Patent ID: 8380551

Claim:
An automated method to be performed in a computing environment for processing a work request, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the work request; inputting the work request into an electronic database; tailoring the work request, by a user, based on complexity of a product or a service; creating automated electronic work request instructions that incorporate an approval/disapproval feature based on estimated hours for the work request and a charge estimate threshold for the work request, the charge estimate threshold set by one with approval authority prior to creation of the work request; approving or disapproving the work request based on previously set approval authority within the approval/disapproval feature prior to incurring any costs, wherein if an approval type is “approve”, a default authority allows an approver to identify and approve unless a charge is below the charge estimate threshold, wherein if the approval type is “notify”, the approver is notified no matter what the charge, and wherein if the approval type is “N/A” (not applicable), no approver is notified and a general approval account can approve the charge; linking the electronic work request instructions to multiple networked computers; and, transmitting between the networked computers electronic notifications relating to the work request instructions.