GB2398649A

GB2398649A - Construction of reminder systems

Info

Publication number: GB2398649A
Application number: GB0303704A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jaspal Bahra
Original assignee: FIRST GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES Ltd
Current assignee: FIRST GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES Ltd
Priority date: 2003-02-18
Filing date: 2003-02-18
Publication date: 2004-08-25
Also published as: GB0303704D0

Abstract

An automated reminder creation system comprises an hierarchical question tree allowing the selection of at least one reminder format from a plurality of such formats. In this way, a user is guided to the correct reminder structure without having to understand the detailed reasons as to why. To help lay users and provide clarity of interpretation, it is preferred that the questions of the tree are designed to require a answer being one of a restricted list of answers such as yes, no and a date input as a minimum. It is also preferred that at least one container class is defined, to each of which a plurality individual reminder formats are associateable, the reminders in that class inheriting rules or settings from the class. This assists in the global maintenance of the system in that revised class definitions can be distributed as rules change. There is then no need to update each reminder individually.

Description

À '. i.: I.: Construction of Reminder Systems

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tool for the construction of reminder systems.

BACKGROUND ART

The present world is reliant on deadlines. Businesses set deadlines for suppliers in order to meet deadlines set by the customers. Governments and government agencies set deadlines for the people and businesses operating within their jurisdiction. The consequences of failing to meet deadlines varies; missed contractual deadlines can lead to penalty payments and/or the loss of confidence in the business relationship whereas failure to meet governmental deadlines can result in fines or (in extremis) prosecution or other enforcement procedures.

In the UK, deadlines are set for filing personal income tax returns and company accounts information. During the calendar year 2002, the UK government collected close to ú100M in late filing penalties in respect of these two categories. UK business face potentially up to 50 deadlines per year.

ee..: Àe:. À: À Àe. . ::: : À À À To meet these deadlines, persons and companies have previously sought expert advice or analysed the information provided by government etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention therefore provides an automated reminder creation system comprising an hierarchical question tree allowing the selection of at least one reminder format from a plurality of such formats. In this way, a user is guided to the correct reminder structure without having to understand the detailed reasons as to why.

To help lay users and provide clarity of interpretation, it is preferred that the questions of the tree are designed to require a answer being one of a restricted list of answers such as yes, no and a date input as a minimum.

It is also preferred that at least one container class is defined, to each of which a plurality individual reminder formats are associateable, the reminders in that class inheriting rules or settings from the class. This assists in the global maintenance of the system in that revised class definitions can be distributed as rules change. There is then no need to update each reminder individually.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying figures in which; Figure 1 shows an hierarchical question tree according to the present invention; and Figures 2 and 3 show first and second parts respectively of a reminder rule setup configuration step.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The invention provides an easy to use and intuitive toolkit that allows the creation of websites and reminder systems for a wide variety of purposes. This 1. ,.. '., ''.. 2.2 À À . . . toolkit is based on a hierarchy of systems, which together form the basis for the overall Reminder Toolkit. We will describe this hierarchy from the top down.

Website creation At the top of the hierarchy is a tool which allows the creation and editing of a completely new website. This will create a new skeleton website which contains holders for text and descriptions and is essentially a container for all the reminder systems.

Questionnaire Tree The questionnaire tree is a tool to allow the creation of a tree of questions, the possible answers to which are suitably limited, such as yes/no/date. The tool allows the business intelligence of a human being to be captured and used effectively. The questionnaire allows an expert in tax law, for example, to incorporate their knowledge in the form of easily understood questions. The questions would then be answered by the end user, to allow the creation of reminders in respect of key dates. The important point to note is that the end user need not know anything about the complexity of the rules and knowledge used to create the reminders. All the end user needs to do is to answer some simple questions.

The Questionnaire tool is generic enough to be applicable to almost any purpose. At the end of each branch of the questionnaire tree is a specific reminder type (set out below).

Figure 1 shows a simple two-stage question tree 10. A user is presented with a first question 12, which has two possible answers, yes (Y) or no (N). If the user answers 'yes', they are presented with a second question 14. This also has two possible answers, yes (Y) or no (N). According to the answer presented, the user is directed to one of two possible reminder types, 16 or 18.

If the user had answered 'no'to the first question 12 then they would have been directed to the alternative second question 20. Again, this has two possible I.: ace e. ;: ::: at: À.e e À À À B. answers, yes (Y) or no (N) and according to the answer presented, the user is directed to one of two further possible reminder types, 22 or 24.

The tree is hierarchical since there is a progressive flow from first to second questions. However, it could be significantly more complex than the simple tree shown in figure I, for example by the inclusion of more levels, by interlinking within levels such as 'yes then no' leading to the same outcome as no then yes', by the inclusion of the same question at different locations, or by other variations.

Reminder Container This tool groups reminders of a certain type together; for example all reminders associated with VAT (Value Added Tax, also known as Sales Tax, Purchase Tax & Goods & Services Tax in jurisdictions other than the UK). In this case, a new reminder type called VAT would be created. This container would then contain all reminders associated with VAT and any special dates associated with VAT, say, which would then be available to all reminders actually in the container. Thus, general changes in the field of VAT can be applied globally to all VAT reminders.

Reminder Types The next tool is for the actual reminders themselves. This is where specific reminders at the end of each branch of the questionnaire are created.

These reminders are highly configurable and the tool allows various default options to be set and to specify which portions are editable.

The reminder types have various properties which can be set here, including title, exclusivity, short description, long description, default description, input date question, input date (to be, possibly, entered by the end user), formula (to calculate the start date), fixed date, default email/SMS comment, default recurrence and default snooze days. An "exclusive" reminder is one that cannot be duplicated. For example, a person can only have one birthday and a cese.t cet Hi;; À 1 company can only have on accounts return deadline. These reminders would therefore be exclusive.

As can be seen, this reminder type tool is more flexible than simply fitting into the overall scheme proposed here and can be used in different ways. Nearly all of the above properties can be made available or not depending on the type of reminder to be created.

The essence of the tool is that it contains a formula that allows the creation of almost any type of reminder. The formula takes in an input date either from a specific question (or set of questions if using the questionnaire tree), or a fixed date. To this input date the tool allows a certain number of days and/or months to be added or subtracted to give a start date. This start date together with recurrence relationship tool (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) allows the creation of a specific reminder.

Figures 1 and 2 show the reminder creation tool. This is presented as a web-formatted view within a window 50 of a graphical user interface (GUI). In the format that is usual for web pages, the tool extends below the lower extremity of the window 50 and thus a scroll bar 52 is displayed to allow the user to access the remainder of the window in the conventional manner. A region 54 is allocated for the logo of the entity providing the reminder construction service. Below this is a navigation line 56 showing in the convention manner the present location of a user within the tree. Thus, it can be seen that the answers previously given to the question tree indicate that the company concerned requires reminders as to their VAT returns and that they are registered to do so on a quarterly basis.

The body of the reminder generator comprises a confirmatory heading 58 below which are a number of management functions including the ability 60 to delete this reminder and an ability 62 to delete other reminders after creating the present reminder. This is useful in that a business registered for VAT on a quarterly basis cannot also be registered on a monthly or annual basis, so (in i.6 ! . À À i this example), the default is to delete these reminders when the quarterly reminder is set up.

Below the management functions lies the informational input area. A series of questions 64 are provided with answer boxes 66 for user input. Where possible, hints, suggestions and examples are provided at 68 to aid the user in replying. Where possible, a tick-box 70 is provided to inherit a default value from the reminder container. The information obtained from this window is used to calculate the reminder date (and/or time) and format the message that is sent and the route (such as email and/or SMS).

Thus, once the system is set up and configured, an hierarchical question tree guides the user to the appropriate reminder format, at which point the relevant information can be requested to allow the system to calculate the exact reminders. In contexts where professional advice would otherwise be required, a lay user can thereby create a reliable reminder structure that is tailored to their own situation.

It will of course be understood that many variations may be made to the above-described embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

de Bee. e. I. . . . À e. CLAIMS

1. An automated reminder creation system comprising an hierarchical question tree allowing the selection of at least one reminder format from a plurality of such formats.

2. An automated reminder system according to claim 1 in which the questions of the tree are designed to require a answer being one of a restricted list of answers.

3. An automated reminder system according to claim 2 in which the restricted list includes yes, no and a date input.

4. An automated reminder system according to claim 3 in which the restricted list includes yes, no and a date input only. ( .

5. An automated reminder system according to any one of the preceding claims in which at least one container class is defined, to each of which a plurality individual reminder formats are associateable, the reminders in that class inheriting rules or settings from the class.

6. An automated reminder system substantially as described herein with reference to and/or as illustrated in the accompanying figures.