Location-based workflows and services

Abstract

A method for leveraging location-based information to influence business workflows includes initiating a workflow, performing at least one operation within the workflow using a processor of a mobile device; receiving location information pertaining to the workflow; and influencing at least a portion of the workflow based on the location information. The workflow is configured to facilitate a business process. In some embodiments, the method includes determining location information corresponding to the mobile device, prompting a user to capture and image of a document, associating the location information with the captured image as location metadata, and storing the location metadata and captured image to a memory of the mobile device. Exemplary systems and computer program products are also described.

1 . A method, comprising
 initiating a workflow;   performing at least one operation within the workflow using a processor of a mobile device;   receiving location information pertaining to the workflow; and   influencing at least a portion of the workflow based on the location information,   wherein the workflow is configured to facilitate a business process.   
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a location trigger condition; and   determining the location information in response to detecting the location trigger condition.   
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 prompting a user to capture an image in response to detecting the location trigger condition;   capturing the image via the mobile device;   associating the location information with the captured image; and   storing the location information and the captured image to a memory of the mobile device.   
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising requesting the location information. 
     
     
         5 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the location information is based at least in part on one or more of: user input, previously determined location information, crowdsourced location information, and location data received from one or more of a cellular tower, a GPS satellite, a compass, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a router, a modem, and a radio-frequency identification device. 
     
     
         6 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the location information comprises one or more of discrete location information and continuous location information. 
     
     
         7 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the location information comprises one or more of: geographic location information, a network location information, a street address, a set of addresses, proximity information and telemetry information. 
     
     
         8 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising instantiating, based at least in part on the location information, at least one of: the workflow, a new operation in the workflow and a second workflow. 
     
     
         9 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influencing comprises interfering with at least one operation in the workflow based on the location information. 
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a claim processing operation. 
     
     
         11 . The method as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the influencing comprises selecting a standard form from among a plurality of candidate forms based at least in part on the location information. 
     
     
         12 . The method as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the standard form corresponds to the location information. 
     
     
         13 . The method as recited in  claim 11 , further comprising populating at least one field of the selected form based at least in part on the location information. 
     
     
         14 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a financial transaction operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises:
 determining an intended recipient of a payment from among a plurality of candidate recipients based at least in part on the location information; and 
 designating the intended recipient as the recipient of a payment corresponding to the financial transaction. 
   
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a financial transaction operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises presenting an offer to engage in a financial transaction, the offer being based at least in part on the location information and one or more of:   historical location information;   a financial risk profile;   a financial investment profile;   a financial asset profile; and   a financial obligation profile.   
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a financial transaction request, and
 wherein the influencing comprises routing the financial transaction request based on the location information.   
     
     
         17 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a data management operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises at least one of:
 initiating a processing job based at least in part on the location information; 
 terminating the processing job based at least in part on the location information; 
 modifying one or more processing parameters for the processing, the modifying being based at least in part on the location information; and 
 transmitting data to the mobile device based at least in part on the location information. 
   
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , wherein modifying the one or more processing parameters comprises at least one of;
 altering a priority of the processing job;   designating one or more processing resources to perform the processing job;   modifying a number of the one or more processing resources dedicated to performing the processing job; and   modifying an identity of the one or more processing resources dedicated to performing the processing job.   
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises an opportunistic scheduling operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises:
 determining at least a portion of a workflow requires participation from one or more entities among a plurality of eligible entities; and 
 identifying one or more preferred entities among the plurality of eligible entities based at least in part on the location information. 
   
     
     
         20 . The method as recited in  claim 19 , further comprising:
 determining a mutually convenient meeting time for the preferred entities;   determining a mutually convenient meeting location for the preferred entities based at least in part on the location information; and   generating a meeting request for the preferred entities, the meeting request corresponding to the mutually convenient meeting time and the mutually convenient meeting location.   
     
     
         21 . The method as recited in  claim 19 , further comprising:
 determining at least some of the preferred entities are unavailable; and   identifying at least one alternate entity from among the plurality of eligible entities based at least in part on the location information.   
     
     
         22 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a supervisory operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises:
 determining at least a portion of a workflow requires authorization from an authorizing entity; and 
 identifying a preferred authorizing entity from among a plurality of eligible authorizing entities based at least in part on the location information. 
   
     
     
         23 . The method as recited in  claim 22 , further comprising:
 determining the preferred authorized entity is unavailable to authorize the portion of the workflow within a predetermined duration; and   identifying an alternate authorizing entity from among a plurality of eligible authorizing entities based at least in part on the location information.   
     
     
         24 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a data extraction operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises building an extraction model based at least in part on the location information.   
     
     
         25 . The method as recited in  claim 24 , further comprising extracting content from a document relating to the workflow based at least in part on the extraction model. 
     
     
         26 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the influenced portion of the workflow comprises a classification operation, and
 wherein the influencing comprises determining a document belongs to a particular document class among a plurality of document classes based at least in part on the location information.   
     
     
         27 . The method as recited in  claim 26 , wherein the determining comprises applying a weight to a class based at least in part on the location information, the weight being indicative that the document belongs to the particular document class. 
     
     
         28 . A system, comprising:
 a processor; and   logic in and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to cause the processor to:
 initiate a workflow; 
 perform at least one operation within the workflow using a processor of a mobile device; 
 receive location information pertaining to the workflow; and 
 influence at least a portion of the workflow based on the location information, wherein the workflow is configured to facilitate a business process. 
   
     
     
         29 . A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon computer readable program instructions configured to cause a processor to:
 initiate a workflow;   perform at least one operation within the workflow using a processor of a mobile device;   receive location information pertaining to the workflow; and   influence at least a portion of the workflow based on the location information, wherein the workflow is configured to facilitate a business process.   
     
     
         30 . A method, comprising:
 initiating a workflow;   performing at least one operation within the workflow using a processor of a mobile device, the workflow comprising:
 detecting a location trigger condition; and 
 at least partially in response to detecting the location trigger condition:
 determining location information corresponding to the mobile device; 
 prompting a user to capture an image of a document; 
 capturing the image via the mobile device; 
 associating the location information with the captured image as location metadata; and 
 storing the location metadata and the captured image to a memory of the mobile device; and 
 
   facilitating a business process relating to the workflow, the facilitating being based on the location metadata.