Tracking industrial vehicle operator quality

Abstract

The overall quality of a workforce is analyzed, scored and presented using an analysis engine that performs a multi-domain analysis on enterprise data. The analysis engine presents key information about the performance of a workforce across a range of hardware devices so as to inform different users in their unique contexts and roles within a business organization as to workforce performance. The analysis engine associates a customizable performance profile with each workforce member. Each performance profile is comprised of a plurality of performance measures. Each performance measure in turn, represents a performance metric that measures some aspect of the job duties performed by the associated workforce member, e.g., an industrial vehicle operator. The scores are aggregated into an overall performance profile score. To compute the scores, data is considered across multiple domains, e.g., by collecting and analyzing data from industrial vehicle data systems, warehouse management systems, labor management systems, etc.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of aggregating measures of industrial vehicle operator performance, comprising:
 coupling an analysis engine executing on a server computer to at least two independent and distinct electronic data sources including a first data source that collects information about industrial vehicles, and a second data source that collects information about a workforce, wherein the first data source receives electronic vehicle information including industrial vehicle usage data collected from industrial vehicles during operation thereof, which is wirelessly transmitted from the industrial vehicles;   storing a performance profile having a plurality of performance measures, each performance measure characterizing a measure of performance of an industrial vehicle operator;   assigning a specific industrial vehicle operator identification to a copy of the performance profile to define an operator-specific performance profile instance; and   evaluating a current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance by:
 processing each performance measure based upon the assigned industrial vehicle operator identification, using information from the first data source and the second data source, such that both the first data source and the second data source are queried to obtain information necessary to evaluate at least one performance measure of the performance profile instance; 
 computing at least one score for the operator identification based upon the evaluation of the performance profile instance; and 
   outputting a representation of the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 computing at least one score for the operator identification based upon the evaluation of the performance profile instance, comprises:
 computing a performance measure score for each performance measure; and 
 assigning an associated performance measure threshold target to each performance measure; 
   outputting the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance comprises displaying a representation of each computed performance measure score relative to the corresponding assigned performance measure threshold target.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 assigning a weight to each of the plurality of performance measures of the operator-specific performance profile instance; and   computing a total score across the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance based upon the weighted scores of each of the performance measures.   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 assigning a group of industrial vehicle operator identifications to a team such that at least one unique team is defined;   assigning each industrial vehicle operator identification to a copy of the performance profile to define an operator-specific performance profile instance; and   performing an evaluation for each team by:
 evaluating a current state of each operator-specific performance profile instance assigned to the team, by:
 correlating information from at least one of the first data source and the second data source to evaluate each performance measure, based upon the assigned industrial vehicle operator identification, such that both the first data source and the second data source are queried to correlate information necessary to evaluate at least one performance measure of the performance profile instance; and 
 computing at least one score for the operator identification based upon the evaluation of the performance profile instance; and 
 
 computing at least one team score that represents an overall score for the group of industrial vehicle operator identifications assigned to the team based upon the evaluations of the corresponding performance profile instances; and 
   outputting a representation of the at least one team score.   
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein:
 performing an evaluation for each team comprises performing an evaluation for a plurality of teams;   further comprising:   outputting a representation of each team score in a manner that allows direct comparison of each computed team score.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising:
 customizing a threshold target for at least one performance measure of each operator-specific performance profile instance to normalize the scores computed for each team.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 analyzing each computed score against an associated threshold target;   selecting at least one computed score based upon the analysis of each computed score;   analyzing underlying data evaluated to derive each selected score; and   generating automatically, an indication of attribution that identifies a key indicator of the reason for the computed score.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein:
 selecting at least one computed score based upon the analysis of each computed score, comprises:
 automatically selecting at least one computed score that falls below a corresponding threshold; and 
 automatically selecting at least one computed score that falls above a corresponding threshold; and 
   generating automatically, an indication of attribution that identifies a key indicator of the reason for the computed score, comprises:
 generating automatically, an indication of a key indicator of a contributing factor for failing to meet the corresponding threshold; and 
 generating automatically, an affirmation identifying a contributing factor for meeting or exceeding the corresponding threshold. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 customizing at least one performance measure of the operator-specific performance profile instance according to the assigned industrial vehicle operator identification.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 displaying a list of the plurality of performance measures in the performance profile; and   providing a visual display configured to enable setting a weighting to each of the plurality of performance measures.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a user interface configured to enable a user to drill down into the underlying data used to evaluate the plurality of performance measures of the operator-specific performance profile instance.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 computing at least one score for the operator identification based upon the evaluation of the performance profile instance, comprises:
 computing a performance measure score for each performance measure; and 
 assigning an associated performance measure threshold target to each performance measure; 
   further comprising:
 defining a window that limits the scope of data from the first data source and second data source that can contribute to evaluating the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance; 
 defining an overall target based upon each performance measure threshold target and the defined window; 
 comparing the computed performance measure score for each of the plurality of performance measures against its defined performance measure threshold target; 
 aggregating each computed performance measure score into an overall score; and 
 outputting a representation of the overall score relative to the overall target. 
 outputting a dashboard view characterizing the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance by displaying a representation of the overall score relative to the overall target. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 selecting at least one computed score;   analyzing underlying data evaluated to derive the selected score; and   generating automatically, an indication of attribution that identifies a key indicator of the reason for the computed score;   outputting in the dashboard view, each computed performance measure score relative to the corresponding assigned performance measure threshold target, and the automatically generated indication of attribution.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 providing a user interface configured to enable a user to drill down into the underlying data used to compute the scores of the plurality of performance measures of the operator-specific performance profile instance.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 configuring teams of industrial vehicle operators by industrial vehicle operator identification;   receiving hypothetical fleet upgrade data;   calculating hypothetical average threshold values based at least in part on hypothetical fleet upgrade data and the data received from the fleet of industrial vehicles;   performing a comparison of team performance measures and hypothetical average threshold values; and   displaying the team performance measures based at least in part on the comparison so as to recommend whether it is better to upgrade to a new fleet vehicle or maintain the operator scores presently attained using current vehicles.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 outputting a representation of the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance comprises:   outputting to a vehicle operator display, a graphical representation of the current state of the operator-specific performance profile instance as a progress meter that identifies the progress of the operator in view of tasks to be completed, where the tasks are defined in the performance measures of the operator-specific performance profile instance.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 providing an interface view on the vehicle operator display that allows the operator to zoom into a specific task; and   the interface view further displays a second progress meter that graphically represents the progress of the operator relative to the specific task selected by the operator.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 providing an interface view on the vehicle operator display that:   displays information in a first window that is generated by a component of the an industrial vehicle to which the vehicle operator display is mounted; and   displays information in a second window that is obtained from the second data source.