Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100185503 | Product Warranties Having a Residual Value - The present disclosure is directed to product warranties having a residual value and a potential rebate based on the residual value. The residual value can thus be inversely related to the number of claims filed against the warranty. | 07-22-2010 |
20110202382 | WORKFORCE PLANNING - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with workforce planning. One example method includes receiving a project data associated with a project opportunity. The project data includes a probability data. The probability data describes the likelihood of a project opportunity being selected. The project data includes a workforce demand. The example method may also include establishing an objective function that is based, at least in part, on the project data, and a set of constraints. The objective function concerns a workforce allocation plan. The example method may also include minimizing a workforce cost by solving the objective function in light of the set of constraints. Solving the objective function includes optimizing a tradeoff between labor utilization and project demand fulfillment. The example method may also include providing the workforce allocation plan. | 08-18-2011 |
20110208557 | Supply and Demand Consolidation in Employee Resource Planning - A method of employee resource planning includes consolidating and defining a demand for employee resources needed to accomplish a potential project in terms of a plurality of jobs and a supply of employee resources in terms of a plurality of employees, each job and each employee having a plurality of job attributes uniformly categorized into indices. Employees in the supply are mapped to corresponding jobs in the demand according to the job attributes. | 08-25-2011 |
20110231215 | OPTIMIZATION OF A RESOURCE MATCHING MODEL BY MAPPING A MODEL TO A BIPARTITE GRAPH - Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to a mechanism for optimizing a resource matching model. In particular, a mechanism is provided to access, in a resource matching system, input data for a mixed integer programming (MIP) model, which may include resource data describing resources and demand data describing corresponding demand instances. Mechanisms are also provided to convert the MIP model to a binary integer programming (BIP) model by redefining the input data to unary data and to map the BIP model to a bipartite graph using the unary data. The resulting bipartite graph may include a number of nodes including a first set corresponding to the resources and a second set corresponding to the demand instances, and a number of edges corresponding to decision variables of the BIP model, each edge representing a potential allocation of a resource in the first set to a demand instance in the second set. | 09-22-2011 |
20120087486 | CALL CENTER RESOURCE ALLOCATION - A method for determining call center resource allocation can include modeling call center performance over an operations time period using a computer. A number of replicas of the modeled call center performance are simulated, using the computer, over a planning time period, each replica having random contact arrivals and contact service times following a stochastic arrival and service process according to a probability distributions of inter-arrival time and service time. Multiple iterations of each simulation are run on the computer to optimize call center resource allocation. A particular simulation iteration is tested against a criterion of convergence, and call center resource is allocated based on the particular simulation iteration with a successful criterion of convergence. | 04-12-2012 |
20120123816 | SELECTING SUPPLIERS TO PERFORM SERVICES FOR AN ENTERPRISE - One embodiment is a method that receives historical data of suppliers and applies, to the historical data, a mathematical optimization system that includes a set of mathematical equations and inequalities that express capabilities and capacities of the suppliers. The mathematical optimization system includes an objective function that minimizes a number of the suppliers to perform third-party labor services for an enterprise. The method selects a sub-set of the suppliers to perform the third-party labor services for the enterprise. | 05-17-2012 |
20120130915 | SCORING A MATCHING BETWEEN A RESOURCE AND A JOB - A resource is scored based on a matching of the resource to a job. Job attributes for the job and resource attributes for the resource are identified. A hierarchy of the job attributes that includes dependencies between the job attributes is determined. A score for the resource is determined using the hierarchy of the job attributes and the resource attributes. The score represents a matching between the resource and the job. | 05-24-2012 |
20120226640 | Behavior and information model to yield more accurate probability of successful outcome - A report indicating a user-reported probability of a successful outcome is received. A behavior and information model is estimated based on the report. The behavior and information model includes a behavior model component having a bias parameter and a consistency parameter. The behavior and information model includes an information model component having a first user-believed probability of a successful outcome and a second user-believed probability of a successful outcome. The behavior and information model is used to yield a model-determined probability of a successful outcome that more accurately reflects a probability of a successful outcome than the user-reported probability of a successful outcome does. | 09-06-2012 |
20120253879 | Optimizing workforce capacity and capability - A workforce capacity and capability at an entity is optimized. Values for parameters related to the workforce capacity and capability at the entity are received. A workforce capacity and capability model is used to generate values for decision variables related to the workforce capacity and capability at the entity, based on the values for the parameters that have been received. The workforce capacity and capability model models uncertainty associated with a workforce. The values for the decision variables assist evaluation of workforce capacity and capability strategic decisions | 10-04-2012 |
20120265569 | DETERMINING WORK PLACEMENT PREFERENCES - Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to determine work placement preferences are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving, via a processor, a request for a resource to fill an open position within an organization, the request including a primary resource group for the open position, determining with the processor resource group preferences of resource groups using a structure of the organization that includes functional relationships between the resource groups, calculating weights for the resource group preferences based on respective organizational distances in the structure of the respective resource groups from the primary resource group, determining a target resource group with a greatest calculated weight for a resource group preference from among the resource groups that have at least one available resource, and selecting a resource within the target resource group to fill the open position. | 10-18-2012 |
20130060649 | Selecting Products for Retailer to Offer for Sale to Consumers - Each product of a number of products is assigned to one of a number of popularity tiers. The popularity tiers are ordered from a most popular tier to a least popular tier. The popularity tiers indicate how popular the products are expected to be among consumers. Each product is assigned to one of a number of margin tiers. The margin tiers are ordered from a highest margin tier to a lowest margin tier. The margin tiers indicate how much money a retailer makes in selling the products to the consumers. Which of the products to offer for sale by the retailer to the consumers are selected by applying decision rules to the products as have been assigned to the popularity tiers and to the margin tiers. | 03-07-2013 |