Abstract:
A method for managing email costs includes: identifying a participant of an email message in an email thread; assigning a cumulative cost to the email message; and presenting the email message and the cumulative cost to a recipient of the email message.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED-RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    None. 
       INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
       [0003]    None. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of electronic mail (email) and more specifically to a system and method for managing email by a cost associated with each email. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    As the volume of email transmissions increases in an organization, the amount of time spent processing email is becoming disproportionate to the value of the email itself. There tends to be a lack of discipline among email users who routinely “Reply/All” or send off a quick response and follow-up with other email and responses rather than taking the time to think and compose a complete response. As the number of recipients and people copied on emails increases, the volume of responses can quickly become a storm. Therefore, there is a need for an email system that overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Briefly, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing email costs includes steps or acts of: identifying a participant of an email message in an email thread; assigning a cumulative cost to an organization of replying to the email message; and presenting the email message and the cumulative cost to a recipient of the email message. 
         [0007]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system for managing email costs includes: a processor for identifying a participant of an email message in an email thread; assigning a cumulative cost to the email message; a memory for storing the email message; and a user interface for presenting the email message and the cumulative cost to a recipient of the email message. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a flowchart of a method according to the invention; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a high level block diagram showing an information processing system according to the invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a screen shot showing a display of email cost, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a screen shot showing a difference between a simply reply and reply all, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a screen shot showing a warning message, according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    We describe a system that tracks an accumulated cost to an organization associated with the processing of an email thread. 
         [0014]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a flow chart  100  illustrating a method for tracking the cost of an email, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system keeps track of the initial sender of an email, along with the recipients and respondents associated with the email thread. The system then associates a cost with each individual or group, possibly based on information from a corporate directory. This cost is increased as the email thread progresses. 
         [0015]    The system permits the cost to be specified on a fixed basis for each person that processed the email; or on a variable basis to include factors such as the size of the email in kilobytes (kb) or megabytes (MB), the length of the email in lines/words, if attachments are included, or potentially based on the amount of time that an individual spends processing the email. For example, email attachments may automatically incur a fixed cost because of the time it takes to open and process them. A more efficient way to disseminate information throughout a company is to place the information (perhaps a document to be downloaded) on the corporate website. 
         [0016]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the input  101  to the process is this cost basis. The first step  110  is to log identifying information for the initial sender. This information can be the sender&#39;s email address, or an employee ID. Once the initial email is sent with a cost associated with responding to it, then in step  120  each response to that email increases the cumulative cost to the organization of that email thread, according to whatever cost method was pre-selected. For example, one cost method is to allocate a higher cost to emails sent to a group of recipients, rather than an individual recipient. In addition, the cost of the email message may also factor in the “importance level” attributed to the recipient of the email (or even the sender). A data store such as a company directory could be mined in order to retrieve an “importance value” associated with an individual. This value can then be used, along with the cost factor, in determining the total cost. 
         [0017]    For example, Table 1 below lists “importance values” associated with company employees, by job title and/or department. Note that a default value can be used if the email participant is not found in the directory. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Employee ID 
                 Job Title 
                 Department 
                 Value 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 10001 
                 President 
                 Executive 
                 1.500 
               
               
                 10010 
                 Vice President 
                 Executive 
                 1.489 
               
               
                 10035 
                 Director 
                 Human Resources 
                 1.403 
               
               
                 10048 
                 Manager 
                 Human Resources 
                 1.329 
               
               
                 10107 
                 Manager 
                 Human Resources 
                 1.329 
               
               
                 12003 
                 Assistant 
                 Human Resources 
                 1.000 
               
               
                 13178 
                 Assistant 
                 Human Resources 
                 1.000 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0018]    Another cost method that can be used is to allocate a higher cost for replying to an email using “Reply All” rather than by using simply “Reply.” 
         [0019]    In step  130 , after the cumulative cost to the organization is calculated, it can be displayed in the email header for each email in the email thread. Associating a cumulative cost with the email will remind people of the cost and hopefully discourage incurring further costs and reinforce more effective behavior, such as posting information on the corporate website, as mentioned earlier. 
         [0020]    There are many different options that may be used for allocating a cost associated with an email, such as allocating a higher cost to emails sent to a domain outside of the company domain. 
         [0021]    The system also permits soft and hard limits to be placed on the accumulated cost. The limits can be additional inputs  102  to the process. In step  140 , warnings can be displayed when the thresholds are reached with a customizable message reminding the user that it may be more productive to take the discussion out of email and into another communication mechanism such as a conference call. The process ends at step  150  with the termination of that email thread. 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a block diagram of an information processing system  200  in which the invention as described above can be implemented. For purposes of this invention, computer system  200  may represent any type of computer, information processing system or other programmable electronic device, including a client computer, a server computer, a portable computer, an embedded controller, a personal digital assistant, and so on. The computer system  200  may be a stand-alone device or networked into a larger system. 
         [0023]    The system  200  could include a number of operators and peripheral devices as shown, including, but not limited to, a processor  202 , a memory  204 , and an input/output (I/O) subsystem  206 . According to an embodiment of the invention a user of the system  200  is presented with emails including their cost shown on the I/O interface  230 . 
         [0024]    According to another embodiment of the invention, a computer readable medium, such as a CDROM  290  can include program instructions for operating the system  200  according to the invention. What has been shown and discussed is a highly-simplified depiction of a programmable computer apparatus. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other low-level components and connections are required in any practical application of a computer apparatus. 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , we show a basic email screenshot of the start of an email thread. The screenshot illustrates an example of how the cost associated with an original email could be displayed to the email author at the time that the recipients are specified as part of email composition. 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , we show a basic email screenshot with reply all selected. The screenshot illustrates an example of an email thread that has been active for several iterations, showing a cumulative cost for the email and an estimated cost for an additional reply/all” 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , we show an email screenshot showing the warning message about the cumulative cost exceeding the threshold value. 
         [0028]    Therefore, while there has been described what is presently considered to be the preferred embodiment, it will understood by those skilled in the art that other modifications can be made within the spirit of the invention.