Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-09
2001-02-27
Stamber, Eric W. (Department: 2163)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195643
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and software application for assisting in, or performing and providing information used in decision making functions.
More particularly, although not exclusively, the present invention relates to a software application which is particularly suited for evaluating the suitability of other software applications to a situation, in response to detailed criteria supplied by a user or users (a decision maker).
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to evaluation of software packages. The present method and software application could be used for evaluating or selecting staff, products, market strategies. It may find application in situations where a decision must be made in response to how well one or more criteria are satisfied, where those criteria have their own level of preference.
It is also to be understood that the present software application may be used in an inverse manner wherein a supplier focused analysis can be performed.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Formal decision making processes and strategies are well known at varying levels of complexity and utility. Early frameworks imposed on decision making processes have revolved around statistical techniques and the mathematical analysis of decision making processes with hierarchies imposed upon them. However, the detailed analysis of a decision makers requirements have been traditionally based upon taking averages of numerical indications of preferences or suitability.
Such decision making techniques generally rely on positive
egative responses from a decision maker whereby the statistical level of satisfaction is based on a relatively coarse level of querying and results in an averaged figure which allows the ranking of the available options.
Other techniques known in the art are those where a decision maker result and a product result are, for each question, multiplied together to produce a weighted value that is added to the weighted values from the other questions. This produces an overall score for the product. The higher the overall score, the better the product. This approach can mask or obscure underlying information and represents a “smoothing” of the query process and thus the interpretative value of the results are reduced.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a decision making process and application which allows for a more detailed analysis of the decision makers query process and associated levels of satisfaction than the prior art, as well as providing a method and software application which overcomes or at least mitigates the abovementioned disadvantages or at least provides the public with a useful choice.
Further objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided in a decision making system, a method of performing a high level evaluation of one or more products or articles based on a decision maker's response to one or more questions relating to that product or article said method comprising:
(1) the decision maker specifying one or more functional requirements;
(2) matching the functional requirements with corresponding functional requirements supported by a product or article, optionally matching the functional requirements with the corresponding functional requirements supported by one or more modules, wherein said modules may be a component of the product or article; and
(3) providing an output describing which products or articles, and optionally which modules associated with the products or articles, best exhibit the functional features required by the decision maker.
Optionally, the high level evaluation may further include providing costing and cost justification information relating to the decision makers functional requirements.
In another aspect of the invention there is provided in a decision making system, a method of performing a detailed level evaluation of one or more products or articles based on a decision maker's response to one or more questions relating to the decision maker's functional requirements comprising:
(1) the decision maker providing a response result in response to a question relating to the decision makers functional requirement(s), taking into account a predefined a result type;
(2) the response result is compared with a product result, wherein the product result is a data element reflecting the functional capability of the article or product in relation to the particular question, thereby producing an evaluation ratio and optionally the evaluation ratio may be associated with a significance level reflecting how well the product result meets the decision maker's corresponding functional requirement;
(3) optionally the system calculates evaluation ratios so as to include information relating to whether the functional requirement is provided by one or more modules;
(4) the decision maker providing a detailed requirement, the detailed requirement reflecting how necessary the functional requirement is to the decision maker's needs; and
(5) providing an output setting out, for a particular functional requirement, the number of detailed requirements as a function of significance level.
Preferably the evaluation ratio is the product result divided by the response result or the response result divided by the product result, the choice being made so that a higher evaluation ratio corresponds to a greater degree of suitability to the decision makers functional requirements.
Preferably the output is expressed as the percentage number of decision maker detailed requirements which have been met or exceeded along with percentage information relating to categories of decision maker detailed requirements which are either met or not met.
In a further aspect, the articles or products may incorporate modules which exhibit functionality which may or may not meet the decision maker functional requirements, said modules features being used in order to determine the evaluation cut off ratios wherein the output information includes reference to those modules which meet the decision makers criteria.
In a preferred embodiment the evaluation ratios are levels of significance expressed as qualitative data elements known as significance levels relating to the degree to which a particular product is deficient, marginal, meets or exceeds the response result for a particular question and/or related functional requirement.
Preferably the detailed requirement reflects how critical or necessary it is that the particular functional requirement be provided or met by the product or article, more particularly the detailed requirement is classified according to the categories: not required, desirable, useful and mandatory.
Preferably evaluation ratios between 1.0 and 2.0 are identified with the product result meeting the decision maker functional requirement, between 0.0 and 0.8 the product result being deficient, between 0.8 and 1.0 the product result being marginal, and above 2.0 the product result exceeding substantially the decision makers functional requirements.
Preferably the output provides information relating to any modules which may provide the functional requirements of the decision maker and indicate how and in what module the functional requirements are provided.
Preferably the output also includes a means by which the cost of the article or product may be gauged as a function of meeting or exceeding the decision makers functional requirements.
Alternatively, the output may provide the cost of the product or articles, including any modules which may be required to meet or exceed the decision makers functional requirements.
According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides for a decision making system including the steps of performing a high level functional analysis and/or detailed level functional analysis prior to providing an output to a decision maker.
In a further aspect, the result type may be an evaluation, a maximum and/or minimum or simi
Baldwin Shelston Waters
Meinecke-Diaz Susanna
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Stamber Eric W.
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