Patent Issued for Entity selection tool system and method (USPTO 11748367): Hartford Fire Insurance Company

2023 SEP 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States) has been issued patent number 11748367, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Denninger, Adam (Hartford, CT, US), Peryga, Mark J (Higganum, CT, US), Perzan, Jayne-Marie (Plainville, CT, US), Tardif, Keri M. (West Hartford, CT, US), Thiruvengada, Jaishankar (Ellington, CT, US), Turner, David J (Farmington, CT, US), Visram, Pavan Kumar (Milford, CT, US), Ward, Jr., Nelson R. (New Britain, CT, US), Yalamanchi, Ramesh V. (Higgarum, CT, US), Zimmermann, Ernie (Hartford, CT, US).

This patent was filed on September 23, 2022 and was published online on September 5, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “An enterprise might consider entering into a relationship with one or more entities. For example, an enterprise might be interested in finding a vendor or partner to develop one or more Software as a Service (“SaaS”) applications. Moreover, the enterprise might evaluate several potential relationships and eventually select the most appropriate entity. For example, the enterprise might select a vendor associated with a configurable cloud computing platform that is able to develop high quality SaaS applications in a relatively fast and cost-efficient way.

“Manually evaluating potential relationships, entities, and/or computing platforms, however, can be a time consuming and error prone process. For example, the enterprise might issue a Request For Proposal (“RFP”) and then evaluate written submissions provided by various entities in an attempt to find the most appropriate relationship. In some cases, an entity might misunderstand the requirements of the RFP in which case the provided documentation could be inaccurate. Similarly, viewing a generic product demonstration produced an entity could resulting in misunderstandings between the entity and the enterprise (e.g. “How difficult is it to make that type of change on-the-fly?” or “Is that ability available out-of-the-box?”). Selecting the wrong entity to help develop SaaS applications can be a costly mistake for an enterprise and could harm reputations with customers, suppliers, other vendors, employees, etc.

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

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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 entity selection tool 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 an indication of a selected potential relationship and retrieve, from a use case configuration data store, an electronic record for that relationship. The first entity may then construct computer system configurations in accordance with use case parameters. The computer server may be used to evaluate the constructed computer system configurations, and an entity score result for the first entity may be stored into the use case configuration data store. The computer server may also retrieve, from a quality function deployment data store, an electronic record associated with the first entity and update a uniform scoring matrix by assigning weighted score values for the first entity in connection with a set of platform capabilities. An entity selection tool may be executed to automatically select a recommended entity based on the score results and scoring matrixes, and an indication of the recommended entity may be transmitted.

“Some embodiments comprise: means for receiving, at a back-end application computer server, from a remote user device, an indication of a selected potential relationship between an enterprise and a first entity; means for retrieving, from a use case configuration data store, an electronic record associated with the selected potential relationship, including use case parameters, wherein the use case configuration data store contains electronic records that represent a plurality of potential relationships between the enterprise and at least one entity, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier, use case parameters, and an entity score result; means for arranging for the first entity to construct a plurality of computer system configurations, on-site at the enterprise, in accordance with the use case parameters; means for evaluating the constructed computer system configurations and storing an entity score result for the first entity into the use case configuration data store; means for retrieving, from a quality function deployment data store, an electronic record associated with the first entity, wherein the quality function deployment data store contains electronic records that represent the plurality of potential relationships, and each electronic record includes an electronic record identifier and a uniform scoring matrix; means for updating the uniform scoring matrix by assigning weighted score values for the first entity in connection with a set of platform capabilities; means for executing an entity selection tool to automatically select a recommended entity based on entity score results and uniform scoring matrixes; and means for transmitting an indication of the recommended entity to an interactive graphical user interface display via a distributed communication network.

“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 entity selection tool 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 entity selection tool platform via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, comprising: (a) a use case configuration data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality of potential relationships between the enterprise and at least one entity, wherein each electronic record of the use case configuration data store includes an electronic record identifier, use case parameters defining test situations adapted for implementation by the at least one entity, and an entity score result of the at least one entity; (b) a quality function deployment data store containing electronic records that represent the plurality of potential relationships, wherein each electronic record of the quality function deployment data store includes an electronic record identifier and a uniform scoring matrix; © a storage device storing processor-executable program code; (d) the back-end application computer server including a processor, coupled to the use case configuration data store, the quality function deployment data store, and the storage device, the processor to execute the processor-executable program code in order to cause the back-end application computer server to: (i) arrange for a first entity associated with a remote user device to construct a plurality of computer system configurations, on-site at the enterprise, in accordance with an automated testing script of the use case parameters, (ii) automatically evaluate the constructed computer system configurations and store an entity score result for the first entity into the use case configuration data store, (iii) retrieve, from the quality function deployment data store, an electronic record associated with the first entity, (iv) update a uniform scoring matrix included in the retrieved electronic record by assigning weighted score values for the first entity in connection with a set of platform capabilities of the enterprise, (v) execute the entity selection tool to automatically select a recommended entity based at least on the entity score result and the updated uniform scoring matrix of the first entity, and (vi) transmit an indication of the recommended entity; and (e) 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 the recommended entity.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive graphical user interface display includes entity score results and uniform scoring matrices.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the entity score is based on show me data and tell me data.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the show me data includes the constructed computer system configurations, a technical score, a functional score, and a sandbox review score; and the tell me data includes data provided in response to questions unassociated with the automatic evaluation of the constructed computer system configurations.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the automated testing script of the use case parameters is associated with a simulated product that is analogous to an actual product.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the automated testing script of the use case parameters is configured to expose common platform failure points.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the constructed computer system configurations are associated with Software as a Service (“SaaS”) implementations for various use cases.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the SaaS implementations are constructed on-site at the enterprise over multiple days.

“9. The system of claim 8, wherein the SaaS implementations are constructed in an enterprise sandbox environment.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommended entity is further based on at least one of: (i) a technical questionnaire, (ii) at least one specification provided by the first entity, (iii) a response to a request for proposal, and (iv) an industry resource.

“11. A computerized method to provide an entity selection tool platform via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, comprising: providing a use case configuration data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality of potential relationships between the enterprise and at least one entity, wherein each electronic record of the use case configuration data store includes an electronic record identifier, use case parameters defining test situations adapted for implementation by the at least one entity, and an entity score result of the at least one entity; providing a quality function deployment data store containing electronic records that represent the plurality of potential relationships, wherein each electronic record of the quality function deployment data store includes an electronic record identifier and a uniform scoring matrix; arranging, by the backend application computer server, for a first entity associated with a remote user device to construct a plurality of computer system configurations, on-site at the enterprise, in accordance with an automated testing script of the use case parameters; automatically evaluating, by the backend application computer server, the constructed computer system configurations and storing an entity score result for the first entity into a use case configuration data store; retrieving, by the backend application computer server from the quality function deployment data store, an electronic record associated with the first entity; updating, by the backend application computer server, a uniform scoring matrix included in the retrieved electronic record by assigning weighted score values for the first entity in connection with a set of platform capabilities of the enterprise; executing, by the backend application computer server, the entity selection tool to automatically select a recommended entity based at least on the entity score result and the updated uniform scoring matrix of the first entity; and transmitting, by the backend application computer server, an indication of the recommended entity to an interactive graphical user interface display of the remote user device via security features and a distributed communication network.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the interactive graphical user interface display includes entity score results and uniform scoring matrices.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein the entity score is based on: show me data including the constructed computer system configurations, a technical score, a functional score, and a sandbox review score; and tell me data including data provided in response to questions unassociated with the automatic evaluation of the constructed computer system configuration.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the automated testing script of the use case parameters is associated with a simulated product that is analogous to an actual product.

“15. The method of claim 11, wherein the automated testing script of the use case parameters is configured to expose common platform failure points.

“16. The method of claim 11, wherein the constructed computer system configurations are associated with Software as a Service (“SaaS”) implementations for various use cases.

“17. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions, that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to perform a method to provide an entity selection tool platform via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, the method comprising: providing a use case configuration data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality of potential relationships between the enterprise and at least one entity, wherein each electronic record of the use case configuration data store includes an electronic record identifier, use case parameters defining test situations adapted for implementation by the at least one entity, and an entity score result of the at least one entity; providing a quality function deployment data store containing electronic records that represent the plurality of potential relationships, wherein each electronic record of the quality function deployment data store includes an electronic record identifier and a uniform scoring matrix; arranging, by the backend application computer server, for a first entity associated with a remote user device to construct a plurality of computer system configurations, on-site at the enterprise, in accordance with an automated testing script of the use case parameters; automatically evaluating, by the backend application computer server, the constructed computer system configurations and storing an entity score result for the first entity into a use case configuration data store; retrieving, by the backend application computer server from the quality function deployment data store, an electronic record associated with the first entity; updating, by the backend application computer server, a uniform scoring matrix included in the retrieved electronic record by assigning weighted score values for the first entity in connection with a set of platform capabilities of the enterprise; executing, by the backend application computer server, the entity selection tool to automatically select a recommended entity based at least on the entity score result and the updated uniform scoring matrix of the first entity; and transmitting, by the backend application computer server, an indication of the recommended entity to an interactive graphical user interface display of the remote user device via security features and a distributed communication network.

“18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the interactive graphical user interface display includes entity score results and uniform scoring matrixes.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Denninger, Adam. Entity selection tool system and method. U.S. Patent Number 11748367, filed September 23, 2022, and published online on September 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11748367)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)