On-time delivery, tracking and reporting

Claim 1

In a computer system which maintains customer order and delivery information, a method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising the following steps performed by the computer system: maintaining a customer preferences database having delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers, said preferences including preferred early and late delivery limits; specifying ship/dock flags in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers to indicate whether said customers consider delivery dates for particular products to be ship dates or dock dates; specifying desired advance delivery times in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; creating a customer order entry for a particular customer, said customer order entry including a customer-requested delivery date supplied by said particular customer; calculating a customer-preferred ship date for the customer order entry based at least in part upon the customer-requested delivery date and at least in part upon the customer preferences maintained in the customer preferences database for the particular customer; showing the calculated customer-preferred ship date to an order scheduler; obtaining a targeted ship date for the customer order entry from the order scheduler; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; and generating on-time product delivery statistics for individual customers; said step of generating the on-time product delivery statistics including a further step of determining whether a particular product delivery is on time based upon data in the customer preferences database for the particular customer associated with the particular product delivery.

Claim 9

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising: maintaining a customer preferences database having delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers, said preferences including preferred early and late delivery limits, preferred performance measurement species, desired advance delivery times, and data indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates; creating a customer order entry for a particular customer, said customer order entry including a customer-requested delivery date supplied by said particular customer; calculating a customer-preferred ship date for the customer order entry based at least in part upon the customer-requested delivery date and at least in part upon the particular customer's specified desired advance delivery time; routing the customer order entry to an order scheduler; showing the order scheduler the calculated customer-preferred ship date; obtaining a targeted ship date for the customer order entry from the order scheduler; calculating a targeted ship date window based upon the targeted ship date and the particular customer's preferred early and late delivery limits; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; generating on-time product delivery statistics for individual customers in accordance with the individual customers' specified preferred performance measurement species; said step of generating the on-time product delivery statistics including a further step of determining whether a particular product delivery is on time based upon the individual customers' preferred early and late delivery limits.

Claim 10

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising: maintaining a customer preferences database having delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers, said preferences including preferred early and late delivery limits, preferred performance measurement species, desired advance delivery times, and data indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates; creating a customer order entry for a particular customer, said customer order entry including a customer-requested delivery date supplied by said particular customer; calculating a customer-preferred ship date for the customer order entry based at least in part upon the customer-requested delivery date and at least in part upon the particular customer's specified desired advance delivery time; routing the customer order entry to an order scheduler; showing the order scheduler the calculated customer-preferred ship date; obtaining a targeted ship date for the customer order entry from the order scheduler; calculating a targeted ship date window based upon the targeted ship date and the particular customer's preferred early and late delivery limits; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; generating on-time product delivery statistics for individual customers in accordance with the individual customers' specified preferred performance measurement species; said step of generating the on-time product delivery statistics including a further step of determining whether a particular product delivery is on time based upon the individual customers' preferred early and late delivery limits.

Claim 33

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising: determining and storing in a database of customer preferences data representing a customer's early and late delivery limits for deliveries; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer defines delivery date as shipped date or received date for deliveries; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer includes weekends and holidays in evaluating whether a delivery is on-time; determining and storing how performance is measured by the customer, whether by dollars, by units, by line items, by shipments; determining and storing in the customer preferences database the customer's desired advance delivery time; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer considers a partial shipment in determining on-time delivery; determining and storing the customer's preferred reporting period; periodically prompting a user to update the preferences; receiving an order from the customer for a particular delivery, and receiving a requested delivery date; accessing the customer preferences database and calculating the customer's preferred ship date as being the customer's requested delivery date minus the customer's desired advance delivery; sending the customer's preferred ship date to a human order scheduler; receiving a targeted ship date from the human order scheduler; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; receiving the actual delivery date for the particular delivery; generating delivery statistics according to the customer's reporting period, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database including how performance is measured by the customer, whether by dollars, by units, by line items, by shipments, including whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and including whether the customer includes weekends and holidays in evaluating whether a delivery is on-time; and recording reasons for deliveries which were not on time.

Claim 34

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising: determining and storing in a database of customer preferences data representing a customer's early and late delivery limits for deliveries; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer defines delivery date as shipped date or received date for deliveries; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer includes weekends and holidays in evaluating whether a delivery is on-time; determining and storing how performance is measured by the customer, whether by dollars, by units, by line items, by shipments; determining and storing in the customer preferences database the customer's desired advance delivery time; determining and storing in the customer preferences database whether the customer considers a partial shipment in determining on-time delivery; determining and storing the customer's preferred reporting period; periodically prompting a user to update the preferences; receiving an order from the customer for a particular delivery, and receiving a requested delivery date; accessing the customer preferences database and calculating the customer's preferred ship date as being the customer's requested delivery date minus the customer's desired advance delivery; sending the customer's preferred ship date to a human order scheduler; receiving a targeted ship date from the human order scheduler; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database indicating whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; receiving the actual delivery date for the particular delivery; generating delivery statistics according to the customer's reporting period, taking into consideration data from the customer preferences database including how performance is measured by the customer, whether by dollars, by units, by line items, by shipments, including whether the customer defines delivery dates to be ship dates or dock dates, and including whether the customer includes weekends and holidays in evaluating whether a delivery is on-time; and recording reasons for deliveries which were not on time.

Claim 35

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising the following steps: maintaining a customer preferences database having delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers, said preferences including preferred early and late delivery limits, preferred performance measurement species, and desired advance delivery times; specifying reporting periods in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; creating a customer order entry for a particular customer, said customer order entry including a customer-requested delivery date supplied by said particular customer; calculating a customer-preferred ship date for the customer order entry based at least in part upon the customer-requested delivery date and at least in part upon the particular customer's specified desired advance delivery time; routing the customer order entry to an order scheduler; showing the order scheduler the calculated customer-preferred ship date; obtaining a targeted ship date for the customer order entry from the order scheduler; specifying ship/dock flags in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers to indicate whether said customers consider delivery dates for particular products to be ship dates or dock dates; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration whether the particular customer considers a delivery date to be a ship date or dock date, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; specifying days-in-week variables in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; specifying partial shipment allowed flags in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; obtaining actual dock dates for individual product deliveries; generating on-time product delivery statistics for individual customers in accordance with the individual customers' specified preferred performance measurement species and based upon that customer's specified reporting periods; said step of generating the on-time product delivery statistics including a further step of determining whether a particular product delivery is on time based upon the individual customers' preferred early and late delivery limits, upon the customer's days-in-week variable counting a partial delivery which is on time as a fraction of an on-time delivery if a customer's partial shipment allowed flag indicates that said customer allows partial on-time shipments to be counted in on-time statistics, and based upon that delivery's actual dock date.

Claim 36

A method of setting and reporting product delivery dates comprising the following steps: maintaining a customer preferences database having delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers, said preferences including preferred early and late delivery limits, preferred performance measurement species, and desired advance delivery times; specifying reporting periods in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; creating a customer order entry for a particular customer, said customer order entry including a customer-requested delivery date supplied by said particular customer; calculating a customer-preferred ship date for the customer order entry based at least in part upon the customer-requested delivery date and at least in part upon the particular customer's specified desired advance delivery time; routing the customer order entry to an order scheduler; showing the order scheduler the calculated customer-preferred ship date; obtaining a targeted ship date for the customer order entry from the order scheduler; specifying ship/dock flags in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers to indicate whether said customers consider delivery dates for particular products to be ship dates or dock dates; calculating a customer expected delivery date by adding data representing anticipated shipping delay to the targeted ship date, taking into consideration whether the particular customer considers a delivery date to be a ship date or dock date, and by also adding the customer's desired advance delivery time to the targeted ship date; specifying days-in-week variables in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; specifying partial shipment allowed flags in the delivery and reporting preferences for individual customers; obtaining actual dock dates for individual product deliveries; generating on-time product delivery statistics for individual customers in accordance with the individual customers' specified preferred performance measurement species and based upon that customer's specified reporting periods; said step of generating the on-time product delivery statistics including a further step of determining whether a particular product delivery is on time based upon the individual customers' preferred early and late delivery limits, upon the customer's days-in-week variable counting a partial delivery which is on time as a fraction of an on-time delivery if a customer's partial shipment allowed flag indicates that said customer allows partial on-time shipments to be counted in on-time statistics, and based upon that delivery's actual dock date.