Patent Document

This application claims priority to patent application Ser. Nos. 60/058,504; 60/058,570; 60/058,571; 60/058,572; 60/058,579; 60/058,580; 60/058,581; 60/058,582; 60/058,641; 60/058,657; and 60/058,658, all concurrently filed on Sep. 11, 1997, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by this reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for managing jobs and tasks and, more particularly, to systems and methods for managing outside plant construction contracts throughout the life-time of the contracts and for managing labor and materials from within a company. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Many of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) inherited a system called Job Management Operation System (JMOS). As the name suggests, JMOS is used to manage jobs and is useful in tracking the status, staffing, and billing on various contracts performed on behalf of the RBOC. JMOS provides functionality in many aspects of job management, including employee time input, scheduling, and billing. 
     With regard to employee time input, JMOS requires employees to write down their time each day and provide their records to clerks. The clerks input the employees&#39; time into JMOS. If the data is accepted by JMOS then it is fowarded to the payroll system (MTR) Mechanized Time Reporting system. The MTR system provides printouts back to the employees to verify the accuracy of the time reports. The employees provide the clerks with the necessary corrections which the clerks input again into JMOS. Thus, at the earliest, the time for an employee would not be provided to the MTR system until the next night. JMOS does not handle any exceptions to a regular scheduled day i.e. overtime or vacation time. This information had to be entered directly into the MTR system by the clerks. 
     The completion of tasks is accomplished in a similar manner. A technician, for instance, upon completion of a task would take the task off of a blue print and translate the task into a written report. The technician sends the report to a clerk who, the following day, interprets them and tries to enter them into JMOS. If the report is unintelligible, such as because the report is poorly written or was sent via facsimile, the clerk may incorrectly enter the task. If JMOS does not have a match for that task, then the clerk notifies the technician who then has to provide the correct information for entry into JMOS. The recording of a completed task would therefore take at least one full day, and possibly more, before JMOS is able to recognize the event. 
     The paying of contractor invoices is challenging with JMOS. When a task or tasks are completed, the contractor generates a written invoice and sends that invoice to the appropriate supervisor for approval. If the supervisor disagrees with the extent of work performed or the amount to be paid, the supervisor would note these concerns on the invoice which would be returned to the contractor. After the contractor and supervisor come to an agreement, the acceptable invoice is sent to the billing department. With the invoice, a clerk has to enter the invoice into JMOS and also some information into a voucher system in order to pay the contractor. 
     JMOS therefore suffers from a disadvantage in that it does not provide real-time data. As discussed above, the employees&#39; time and the recognition of completed jobs are dated at least one day by the time they are entered into JMOS. The interface with the contractors presents even more delays in the processing of invoices and recognition of completed work. The current system requires the circulation of invoices to various departments within a company. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention addresses the problems described above by providing systems and methods for managing jobs. A preferred embodiment of a system and method according to the invention is commonly referred to as Outside Plant Construction Management (OSPCM) system and method. The OSPCM system eliminates the need for much of the paperwork and clerical work required in conventional systems, thereby reducing workload and overhead. The OSPCM system covers virtually the entire contract life-time, including the bidding and awarding of the contract, the pricing, the entry of the job, the scheduling, the management of materials, the billing and reporting, and inspections. 
     The OSPCM system includes a regional contracts application for maintaining uniform information on contracts. The regional contracts application, for example, may code all work tasks of burying a cable as  101 A and would include a unit price, such as $1.00 a foot. A bid and award application formulates a bid that is sent to each of the bidding contractors. The bid and award application fabricates this bid using historical data gathered from prior jobs and therefore can easily ascertain the needs of a particular contract. The bidders receive the bid package, either electronically or in printed form, and input their price information and other data and return their completed bids. The completed returns are input into the OSPCM system. The bid and award application is also used to view and evaluate the bids, to award the bid to one of the contractors, and to notify the bidders appropriately. 
     A job entry application in the OSPCM provides job details of a particular contract. The job entry application, for example, breaks down a contract into the individual tasks and sub-tasks and also performs a configuration process. The configuration process assigns standard time increments to all tasks. It assigns contract work items based on the contract in effect for the job. The configuration process also groups tasks into scheduling activities, sequences the tasks so that tasks dependent or otherwise tied to each are performed in the necessary order, and schedules the tasks and sub-tasks according to relative priorities and due dates. By using input data such as work action, the work environment, the materials category, the materials sub-category, and the materials size, the configuration process assigns resources. Supervisors, for example, may be limited in the types and sizes of tasks that they do and the configuration process assigns the supervisors their specific jobs. 
     A pricing application receives the output of the job entry application. The pricing application assigns prices to the tasks and sub-tasks and also obtains necessary approval for the charges. The pricing application provides its output to a budgeting system associated with the company. 
     A scheduling application also receives the output from the pricing application. The scheduling application uses this data to prioritize work activities. It has information on the work schedules of personnel and is able to schedule the tasks to the available personnel based on availability. It will take in to account vacation days and weekends along with holidays and other non-scheduled work days. The normal schedule days are entered and edited in the Workstation Module. 
     A materials management application manages the materials requirements of the various tasks. The materials management application determines the materials available from inventory, orders the appropriate materials from outside vendors or from other sites within the company, and tracks usage of the inventory. The materials management application also determines when the materials are needed based on the scheduling dates and orders the materials in advance after considering the delivery time associated with the materials. The materials management application provides its output to asset management systems within the company, such as its accounting system. 
     A workstation application within the OSPCM provides an interface by which time reporting personnel of the company can enter their time and arrange their work schedules directly with the OSPCM system. The personnel also report the completion of tasks in the OSPCM system. 
     A billing and reporting application within the OSPCM provides an interface to the contractors. Through the billing and reporting application, the contractors receive work and billing expectations, enter completions and/or changes to billing expectations. All information can be printed or saved to the contractors accounting system. The billing and reporting application compares the completed task to the design and sends any variations to a supervisor for approval (CIBE) change in billing expectations. Upon approval of a CIBE or if the work item did not vary from the design, the billing and reporting application prepares the invoice for payment. 
     An inspections application determines which ones of the tasks that have been marked as completed should be sampled and marked for inspection. The inspections application generates the inspection schedules and manages results of the inspections. The inspection application further receives input from company supervisors and contractors in the event that the inspection fails, such as input related to a contractor&#39;s appeal, revisions to the task, or contractor&#39;s acceptance of a failed inspection. 
     A management reports application provides the ability to generate and view various reports. These reports are accessed throughout the OSPCM process by the various applications. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is an overall process flow according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a prepare bid package process flow performed by a bid and award application shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2B  is an award bid process flow performed by the bid and award application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a contract moves process flow performed by a job entry application shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a scheduling process flow performed by the scheduling application shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5A  is an order process flow performed by a materials management application shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5B  is an inventory process flow performed by the materials management application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5C  is a receipt process flow performed by the materials management application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5D  is an assign and transfer process flow performed by the materials management application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5E  is a requirement status and issue process flow performed by the materials management application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5F  is a view order process flow performed by the materials management application of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is an approval process flow performed by the job entry other application shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is an inspection census process flow performed by the inspection application shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a process flow diagram performed by the OSPCM system in the event of a reorganization within a company. 
         FIG. 9  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.90c. 
         FIG. 10  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.97d. 
         FIG. 11  is an exemplary screen print for Custom Features from Materials Management executable. 
         FIG. 12  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Complaint. 
         FIG. 13  is an exemplary screen print for Open Complaint 
         FIG. 14  is an exemplary screen print for Search Results. 
         FIG. 15  is an exemplary screen print for Complaint on a Job. 
         FIG. 16  is an exemplary flow chart from creating a complaint to satisfying the complaint. 
         FIG. 17  is an exemplary screen print for a Drop Down Menu. 
         FIG. 18  is an exemplary screen print for Existing Jobs. 
         FIG. 19  is an exemplary screen print for a Drop Down Box Listing Jobs. 
         FIG. 20  is an exemplary screen print for a Telco Open Pit Request Date. 
         FIG. 21  is an exemplary screen print for New Work. 
         FIG. 22  is an exemplary screen print for Telco Open Pit Request. 
         FIG. 23  is another exemplary screen print for a Drop Down Box Listing Jobs. 
         FIG. 24  is an exemplary screen print for Contractor Open Pit Date. 
         FIG. 25  is an exemplary screen print for Telco Close Pit Request. 
         FIG. 26  is another exemplary screen print for a Drop Down Box Listing Jobs. 
         FIG. 27  is another exemplary screen print for Telco Close Pit Request. 
         FIG. 28  is another exemplary screen print for New Work. 
         FIG. 29  is an exemplary table for Open Pitlog Report. 
         FIG. 30  is an exemplary table for Pending Open Request Report. 
         FIG. 31  is an exemplary table for Pending Close Request Report. 
         FIG. 32  is an exemplary table for Open Pit Request. 
         FIG. 33  is another exemplary table for Open Pit Request. 
         FIG. 34  is an exemplary table for Close Pit Request. 
         FIG. 35  is another exemplary table for Close Pit Request. 
         FIG. 36  is an exemplary screen print for Requirements for Job. 
         FIG. 37  is an exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 38  is an exemplary screen print for Junk Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 39  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 40  is an exemplary screen print for Relocate Inventory Item. 
         FIG. 41  is an exemplary screen print for Saved Addresses. 
         FIG. 42  is an exemplary screen print for View Address. 
         FIG. 43  is an exemplary screen print for Edit Address. 
         FIG. 44  is an exemplary screen print for Create New Address. 
         FIG. 45  is an exemplary screen print after selecting Add Inventory Item from an Inventory menu located on a main Materials Management window. 
         FIG. 46  is an exemplary screen print for Add Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 47  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 48  is an exemplary screen print for Return Inventory Item. 
         FIG. 49  is an exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Search Criteria. 
         FIG. 50  is an exemplary screen print for Sort Inventory. 
         FIG. 51  is an exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Results. 
         FIG. 52  is an exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 53  is an exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 54  is an exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 55  is an exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 56  is an exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 57  is an exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Search Criteria. 
         FIG. 58  is an exemplary screen print for Print from Materials Management Window. 
         FIG. 59  is an exemplary screen print for Print Setup. 
         FIG. 60  is an exemplary screen print for Print Form as Image from the Reports grid. 
         FIG. 61  is an exemplary screen print for Save Report to File. 
         FIG. 62  is an exemplary screen print for Needed Requirement for Job. 
         FIG. 63  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Search Criteria. 
         FIG. 64  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Results. 
         FIG. 65  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 66  is an exemplary screen print for Split a Reel. 
         FIG. 67  is an exemplary screen print for Move Assignments. 
         FIG. 69  is an exemplary screen print for Transfer Inventory Item. 
         FIG. 70  is an exemplary screen print for Release Assignments. 
         FIG. 71  is an exemplary screen print for Show a Job&#39;s Requirement. 
         FIG. 72  is an exemplary screen print for Search for a Job. 
         FIG. 73  is an exemplary screen print for Requirements for a Job. 
         FIG. 74  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 75  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 76  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 77  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 78  is an exemplary screen print for Active Roadblocks. 
         FIG. 79  is an exemplary screen print for Assigned Serial Number. 
         FIG. 80  is another exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 81  is an exemplary screen print for Assigned Material. 
         FIG. 82  is an exemplary screen print for Requirement Status. 
         FIG. 83  is an exemplary screen print for Show Inventory Item. 
         FIG. 84  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 85  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 86  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 87  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 88  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 89  is another exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 90  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 91  is an exemplary screen print for Show Assignments. 
         FIG. 92  is another exemplary screen print for Release Assignments. 
         FIG. 93  is an exemplary screen print for Show an Inventory Item&#39;s Issues. 
         FIG. 94  is an exemplary screen print for Issues For. 
         FIG. 95  is an exemplary screen print for Return Issue. 
         FIG. 96  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 97  is an exemplary screen print for Transaction Details. 
         FIG. 98  is an exemplary screen print for Print from a Transaction Details Report. 
         FIG. 99  is an exemplary screen print for Print Setup for Print Screen as shown in  FIG. 98 . 
         FIG. 100  is an exemplary screen print for Show Transactions. 
         FIG. 101  is an exemplary screen print for Inventory Transaction Scan Results. 
         FIG. 102  is another exemplary screen print for Transaction Details. 
         FIG. 103  is another exemplary screen print for exemplary screen print for Show Transactions. 
         FIG. 104  is another exemplary screen print for Transaction Details. 
         FIG. 105  is an exemplary investment management report. 
         FIGS. 106–113  are exemplary major material activity reports. 
         FIG. 114  is an exemplary material notification report. 
         FIG. 115  is an exemplary open order report. 
         FIG. 116  is an exemplary over-age material report. 
         FIG. 117  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.92I. 
         FIG. 118  is an exemplary screen print for Select Inventory Site. 
         FIG. 119  is an exemplary screen print for View Transfer SWL. 
         FIG. 120  is an exemplary screen print for Job Details. 
         FIG. 121  is an exemplary screen print for Edit Transfer Item. 
         FIG. 122  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.93a. 
         FIG. 123  is an exemplary screen print for Needed Requirements for Job S8K87337N. 
         FIG. 124  is an exemplary screen print for Jobs Needed Today. 
         FIG. 125  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Results. 
         FIG. 126  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 127  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 128  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 129  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 130  is an exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 131  is another exemplary screen print for Release Assignments. 
         FIG. 132  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Search Criteria. 
         FIG. 133  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Scan Results. 
         FIG. 134  is an exemplary screen print for Print from the Inventory Scan Results as shown in FIG. 
         FIG. 133 .  FIG. 135  is an exemplary screen print for Print Setup from the Print screen as shown in  FIG. 134 . 
         FIG. 136  is an exemplary screen print for Save Report To File. 
         FIG. 137  is another exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.92I. 
         FIG. 138  is another exemplary screen print for Select Inventory Site. 
         FIG. 139  is an exemplary screen print for Approve Transfer Request For Div1. 
         FIG. 140  is another exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 141  is an exemplary screen print for Available Substitutes. 
         FIG. 142  is another exemplary screen print for Physical Location. 
         FIG. 143  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 144  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 145  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 146  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 147  is an exemplary screen print for Release Assignments. 
         FIG. 148  is an exemplary screen print for Preferences. 
         FIG. 149  is an exemplary screen print for Default Location Tab. 
         FIG. 150  is an exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.90c. 
         FIG. 151  is another exemplary screen print for OSPCM Material 0.90c. 
         FIG. 152  is an exemplary screen print for Show&#39;s Today Requirements. 
         FIG. 153  is another exemplary screen print for Jobs. 
         FIG. 154  is another exemplary screen print for Needed Requirement for Job. 
         FIG. 155  is an exemplary screen print for Show A Job&#39;s Needed Requirement 
         FIG. 156  is another exemplary screen print for Search for A Job. 
         FIG. 157  is another exemplary screen print for Needed Requirement for Job. 
         FIG. 158  is another exemplary screen print for Active Roadblocks. 
         FIG. 159  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 160  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 161  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 162  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 163  is an exemplary screen print for Generate Order for Job. 
         FIG. 164  is an exemplary screen print for Generate Order for Job showing a Line Items Tab. 
         FIG. 165  is an exemplary screen print for Aggregated Materials For This Order Item. 
         FIG. 166  is an exemplary screen print for Generate Order for Job showing an Order Options Tab. 
         FIG. 167  is an exemplary screen print for Generate Order for Job showing an Order Remarks Tab. 
         FIG. 168  is an exemplary screen print for Generate Order for Job showing a Ship To Tab. 
         FIG. 169  is another exemplary screen print for Saved Addresses. 
         FIG. 170  is another exemplary screen print for View Address. 
         FIG. 171  is another exemplary screen print for Edit Address. 
         FIG. 172  is another exemplary screen print for Create New Address. 
         FIG. 173  is an exemplary screen print for Ordermaster Errors. 
         FIG. 174  is an exemplary screen print for Print from a Materials Management Application Window. 
         FIG. 175  is an exemplary screen print for Print Setup from the Print Screen as shown in  FIG. 174 . 
         FIG. 176  is an exemplary screen print for Save Report to File from the Print Screen as shown in  FIG. 174 . 
         FIG. 177  is an exemplary screen print for Print Today&#39;s Requirements. 
         FIG. 178  is an exemplary screen print to print the Print Today&#39;s Requirement as shown in FIG. 
         FIG. 177 .  FIG. 179  is an exemplary screen print for Open Order For Receipt. 
         FIG. 180  is an exemplary screen print for Select Order. 
         FIG. 181  is an exemplary screen print for Receipt Material. 
         FIG. 182  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with cable. 
         FIG. 183  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 184  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 185  is another exemplary screen print for Custom Features associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 186  is an exemplary screen print for Remarks For Order. 
         FIG. 187  is an exemplary screen print for Job Details For This Order Item. 
         FIG. 188  is another exemplary screen print for Active Roadblocks. 
         FIG. 189  is an exemplary screen print for Edit Line Item. 
         FIG. 190  is another exemplary screen print for Edit Line Item. 
         FIG. 191  is an exemplary screen print for Display Order Summary. 
         FIG. 192  is an exemplary screen print for Select Order. 
         FIGS. 193–197  are exemplary screen prints for Summary For Order. 
         FIG. 198  is an exemplary screen print for Line Item Details. 
         FIG. 199  is an exemplary screen print for Line Item Details associated with cable. 
         FIG. 200  is an exemplary screen print for Line Item Details associated with capacitors. 
         FIG. 201  is an exemplary screen print for Line Item Details associated with non-standard pedestal cross-box. 
         FIG. 202  is an exemplary screen print for Line Item Details associated with non-standard pole-mounted cross-box. 
         FIG. 203  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 204  is an exemplary screen print for Adjust Inventory Item Balance. 
         FIG. 205  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 206  is an exemplary screen print for Change Inventory Item Status. 
         FIG. 207  is another exemplary screen print for Inventory Items. 
         FIG. 208  is an exemplary screen print for Exempt Inventory Item. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the invention, non-limiting examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     I. Overview of Preferred System and Methods 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , processes and systems according to preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described. One process according to the invention comprises an Outside Plant Construction Management (OSPCM) process that accesses a number of tables  10  through  18 . At  10 , the core staff builds OSPCM tables through the assistance of a reference editor  11 , location editor  12 , operations profile editor  13 , configuration editor  14 , core staff job entry  15 , core staff material  16 , core staff job entry  17 , and holiday editor  18 . 
     The OSPCM process begins at  21  with a regional contracts application. The regional contracts application  21  provides uniform terminology throughout various contracts. For instance, a contract item of burying cable may be contract item  101 A and is the same for all contractors. 
     At  23 , a bid and award application is used for both the bidding of contracts and the awarding of them. The bid and award application tracks each contract work item (CWI) for each contractor per contract. Thus, for existing contracts, the OSPCM system has reliable historical information from which an accurate bid may be fabricated. For instance, the OSPCM system can accurately estimate the number of 30 foot poles, 40 foot poles, and 50 foot poles placed by a specific contractor in a specific area for a specific time period. Based on this information, the OSPCM system generates a bid that is sent to the contractors and the contractors include their pricing and other information to the bid. Based on the information already within the OSPCM system, the bid provided to the contractors is returned and input into the OSPCM system. The OSPCM system then provides a view of all of the bids that have been received and allows these bids to be compared to each other so that the contractor with the most desirable bid can be awarded the contract. 
     At  26 , a job entry application is used to enter job details and to configure the job. An engineer or other person within the company draws up the job on blueprints and inputs all of the work tasks that need to be performed. The entry of job details also includes detailing all of the material that is needed to perform the job and any service commitments and due dates. A configuration process is also performed at  27 . The configuration process reads the tasks involved in a job and groups the tasks into scheduling activities. The configuration process assigns standard time increments for the jobs, sequences the work depending upon which tasks need to be performed prior to other tasks, and creates desired schedule dates for the jobs based upon due dates and relative priorities. For example, the configuration process sequences the placing of poles prior to placing cable and ensures that the cables are in place prior to scheduling the task of splicing the cables. The configuration process also assigns the correct resource to each scheduling activity. 
     At  28 , a pricing application assigns costs to each of the tasks. The pricing application places costs on all materials as well as labor. For instance, for placing cable the pricing application multiplies a loaded labor rate times the standard time increment for placing cable and the multiplies times the footage on the cable to come up with the labor cost. The pricing application also adds in engineering overhead and other related cost to arrive at a final price. At  29 , the prices are reviewed and are approved, with the level of approval being dictated by the total cost of a job. At  30 , the pricing information is provided to a budgeting tool, such as budget control administration system (BCAS). 
     At  31 , a scheduling application looks at the available resources and assigns the tasks to the appropriate personnel. The scheduling application, for instance, knows which supervisors are available on certain dates within a certain region and can assign the tasks accordingly to the best-suited person, as shown at  32 . The scheduling process employs a critical path method (CPM) to ensure that critical due dates are met. For example, if a task needs to be completed by a certain date but cannot be started until a second task is finished, then the scheduling application will ensure that the second application is completed a sufficient number of days prior to the due date so that all tasks may be completed on time. 
     At  33 , a materials management application manages the required materials for the tasks. At  34 , the materials management application determines what materials are available from within the RBOC and also determines what materials need to be ordered from outside vendors. The materials management application knows the time it takes to receive the material (shipping interval) once it is ordered and places the order so that the materials are available at the time that they are needed. The major materials are maintained by serial number and all materials are tracked when they are ordered, assigned to a job, and used for a job. The material needs are sent to an order master system  38  which determines whether orders must be placed from within the RBOC or to an outside vendor. The requisition entry and general inventory system (REGIS)  35  and computer assisted purchasing requisition and inventory (CAPRI) system  37  provide interfaces for ordering the materials from either the outside vendor or internally. The asset management system  36  provides an interface between OSPCM and the accounting system for the RBOC. 
     The OSPCM process then splits into a first path for contractors and a second path for internal jobs. With regard to the contractor path, a billing and reporting application  40  handles an interface with the contractor. At  41 , the work order is provided to the contractor and the contractor acknowledges acceptance of the order. At  42 , the work order is scheduled to meet the RBOC&#39;s work schedule and at  43 , after the work was performed, the contractor accesses the OSPCM to indicate that the work has been completed. The OSPCM at  48  determines whether the completed work matches the design in the system. If it does, the OSPCM system verifies the invoice at  49  and sends the invoice to a voucher system  51  which handles the actual paying of the contractor at  52 . If the work does not match the design, then at  50  the contractor&#39;s report is sent for approval, such as to a supervisor. The supervisor can approve the invoice, make modifications, or make comments to the report at  50 . The billing and reporting therefore ensures that only work orders that were requested and that have been completed are sent for payment. The billing and reporting application eliminates the need for any paper invoices to be sent from the contractor to the RBOC and the need for these paper invoices to be sent between the supervisor and other people within the RBOC. 
     An inspections application at  44  uses a random sampling process to schedule inspections of completed work tasks, as shown at  45 . A primary purpose of the inspections application is to provide a mechanism for monitoring the contractors to ensure that the work that they indicated as being completed is actually completed as designed and the billing also is accurate. The results of the inspections are posted at  47  and material and labor reports are generated at  46 . 
     If the work is to be performed by the RBOC, then the work is scheduled at  55 . The scheduling and review of the work is performed by the scheduling application at  54 . If necessary, at  53  the job entry other application invokes a buried service wires (BSW) application  57  which provides an interface to another contractor via the construction administration system gateway (CAS/GATEWAY)  58  and loop management operation system (LMOS)  59 , which are dispatch systems for installation personnel. 
     A work station application at  61  provides an interface through which employees may enter their time and for entering tasks that they have completed. The work station application is used in reporting work and noting added, changed, or deleted tasks at  62 . This information at  63  is provided to the payroll system MTR at  64 . 
     The completed tasks and jobs, regardless of whether they follow down the contractor path or the internal Telco supervisor path, are reported so that at  66  the master plan for a job may be updated. Also, materials are dispersed at  65  and are reported to the asset management system at  67 . The OSPCM system also provides a management reports application  69  for providing various management printouts and reports at  70 . 
     II. Regional Contracts 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the regional contracts application. In general, the regional contracts application provides uniformity in terminology between all contractors. Each of the contractor work items (CWI) consequently are coded in the same manner, such as  101 A for burying cable. The output of the regional contracts is provided to the bid and award application in generating bids for prospective contractors. 
     III. Bid and Award 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the bid and award application. The bid and award application provides support in the contract itself, potential contractors with associated information, and some company parameter maintenance to administer the bidding and awarding of contracts. With regard to the contract itself, the bid and award application defines the contract and specific attributes or fixed variables about it. These attributes include such data as the geographical area that the contract covers and specific CWI codes associated with the contract. 
     After the contract is defined, the contract has a life cycle with a beginning, a termination, anniversaries, adjustment periods, extensions, and expiration. Changes may be made to the contract throughout its life cycle which are monitored and managed by the bid and award application. An existing contract will have a contractor associated with it and prices for each CWI may have periodic adjustments which may be manually or automatically made by the bid and award application. The bid and award application also includes definitions of each contractor that the company may consider and or contract with to perform tasks. The definition of the contractors will include the types of contracts that the contractor can work and where they can work on, and also license, insurance, financial, and security information. 
     As contractors are given contracts, the bid and award application establishes billing offices for handling day-to-day invoicing and payment activity. The bid and award application also maintains government price increase construction (PIC) figures, company PIC figures and inspection pools. The PIC figures are used by the bid and award application and the automatic price adjustment processes. The bid and award application uses the inspection pools to define a geographic area in which to monitor the performance of a contractor and to establish some of the parameters for inspection of the contractor&#39;s work. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2A , the bid and award application will be described in more detail. At  100 , the regional contracts application provides a contract template at  101 . At  102 , a bid package is assembled using CWI usage tables  103  and contractor information  104  contained within databases. Assembling the bid package entails editing documents at  105 , assembling documents at  106 , preparing CWI worksheets at  107  and selecting prospective bidders at  108 . The bid package is built at  109 , encrypted to a disk at  110 , and placed on a diskette at  111 . The bid package is also printed at  114 , the bid status is updated at  112 , and the bidders are updated in a database at  113 . The contractor at  115  receives the bid package, either through the diskette or through the printed package. The contractor at  116  un-encrypts the disk and inputs CWI prices at  117  and signs a cover letter for the bid at  118 . With reference to  FIG. 2B , the bid information is prepared at  120  and is encrypted to the bid disk at  122 . At  121 , the bid disk is sent back to the RBOC which un-encrypts the disk at  123  and compares the various bids at  124 . The bid comparison entails reviewing contractor bid CWI price worksheets at  125 , review contractor authorization pages at  126 , and review any articles or exhibits to the bids at  127 . At  128 , decisions are made as to whether to recommend a particular bid, award the bid, or refuse a particular bid. The bid status is updated at  129  and the updated information is stored in a database at  130 . If a bid is awarded, as determined at  131 , then the awarded bid information is saved to a database at  132  and is available to the other OSPCM applications at  133 . At  134 , the contractors that did not receive the award are notified by the OSPCM system. 
     IV. Job Entry 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the job entry application. The job entry application performs a configuration process that determines the type of work on a task or sub-step and assigns a resource. The configuration process also groups the work into logical groups called scheduling activities and then places the scheduling activities in a sequence based on the scheduling sequence codes. The configuration process establishes a date type such as start or completion dates, crew size, a priority, and completion date for the entire scheduling network based on user input or default time periods. The job entry application in performing the configuration process also establishes desired start and end dates on each scheduling activity using the critical path method (CPM). 
     A process performed by the job entry application called contract move will now be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . At  150 , the job entry application reviews the contract details and at  151  determines whether there has been a change, addition, or deletion of a CWI If there has been, then at  152  the job entry application performs the necessary add, change, or deletion of the CWI. If not, then at  153  the job entry application determines whether jobs need to be moved to a contractor and, if so, moves the job at  155 . Moving the job by the job entry application entrails moving the jobs at  156 , assigning sub-steps to the new contract at  157 , and assigning associated CWIs at  158 . If jobs do not need to be moved to the contract, and if sub-steps need to be moved to the contract at  154 , then the job entry application moves the sub-steps at  159 . The job entry application assigns sub-steps to the new contract at  160  and assigns associated CWIs at  161 . 
     V. Pricing 
     Reference is made to the Appendix Exhibits of this application for additional description of the pricing application. The pricing application associates prices with each sub-steps materials, labor, engineering, and contractor resources. The pricing application provides a user with the ability to view reports on-line and to add miscellaneous costs that were not captured during the encoding process by the pricing application. These miscellaneous costs include miscellaneous material, retirement, labor, contractor, engineering, and other costs. The pricing application also provides various reports, such as a report on a detailed price for a job. The pricing application may also provide a detailed construction details report that allows a user to view a list of the pricing reports that have been run for a specific job. 
     VI. Scheduling 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the scheduling application. The scheduling application also contains the ability to adjust information on scheduling networks. This information includes desired completion dates, crew size, resource groups and priorities. This information is used to establish CPM dates and prioritize the activities. The OSPCM system provides a user with the ability to move work tasks from one activity to another and to change the sequence of work by changing the activity dependencies. The user also has the ability to manually move work into or out of the schedule within week one or week two and can lock down work so that the scheduling process will ignore resource availability when scheduling the locked down activity. The scheduling application provides scheduling reports and graphs, including individual schedules for each resource group. The scheduling application creates a schedule for each resource group, such as a supervisor group, and contains work for 20 weeks. The scheduling application will not schedule work on a date that has passed and no work is scheduled in weeks beyond 20 weeks. The scheduling application preferably performs a batch process that runs on Saturday nights but can alternatively be run at the user&#39;s discretion. The scheduling application creates a priority list of scheduling activities based on adjusted CPM start and end dates, priorities, date types, and activity dependencies. The application adjusts the CPM dates so that when the scheduling process runs, no activity will be scheduled in the past. For example, if the application executes the scheduling process at night, then the earliest scheduled start date for any activity will be the next day. 
     The scheduling application creates resource availability tables for each work group or resource pools. The scheduling application uses a worker profile for each worker that identifies the number of hours per day and the days per week that the worker is available. The scheduling application also uses any vacation time, training time or other miscellaneous off-time. After establishing the priority list and the resources availability tables, the scheduling application schedules the all activities based on the available resources for the CPM dates. If resources are not available for a particular CPM date, then the OSPCM system moves the activity out in the schedule until resources can be found. All activities are scheduled from the priority list in order even if resources are not available on the CPM dates. 
     A process performed by the scheduling application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 4 . The output of the job entry application at  170  is provided to a configuration process at  171 . The configuration process, as described above, performs the necessary grouping of tasks into activities, sequencing, and prioritizing according to due dates and schedules. The configuration process determines resource group and crew size at  172  and assigns standard time increments to the tasks at  173 . The configuration process determines sub-step contract items at  174 , determines sub-step contract work items at  175 , and creates a scheduling activity at  176 . At  177 , the configuration process creates scheduling network and assigns key dates and at  178  establishes CPM dates. The scheduling application at  180  performs a batch process at  179 . The batch process establishes CPM dates at  181 , prioritizes scheduling activities based on adjusted CPM start and end dates at  182 , creates schedules for each resource group at  183 , and creates resource availability tables for each resource group at  184 . 
     VII. Materials Management 
     Reference is made to the Appendix Exhibits of this application for additional description of the materials management application. The materials management application ensures that material requirements are met for all jobs. All new material is obtained through a real-time interface with the order master, which is the front-end interface to REGIS and CAPRI. All items with a product identifier are sent from the order master to REGIS to be fulfilled, preferably from within inventory. All non-product identified items are sent from the order master to CAPRI to be fulfilled by an outside vendor. The materials management application calculates the order date, identifies the requirements of today, orders material requirements, views an order, receives shipment details, receives ordered materials, sends receipt notification to CAPRI, and sets preferences. 
     The materials management application also satisfies material requirements on jobs with existing inventoried materials. The materials management application may satisfy a materials requirement with inventory, may execute a transfer request from another site, and also acknowledges receipt of transferred materials. The materials management application manages inventory on various levels. The materials management application performs the following functions: view a jobs material requirements, issue material needed on a job, view an inventory item, view assignments, junk an inventory item, split a reel of cable, adjust an inventory balance, change the status of an inventory item, exempt an inventory item, return an inventory item, transfer an inventory item, relocate an inventory item, add an inventory item, view issues, view material inventory transactions, run an inventory scan, process material usage, report material inventory transactions to asset management system, and report reconciliation file to the asset management system. 
     The materials management application can also be used to gain consensus on how material requirements are handled when changes are made to a sub-step. These changes include changes that indicate that the material requirement is no longer needed either because the job or sub-step was deleted, changes to the description of the material required on the sub-step, changes to the custom features required on the sub-step, such as creating, updating, or deleting custom features, or changes to the quantity of material required on the sub-step. 
     The materials management application is also used in combination with the management reports application to generate various reports. These reports include order reports, transaction reports, issue summary reports, major material activity reports, material notification reports, over-age material reports, and investment management reports. 
     Exemplary processes performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 5A to 5F . At  200 , the materials management application determines the requirements needed for a job. At  201 , the materials management application selects the requirements for an order and generates the order for the job at  202 . The order is generated after considering aggregation, custom features, group order requirements, and shipping to alternate addresses at  203 . The order is sent to the order master process at  204  and the order master at  205  performs the order. At  206 , the materials management application checks to see whether the order was successful and, if it is, receives a “Q” number at  207 . If the order was not successful, then at  208  the materials management application views and fixes the order master errors and generates the order at  202 . 
     An inventory process performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 5B . The materials management application maintains an inventory of all items at  210 . The materials management application provides outputs to the asset management system at  211 , to a material usage process at  212 , and determines whether inventory needs to be added at  213 . The materials management application at  214  enables wild card searches, searches based on serial number, material description, inventory site, or CMC. Through its inventory process, the materials management application shows/releases assignments at  215 , junks or discards inventory at  216 , splits a reel at  217 , adjusts balances at  218 , changes the status at  219 , indicates exempt status at  220 , return status at  221 , records transactions at  222 , transfers at  223 , and relocates at  224 . 
     A receipt process performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 5C . The materials management application receives an order at  230  and executes a receipt process at  231 . At  232 , the materials management application indicates receipt line items, line item details, unreceipt line items, and complete orders. The materials management application provides an output to the CAPRI system at  233  which authorizes payments to the vendors at  234 . 
     An assign and transfer process performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 5D . At  240 , the materials management application determines the needed requirements for a job. At  241 , the materials management application determines whether or not these needs can be met by existing inventory, and if so, assigns the material from the existing inventory to the job at  242 . If the requirements cannot be met by existing inventory, then at  243  the materials management application scans inventory using search criteria. These search criteria, as indicated at  244 , include state, CMC, all inventory sites, selected inventory sites, maximum records displayed, and material descriptions. A transfer request is executed at  245  by the materials management application and at  246  the materials management application determines whether the transfer is approved. If the transfer is not approved, then the materials management application scans inventory at  243 . If the transfer is approved, then at  247  the materials management application receives the transferred material and performs a receipt transfer process at  248 . The receipt transfer process receives receipt line items and also cancel transfer requests at  249  and also the approval, rejection, or canceling of transfer requests from other sites at  250 . 
     A requirement status and issue process performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 5E . At  252 , the materials management application determines the requirements for a job. The materials management application determines the requirements by viewing the requirements, determining the requirement status, showing assignments, viewing orders, viewing transfers, viewing transfer requests, and viewing issues at  253 . At  254 , the materials management application issues the materials to the job at  254 . 
     A view order process performed by the materials management application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 5F . At  260 , the materials management application performs an order summary process. At  261 , the materials management application views the order process based on the order master number, purchase order number, select ticket number, and job number as displayed at  263 . At  262 , the materials management application provides a summary for the order, including line items at  264 , order options at  265 , order remarks at  266 , and ship to information at  267 . 
     VIII. Job Entry Other 
     Reference is made to the Appendix Exhibits of this application for additional description of the job entry other application. The job entry other application performs processes to automatically authorize and approve contractor work tasks. The work tasks are authorized if an individual logged on has the proper authority level. If a higher level is required, the job entry other application notifies the user and provides an ability for such approval. The job entry other application tracks completed work to ensure that continued correct approval levels are maintained throughout the process. The job entry other application creates tables to set the allowed dollar approval limits for each management level for the type of work in process. The job entry other application also calculates the estimated dollar values of the proposed work task and uses this value to determine if the individual has the correct approval level. 
     An approval process performed by the job entry other application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 6 . At  280 , the job entry other application performs the function of approving jobs. The estimated dollar value of the work is calculated at  282  and is encoded at  281  and dollar levels are provided to the job entry other application. The job entry other application uses management level dollar approval limit from the employee editor at  283  and determines at  284  whether the logged-in user has the proper approval level. If the user does, then the job is automatically approved at  285  and the total estimated dollar amounts for approval are stored in a database at  286 . If the user does not have the proper approval, then at  287  the job entry other application contacts the next level supervisor for approval. 
     IX. Billing and Reporting 
     Reference is made to the Appendix Exhibits of this application for additional description of the billing and reporting application. In general, the billing and reporting application provides an interface to the contractors through which they can accept work orders and view their schedules so that they may complete the jobs to meet appropriate due dates. After the job is completed, the contractors indicate the job as completed through the billing and reporting application and initiate a payment process. The billing and reporting application compares the completed jobs against the stored design and routes discrepancies to supervisors or other appropriate personnel for approval. In the event that the supervisor does not approve of the job that the contractor indicated as being completed, the billing and reporting application provides interfaces to the contractor and to the supervisor to come to a resolution. The billing and reporting application works in conjunction with the inspections application to oversee the contractors. 
     X. Inspections 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the inspections application. The inspections application manages the inspection process of contractors and managers. The inspection application is involved in the following areas: inspection generation which may be either consensus or sample, reports, logging results, notification of failures, approvals, billing adjustments, management reporting, and contractor ratings. 
     An inspections census process performed by the inspection application will now be described with reference to  FIG. 7 . At  300 , a job is indicated as completed, and at  301  the inspection application performs sampling. The inspection application uses the CWIs, crew numbers, and CMC at  304  to creates census information at  303 . The inspection application may also create default census items for the sampling and also for the census information at  302 . The inspection application generates inspection records at  305  and determines whether to download the inspection records at  306 . If the inspection records should be downloaded, then at  307  the records are downloaded and are otherwise printed at  308 . 
     At  309 , the inspections are performed to ensure that the work that has been indicated as being completed was actually performed. If the inspection records were downloaded, then at  311  the inspector enters the inspection results and uploads the results to the inspection application. If the inspection records were printed, then at  312  the inspection results are entered on the records and provided to personnel for entry into the inspection application. The inspection is based on bid and award equality and billing fee amounts as indicated at  310 . A determination is made at  313  as to whether the job passed or failed the inspection and records are updated appropriately. 
     For passed inspections, the inspection application sends the completed task to the invoicing process at  318  and the billing and reporting application performs its processes at  319 . For inspections that failed, the contractor can accept or appeal at  314 . If the contractor appeals, then at  315  a resolution is attempted between the contractor and the Telco. At  316 , rework may be invoiced in which case the contractor would need to perform this work if applicable. If the contractor accepts the failed inspection, then the work item is sent to second level manager for approval and/or adjustments at  317 . 
     XII. Workstation 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the workstation application. In general, the workstation application provides an interface by which personnel within the company can enter their time and control their schedules. The personnel, for instance, can enter the time that they have worked as well as other time, such as vacation and training times. Through the workstation application, the personnel within a company also mark tasks as being completed. The information obtained from the workstation application is useful in dispersing time and materials promptly upon completion of tasks and in determining available resources. As discussed above, the scheduling application relies upon this type of data in scheduling jobs. 
     XI. Management Reports 
     Reference is made to the Exhibits of this application for additional description of the management reports application. The management reports application and the materials management application provide various reports on the OSPCM system and process. For instance, the management reports application provides an investment management report that provides an index measuring how efficiently inventory is managed. The index describes how much inventory was owned over a given period of time and how much it cost the company to own that inventory. 
     The management reports application may generate an issue summary report. The issue summary report contains information about issued material. The report is used to print a list of inventory items that have been taken from the inventory site to the job site. 
     The management reports application may also generate a major material activity report. The major material activity report contains information about material inventory transactions that involve movement in and out of inventory, excluding order receipts, transfer receipts, and disbursements. The report is designed so that a manager is aware of the transaction activity that occurs within an area for which he or she is responsible. Any abnormal activity is investigated. 
     The management reports application also generates a material notification report. The material notification report contains information about the inventory items currently assigned to a job. The report is used to determine the material that is available to begin work. 
     The management reports application may also generate an order report. The order report contains information about orders having a specified status. The status, for instance, may be ordered, shipped, received, or canceled. 
     The management reports application may also generate an over-age material report. The over-age material report contains information about material that will be held in inventory over 30 days because of a change in the associated job&#39;s schedule. This report includes material that is on order that, once receipted, will be in inventory for over 30 days before it is used and assigned material that will be in inventory for over 30 days before it is used. The report serves as a warning that the company is in jeopardy of holding inventory for over 30 days which could adversely affect the investment index of the company. The report can be used to reference the inventory items that could be unassigned from the original job and assigned to a job that will be worked earlier or used to reschedule the job again so that the material can be used for its original purpose. 
     The management reports application also generates a transaction report. The transaction report contains information about the transactions of a specified type. The transaction type includes order receipt, assignment, unassignment, inventory status change, inventory addition, inventory deletion, split a reel, transfer, transfer receipt, reclassify to exempt, reclassify from exempt, return, disbursement, remove to good, junk, and recover from junk. 
     XII. Reorganization 
     When organizational changes are made within the company that change boundaries of responsibility within a company, then jobs already in the OSPCM system must be re-assigned to the correct resources. These organizational changes include such changes as state, wire center, or construction management center (CMC) changes. A “Reorg” process within OSPCM does all of the re assigning of work to the appropriate areas without someone having to manually change every job. 
     A reorganization process according to a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to  FIG. 8 . A reorganization request is processed at  335  with details of the reorganization request being provided at  336 . These details include reports at  338 , wire center rename at  339 , wire center move at  340 , or inventory site move at  341 . The reorganization may be a new reorganization request at  331  or an existing reorganization request at  332 . The new reorganization request may come from the state, CMC, run date or contact number as shown at  333 . The existing reorganization request may come from a request number, state, CMC or run date, as shown at  334 . At  337 , a decision is made as to whether the reorganization request is approved and, if it is, then a weekly reorganization process occurs at  342 . At  343 , life run results are reported. 
     The forgoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented only for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. 
     For example, the invention has been described with reference to the management of jobs within a RBOC. The invention, however, may be applied to other types of companies both inside and outside the telecommunication fields. Also, as should be apparent from the description above, the invention is useful both with jobs performed from within a company and also with jobs that are performed by outside contractors. The invention provides additional functionality with outside contractors since it assists in the bidding and awarding of contracts. 
     The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Technology Category: g