U.S. patent application number 10/014840 was filed with the patent office on 2003-04-24 for real-time collaboration and workflow management for a marketing campaign.
Invention is credited to Corugedo, George R., Love, Julian, Ludwig-Vogen, Alexis A., O'Halloran, J. Patrick, Plourde, Robert W., Tyner, Chuck, Wagner, Todd R..
Application Number | 20030078830 10/014840 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21768051 |
Filed Date | 2003-04-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030078830 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wagner, Todd R. ; et
al. |
April 24, 2003 |
Real-time collaboration and workflow management for a marketing
campaign
Abstract
A system for enables real-time collaboration and workflow
management of a marketing campaign within a marketing organization.
In one aspect, user displays for the marketing organization's
computer system are provided. A role portal component provides at
least two respective role portals that correspond to at least two
marketing roles within the marketing organization (for example,
marketing executive, marketing manager, data analyst, etc.). A
workbench component generates, on a user display, a workbench that
corresponds to each of the role portals. Each workbench permits a
user to access metric and workflow information associated with the
corresponding marketing role. The workbench for each role may
comprise several displayable web-pages, such as a home page, an
activities page for workflow, a marketing campaigns with
information and metrics about various marketing campaigns, and a
customer analysis page.
Inventors: |
Wagner, Todd R.; (Shorewood,
MN) ; Plourde, Robert W.; (Woodbury, MN) ;
O'Halloran, J. Patrick; (Hopkins, MN) ; Corugedo,
George R.; (Miami Beach, FL) ; Tyner, Chuck;
(Hazel Crest, IL) ; Ludwig-Vogen, Alexis A.;
(Minneapolis, MN) ; Love, Julian; (London,
GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FISH & RICHARDSON P.C.
45 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA, SUITE 2800
NEW YORK
NY
10111
US
|
Family ID: |
21768051 |
Appl. No.: |
10/014840 |
Filed: |
October 22, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.13 ;
705/7.29; 705/7.36 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/0637 20130101;
G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G06Q 10/101 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06Q 10/06311
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/10 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A system for enabling real-time collaboration and workflow
management of a marketing campaign within a marketing organization,
the marketing organization having a plurality of marketing roles
defined therein, the system comprising: a processor for processing
computer instructions; at least one display for displaying
information to a respective user in response to the processor;
memory for storing computer instructions, the instructions
providing for: a role portal component for providing at least two
respective role portals corresponding to at least two of the
marketing roles within the marketing organization; and a workbench
component for generating on the at least one display a workbench
corresponding to each of the at least two role portals, each
workbench permitting a user to access metric and workflow
information associated with the corresponding marketing role.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least a marketing manager role.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least two marketing roles
further comprises a data analyst role.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein the at least two marketing roles
further comprises an executive role.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least a data analyst role.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least two marketing roles
further comprises an executive role.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least an executive role.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the workbench corresponding to
each of the at least two role portals comprises a plurality of
different displayable pages capable of being displayed on one of
the at least one display.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages comprises at least a displayable home page
containing at least high-level marketing information.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages comprises at least a displayable page providing a
workflow view of marketing strategies and associated tasks.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the displayable page providing a
workflow view further provides access to a workflow software
application.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein the displayable page providing a
workflow view further identifies and provides access to computer
accessible reports that may be used in completing the tasks.
13. The system of claim 8 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for
marketing campaign management.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes an icon for access to a campaign
management software application.
15. The system of claim 13 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes metric data regarding marketing
campaigns.
16. The system of claim 13 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes information about marketing
campaigns.
17. The system of claim 8 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for a user
to access software applications for performing marketing analysis
tasks.
18. A system for enabling real-time collaboration and workflow
management of a marketing campaign within a marketing organization,
the marketing organization having a plurality of marketing roles
defined therein, the system comprising: a processor for processing
computer instructions; at least one display for displaying
information to a respective user in response to the processor;
memory for storing computer instructions, the instructions
providing for: a role portal component for providing respective
role portals corresponding to marketing roles within the marketing
organization, the marketing roles including at least an executive
role, a marketing manager role and a data analyst role; and a
workbench component for generating on the at least one display a
workbench corresponding to each of the role portals, the workbench
component for providing access to a workflow software application,
a marketing campaign management software application and a
marketing analysis software application.
19. The system of claim 18 the workbench corresponding to each of
the roles within the marketing organization comprises a plurality
of different displayable pages capable of being displayed on one of
the at least one display.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages comprises at least a displayable home page
containing at least high-level marketing information.
21. The system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages comprises at least a displayable page providing a
workflow view of marketing strategies and associated tasks.
22. The system of claim 21 wherein the displayable page providing a
workflow view further provides access to the workflow software
application.
23. The system of claim 21 wherein the displayable page providing a
workflow view further identifies and provides access to computer
accessible reports that may be used in completing the tasks.
24. The system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for
marketing campaign management.
25. The system of claim 24 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes an icon for access to the
campaign management software application.
26. The system of claim 24 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes metric data regarding marketing
campaigns.
27. The system of claim 26 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes information about marketing
campaigns.
28. The system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for a user
to access the marketing analysis software application.
29. A method of collaborating to create a marketing campaign in a
marketing organization having marketing roles, the method
comprising: providing a system for enabling real-time collaboration
and workflow management of the marketing campaign, the system
comprising a processor for a processor for processing computer
instructions; at least one display for displaying information to a
respective user; memory for storing computer instructions, the
instructions providing for, a role portal component for providing
at least two respective role portals corresponding to at least two
of the marketing roles within the marketing organization; and a
workbench component for generating a workbench corresponding to
each of the at least two role portals, each workbench permitting a
user to access metric and workflow information associated with the
corresponding marketing role; according to a first one of the roles
and within a first one of the at least two role portals, monitoring
customer metrics and workflow activities associated with the
marketing campaign; and according to a second role and within a
second one of the at least two role portals; collaborating with the
first one of the roles through a second one of the at least two
role portals.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least a marketing manager role.
31. The method of claim 29 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least a data analyst role.
32. The method of claim 29 wherein the at least two marketing roles
comprises at least an executive role.
33. The method of claim 29 wherein the workbench corresponding to
each of the at least two role portals comprises a plurality of
different displayable pages capable of being displayed on one of
the at least one display.
34. The method of claim 33 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages comprises at least a displayable page providing a
workflow view of marketing strategies and associated tasks.
35. The method of claim 34 wherein the displayable page providing a
workflow view further provides access to a workflow software
application.
36. The method of claim 33 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for
marketing campaign management.
37. The method of claim 36 wherein the displayable marketing
campaign management page includes an icon for access to a campaign
management software application.
38. The method of claim 36 wherein the plurality of different
displayable pages includes at least a displayable page for a user
to access software applications for performing marketing analysis
tasks.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The invention relates to computer-based, real-time
collaboration and workflow management of marketing campaigns within
a marketing organization.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Intense global competition, emerging technology, incredible
reservoirs of marketing and customer data, less loyal but more
sophisticated customers demanding personalized, permission-based
attention and service, and a growing corporate emphasis on customer
relationship management (CRM) have given organizations the
imperative to do marketing faster, cheaper, and better. FIGS. 13A-B
show a comparison between how marketing campaigns have been
developed and launched in the past (and in fact how it is done
sometimes today), versus ideally how the process would work with
the right tools. The top half of FIGS. 13A-B shows a 26-week
process, and as shown there, for many companies even today, moving
from marketing idea to campaign execution is a long, laborious
series of steps. Collaboration is hindered by functional silos.
Data are gathered in batch from external departments and outside
agencies. By the time the campaign is out the door, the data have
aged, leaving opportunity to more quickly moving competitors. By
way of comparison, the bottom half of FIGS. 13A-B shows a 26-hour
process. In the beginning, gathered in a quality circle, the
cross-functional marketing team views analysis of real-time data,
brainstorms ideas, and assigns responsibilities. Then, with
integrated tools and data at their fingertips, they are able to
move quickly, employing technology to integrate customer data,
content, and fulfillment to deliver the marketing campaign, and
getting it right the first time. While this is the goal of a
marketing organizations, existing tools are falling short in
enabling the marketing organization to reach these goals.
[0003] There are a wide variety of marketing campaigns that a
marketing organization may launch. The type of marketing activities
that are most effective differ from industry to industry. Some
marketing campaigns have the goal of developing name-recognition,
while others are focused on specific potential or existing
customers. By way of example, marketing campaigns include general
advertising in print media (newspapers and magazines, for example),
on the air (radio and television), or on the internet. Other
marketing campaigns involve direct contact with potential or
existing customers, by telephone, traditional mail or e-mail.
[0004] Many different computer software applications have been
developed to assist in various aspects of the marketing process.
Generally, the software applications have been designed to handle
discrete functions in the process. For example, there are software
applications for campaign management, campaign optimization,
analytical modeling, analysis and reporting, to name some of the
more important functions. Also, there are software applications to
handle workflow, which typically are not designed specifically for
a marketing organization but are sometimes used by marketing
organizations.
[0005] Historically, the evolution of marketing organizations has
been a tale of automation of the discrete marketing functions, with
little integration of the functions. The current effort is to
integrate the many "siloed" software applications. In some cases,
specific software vendors have begun to offer software tools that
include more than one of the discrete marketing functions mentioned
above. For example, the software vendor E.piphany has recently
combined its campaign management software with software that does
marketing analysis and reporting. In some cases, software vendors
are aligning or merging to combine their collective software
capabilities, and through that process integration is
occurring.
[0006] A problem with these integration efforts, from the
perspective of the marketing organization, is the dependence on a
single vendor (or aligned vendors). To achieve integration, many
marketing organizations may be faced with the prospect of
abandoning a software application in which there has already been a
significant up-front capital investment in terms of buying the
software and training employees to use it. Further, no software
vendor (or alliance of vendors) has been successful in fully
integrating the functions of a marketing organization, and in
integrating customer feedback from on-going marketing campaigns
into the process.
[0007] The marketing software applications discussed above are too
often designed only for low-level functionaries. Within a marketing
organization, employees serve different roles, and one software
application does not fit all. For example, a marketing executive
for the organization may be responsible for the marketing of many
different products and services. A marketing manager, or brand
manager, is responsible for all aspects of the marketing efforts
for one or more specific products or services. A person responsible
for data analytics (that is, a data analyst) analyzes marketing
data to determine whether a proposed marketing campaign will be
successful, and uses modeling tools and data from third-party
sources to perform the job.
[0008] The concept of a "portal" is known in the context of the
internet. Internet portals provide a user with a portal page that
serves as a navigational aid to other internet sites. Also,
companies like America Online (AOL) and Yahoo, who offer a general
portal page to users who access the company's website, also allow
individual users to create a customized portal page, specifying the
information to appear on the customized portal page (for example,
stock quotes, sporting event scores, and local weather reports), as
well as links to specified websites. Some companies and
organizations have developed their own "intranet" websites with
access limited to employees and other authorized users. The
"intranet" website may have information and website links that are
helpful to the users.
SUMMARY
[0009] The invention provides a system for enabling real-time
collaboration and workflow management of a marketing campaign
within a marketing organization. In one aspect, the invention
provides unique user displays for the marketing organization's
computer system. A role portal component provides at least two
respective role portals that correspond to at least two marketing
roles within the marketing organization (for example, marketing
executive, marketing manager, data analyst, etc.). A workbench
component generates, on a user display, a workbench that
corresponds to each of the role portals. Each workbench permits a
user to access metric and workflow information associated with the
corresponding marketing role.
[0010] In various embodiments, the workbench for each role
comprises displayable web-pages that can be displayed on a user
display. These web-pages may include, for example, a home page with
high-level marketing information, a workflow view of marketing
strategies and associated tasks. The workflow view may provide
access to a workflow software application, and may provide access
to computer-accessible reports that may be used in completing
tasks. The displayable web-pages may also include a page for
marketing campaigns, with perhaps access to campaign management or
optimization software applications, and with metrics and other
information about the campaigns. The displayable web-pages may also
include a page for a user to access software applications for
performing marketing analysis tasks.
[0011] Advantages of the invention may include one or more of the
following. Users in a marketing organization are provided with more
efficient tools with which to perform their jobs. The marketing
organization and its various functions becomes more integrated. As
such, the time needed to develop, analyze and launch a marketing
campaign is greatly reduced. Also, real-time feedback from on-going
marketing campaigns, perhaps from customers, is more integrated
into the marketing process. As such, marketing organization may
address the pressing demand placed upon it to perform marketing
better, faster and cheaper.
[0012] The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are
set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below.
Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be
apparent from the description and drawings, and from the
claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the physical layout of a
networked computer system including aspects of the invention.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an organization's marketing
processes enabled by aspects of the invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a software architecture
that may be implemented on the networked computer system of FIG.
1.
[0016] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the design of the portal
layer included in the software architecture of FIG. 3.
[0017] FIGS. 5-12 are screen shots of a computer display displaying
portal web-pages in accordance with the invention.
[0018] FIGS. 13A-B are two parts of a pictorial diagram showing a
comparison between how marketing campaigns have been developed and
launched in the past (and in fact how it is done sometimes today),
versus ideally how the process would work with the right tools,
such as the tools provided by the invention.
[0019] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like
elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] A system for enabling real-time collaboration and workflow
management of a marketing campaign within a marketing organization
may reside on a networked computer system 10 of the type shown in
FIG. 1. The dashed line in FIG. 1 indicates the computer system 10,
which includes, in this example, only the computing resources of
the marketing organization and not third-party, or external,
computing resources. FIG. 1 is only one example physical
configuration for the system 10. As those skilled in the art will
recognize, numerous variations from the physical configuration
shown in FIG. 1 will be realizable without departing from the
invention.
[0021] The exemplary computer system 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes
various conventional centralized computer servers, namely, an
application server 20, a file server 30, and a web server 40. The
computing resources of the marketing organization may be
interconnected by wide area network (WAN) or local area network
(LAN) connections, depending on the geographic extent of the
marketing organization. User personal computers (PC's), indicated
as PC1, PC2, PC3, etc. in FIG. 1, may have access to the
centralized servers 20, 30 and 40, as is conventional, although
individual access rights will typically vary from user to user.
[0022] The web server 40, as is conventional, may serve as a
gateway for access to external computer resources, via the
internet, a virtual private line (VPN) within the internet, a
private leased line, or some other connection. Persons within the
marketing organization having remote PC's (indicated as Portable
PC1, Portable PC2, etc.) may access the computer system 10 through
the web server 40, and via the previously mentioned networks. In
addition, the web server 40 may similarly provide PC's within the
system 10 with access to external application server(s) 50,
external marketing data 60, and customer channels 70 (e.g., a call
center, advertising literature and e-mail distributors, and
advertising media).
[0023] In addition to serving as a gateway to external computing
resources, the web server 40 may have stored in its non-volatile
memory a portal program 42 designed in accordance with the
invention. The portal program 42, as will be discussed in more
detail later, allows users to retrieve portal pages and have the
pages displayed on their PC's (for example, PC1, PC2, PC3, etc.,
and Portable PC1, PC2, etc.) The portal program 42 may be in the
nature of an "intranet" web-site. A wide variety of software tools
are known and available to create the portal program 42. Use of
these tools to create a portal program 42 having features that will
be discussed later in this specification is well known in the art
of software programming. In an embodiment that will be described
later, portal development tools available from nQuire Software were
used to create the portal program 42.
[0024] The portal program 42 consists of program instructions
stored in non-volatile memory in the web-server 40. These
instructions are executed by a processor in the web-server 40, upon
requests being sent to the web-server 40, for example, from
personal computers PC1-PC3 or portable computers PC1-PC2. Also
stored in the web-server's 40 non-volatile memory are user portal
files for each user of the system 10. Each user has a unique
identifier, and so when a user accesses the web-server 40 for
access to the user's portal, the web-server 40, using the user's
unique identifier, accesses the appropriate user portal file, and
provides the user with the appropriate requested portal page. In
addition, each user has a role associated with their portal file.
As such, their portal will have a default design that meets the
needs of users fulfilling the role that the user serves in the
marketing organization. As will be discussed later in this
specification, each user also has the ability to modify further
their portal, and when the user does this, the modifications are
stored in the user's portal file.
[0025] The application server 20, as is conventional, stores
applications that may not be available on the PC desktops. The
software applications available on the application server 20 are
stored in the server's non-volatile memory. In the case of a
marketing organization, typical software applications assist in the
marketing functions of analysis and reporting 21, analytical
modeling 22, campaign optimization 23, campaign management 24,
workflow 25, and perhaps other functions not shown in FIG. 1. As
will be understood, a single software application may serve more
than one of the indicated marketing functions. Also, in some cases,
a software application may be available on one or more of the PC's,
either in addition to being available on the application server 20
or instead of being available on the application server 20. Whether
the software application is stored in the applications server or on
the PC desktop is dictated by the computing resource demands of the
application, pricing of the application, and other factors.
[0026] The file server 30, as is conventional, contains common
files that many users may need to access. In the case of a
marketing organization, the typical files, again shown in FIG. 1
stored in non-volatile memory, may include customer files 31 with
information about customers (for example, address information,
demographics, etc.), transaction files 32 with information about
transactions with customers that have taken place (for example,
when transactions occurred, where, quantity and amount information,
etc.), and campaign files 33 with information pertaining to a
specific marketing campaign.
[0027] Although the servers 20, 30 and 40 are shown separately in
FIG. 1, it will be understood that this is merely illustrative, and
not intended to dictate a particular physical configuration. For
example, a single server device may actually satisfy all of the
server functions of applications server 20, file server 30 and web
server 40. Also, multiple servers may make up each of the
illustrated servers 20, 30 and 40. These multiple servers may all
be at a common location or may be distributed at different
locations.
[0028] In FIG. 2, a marketing process flow 100 illustrates a model
marketing process where customer "insights" are fed back into the
marketing process in real-time fashion. The phases of a marketing
campaign are indicated along the top of the figure, and include (1)
an analysis phase, (2) a phase where the marketing campaign is
planned and developed, (3) a phase where the marketing campaign is
optimized and refined, (4) a phase for fulfillment and execution of
the marketing campaign, and (6) a phase where various metrics
regarding the marketing campaign are measured. The days that may be
required to complete each of the phases are indicated on the
figure. It will be recognized that the time for each phase is in
terms of days, as opposed to weeks which has been typical in the
past. It will also be recognized that the number of days indicated
on the figure are general estimates, and may be shorter or longer
depending on the nature of the marketing campaign, nature of the
industry, and other factors. With that said, however, FIG. 2 gives
an example of typical times for the phases as follows: 2-4 days for
phase 1, 2-4 days for phase 2, 1-2 days for phase 3, n days for
phase 4, which will be dictated by the type of marketing campaign
involved, and 1-2 days for phase 5.
[0029] FIG. 2 is also divided vertically to show the group
responsible for the tasks shown in the figure. The groups are
marketing management, agencies (for example, advertising agencies),
database marketing (that is, external vendors of marketing data),
information services (that is, data analysts), and operations. In
the phase 1 (analysis), marketing managers determine, in block 102,
the data that needs to be collected and the ideas that need to be
tested. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 2, an agency then, at blocks
104 and 106, may conduct survey research and provide research and
data back to marketing management. At the same time, a data analyst
(information services) may, at block 108, source and cleanse data
that will be helpful in determining an appropriate marketing
campaign. Then, at block 110, the data analyst analyzes the data in
various ways, which may include the use, at block 112, of
statistical models provided by outside vendors (using, for example,
server 50 in FIG. 1). The results of the analyst's work is then
available to marketing management. At block 114, marketing
management, using the results of the work done by the agency and
the data analyst, refines and analyzes the data.
[0030] In phase 2, the planning and development phase, marketing
management, at block 116, defines market segments toward which the
marketing campaign will be directed, and the type of campaign, or
program, that may be executed. The agency then creates content and
offers, for example, to implement the campaign, at block 118, and
the data analyst, at block 120, analyzes the proposed marketing
campaign to determine its probability of success. The results of
this work is provided to marketing management, who then plan the
execution of the campaign, at block 122. Then, the marketing
campaign, in phase 3, will be optimized and refined. Marketing
management, at block 124, generates and refines lists of customers,
for example. Then, at block 126, the agency may test the offer or
campaign, as the case may be, and may use a telemarketing group to
do so, as indicated by block 128. Information from the test is made
available to marketing management for further refinement of the
lists, at block 124. While the agency is doing its tests, the data
analyst may, at block 130, be analyzing the lists and segments
using a modeling program (block 132), which again may be provided
by an external vendor (server 50 in FIG. 1, for example).
[0031] In phase 4, fulfillment and execution, the campaigns are
run, as indicated by block 134. Various customer interaction
channels may be used for this, for example, telemarketing (block
128), a web-site (block 136), and a service center (block 138), to
name a few examples. These channels, in various forms, provide
operations reports, as shown by block 140, the results of which, in
phase 5 which may overlap with phase 4, are available for marketing
management to view, at block 142. In addition, as part of phase 5,
the agency may also conduct surveys research, at block 144, and the
data analyst may create various ad-hoc reports, at block 146, both
of which would also be available for marketing management to view,
at block 142.
[0032] In FIG. 3, a conceptual depiction of the computer system 10
of FIG. 1 illustrates the novel architecture of the system 10. This
conceptual depiction is not dependent on the physical configuration
of the system 10 shown in FIG. 1, as will be appreciated by those
skilled in the technical field. As mentioned previously, the
computer system 10 of FIG. 1 includes a portal program 42 in
accordance with the invention. In FIG. 3, the portal layer 42 is
shown at the top of the conceptual depiction of the system 10
because the portal layer 42 provides users with views and access to
information and applications within the system 10. The portal layer
42 may be in the nature of a organization "intranet" site. The
portal layer 42 includes a role portal component 44 and a workbench
component 46. The role portal component 46 provides a baseline
portal design that is tailored to the needs of the type of role
that the user serves in the marketing organization. The workbench
component 46 is the aspect of the portal that is displayed to the
user on a PC and which permits the user to access software
applications and marketing information appropriate for the role of
the user.
[0033] A workflow process enablement block 25 is shown below the
portal layer 42, because the portal layer 42 provides access to
workflow tools. Because there is workflow associated with each of
the different marketing functions 21-24, the workflow process
enablement block is shown overarching over all of the marketing
functions 21-24 to completely integrate them within the marketing
organization. A data integration layer 80 integrates all of the
databases 31-33 together and provides a logical view of all of the
information contained in all of the databases 31-33. Finally, the
external data sources 60 and customer interaction channels 70 are
shown to the sides of the system 10, but integrated with the system
10.
[0034] In FIG. 4, the conceptual design of the portal layer 42 is
shown in detail. As mentioned previously, the portal layer 42 may
be in the nature of a organization's "intranet" site. Unlike a
typical "intranet" web-site, however, the portal layer 42
"intranet" will be user-specific, and tailored to the role the user
serves in the marketing organization. As shown in FIG. 4, the
portal layer 42 includes the previously mentioned role portal
component 44, within which is identified example roles that may be
appropriate for a particular marketing organization. The example
roles are executive, marketing manager, and data analyst. Other
roles may be appropriate depending on the organization.
[0035] The workbench component 46 may include several portal
web-pages. Users will have ready access to the different portal
web-pages included in their workbench. The first portal web-page
will typically be a home page. On the homepage there may be
top-level information such as top-level scorecards for marketing
efforts, a listing of tasks to perform, important alerts, company
and other news, and website links. Second, there may be an
"activities" page, which consists of a listing of tasks that need
to be completed (which may be provided in this page instead of on
the home page, or in addition to appearing on the home page), as
well as computer-accessible resources that may be helpful to the
user in completed the tasks. Third, there may be a "customer
campaigns" page. On this page there may be links to various
software applications, such as the campaign management software
application 24 and the campaign optimization software application
23 (see FIG. 1). Also on the "marketing campaigns" page there may
be high-level information describing the campaigns and metrics
pertaining to the campaigns. Fourth, there may be a "marketing
analysis" page, which may be most applicable to data analysts. On
this page, there may be access to an analytical modeling software
application 22 or 50 (see FIG. 1), as well as the results of
analyses. Finally, there may be an "industry news" page.
[0036] Importantly, the workbench component 46 is designed to
provide pages that give the most applicable information to a user
according to the role the user serves within the marketing
organization. For example, the baseline design of the workbench
component 46 for an executive will be more top-level in nature,
whereas low level functionaries may have more detail for projects
that fall within their responsibility, but with perhaps less
breadth in terms of the projects that are on the workbench. In
addition, users may be provided with the ability to customize their
workbench component, although the role-specific character of the
workbench component may continue to persist even after
customization.
[0037] FIGS. 5-12 show example portal web-pages that may be
displayed on the PC of users. In FIGS. 5-12, the portal-web pages
are for a marketing organization for a fictitious on-line stock
trading company. FIG. 5 is a display 200 that includes an example
portal home page 230 for a marketing executive user. On the top of
the display 200 is a portal page selection portion 210 of the
display 200. In this selection portion 210, selectable labels 212,
214 and 216 enable the selection of the role of marketing
executive, marketing manager, or data analysts. It bears noting
that the executive's display 200 may not actually have labels 214
and 216 for the non-relevant roles of marketing manager and data
analysts, although that option may be desirable in some cases. In
any event, the display 200 shown in FIGS. 5-12 are examples of
displays that may be provided to a systems administrator, and thus
may have more options than any one user's display may have. The
underline of the executive role label 212 indicates that the
executive role is currently selected, and thus executive portal
pages will be displayed in the lower portion 230 of the display
200. Also in the portal page selection portion 210 of the display
200 are tabs 220, 222, 224 and 226 to select the type of workbench
page--home 220, activities 222, campaigns 224, or customer analysis
226. The highlighting of the home page tab 220 indicates the home
page is selected, and thus a home page is the type of workbench
that is displayed in the lower portion 230 of the display 200.
[0038] The executive home page 230 (FIG. 5) includes the workbench
categories for the home page shown in FIG. 4 and previously
discussed. On the viewer's left side of the home page 230 is a
company scorecard 232. A wide variety of metrics may be displayed
under this scorecard. For example, the company scorecard 232 may
include high-level key company customer retention and financial
metrics, as shown in FIG. 5. For each metric, the scorecard 232 may
provide a current "value" for a specified time period, a "target"
for the same time period, and a "status" indicator. Color-coded
status indicators 234 may be included for each scorecard metric,
with green indicating "on target," yellow indicating "at risk," and
red indicating "off target." An alternative or additional scorecard
that may be included on an executive home page 230 may be an
"employee scorecard" showing overview information about employees
for whom the executive is responsible (for example, number of
employees and attrition rate), and revenues per employee. Again,
color-coded status indicators may be included for each employee
scorecard metric.
[0039] A customer scorecard 236 may be positioned in the middle of
the home page 230. Positioning the customer scorecard 236 in the
middle is helpful because this information is often the most
important information needed by the user. The customer scorecard
236 may include key customer metrics in retention, acquisition and
development. In the example shown where the marketing organization
is for an on-line stock trading company, the retention measure
metrics may include, for examples, the number of accounts closed
over a specified period, percent asset retention, percent customer
retention rate, and percent customer satisfaction. For each metric,
the customer scorecard 236 may provide a current "value," a
"target," and a "status," as discussed previously in connection
with other metrics. Next, the "acquisition measures" may include an
average cost of acquiring a new customer, the number of customers
acquired, and an average profitability measure for new customers.
Then, the "development measures" may include the number of accounts
held by each existing customer, the total number of active customer
accounts, the number of customers, and revenues, costs and net
income per customer. Again, for each of these metrics, the customer
scorecard 236 may provide a current measure, a target measure, and
a status indicator.
[0040] On the right-hand side, the home page 230 may provide
company news 238, news links 240 and research links 242. The
company news 238 shows a stock chart for the company (ticker symbol
"MEGAB"). Also provided in the company news 238 is a hyperlink to
the most recent quarterly earnings statement. The news links
section 240 of the home page 230 has links to various new source
web-sites, some being of specific interest for executives in a
marketing organization for an on-line trading company (for example,
the "CBS Marketwatch" link), and others being of general interest
(for example, the "Weather" link). The research links 242 may
include market research reports that to which the marketing
executive may need ready access. These market research reports may
be reports created specifically by the marketing organization, and
stored within the marketing organization's computer resources (for
example, in the file server 30 shown in FIG. 1). Alternatively, the
market research reports may be available from an external source
(for example, from an outside vendor 60 shown in FIG. 1).
[0041] For each metric category (232, 236, 238, 240 and 242)
included in the executive's home page, it is possible to edit, or
personalize, the information that appears in each category. These
function are made possible in conventional portal development
tools, such as the tools provided by nQuire Software as were used
in this case. For example, typically there will be a default
display that is the same for each role, and then the specific user
may personalize the workbench categories starting from that
baseline. This is done by clicking on an "edit" label 244
associated with the category to edit. The editing may be done
similarly to how the editing of personal portal web-pages is
conventionally performed. For example, after clicking the "edit"
label, the user is provided with the ability to add metrics,
information, or links. In addition, the layout of the page 230 may
be revised, as is conventional with personal web-pages, with tools
accessible at labels 245 identified as "new column," "new page,"
and "properties." The layout of individual columns on the page 230
may be revised, as is also conventional, with tools accessible at
labels 246 identified as "new section," "add folder," and "edit
column."
[0042] As shown in FIG. 6, a portal home page 330 for a marketing
manager is similar in some respects to the portal home page 230 for
the marketing executive (FIG. 5), but also different in some
respects. The categories that are the most different are in the
left-hand side of the home page 330. The marketing manager home
page 330 includes a scorecard 332 for specific marketing
activities, along with status indicators 234 of the type previously
discussed. More specifically, the marketing activities scorecard
332 breaks down the marketing activities into customer retention
activities, customer development activities, and customer
acquisition activities. Retention activities include programs such
as a loyalty program, a program to retain high-value single
customers, etc. Development activities include programs directed at
growing brokerage accounts with low transaction numbers, growing
the average transaction value, etc. Finally, the acquisition
activities include programs aimed at cross-selling family home
loans and credit card ("CC") customers, for example.
[0043] Next, the home page 330 includes a workflow workbench called
"my tasks" 350. This workflow workbench may make use of a workflow
software application 25 provided on the application server 20 (see
FIG. 1). A filter 352 allows the user to enter the name of a person
whose assigned tasks are to be displayed. The user's own name may
typically be the default. The workflow workbench 350 may also
include a list 354 of tasks to be performed. The list 354 may have
conventional "drill-down" capability, so that broad tasks may be
expanded to show specific tasks that make up the broad task. The
user may interact with the workflow software application. Access to
the workflow software application, in this example, is not provided
on the home page 330, but is provided in an "activities" page, to
be discussed later.
[0044] The customer scorecard 336 for the marketing manager may be
similar to the customer scorecard 236 for the marketing executive
(compare FIG. 5). The only difference in this example is that a
different type of cost data 356 is provided which is more tailored
to the marketing executive's needs. Other workbench categories
(company news, news and research) for the marketing manager in this
example are generally the same as with the marketing executive,
except for a few differences attributable to personalization by the
user.
[0045] FIG. 7 shows a portal home page 430 for a user having a data
analyst role. In this home page 430, the workbench components of
marketing activities 432, "my tasks" 450, company news 438 and news
440 are all general the same as with the marketing manager home
page 330 (FIG. 6), with slight differences attributable to
personalization. In the research links category 442, the types of
links identified are those that are more applicable to the data
analyst role. In this example, the research links 442 include a
link to a customer analytic record and a specific analytic model
(called a "brokerage chum model"). The major difference between the
data analyst homepage 430 and the home pages for the other roles
lies in the campaign scorecard 460 provided in the center of the
home page 430. The campaign scorecard 460 provides metrics
pertaining to specific marketing campaigns (specifically, the
campaigns listed in the "marketing activities" workbench area 332
of FIGS. 6 and 432 of FIG. 7). For each marketing program, or
campaign, the campaign scorecard 460 provides a campaign
description, the count of contacts made in the campaign, the number
of responses, the response rate, and the conversion rate for those
who responded.
[0046] FIG. 8 shows an "activities" page 530 for a marketing
executive. Although this page 530 is for an executive, "activities"
pages for other roles may be generally similar, and thus are not
shown in this specification. A "task details" workbench area 560
provides details about specific tasks selected in the task listing
554. As mentioned previously, the user may interact with the
workflow software application that may run on a central
applications server (for example, the applications server 20 shown
in FIG. 1). The "task details" workbench area 560 provides the
interface through which a user interacts with the workflow software
application 25 (see FIG. 1). Using the "task details" workbench
area 560, a user is able to enter new tasks to be done, indicate
tasks are completed, and other conventional actions. The
"activities" page 530 also includes links to online references 565
that may assist the user in completing assigned tasks. These online
references, in this example, are references that are stored within
the marketing organization's computing resources 10, although in
some cases the online links 565 may include links to resources
maintained externally.
[0047] FIG. 9 shows a marketing "campaigns" page 630 for a
marketing executive. On the left side of the executive's campaign
page 630, an "active campaigns" workbench area 670 identifies the
various marketing campaigns currently underway, and for each
provides high-level return-on-investment (ROI) metrics. The
executive's campaigns page 630 also includes a campaign history
workbench area 660, which is similar to the campaign scorecard 460
provided on the data analyst's home page 430 (see FIG. 7), except
that the campaign history workbench area 660 shown in FIG. 9
includes an additional spreadsheet column showing the percent of
contacts in which there was a purchase (which is simply the
response rate percentage multiplied by the conversion rate
percentage). Finally, the campaigns page 630 includes a tool 672 to
select the campaigns that will be shown in the campaign history
workbench area 660. Selection categories, as shown in FIG. 9, may
include the type of campaign, or promotion (e.g., acquisition,
development, and retention), a description of the promotion, the
marketing channel for the campaign (e.g., e-mail solicitations,
mailings by traditional mail, and telephone solicitations), and the
date of the campaign.
[0048] FIG. 10 shows a campaigns page 730 for a marketing manager.
This campaigns page 730 is very similar to the campaigns page 630
for the executive (FIG. 9). The only difference is that the
marketing manager's campaigns page 730 includes a workbench area
774 for access to a campaign management software application 25
which may reside on the applications server 24 shown in FIG. 1. A
user having a marketing manager role will traditionally be the
person whose job function requires use of the campaign management
software application 25. An executive user, by way of contrast,
will typically not need to use the campaign management software
application 25, and so access to it is not provided on the
executive's campaigns page 630 (FIG. 9).
[0049] FIG. 11 shows a "customer analysis" page 830 for a data
analyst. In the upper-left of the page 830, a workbench area 876
provides access to an analytical modeling software application,
such as application 22 provided on applications server 20 (FIG. 1).
Such access is provided because typically the data analyst job
function requires frequent access to the modeling software
application 22. Another workbench area 878 allows the data analyst
add a marketing report that was created using an outside vendor's
services (accessing server 50 or database 60, shown in FIG. 1) into
the computer system 10 for the marketing organization. Adding the
created report to the organization's computer system 10 allows it
to be accessed by others. Next, a segment overview workbench area
880 shows customer breakdowns for a specified market segment.
[0050] On the right-hand side, the data analyst's "customer
analysis" page 830 provides various detailed metrics regarding
customers. These metrics are all broken down by customer type (for
example, dual income no kids ("Dinks"), empty nesters, families
with teens, retired, young families, and young singles). A key
metrics workbench area 882 may provide metric information such as
total product count, products per customer, total assets, and total
profitability. A demographics workbench area 884 includes metrics,
again broken down by customer type, including, for example, average
age, average income, average family size, percent married, and
percent male. Finally, a psychographics workbench area includes
metrics such as percentages of customers who value fitness, spend
time outdoors, travel a lot, work in the home ("domestic"), engage
in cultural activities, would be likely to invest in "blue chip"
investments, and are "do-it-yourselfers."
[0051] FIG. 12 shows a customer analysis page 930 for an executive.
This executive customer analysis page 930 includes a segment
overview area 980 as with the data analyst customer analysis page
830 (FIG. 11). However, the segment overview area 980 for the
executive includes additional information 988 giving the consumer
count for each of the consumer types. The executive customer
analysis page 930, unlike the data analyst customer analysis page
830 (FIG. 11), does not include a workbench area 876 that provides
access to an analytical modeling software application. Nor does the
executive customer analysis page 930 include a differs from the
data analytis does not include the access executive workbench area
878 for adding a marketing report into the computer system 10 for
the marketing organization. These workbench areas are not provided
for the executive because they are typically not functions
performed by the executive. On the right-hand side of the
executive's customer analysis page 930, the same metric information
is shown as is shown on the data analyst's customer analysis page
830 (FIG. 12).
[0052] Referring again to FIG. 2, it will be appreciated that with
the various tasks occurring concurrently, the system 10 provides
users with the information they need, when they need it, so the
process is not unnecessarily delayed. For example, the results of
the work done by the marketing manager and the data analyst are
immediately available to each other, and to other marketing
managers and data analysts. Moreover, it will be appreciated that
the portal program uses role information to provide users with the
information and access to resources that users need to fulfill
their roles, without being deluged with lots of data and
information that has no bearing on their job function, and thus
leads to inefficiencies. Another advantage of the invention is the
reduction of training time needed for users to use the
organization's computer system to do his or her job, which in some
cases (for example, executives) may be a complete barrier to a user
using available computing resources.
[0053] A number of embodiments of the invention have been
described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various
modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within
the scope of the following claims.
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