System for providing business information

Details System for providing business information System for providing business information

1998-11-06

2001-10-09

Shah, Sanjiv (Department: 2172)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C705S037000, C705S026640

Reexamination Certificate

active

06301574

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates in general to an apparatus, method and data structure for providing business information, including outsourcing information, to assist businesses in meeting their needs for providing and obtaining a variety of services. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus, method and data structure for facilitating communications between contractors and outsourcing companies that include marketing and search mechanisms, bid management, contractor and outsourcing company assessment, and other various features.
Recently, businesses have turned increasingly to outsourcing work that would be either cost-prohibitive to do in-house or outside of their primary business. Because most outsourcing companies currently use only a few, select contractors with whom they have close ties, significant inefficiencies exist that result in a glut of smaller firms not having access to these outsourcing companies. Further, outsourcing companies are denied competitive pricing due to a limited pool of contractors and occasionally have difficulty finding qualified applicants to perform highly skilled work.
Businesses can also use a middleman or broker to aide their procurement of services. A broker's success is highly dependent on access to market information regarding various goods or services. Although brokers can procure goods and services at reasonable rates and can save time for outsourcing companies, brokers are expensive and their expertise is typically limited to a particular industry or a limited number of industries. To the extent that buyers and sellers of goods and services have access to market information, they can procure goods and services at market; however, gaining such access is a time-intensive activity.
Buyers and sellers can also use umbrella firms to outsource various projects. Umbrella firms seek to establish a contractual relationship with outsourcing firms, who are generally searching for six-to thirty-six-month contracts. The umbrella firms profit by receiving contracts and distributing the contracts to the firms working under their umbrellas. Often, the umbrella firms provide some traditional business services such as bookkeeping, accounting, and billing to the other firms under the umbrella.
The deficiencies associated with past methods, including the use of brokers and umbrella firms, are that they are time intensive, utilize slow processes, draw from a limited pool of contractors, are expensive, and are inefficient.
The foregoing demonstrates that there is a need for an invention which greatly reduces the time required to identify and procure services, improves pricing due to substantial competition, and accomplishes these goals at competitive prices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention satisfies the need and avoids the drawbacks of the prior art by providing an apparatus, method and data structure that set forth an interactive venue for firms of all sizes, both to showcase their talent and to identify contractors meeting their outsourcing requirements. Outsourcing companies may be provided with access to a network of independent contractors, both in order to find new business and to contract work out. Access to this network condenses the process of locating and hiring independent contractors from weeks or months into an afternoon. In addition to the time savings associated with the procurement of services, the invention provides cost benefits in that the existence of a substantial pool of available contractors eliminates the inflated billing rates that may result from a lack of competition. Due to the economies of scale for business information, the invention can accomplish the above goals at a competitive cost. The invention also offers an assortment of databases to enable firms to locate information and solutions to an abundance of business problems and opportunities.
According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for and a method of communicating outsourcing information between an outsourcing company and a plurality of contractors are set forth. The apparatus and method may include the structure for and steps of logging onto an on-line database by each of the plurality of contractors, inserting contractor information into a plurality of requisite fields in a form provided by the on-line database by each of the plurality of contractors, and storing the contractor information in the on-line database. A user—such as an outsourcing company—may conduct a search on the on-line database for outsourcing information using skill criteria and may select a subset of contractors to receive outsourcing information associated with the outsourcing opportunity. The system may then preferentially transmit the outsourcing information and a bid form to the subset of contractors, accept bid information from a further subset of contractors, place the bid information in a report, and send the outsourcing company the report or an address identifying the location of the report on the database to permit the outsourcing company to compare and contrast the bid information received from the contractors.
The outsourcing company may limit its search to a specific universe of contractors or may choose to simply identify all contractors meeting its search criteria. System users, including contractors and outsourcing companies, may provide an assessment of a project, contractor or outsourcing company by entering information into an evaluation form which may be accessed by future users. The apparatus and method may include assigning passwords to users to allow future use of the system and the option of entering a sales associate identification number so that sales commissions may be tracked.
In another aspect of the invention, a system for communicating outsourcing information between an outsourcing company and a contractor contains a computer-readable memory for storing data for access by an application program and includes a data structure stored in the computer-readable memory. The data structure may include information used by the application program and may contain a log-in field having log-in information associated with each of the plurality of contractors; a plurality of contractor information fields for inserting contractor information into a form by each of the plurality of contractors; and a plurality of specific skill criteria fields for searching the plurality of contractor information fields. Additionally, the data structure may include a plurality of first subset fields for identifying a first subset of the plurality of contractors to receive the outsourcing information; a plurality of outsourcing information fields for sending the outsourcing information and, optionally, a bid form to the first subset of the plurality of contractors; a plurality of bid fields for accepting bid information from a second subset of the plurality of contractors on the bid form; a bid information table field for placing the bid information; and an address field for identifying an address of the bid information table to permit the outsourcing company to compare and contrast the bid information received from the second subset of the contractors.
The data structure of the computer-readable memory may include a password assigning field for assigning a password to outsourcing companies and contractors; and a sales associate field for entering a sales associate number. The data structure of the computer-readable memory may also include a plurality of evaluation fields for providing evaluation forms to permit a plurality of users to comment on and evaluate the on-line database and the plurality of users, including outsourcing companies and contractors, wherein the completed evaluation forms may be routed to a controller of the on-line database for future access by users.
The plurality of first subset fields may be used for selecting a first subset of contractors in an automatic or manual mode. The automatic mode permits selection of a set number of contractors meeting the specific skill criteria of the outsourcing company. In the manual mode, th

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