Patent ID: 8170909

Claim:
A method for actively monitoring activities in a retail store enterprise, the method comprising: capturing, with a plurality of image capture devices positioned at a first plurality of positions at a first retail store location, a first plurality of images reflecting activities occurring at the first retail store location, wherein the first plurality of positions include at least customer checkout lanes, a customer service desk and a receiving area of the first retail store location; capturing, with a plurality of image capture devices positioned at a second plurality of positions at a second retail store location, a second plurality of images reflecting activities occurring at the second enterprise location, wherein the second plurality of positions include at least customer checkout lanes, a customer service desk and a receiving area of the second retail store location; associating each of the images with a unique identifier comprising time, position and location data; receiving user access credentials and selectively presenting, at a terminal positioned at a location remote from said first and second retail store locations, a user interface including a first region and a second region based on permissions associated with the credentials, the first region including an array of input areas each associated with at least a time and at least one of the first or second pluralities of positions, the second region including an output area to display an image; receiving user input selecting a location and one of the input areas; simultaneously displaying i) in the second region, in response to the user input, one or more output images associated with the selected location and the time and the at least one position associated with the selected input area, and ii) in the first region, the array of input areas, the output images showing at least one factor relating to employee performance of at least one task associated with operation of the first or second retail store; analyzing the at least one factor and evaluating the employee performance of the at least one task, the at least one factor including one of a number of employees and an amount of unloading time required when unloading an incoming shipment received at the receiving area, a number of customers in the customer checkout lanes, a length of time customers wait before being served, and a number of customers at the customer service desk; and adjusting the employee performance of the at least one task based on the step of analyzing the at least one factor, the adjusting being practiced at least by adjusting staffing requirements at a corresponding one of the first or second plurality of positions, the adjusting comprising adjusting a number of cashiers on duty at a specific time of day based on the number of customers in the customer checkout lanes at said specific time of day or based on the length of time customers wait before being served at said specific time of day.