Custom product estimating and order processing system

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a computer-based system and method for estimating and ordering the custom manufacture of an item such as a business form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most businesses and other types of organizations rely on a large variety of consumable products such as forms, labels, diskettes, computer paper and computer supplies to collect, store and distribute important information. These organizations can benefit from a comprehensive management system for these information-processing products which can include on-screen form and label design, database management, inventory management, and automated entry of orders and other types of data.

Manufacturers of business information products such as forms and labels generally employ a number of sales representatives located both at the corporate office(s) and offices remotely located therefrom. The sales representatives interact with customers, that is, businesses requiring office supplies such as forms and other products for recording and distributing business-related data, to determine the format and content of a form, label or other product which best suits the customers' data collection and management needs. Following form design, the sales representative generates an order to specify the number of forms be printed, form size, paper quality, ink color, print type, number of plies, requested shipping dates, and fastener type, among other information. Order generation is typically a manual process for the sales representative. Thus, the customer interaction process can be arduous and time-consuming because of the multitude of options that are considered when designing and ordering a form.

After a detailed order is created, a sales representative typically forwards the order electronically or by regular mail to a central corporate office. The order is usually processed at the manufacturer's corporate office to select, from among a number of manufacturing plants co-located with or remotely located from the corporate office, the best equipped plant to fulfill the order. The order is finally forwarded to the selected plant, which manufactures and ships the product in accordance with the specifications in the order. The corporate office generally also performs accounting functions to bill the customer for the manufactured products.

The manner in which an order is generated and processed can vary depending on the business forms manufacturing system. In some systems, the form design and ordering process is done manually by a sales representative, that is, the content of the form and the order are written by the sales representative or customer on paper or electronic forms designed for these processes. The sales representative typically determines the sale price based on data in a pricing manual or available in the memory of a computer. After the representative enters the sell price onto the ordering form, the representative submits the form and the completed order to the manufacturer's order receiving office by facsimile or mail.

Another type of business forms manufacturing system automates the design and ordering of forms by the remotely located customer or sales representative. The system is organized in essentially the same manner described above. It comprises a manufacturer's computer at a central corporate office which communicates with several remote customers' or sales representatives' personal computers (PCs), and computers at the production facilities or plants. The form is designed on a remote PC using a form design software program. The form parameters are automatically transferred to a second software program for ordering, which permits a user to enter additional parameters such as order quantity and delivery information. The PC proceeds to complete the order by automatically calculating price in accordance with the entered parameters and the ordering software. The form and the completed order are subsequently simultaneously transmitted in machine format (i.e., electronically or on disk by mail) to the manufacturer's computer, which confirms the order and determines the best printing facility or plant. The order and form are finally transferred electronically to the selected printing facility.

To compete with other manufacturers of paper and electronic business forms, manufacturers seek to improve their form design and ordering systems and therefore their sales transactions with customers by improving the accuracy of cost and/or list price calculations, and reducing the paperwork and the time spent by sales representatives when performing price estimation and order entry. As explained above, one way manufacturers seek to improve their ordering systems is to automate the ordering process by including automatic price calculations at the sales representative's remote computer. These price estimates, however, are problematic because the sales representatives' computers may not be equipped with the most recent pricing data. Pricing data changes frequently due to a variety of factors such as variable material and labor costs. These changes need to be downloaded regularly to the sales site computers. This can result in inconsistencies in the price estimates calculated by different sales representatives.

For the above reason, among others, predominantly centralized storage of pricing information and consultation between a remote sales site and the manufacturer's corporate office during cost estimation is advantageous. The centralized storage of information also allows for flexibility in pricing to reflect, for example, pricing agreements between certain customers and the manufacturer. Further, the stored pricing data can be continuously updated with data received from different sources, such as manufacturing plants, which can monitor and report actual job and material costs to the manufacturer. Consultation with the corporate office for centralized storage of cost data eliminates the problem of having to continuously update the data at the sales representative's site in order to keep all representatives apprised of the same pricing information.

While it may be possible for the remote computer to access the central database information in order to perform the estimate calculation itself, it is more advantageous for estimate calculation to be performed at the headquarters and then forwarded to the sales site because pricing data and algorithms can be proprietary and, therefore, are best kept for security reasons at a central location for security reasons. Further, centralized storage of price data preserves the integrity of data better than if it were distributed to each of the remote sales computers. Accordingly, a centralized storage system for price data requiring consultation between the different sales representatives and the corporate office system promotes more consistent estimates from the sales representatives.

A disadvantage to calculating price entirely at the sales site, that is, without requiring the exchange of any pricing data with the corporate office during the estimation process, is the lack of corporate office control over the list price offered by the sales representative to the customer. Such control may be desirable for a number of reasons. For example, simple forms such as one-sided, single-ply, carbonless forms can be priced in a relatively straightforward manner at the sales site, provided the material and form feature cost tables consulted by most forms manufacturers for pricing are updated. The equipment set-up time, run speeds and labor required for these types of manufacturing jobs are generally known and factored into the tables. Complicated forms (e.g., multi-ply forms with carbon papers and various perforations and fasteners or hole punching requirements) that are priced using these tables, however, are more likely to be underpriced because slower equipment run speeds, longer set-up times and other factors were not taken into consideration when generating the tables. These other factors can include, for example, the ability of different plants to perform the desired manufacturing processes, and customer and/or manufacturer item-specific contract data. By involving the corporate office in the estimation process, these factors can be taken into account when appropriate. Even when complex forms are not involved, the corporation may simply wish to have corporate office personnel review a sales representative's estimate, for example, because a proposed job exceeds a certain sell price, or involves a new or highly valued customer. Further, previous estimates that are stored at the corporate office can be used for operations and sales administration purposes. For example, previous estimates can be analyzed to locate which potential customers have been approached by a sales representative, to perform analysis such as determining how many estimates mature into product orders, and to determine which sales representatives deserve rewards for their successful endeavors or require additional training and incentives to improve their performance.

Although maintaining pricing data at a central location is advantageous for the reasons given, it generally requires a sales representative to use certain information twice, that is, once in order to get an estimate, and a second time to place an order. The need to re-enter data can be minimized by storing various parameters relating to an item specification, as well as other data relating to the customer, at the sales site and/or the corporate office, and sharing the data between different computers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The order processing system of the present invention overcomes many of the limitations of known business form manufacturing systems, while also realizing a number of advantages over such systems. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a sales site computer is programmed to facilitate the entry of design parameters for creating a form and estimate parameters to obtain estimate data from a manufacturer's corporate office, and to store these parameters for later use in a production order. Computers at the sales site, plant and corporate office locations are networked and are programmed in a manner which maximizes the integration of different software systems and therefore the ability to share data between the various components of the system of the present invention. The amount of information the sales representative or customer re-enters during the creation of a production order is therefore minimized. Further, specifications for an item order are captured in a memory device and can be used for repeat orders.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computer and a database are provided at the manufacturer's corporate office for storing standard price tables and calculating cost and/or list price estimates based on the tables and the item specifications and estimate parameters, which were entered by a sales representative or customer at the sales site and transmitted, preferably electronically, to the corporate office.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, custom price matrices are created to generate customer-specific estimates in accordance with a contract agreement between the manufacturer and the customer.

Further, the corporate office computer and database are configured to manage contract information by maintaining contract parameters on-line, and monitoring contract performance and compliance using system analysis and reporting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apprehended from the following detailed description when read in connection with the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram depicting corporate office, sales and plant hardware subsystems in a product estimating and order processing system constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram depicting software subsystems associated with the corporate office, sales site and plant depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts a computer monitor screen generated by the sales information network software employed at the sales site of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the process of creating an item specification, obtaining an estimate, converting the item specification into a production order, and forwarding the order to a plant in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 5 through 27 depict computer monitor screens which are generated to prompt a sales representative or customer to enter item specification information used at least in part to generate estimate data; and

FIGS. 28 through 36 depict computer monitor screens for prompting a user to enter information used for the generation of a contract price matrix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 depicts an estimating and order processing system 10 for constructed in accordance with the present invention. The order processing system 10 comprises one or more sales offices or sites 12 (which may be dedicated offices or simply desk top computers operated by sales representatives at the customers' offices), and one or more manufacturing plants 14, which are both connected to at least one corporate office 16 by communication links as described below. In general, the sales offices and plants are remote, although they can be co-located with the corporate office. The computer-based systems at the corporate office 16, the sales site 12 and the plant 14 and their interconnecting communication links collectively form a wide area network (WAN).

The corporate office 16 comprises at least one computer for performing a number of processes, and coordinating the activities of other computers located at the corporate office and remote locations (e.g., the sales sites and plants) in performing these processes. The processes include, but are not limited to, tracking inventory at both a corporate storage site and a customer storage site, accounting, purchasing, managing customer contracts, and determining labor and actual material costs to produce orders. For illustrative purposes, the corporate office 16 can comprise an IBM 3090 mainframe computer 18 connected to a number of mainframe computer terminals 20, which communicate with the mainframe computer over dedicated digital lines via a communication controller 22. The communication controller 22 also connects the mainframe computer and the mainframe terminals to a data communications network 24 such as a local area network (LAN). Another communication controller 26 can also be provided to connect leased telephone lines from terminals (not shown) through the mainframe computer to the LAN via a router.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the corporate office 16 also comprises a Systems Application Architecture (SAA) gateway 28 for allowing IBM-compatible personal computers 29 to access the mainframe computer across the LAN 24. A minicomputer 30 and a number of associated minicomputer terminals 32 are connected to the LAN 24 for corporate development purposes. A mail server 34 supports messaging within the corporate office, as well as with terminals and computers at sales sites and plants. At least one Structured Query Language (SQL) server 36 is provided to support estimation and order entry applications by allowing remote computers to access a database of shared data and program files which is maintained at the corporate offices and described in further detail below. A Remote Local Area Network (LAN) Access gateway 40 or RLA gateway is provided to permit dial-up connections between sales representatives conducting business outside of a sales office (e.g., on a desk top computer) and the LAN 24.

The plants 14 are each preferably provided with a LAN 44, as shown in FIG. 1, to support users working on a number of PCs 46 to provide data to the corporate office SQL server or database 36, as well as to send messages via the mail server 34. Other processes performed at a plant can include, but are not limited to, managing raw material inventory, scheduling and tracking jobs, shop floor data collection, production reporting and job planning, and providing the corporate office with data concerning the planned use of materials, materials requisitions, and the actual consumption of materials and labor during job execution for comparison with the corresponding estimate. As described in connection with the corporate office, each plant is preferably provided with a communication controller 48 to connect mainframe computer terminals 50 located at plant sites to the mainframe computer 18 at the corporate office over the LAN 24 via routers 52 and 54. A minicomputer 56 such as the IBM minicomputer model number AS/400 and associated AS/400 terminals 58 are connected to the token ring 44.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sales offices each preferably comprise a LAN 60 to interconnect a number of PCs 62 and/or docked laptop or portable computers 64. A file server 66 can be connected to the LAN 60 to support shared data between multiple PC users. A router 68 is connected to the LAN 60 to interconnect the sales office with the corporate office with dial backup capabilities. Sales representatives can also access the corporate office using, for example, their portable computers via the RLA gateway.

The system hardware architecture described in connection with FIG. 1 facilitates maintenance of remote systems such as the sales office and plant subsystems, and the distribution of software to these subsystems by allowing for the sharing of data between the platforms e.g., of the mainframe computer 18, the minicomputers 30 and 56 and the personal computers 29, 46 and 62. In addition to messaging, the corporate office LAN24 supports a number of applications, which can also be supported by the LANs at the sales office and plant sites, such as word processing, data analysis, ad-hoc reporting, among other office administrative functions. Further, the networking of the PCs at the sales offices and plants facilitates order estimation and entry, as well as the electronic transmission, of production orders and copy folder information to the plants from the corporate office LAN. Copy folder information generally includes specifications for manufacturing, packaging and shipping, and form usage data such as the type of printer to be used. While forms usage information is not necessary for an estimate, it is useful for plant quality control. In accordance with one embodiment, the sales offices send orders to the plants via the WAN. The WAN also allows a form design to be transmitted directly to a plant for pre-processing.

In connection with the present embodiment, printing at a plant 14 is intended to encompass any and all processes and/or the use of any type of machines or other equipment which can be employed for or utilized when preparing or producing imaging on a substrate that is to be read by machine or a human being, including, but not limited to, letter press, intaglio, gravure, lithographic, electrophotographic, xerographic, electrostatic, magnetic flexographic, ink jet, laser, thermographic and offset lithographic printing processes. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to a particular type of computer, data storage device or communications hardware such as the above-described components. Further, the hardware, and the transmission paths and networks can vary depending on a variety of factors such as the number of users accessing the system and the desired data transmission speed. For the purposes of this invention, electronic transmission of data such as a business form image can include, but is not limited to, transmission via modem, facsimile and electronic data interchange (EDI), among other data transmission techniques.

The software associated with the corporate office 16, the plant 14 and the sales site 12 will now be described in connection with FIG. 2. The corporate office computer subsystems depicted in FIG. 2 comprise an Order Entry and Inventory subsystem 88 which receives release orders from a sales representative computer (e.g. computer 62), as well as from mainframe terminals located at plants and other order entry offices. Release orders are generated by sales representatives to order the release of finished goods inventory stored at any corporate storage facility through electronic ordering. This inventory includes, for example, forms that have already been produced for the customer and are warehoused at a plant or distribution facility in accordance with a warehousing agreement, and ready-made office supplies such as staplers and telephone message pads. A release order from the Order Entry and Inventory subsystem 88 or from the sales site via the Sales Information Network 86 is sent to a Distribution subsystem 80. The Distribution subsystem 80 generally operates in a warehouse remotely located from the corporate office. The