Patent Issued for Enterprise system and method for vendor logistical variance management (USPTO 11922529): Hartford Fire Insurance Company

2024 MAR 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Kuethman, David J. (Westherfield, CT, US), filed on September 18, 2020, was published online on March 5, 2024.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11922529 is Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “An enterprise might interact with hundreds of different vendors. For example, an insurance companies might interact with medical service providers, vehicle repair shops, etc. in connection with insurance claims. To centralize vendor management, an enterprise may utilize a supplier management application. Such an application may, for example, help ensure contract adherence, spend control, product quality, vendor relationship management, and overall performance. Even with such an application, however, logistical issues can arise in terms of how to manage a substantial number of vendors with varying products, contractual agreements, fee schedules, performance measurements, etc.

“It would be therefore desirable to provide systems and methods for an automated vendor logistical variance management platform that allow faster, more accurate results as compared to traditional approaches.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “According to some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means are provided for an automated vendor logistical variance management platform that permits faster, more accurate results as compared to traditional approaches and that allows for flexibility and effectiveness when acting on those results. In some embodiments, a computer server may receive, from a remote device, an indication of a selection of a subset of a plurality of vendor entities associated with an enterprise. The server may then access a vendor data store to obtain vendor parameters associated with the subset of vendor entities, wherein the vendor data store contains electronic records representing a plurality of vendor entities, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier, vendor parameters, and an electronic communication address. The server may then automatically analyze the obtained vendor parameters and data in a metric data store (e.g., benchmark information) to generate vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities. An indication of the vendor logistical variance results may then be transmitted to be displayed on an interactive graphical user interface display that includes at least one electronic communication address from the vendor data store.

“Some embodiments comprise: means for receiving, at the back-end application computer server from a remote device, an indication of a selection of a subset of the plurality of vendor entities; means for accessing a vendor data store to obtain vendor parameters associated with the subset of vendor entities, wherein the vendor data store contains electronic records representing a plurality of vendor entities, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier, the vendor parameters, and an electronic communication address; means for automatically analyzing the obtained vendor parameters and data in a metric data store to generate vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities, wherein the metric data store contains electronic records representing a plurality logistical metrics, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier and benchmark information; and means for transmitting an indication of the vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities to be displayed on an interactive graphical user interface display that includes at least one electronic communication address from the vendor data store.

“In some embodiments, a communication device associated with a back-end application computer server exchanges information with remote devices in connection with an interactive graphical user interface. The information may be exchanged, for example, via public and/or proprietary communication networks.

“A technical effect of some embodiments of the invention is an improved and computerized way to provide an automated vendor logistical variance management platform in a way that provides faster, more accurate results as compared to traditional approaches. With these and other advantages and features that will become hereinafter apparent, a more complete understanding of the nature of the invention can be obtained by referring to the following detailed description and to the drawings appended hereto.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system to provide an automated vendor logistical variance management platform via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, comprising: (a) a vendor data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality of vendor entities, wherein each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier, vendor parameters, and an electronic communication address; (b) a metric data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality logistical metrics, wherein each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier and benchmark information; © the back-end application computer server, coupled to the vendor data store and metric data store, an email server, workflow application and calendar application, the back-end application computer server including: a computer processor, and a computer memory, coupled to the computer processor, storing instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the back-end application computer server to: (i) train a machine learning model using historical results, (ii) receive from a remote device an indication of a selection of a subset of the plurality of vendor entities, (iii) access the vendor data store via an encrypted database management system to obtain the vendor parameters associated with the subset of vendor entities, (iv) overlay the obtained vendor parameters and the data in the metric data store, (v) identify, via the trained machine learning model, at least one pattern based on the overlaid obtained vendor parameter and the data in the metric data store, (vi) automatically generate vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities based on an analysis of the overlaid obtained vendor parameters and data in the metric data store, (vii) determine whether the generated vendor logistical variance results exceed a threshold value, (viii) transmit an indication of the vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities, (ix) generate a plurality of low-level score cards across multiple vendors, (x) automatically update a display of data on a same interactive user interface in real time without input from a user, wherein the display on the same user interface includes a first score card generated for multiple vendors and a second score card for each individual vendor, wherein the second score card for the individual vendor includes a vendor performance metric, a vendor initiative metric, a financing metric, a description of a benchmark for each metric and a year-to-date progress indication for each benchmark based on a benchmark goal, an improving or degrading direction of vendor performance with respect to the benchmark goal and a target date for the benchmark goal; (xi) automatically establish a communication link and provide information to the calendar application, wherein the communication link is established between the remote user device and a remote vendor device; (xii) automatically schedule a corrective action per a corrective action plan based on the determination the generated vendor logistical variance results exceed the threshold value; (d) a communication port coupled to the back-end application computer server to facilitate an exchange of data with the remote user device in support of an interactive graphical user interface display via security features and a distributed communication network, the interactive graphical user interface display including vendore logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities and at least one electronic communication link from the vendor data store, and wherein: the back-end application computer server receives selection of an entity identifier element and transmits information in accordance with the selected entity identifier element to present on the interactive graphical user interface without transmitting information not in accordance with the selected entity identifier element, thereby reducing a number of electronic messages that are transmitted and improving operation of the system; the at least one electronic communication address is included when it is determined at least one vendor logistical variance result exceeds the threshold value; and in a case the threshold value is exceeded, the back-end application computer server automatically and in response to the determination the threshold value is exceeded, generates the corrective action plan based on the trained machine learning model.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with performance measurement.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with financial control.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with relationship management.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with at least one of: (i) a service level agreement metric, (ii) a key performance indicator metric, and (iii) an informational metric.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein a single vendor manager is associated with multiple vendor entities and vendor logistical variance results are combined and summarized for the vendor manager.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the information in the metric data store includes at least one of: (i) a metric name, (ii) a measurement type, (iii) a current benchmark, (iv) a benchmark direction, (v) a metric type, (vi) a metric frequency, and a (vii) a target date.

“8. A computerized method to provide an automated vendor logistical variance management platform via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, comprising: training a machine learning model using historical results; receiving, at the back-end application computer server from a remote device, an indication of a selection of a subset of the plurality of vendor entities; accessing a vendor data store via an encrypted database managment system to obtain vendor parameters associated with the subset of vendor entities, wherein the vendor data store contains electronic records representing a plurality of vendor entities, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier, the vendor parameters, and an electronic communication address; overlaying the obtained vendor parameters and the data in the metric data store; identifying, via the trained machine learning model, at least one pattern based on the overlaid obtained vendor parameters and the data in a metric data store; automatically generating vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities based on an analysis of the overlaid obtained vendor parameters and data in the metric data store; determining whether the generated vendor logistical variance results exceed a threshold value, wherein the metric data store contains electronic records representing a plurality logistical metrics, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier and benchmark information; transmitting an indication of the vendor logistical variance results for each of the subset of vendor entities to be displayed, via security features, on an interactive graphical user interface display that includes at least one electronic communication link from the vendor data store, generating a plurality of low-level score cards across multiple vendors, automatically, updating a display of data on a same interactive graphical user interface in real time without input from a user, wherein the display on the same interactive graphical user interface includes a first score card generated for multiple vendors and a second score card for each individual vendor, wherein the second scorecard for the individual vendor includes a vendor performance metric, a vendor initiative metric, a financing metric, a description of a benchmark for each metric and a year-to-date progress indication for each benchmark based on a benchmark goal, an improving or degrading direction of vendor performance with respect to the benchmark goal and a target date for the benchmark goal; automatically, when a vendor logistical variance result exceeds a threshold value, and in response to the determination the threshold value is exceeded: (i) generating a corrective action plan based on the trained machine learning model, (ii) establishing a communication link between the remote user device and a remote vendor device, and (iii) providing, via the established communication link, information to a calendar application to schedule corrective action per the corrective action plan based on the determination the threshold value is exceeded; receiving selection of an entity identifier element; and transmitting information in accordance with the selected entity identifier element to present on the interactive graphical user interface without transmitting information not in accordance with the selected entity identifier element, thereby reducing a number of electronic messages that are transmitted and improving operation of the logistical variance management platform via a back-end application computer server.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with performance measurement.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with financial control.

“11. The method of claim 8, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with relationship management.

“12. The method of claim 8, wherein the vendor logistical variance is associated with at least one of: (i) a service level agreement metric, (ii) a key performance indicator metric, and (iii) an informational metric.

“13. The method of claim 8, wherein a single vendor manager is associated with multiple vendor entities and vendor logistical variance results are combined and summarized for the vendor manager.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Kuethman, David J. Enterprise system and method for vendor logistical variance management. U.S. Patent Number 11922529, filed September 18, 2020, and published online on March 5, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11922529)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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