Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Health care management
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2004-01-06
Hafiz, Tariq R. (Department: 3623)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Health care management
Reexamination Certificate
active
06675151
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for human resources management. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for performing substitute fulfillment, compiling absence and entitlement information, notifications of unexpected events, and notifications of benefits and policies. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for shifting the burden of performing substitute fulfillment and information notification away from affected organizations, for centralizing substitute fulfillment and notification tasks, and for enhancing the efficacy and reliability of these procedures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
To date, location of a replacement to fill a temporary employee absence in an organization, a process referred to as “substitute fulfillment,” has generally been an unreliable, labor-intensive, often panic-driven, process. In any organization, the absence of a worker can have perceptible consequences throughout the workplace. The consequences of an employee absence will vary with the nature of the work environment and with the scope of the employee's position; other relevant factors may include, for example, upcoming deadlines and patterns of absenteeism in the particular organization. Those consequences may be immediate and drastic, as when an assembly line shuts down due to the absence of a critical worker on the line, or more attenuated and moderate, as when another employee is distracted from his primary task to answer telephones due to the absence of the office receptionist. In a typical case, those consequences may include diversion of management resources to address the consequences of the absence; delays in accomplishing projects in which the absentee has a role; displacement of other employees, who must fulfill the absentee's role, either by express assignment or in order to complete their own tasks; reduced productivity; fines levied against the organization, particularly if the absence impacts safety or other government-regulated aspects of the work environment; and, in an extreme but not uncommon case, the inability to complete the central task of the organization.
In the latter case, assignment of a substitute worker is imperative or “mission-critical”—without a substitute worker, the mission of the organization will not go forward—so filling the vacancy with a temporary replacement is the only acceptable alternative; in other cases, assignment of a substitute worker may not be mission-critical, but may nevertheless be a preferred policy in order to minimize the consequences of any absence. As a result, an upcoming absence may impact the workplace even before the absence period begins, as managers consider ways of compensating for the absence. Examples of work environments in which substitute fulfillment may be a mission-critical task include schools, emergency services, and manufacturing plants, particularly plants with an assembly-line operation. The replacement of an absent teacher with a substitute teacher is a commonly occurring example of a mission-critical substitute-fulfillment objective.
Thus, in an organization where a substitute is necessary or desired, when an employee notifies the organization that he will be absent, management must necessarily turn its attention to the substitute fulfillment task, or risk a noticeable reduction in the productivity of the organization or an inability to accomplish the business of the organization for the entire absence period. Although seemingly simple in concept, the substitute fulfillment task is non-trivial, requiring managers to devote significant time, effort and other resources, with no guarantee of success. Substitute fulfillment is complicated by the number of intermediate tasks that must be accomplished and constraints that must be satisfied to successfully realize a particular substitute fulfillment in a timely fashion.
The absent worker may, and usually does, provide notice of his impending absence less than a day, or even only several hours, before he is expected at work. Thus, management often enters the substitute fulfillment task with little time to carry it out; if the process is not automated in any aspect, then management must direct each step of the process. Once the absence, which may extend from only hours to several days, or even months, is known, management must typically identify the scope of the absentee worker's critical responsibilities and skills to establish criteria for identifying a suitable substitute and develop a substitution candidate profile. Typically, multiple substitution candidate profiles may be established, with more demanding requirements for ideal or preferred substitutes, and with less demanding, threshold requirements for merely acceptable substitutes. Once the appropriate qualifications for an acceptable substitute are established, management may consider potential replacements from a prepared list of candidates, or alternatively, management may identify potential candidates by some other means. Candidates may be regular employees of the affected workplace, for example, assembly line workers at a manufacturing plant who work different shifts from the absentee, or, persons from outside the workplace, for example, substitute teachers registered with a school district.
Management must then contact potential replacements, typically by telephone, and determine whether potential replacements are available and willing to work at the desired times in the desired position. Merely reaching potential substitutes may require several attempts. In the best case, management will eventually locate and assign an available substitute to cover the vacancy; in the worst case, management will be unable to find a substitute, despite having expended significant resources on the substitute fulfillment task. The substitute fulfillment task is substantially, but not wholly complete when the available substitute is assigned; typically, management performing the substitute fulfillment must then notify the appropriate persons that a substitute has been confirmed to facilitate inclusion of the substitute in the workplace. Due to the complexity of the substitute fulfillment task and the diversion of resources it entails, many workplaces may forego substitute fulfillment despite its desirability.
Substitute fulfillment is a routine practice in the education system, especially at the primary and secondary school levels. An example of substitute fulfillment for a high school teacher is provided herein as an accessible example and for reference. The substitute fulfillment task usually is triggered in a school when a teacher “calls in sick.” Depending on the degree to which substitute fulfillment is automated in the school or district, locating a substitute teacher may require the efforts of a principal or other administrator, as well as several support staff members. Once a teacher has called in sick or otherwise signaled his absence, perhaps the night before or even the morning of the absence, the responsible administrator must disrupt her schedule to focus on the substitute fulfillment task. If she is unable to find a substitute teacher, the operation of the class, the department, and even the whole school may be disrupted. For example, the affected classes may fall behind in their scheduled curricula, an administrator or other teachers may have to neglect their other duties to cover for the absentee, and the school may even be fined by the state for failing to provide an acceptable substitute teacher.
In order to perform the substitute fulfillment, generally, first, the administrator must determine which classes the absent teacher teaches and what skills are required of a replacement. In the education system context, state law may also regulate the minimal qualifications for a substitute teacher, both in general and for the specific type of position that must be filled. Thus, if an absent teacher is a high school science teacher who teaches AP Physics and basic chemistry, a replaceme
Blackstone Michael S.
Thompson Roland R.
Corrado Thomas A.
Frontline Data, Inc.
Hafiz Tariq R.
Kilpatrick & Stockton LLP
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