Patent ID: 6993675

Claim:
A method for determining whether to close a problem case associated with a machine, the problem case identifying at least one failure condition of the machine, the method comprising: acquiring a first set of operational data, the first set of operational data indicative of a first set of operational parameters associated with the machine, the first set of operational parameters being measured prior to a recommended fix instruction being executed wherein the first set of operational data contains the at least one failure condition; acquiring a second set of operational data, the second set of operational data indicative of a second set of operational parameters associated with the machine, the second set of operational parameters being measured after the recommended fix instruction is executed; determining whether the at least one failure condition is contained in the second set of operational data; closing the problem case if the at least one failure condition is not contained in the second set of operational data; creating an electronic data file associated with the problem case, the electronic data file containing a set of data indicative of a customer's information and the machine's information; storing the electronic data file in a customer database; determining whether the recommended fix instruction repaired the at least one failure condition; marking the electronic data file as a success if the recommended fix instruction repaired the at least one failure condition; marking the electronic data file as a failure if the recommended fix instruction did not repair the at least one failure condition; marking the electronic data file as a re-opened problem case; issuing an updated recommended fix instruction; acquiring an updated set of operational data, the updated set of operational data indicative of an updated set of operational parameters associated with the machine, the updated set of operational parameters being measured after the updated recommended fix instruction is executed; and closing the re-opened problem case if the at least one failure condition is not contained in the updated set of operational data.