Detecting wasteful data collection

Abstract

A method and system comprising a duplication identifier module to analyze data input information to automatically identify duplicate expected inputs associated with a process are shown. The system includes logical process model information defining a logically structured series of process activities and data input information representing a plurality of expected inputs associated with respective process activities, with each expected input being indicative of expected collection of a corresponding data element during execution of the associated process activity. Each duplicate expected input comprises one of the plurality of expected inputs for which there is at least one other expected input with respect to a common corresponding data element.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 at least one database to store
 logical process model information defining a logically structured series of process activities in a process, and 
 data input information representing a plurality of expected inputs associated with respective process activities of the series of process activities, each expected input being indicative of expected collection of a corresponding data element during execution the associated process activity; and 
   a computer including a duplication identifier module to analyze the data input information to automatically identify duplicate expected inputs, each duplicate expected input being one of the plurality of expected inputs for which there is at least one other expected input with respect to a common corresponding data element, the duplicate expected input and the at least one other expected input being associated with different process activities.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an efficiency calculation module configured to calculate a data collection efficiency value based at least in part on the identified duplicate expected inputs. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the data input information includes a source type identifier associated with each expected input to indicate a particular one of a predefined plurality of types of sources from which the associated expected input is to be received, the efficiency calculation module configured to allocate a duplication weight to each duplicate expected input corresponding to its associated source type identifier. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the data input information further comprises a duplication acceptance indicator associated with at least one duplicate expected input to indicate that the at least one duplicate expected input is user-accepted, the efficiency calculation module configured to regard the user-accepted duplicate expected input as a non-duplicate expected input in calculation of the data collection efficiency value. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the data input information further comprises, associated with each user-accepted duplicate expected input, metadata regarding a user-provided reason for expected input duplication. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , further comprising an input association module to permit user creation of expected inputs and to enable selective association by a user of the expected inputs with process activities forming part of the logical process model information. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the input association module includes an alert generator to automatically generate a duplication alert in response to identification of expected input duplication, the duplication alert being generated upon association by the user of a particular duplicate expected input with one of the process activities. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the duplication alert is to prompt the user to accept the particular duplicate expected input, and/or to prompt the user to provide a reason for the particular duplicate expected input. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the input association module comprises a forms module to permit user-association of a particular expected input with a form that is to be completed during execution of the process, the forms module further permitting user-association of the form with a selected process activity. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 associating a plurality of expected inputs with respective process activities of a logical process model comprising a logically structured series of process activities in a process to be performed by a process system, each expected input being indicative of collection of a corresponding data element during execution of the associated process activity; and   using one or more processors, analyzing expected inputs associated with two or more of the process activities, to automatically identify duplicate expected inputs associated with the logical process model, each duplicate expected input being one of the plurality of expected inputs for which there is at least one other expected input with respect to a common corresponding data element, the duplicate expected input and the at least one other expected input being associated with different process activities.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising calculating a data collection efficiency value based at least in part on the identified duplicate expected inputs. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising associating with each expected input a source type identifier to identify a particular one of a predefined plurality of types of sources from which the expected input is to be received, the calculation of the data collection efficiency value including allocating a duplication weight to each duplicate expected input corresponding to its associated source type identifier. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising identifying user-accepted duplicate expected inputs, calculation of the data collection efficiency value comprising regarding the user-accepted duplicate expected inputs as non-duplicate expected inputs. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising associating with each user-accepted duplicate input metadata regarding a user-provided reason for expected input duplication. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising automatically generating a duplication alert in response to identification of expected input duplication, the duplication alert being generated upon association by a user of a particular duplicate expected input with one of the process activities during an operation of mapping expected inputs to the process activities. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein generating the duplication alert includes prompting a user to accept the particular duplicate expected input, and/or prompting the user to provide a reason for the particular duplicate expected input. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein associating a particular expected input with a selected process activity comprises associating the particular expected input with a form that is to be completed during execution of the process, and associating the form with the selected process activity. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when performed by a machine, cause the machine to:
 associate a plurality of expected inputs with respective process activities of a logical process model comprising a logically structured series of process activities in a process to be performed by a process system, each expected input being indicative of collection of a corresponding data element during execution of the associated process activity; and   analyze expected inputs associated with two or more of the process activities, to automatically identify duplicate expected inputs associated with the logical process model, each duplicate expected input being one of the plurality of expected inputs for which there is at least one other expected input with respect to a common corresponding data element, the duplicate expected input and the at least one other expected input being associated with different process activities.