based system (as will be discussed below),
the applicable rules would normally be in the knowledge or data base.
Preferably, all such information would be included in a primary or semi
permanent data base.
The primary data base could also include standard information about certain
known activities or procedures. For example, it may include information
like: an appendectomy should be scheduled to take 90 minutes, requires
that medications A, B, C and D be available, that only operating rooms X,
Y and Z are suitable for such a procedure and that only doctors J, K and L
are authorized to perform such operations.
A supplemental, or transitory data base, preferably integrated with the
primary data base, can also be employed to store information more
frequently changed than the information in the primary data base. The
transitory data base could include information about the planned
utilization of a given resource on a particular day or at a particular
time. Tasks or procedures waiting to be scheduled could also be in the
transitory data base. It could also include relevant information about a
particular patient (e.g., name, doctor, procedure to be performed,
allergies) who is scheduled for surgery. If anything in the planned
utilization is incompatible with information in either the primary or
secondary data base, a conflict indicator can be made to appear on the
display or on audible signal given. For example, if the procedure is
schedule for a room in which construction is going on, a conflict
indicator would be displayed. Similarly, if the patient is allergic to
medication that is called for, a conflict indicator would alert the
operator of the system to the problem.
Each surgical operating room has a planned use in time and the intended use
may be associated with a particular patient, pieces of equipment and
procedure, as well as key personnel who will be involved in performing the
operation and the medication to be administered.
Each surgeon also represents a resource and the surgeon's prior commitments
may be important for determining the availability of the surgeon for other
surgical operations or in case of an emergency. In the same way, a patient
can be regarded as a resource and the planned locations and activities of
the patient can be displayed so that the patient can easily be located.
Similarly, pieces of equipment and key personnel can be treated as
resources. All this information would normally be put in the supplemental
data base and would then be searched along with the primary data base,
each time a resource is scheduled for use and each time a schedule is
modified.
As can readily be appreciated, it is not unusual for the actual time taken
to complete a particular procedure to vary from the scheduled or
anticipated time. If the actual time exceeds the projected time, such
information should be readily available in order to determine if alternate
arrangements must be made. For example, such a deviation could affect
subsequent scheduled use of the operating room. In addition, the extended
involvement of the patient, the surgeon, key personnel and particular
pieces of equipment could have an impact on other surgical procedures
which have been planned for that surgeon, those personnel and those pieces
of equipment. It could also affect other procedures that might have been
scheduled for that patient.
As used herein, a "resource" in the hospital setting could be a room, a
person, a piece of equipment, or the like. In other settings, "resources"
could include containers, vehicles, supervisors, workers units of goods,
blocks of time, dollars, aircraft, boarding gates, pilots and the like.
Some resources may be reusable, others may be subject to depletion, and
still others may be renewable. Generally, a resource has a known and/or
anticipated availability and can be related to one or more other resources
as a function of time or as a function of some other consumption,
depletion or saturation. As those skilled in the art will readily
appreciate, consumption, depletion, saturation and the like are analogous
to time in that each can be used as a measuring yardstick. For example, a
work day can be viewed as consisting of 32 fifteen minute blocks of time
during which activities can be scheduled and resources used. Similarly, a
reservoir of 2000 items may be viewed as consisting of 500 groups of 4,
with various activities and resources scheduled for utilization as
different groups of 4 are consumed. The term "time," as used herein,
should be understood in its broadest sense and not limited to measurements
based upon rotations of the earth.
The availability and utilization of resources can be displayed as a
function of time by use of "scheduling indicia". Progress of a planned
procedure can be monitored and displayed by use of "Status indicia."
Incompatible scheduling of resources can be signalled by the displaying of
"conflict indicia." Any of the several indicia, scheduling, status or
conflict, described herein, can be displayed in a myriad of ways,
including color changes, color bars, shadings, alphanumerics and the like,
and combinations thereof. The several indicia can also be displayed by the
use of highlighting, geometric symbols, flashing, and/or enhancements such
as a brightened frame around data.
While the operator of the system can select certain resources for primary
display purposes, the system monitors utilization, not only of the
displayed primary resources but also of other or secondary resources which
may or may not appear on the display, but which are used in conjunction
with the displayed primary resources. To illustrate, the operator may
choose to display "operating rooms" as the primary resources. One of those
operating rooms, 0, however, may require surgeon S, anaesthesiologist A,
heart/lung machine H and heart monitor M. Resources S, A, H and M may be
referred to as secondary resources. If the procedure scheduled for room 0
takes longer than expected, the system will display conflicts, not only
with respect to the primary resource, operating room 0, but also with
respect to scheduled utilization of the secondary resources, surgeon S,
anaesthesiologist A, heart/lung machine H and monitor M. The system can,
of course, be so configured as to suppress one or more of these indicia.
In using the system of the instant invention, the operator collects
information from various sources concerning needs or requests for use of
the resources. In the context of a hospital surgical suite this might
involve requests from surgeons for operating rooms, for pieces of
equipment, perhaps for particular staff members and for other physicians,
such as anaesthesiologist's. Each surgeon would identify the procedure to
be performed, the anticipated time to complete the procedure, patient
information and other relevant data. Other information might also be
supplied, such as other commitments of involved personnel.
The operator loads this information into the data base in any conventional
manner and then proceeds to schedule the various resources. If an attempt
is made to set up a schedule that involves apparently inconsistent or
incompatible use of a given resource, a conflict indicator would be
displayed. Having thus been alerted, the operator would then either revise
the proposed schedule or determine whether the conflict is real or only
apparent.
To illustrate the difference between real and apparent conflicts, consider
the situation of a surgeon employing a new procedure which only a few
people have been trained to use. The new and unique aspect of the overall
surgery may take only 30 minutes of an anticipated 3 hour surgery. The
other steps to be performed, e.g., opening the patient in preparation for
the critical procedure, stabilizing the patient on the heart/lung machine
and closing the wound after the new procedure has been completed, could be
performed by other surgeons. Nevertheless, since the operating room would
normally be assigned to the primary surgeon for the entire 3 hour period,
the system would display a conflict indicator if that primary surgeon were
scheduled elsewhere during any part of those 3 hours. In the real world,
however, that surgeon's personal presence might only be required for 30
minutes, thereby allowing him to discharge other duties during the
remaining 21/2 hours when the operating room is being used in his name.
Recognizing that some conflicts may be real and others only apparent, the
system and method of the present invention can be made to recognize
different kinds of conflicts, some which it "knows" are irreconcilable,
some which it "knows" are susceptible of accommodation and some which it
is unable to "recognize" as falling in either category. Each type of
conflict could be indicated by its own unique conflict indicia. With that
kind of information displayed, the operator can tell whether to reschedule
resources immediately or whether to check further to see if a real
conflict exits.
After collecting and usually, but not necessarily, after loading the
relevant information into the data bank, the operator decides which
resources are to be "primary" for display purposes and which are to be
"secondary". In the hospital setting the operator may select "operating
rooms" for display as the primary resources. Alternatively, "surgeons" or
"heart/lung machines" or "CT scanners" or "nuclear magnetic imagers" etc.
or some combination thereof might be chosen.
Assume, for illustration purposes, "operating rooms" is selected for
display as the primary resources. Initially, the screen will display only
the two axes--time (down the left margin), and operating rooms (across the
top as column headings). Although at the outset the remainder of the
display would normally be blank, it need not be. For example, for each
unscheduled block of time the display can be made to show "open" or some
equivalent designation. Also "repair" may be used to reflect that a
particular room is not available for scheduling. Designations such as
"repair," "construction" "sabatical" could be made to appear automatically
as long as the requisite information has been stored in the data base.
The operator would then proceed to prepare a schedule, beginning with "Case
abc" for operating room 1. The operator could schedule that case to begin
at 7:00 a.m. and to end at 8:45 a.m. Or, if the information as to "Case
abc" had already been loaded into the data base, once the starting time
had been selected, an automatic search of the data base could cause the
system to calculate and display the end point. In either case, a
scheduling indicator would be displayed to reflect utilization of the
primary resource, in this instance, "Rm 1". In FIG. 1, the vertical
rectangle, labeled "Case abc" is the scheduling indicator. In similar
fashion, the remaining operating rooms could be scheduled and scheduling
indicia displayed. As long as nothing is planned for one of the primary
resources at a particular time, the blank screen or "open" at that
location would constitute the scheduling indicator.
During the scheduling of the primary resources, the system can be made to
monitor conflicts in utilization involving primary as well as secondary
resources. If such conflicts are detected, a conflict indicator will be
displayed. The conflict could involve only primary resources, e.g. two
procedures scheduled for the same operating room at the same time. In that
event, the operator would be able to detect the nature of the conflict on
the display. However, the conflict could involve secondary resources, some
of which may not appear on the display. In that event, the operator would
be alerted to look for the conflict among the secondary resources.
Alternatively, by use of color, shading, shape positioning or the like,
the conflict indicia itself can identify the secondary resource which is
the source of conflict.
On the display, a scheduling indicator showing planned or actual use of a
particular primary resource during a given block of time can be referred
to as a "cell". On FIG. 1 the rectangle showing that "Case abc" is
scheduled for Room 1 from 7:00 to 8:45 a.m. would be a "cell". Each cell
could be given a title which could be made to appear above the cell or
within its confines. Space permitting, a cell could also be made to have
several pieces of data relating to secondary resources displayed therein.
For example, within the cell that represents "Case abc" the name of the
surgeon or the type of equipment being employed could be displayed.
In the event it is decided to display secondary resources within cells,
such secondary resource displays could be used to indicate conflicts. For
example, if Doctor S were scheduled simultaneously in two operating rooms,
the display of Doctor S as a secondary resource in either or both of those
cells could be made to flash. Such flashing would, in that embodiment,
constitute the conflict indicia.
The display of secondary resources could also be employed to make
additional options available. For example, instead of having to go through
a menu, simply by moving the cursor to one of those displayed secondary
resources, the system could be made to display a window with that
secondary resource s schedule or other information about that secondary
resource. Such a window is shown in FIG. 9.
Thus, the system need not be menu driven. The use of shortcuts, such as
displays of secondary resources within cells, may avoid the use of menus.
However, in the more complex and/or more sophisticated applications of the
instant invention, it is unlikely that sufficient short-cuts can
effectively be used so as to avoid all | | |
