Abstract: In a particular embodiment, a portable, hand-held device to manage product quality and safety includes a processor and a memory accessible to the processor. The memory includes instructions executable by the processor to collect data related to a particular location and to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) including a plurality of user-selectable elements accessible by a user. The plurality of user-selectable elements includes a first user-selectable element to initiate playback of a training video, a second user-selectable element to receive user input associated with the particular location, and a third user-selectable element to display data indicating actions to be taken by the user in response to the collected data. The device further includes a display interface responsive to the processor and adapted to display the GUI.

Abstract: A method performed by a processing system includes comparing contracts having different lengths using uncertainty information corresponding to a non-overlap period between the contracts and providing an output that represents a comparison between the contracts in view of the uncertainty information.

Abstract: A system and method for assessing compliance risk of a financial institution. Data on a plurality of financial institutions is extracted from publicly available sources and stored in an extracted information database. A client questionnaire is created and separated into a plurality of role categories. A list of employees and their area of responsibility is obtained from a client financial institution. The client questionnaire is distributed to the employees, each employee receiving questions from a role category based on their area of responsibility. Answers are stored in a client questionnaire database. Data on the client financial institution is located in the extracted information database. Then, based on the questionnaire answers and extracted data, the risk that the client financial institution will not be compliant with a set of regulations is assessed.

Abstract: A data store includes, for a dealer of interest, a target inventory mix rate for an item having a feature. A computing device is configured to perform an optimization to obtain a recommended feature allocation of the item including the feature by minimizing a difference between a projected inventory mix rate for the feature and the target inventory mix rate for the feature.

Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring safety procedures for an industrial facility. A user interface for a safety operator interfaces with a database containing safety documents for components installed and in use in the industrial facility. The user interface also interfaces with a safety calculation module that calculates the risk level for specific potential consequences if specific safety procedures are not implemented. Whenever a potentially unsafe situation occurs, the risk levels associated with the potential consequences of the unsafe situation are presented to the safety operator along with contingencies which may be implemented to alleviate the risks. Past potentially unsafe situations are also presented to the safety operator by way of a time line such that a historical record of the safety of the facility can be taken in at a glance.

Abstract: A particular set of computing assets is identified on a particular computing system including a plurality of computing assets. A user definition is received of a particular countermeasure applied to the particular set of assets, the user definition of the countermeasure including identification of each asset in the particular set of assets and identification of at least one vulnerability or threat addressed by the particular countermeasure in a plurality of known vulnerabilities or threats. Based on the user definition, actual deployment of the particular countermeasure on the particular computing system is assumed in a risk assessment of at least a portion of the particular computing system.

Abstract: Tax returns are received from one or more tax agencies. Each tax return is compared to a stored profile, and a determination is made as to whether each tax return falls within a trend. An evaluation of the tax return is generated based on the comparison and the determination of whether the tax return falls within the trend. The evaluation includes an indication of the tax returns potential to be a fraudulent tax return.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and software for reliability, hazard, and integrity optimization are disclosed. In at least some embodiments, the software includes an input module, a failure model module, a simulation module, and an optimization module. The input module accepts a list of assets to be managed and determines design data and process data for each asset. The failure model module determines probability of failure curve parameters for each asset degradation mode. The simulation module simulates an asset management plan to determine a total management cost that includes costs for predicted failures as well as risk-weighted costs for each degradation mode of each asset generates alternative management plans for evaluation by the simulation module and provides a selected management plan for display to a user. In each embodiment, the total management costs may account not only for direct costs, but also for safety costs, environmental costs, and business costs.

Abstract: A particular method includes selecting a financial advisor from a plurality of financial advisors. The selected financial advisor has a plurality of financial advising relationships with a plurality of clients. The financial advising relationships are automatically evaluated based on a plurality of risk assessment rules. A relationship risk score for each of the financial advising relationships is computed.

Abstract: A system and method of authorizing access in a computer system. The method includes receiving a request to use the computer system, reading authorization data associated with the user, and denying the request according to the authorization data. The method further includes determining a business process risk associated with the request and comparing a characteristic of the request and the business process risk. The method further includes authorizing the request to use the computer system by the user when the business process risk exceeds the characteristic. In this manner, the delay involved in performing the normal access provisioning process is avoided for situations in which the business risk exceeds the cost of the delay.

Abstract: A method for providing a supply chain management tool may include generating a representation of a supply chain of an organization where the representation is generated responsive to identification of supply chain entities and corresponding flows therebetween. The flows may include transactional layer activities at a stock keeping unit level. The method may further include referencing the representation to determine historical data indicative of supply chain performance, and utilizing processing circuitry to employ the historical data to generate at least one prediction regarding future operating performance of the supply chain.

Abstract: A system and method to offer a one or more experiences using various layers to at least one customer is disclosed. The method includes user experience layer having a first plurality of components owned by at least one service provider to evaluate a plurality of experimental changes of the at least one customer. The method further includes user service layer having a second plurality of components owned by the at least one service provider to offer a first plurality of services for the at least one customer. The method further includes an adaptation layer, a network service layer, a protocol layer and a platform layer having one or more components to provide one or more functionalities. Additionally, the method further includes a monitoring and control layer with one or more components to build management information across the one or more layers.

Abstract: A system and method for assessing risk is provided. The method comprises determining an investment index associated with investment by an insurance company in an insurance pool. Next, the method comprises determining a return index associated with an expected return to the insurance company from participating in the insurance pool; and determining a benefit index based on the investment and return indices. The system for assessing risk comprises an assessment module for assessing risks associated with an insurance company's participation in an insurance pool based on at least one of: an investment index associated with the costs of participating in the insurance pool, and a return index associated with the benefits of participating in the insurance pool.

Abstract: Systems and methods for analyzing projects in a business entity including multiple groups and multiple levels of decision making authority are provided. Project identification data that identifies a particular project is received. A project categorization of the project is performed to categorize the project based on one or more of the size, general risks, and complexity of the project. An anti-corruption risk assessment of the project is performed to categorize an anti-corruption risk associated with the project. A group-specific risk assessment of the project is performed to categorize a risk associated with the project relevant to one of the multiple groups of the business entity.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for finding and retrieving information within an enterprise that is relevant to enterprise problems, enterprise opportunities, and unexpected or interesting events. The method includes scanning content related to a process conducted by an enterprise, where the process includes one or more process steps; identifying a problem, opportunity or event associated with a process step (an enterprise stress point); indexing the scanned content with respect to the enterprise stress point; determining whether the scanned content is information relevant to the problem, opportunity or event; and providing relevant information to a user. The relevant information includes a description or discussion of a contemporaneous or previous experience of the enterprise regarding the problem, opportunity or event.

Abstract: An approach is provided for enabling the accounting of closures to support query requests established by a device. A computation processing and accounting infrastructure determines one or more closures based, at least in part, on a query request. One of the one or more closures based, at least in part, on one or more predetermined policies is selected to generate a response to the query.

Abstract: Promoting a candidate content item included in a plurality of content items is disclosed. A plurality of user reputation scores is received. For the candidate content item in the plurality of candidate content items, a content reputation score is determined based at least in part on a portion of the received user reputation scores. A determination of whether to promote the candidate content item is made based at least in part on the content reputation score. The candidate content item is promoted if it is determined that the candidate content item should be promoted.

Abstract: Promoting a candidate content item included in a plurality of content items is disclosed. A plurality of user reputation scores is received. For the candidate content item in the plurality of candidate content items, a content reputation score is determined based at least in part on a portion of the received user reputation scores. A determination of whether to promote the candidate content item is made based at least in part on the content reputation score and a dynamically adjusted threshold. The candidate content item is promoted if it is determined that the candidate content item should be promoted.

Abstract: A process for optimizing maintenance work schedules for at least one engine includes the steps of retrieving at least one set of data for an engine from a computer readable storage medium; selecting at least one scheduling parameter for the engine; selecting a set of maintenance rules for the engine; selecting at least one maintenance work decision; selecting at least one objective for the engine; optimizing the at least one objective to generate at least one optimal maintenance work decision; and generating at least one optimal maintenance work schedule for the engine.

Abstract: Systems and methods of integrating workforce management and contacts analysis are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises receiving content data derived from classification of a plurality of recorded agent contacts. The contact content data is correlated with past time period. The method also comprises identifying at least one pattern in the contact content data. The pattern is based on the contact classifications. The method also comprises receiving historical workload data from a contact router, and generating a workload forecast based on the historical workload data and the identified pattern.

Abstract: Discovering spam merchants using product feed comparison comprises a merchant signature computed by a comparison system using the offer data submitted by a merchant. The merchant submits a file to the comparison system for use on a product comparison website. The comparison system processes the file and calculates a merchant signature by parsing a specific feature common to all offers. The comparison system assigns a data value to each of the specific features included in each of the offers and generates a string of assigned data values. The comparison system executes a hash algorithm for the string of data values to obtain the merchant signature. The merchant signature is compared with the signatures of known spam merchants and if the merchant signature is within a predefined threshold of known spam merchant signatures, the merchant is rejected and the signature is marked as a spam merchant.

Abstract: Risk organizing and tracking systems are provided. Users may enter risks relevant to a business entity and associate one or more parameters. The parameters may be chosen from a default list or created by a user. A risk scoring algorithm may also be selected or provided. Scores for the risks may then be generated using the risk scoring algorithm.

Abstract: A computer server hosts a web portal used to customize and display data associated with personnel factors affecting business at a particular geographic location. The data may be collected covering a number of human resource factors, such as personal income, age, crime rate, education, corruption, healthcare and others and may be used to analyze problems such as recruitment, training, retention, etc. A portal allows access to the data for an individual location as well as presenting side-by-side comparison of multiple locations. The portal further allows a user to apply a custom weight to each factor according to the needs of a particular business, such as high tech or consumer products, to allow more meaningful analysis of the location or locations.

Abstract: The invention comprises a device for and method of managing supply chain risk at a computer system device comprising a processor, a memory subsystem in communication with the processor, and computer executable instructions storable in the memory subsystem and executable by the processor to perform the method, the method comprising determining a degree of supply chain risk to an enterprise as a function of an effect of a disruption of delivery of the production input to the enterprise on a financial performance metric of the enterprise.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for determining a loss mitigation reserve requirement based on a risk measure estimation and a confidence interval associated with the risk measure estimation. Distribution parameters of a frequency model and distribution parameters of a severity model are determined, and a covariance matrix representing the determined parameters of the distribution of the frequency model and the determined parameters of distribution of the severity model is generated. One or more analytical derivatives of a cumulative distribution function of the frequency model, one or more analytical derivatives of a cumulative distribution function of the severity model, and a parameter covariance matrix are calculated. A confidence interval is computed for the risk measure estimation based on a vector of derivatives of a cumulative distribution function.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a credibility management system that aggregates user posts from several social media sites contemporaneously with the posts being published to those sites. The system parses each of the aggregated posts to identify an entity that is targeted in each of the posts and presents the posts to the targeted entities in a real-time manner. The credibility management system computes a score to determine the impact that a user post would have on the credibility of a targeted entity. By presenting the computed scores and aggregated posts to the targeted entities, the credibility management system notifies the targeted entities about what is being said about them across social media, identifies the impact of those posts, and provides a platform whereby the targeted entities can reply in order to mitigate or improve the impact that the posts would have on credibility.

Abstract: Methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for evaluating compliance with laws, regulations, and/or policies are presented. A metric definition for a metric may be received, the metric measuring an aspect of a business process. The measured aspect may represent a compliance concern. A first sigma score for the metric may be determined based on a number of opportunities and a number of defects. A second sigma score for the business process may be determined. A third sigma score for a business unit may be determined, the business unit implementing the business process. A fourth sigma score for a business segment may be determined, the business segment managing the business unit. A report may be generated, the report including the first sigma score, the second sigma score, the third sigma score, and the fourth sigma score.

Abstract: A message may be used to update computing system of a commodity transaction. The message may include a commodity identifier, a date term, a quantity term, and a price term. The price term may include a formula arrangement or reference to a formula arrangement for calculating a fractional exposure of the entity to the commodity on each date in which an event affecting commodity transaction occurs. Each of these fractional exposures may be calculated for each commodity transaction and stored as separate entries in a data structure. The entries may then be updated, queried, and/or reorganized to generate an exposure position.

Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods are provided for workforce planning models. Technologies are described to manage human capital decisions. Decision making models and related tools are described that support the development and implementation of workforce strategies, programs and policies. In one model, resources may be allocated to specific practices (policies, programs, initiatives, organizational culture) used to attract and retain valued employees. Resources may be increased or decreased until the optimal allocation of resources is found that is most likely to enable the achievement of specific goals (e.g., attraction, retention, readiness, and representation).

Abstract: A system and method for defining, structuring, and trading political event contracts is disclosed that implement a systematic process for defining political event contracts. The systematic process comprises a rigorous taxonomy of risk event classes that delimit the types of contracts to be defined. An event relevance scoring mechanism determines whether a derivative instrument embodying a specified event is economically warranted and useful to the marketplace as a mechanism for hedging risks not easily addressed through other market tools. The disclosed apparatus further comprises apparatus for modeling the value of a specified political event contract that captures both rational and intuitive analysis about an event using criteria based decision trees to provide highly structured calculation of relative probabilities. The tree components are weighted and compared by an analyst or other user to determine probabilities for various alternative outcomes to a specified political event.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed to consolidate workload on cloud-based computers by co-locating one or more high-penalty tenants on one or more cloud-based servers; reducing service level agreement (SLA) violations by over-provisioning the cloud-based server; and maximizing an SLA profit.

Abstract: A system and method for a supplier risk health check system is disclosed. A method for determining supplier risk includes receiving a first supplier data from a first data source, the first supplier data indicating a plurality of suppliers and one or more risk characteristics associated with each of the plurality of suppliers to an organization. The method further includes receiving a second supplier data from a second data source, the second supplier data indicating a plurality of suppliers and one or more risk characteristics associated with each of the plurality of suppliers to the organization. The method also includes for one or more of the suppliers indicated in the first supplier data, associating one or more risk characteristics indicated in the first supplier data with one or more risk characteristics indicated in the second supplier data.

Abstract: A system and method for a supplier risk dashboard is disclosed. A method for determining comprehensive supplier risk includes receiving a first supplier data from a first data source, the first supplier data indicating a plurality of suppliers and one or more risk characteristics associated with each of the plurality of suppliers to an organization. The method further includes receiving a second supplier data from a second data source, the second supplier data indicating a plurality of suppliers and one or more risk characteristics associated with each of the plurality of suppliers to the organization. The method also includes for one or more of the suppliers indicated in the first supplier data, associating one or more risk characteristics indicated in the first supplier data with one or more risk characteristics indicated in the second supplier data.

Abstract: Disclosed is a risk evaluation system that uses people as sensors, wherein a control unit (21) in a stress management system (20) obtains mental health information and records same in a measurement information database (25). The control unit (21) then specifies a pattern in a reference pattern database (24) and obtains the measurement information relating to this pattern from the measurement information database (25). The control unit (21) in the stress management system (20) then revises a standard pattern based on individual attributes or work attributes. Next, the control unit (21) performs pattern matching and determines whether or not attention is required. If the determination is that attention is required, the control unit (21) presents an alert and an advice. This enables work, organization, and member risks to be appropriately evaluated based on changes in mental health information for a user.

Abstract: Managing risks may include receiving multiple issues associated with an enterprise where each issue is a future risk or a current risk, storing the issues, aggregating the issues, filtering the issues by executing a predefined rule set to determine a set of issues for analysis, creating a report including the set of issues for analysis, and transmitting the report to a user. Managing risk may also include determining a status of an action item associated with an issue in the set of issues, monitoring open issues and associated action items, and removing any closed issues.

Abstract: Methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for aligning project deliverables with project risks are presented. According to one or more aspects, an architectural assessment of a new project may be received at an initial estimation phase of the new project. Subsequently, a rigor worksheet for the new project may be received at the initial estimation phase of the new project. A rigor score for the new project then may be calculated based on the architectural assessment and the rigor worksheet. Thereafter, one or more project deliverables to be imposed on the project may be selected based on the calculated rigor score.

Abstract: The reliability of a composite service having service components is determined, where the composite service can fail only where underlying resources fail. The composite service is represented as a plurality of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMC's). Each CTMC corresponds to a resource. A product of the CTMC's is constructed. The product encompasses composite service states. Steady-state probabilities for the product are determined. Each steady-state probability corresponds to a likelihood that a corresponding state will be a steady state. For each state of the composite service, a reward structure is determined. The reward structure corresponds to a likelihood that the state will successfully use the resources without failure. The reward structure is determined for a given state based on the given state's steady-state probability and based on discrete-time Markov chains (DTMC's) corresponding to the service components.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for on-site site risk assessment and to encourage collaboration between professional disciplines related to land development and construction projects. A graphical risk analysis system is provided based on answers to interdisciplinary questions related to risks. Use of the system promotes a complete checklist of interdisciplinary and informational consultation which, when completed for a project, assesses the risk related to land development and allows for reduction in risk as the project progresses.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for identifying activity outliers from amongst employees/associates within a predetermined peer group of employees. The inventive concepts herein disclosed require establishing consistent peer groupings of employees/associates. In specific embodiments, the peer groupings may be defined by combining one or more and, typically two, line of business hierarchies and job title. Once the peer grouping is established, monitoring of pre-determined activities within designated applications is performed to determine the number of occurrence of the predetermined activities over a designated period of time. Activity outliers are subsequently determined based on the number of occurrence of the predetermined activities over the designated period of time.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for determining a risk score for an agent associated with an entity. In some embodiments, a method includes: (a) receiving first information associated with an agent's action related to an account and/or an agent's actions over a predetermined period of time related to one or more applications, and (b) determining a first risk score based at least partially on the first information. In some embodiments, the method further includes: (c) receiving, from a data system, second information associated with the agent, where the second information comprises one or more entitlements granted to the agent by the entity, and (d) determining a second risk score based at least partially on both the first information and the second information.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for determining a threat associated with an agent's provision of a service to an outsider. In some embodiments, a method includes: (a) receiving first information associated with the outsider, (b) receiving, from a data system, second information associated with the agent, where the agent provided the service to the outsider, and (c) determining a relationship between the outsider and the agent. In some embodiments, the method further includes: (d) receiving third information associated with the agent's provision of the service to the outsider, and (e) determining an abnormal event associated with the service.

Abstract: The instant specification discloses methods and means for enhancing and sustaining performance efficiencies within an organization, the methods and means including at least an operational methodology and a software package. Using the Methodology with the related software enables an organization to effectively plan, document, manage and continuously improve its operations in order to achieve (and possibly exceed) its business goals. Therefore, the Methodology and the related System enable an organization to safely and efficiently achieve business excellence and sustain it over time.

Abstract: A method of assessing and mitigating a risk of a proposed change includes entering a category of the change, filtering risk assessment questions based on the entered category of the proposed change, determining an initial risk based on a dynamic change context, determining at least one high risk factor that is associated with the initial risk, filtering mitigation risk questions based on the at least one high risk factors, and re-determining the risk from mitigation answers to the filtered mitigation risk questions.

Abstract: An electronic intermediary electronically connects with a medical device manufacturer and regulatory agencies, collects and processes electronically product life cycle safely related events and information from a medical device manufacturer. The electronic intermediary processes the information collected electronically, integrates, generates, maintains, presents and distributes the risk management file and safely assurance case through the product life cycle using, linking, and connecting the collected and processed data.

Abstract: A method for determining a threat against a border from objects crossing or trying to cross said border. Said method includes at least the steps of segmenting the border into border elements of uniform terrain features, infrastructure and weather conditions, collecting data of incidents occurring along a given border element, determining a threat potential for said border element, determining a protection factor for the border element, and determining a threat against the border element from the threat potential and protection factor. The method may be used for warning about an increased threat to a border, wherein the threat is compared with a threat value threshold. If the threat exceeds the threat value threshold, an alarm is issued. The method may also be used for allocating protective measures along a border.

Abstract: A method for determining a maintenance schedule of geographically dispersed physical assets includes receiving asset data including infrastructure relationships between the assets, modeling failure risk of the assets based on spatial, temporal and network relationships, and producing the maintenance schedule according to a combination of the risk model, asset data, maintenance, and external operation constraints. The maintenance schedule may be corrective and/or strategic.

Abstract: The present invention provides a News/Media Analytics System (NMAS) adapted to automatically process and “read” news stories and content from blogs, twitter, and other social media sources, represented by news/media corpus, in as close to real-time as possible. Quantitative analysis, techniques or mathematics, such as green scoring/composite module and sentiment processing module are processed to arrive at green scores, green certification, and/or model the value of financial securities, including generating a green score, green compliance certification, and a composite environmental or green index. The NMAS automatically processes news stories, filings, new/social media and other content and applies one or more models against the content to determine green scoring and/or anticipate behavior of stock price and other investment vehicles. The NMAS leverages traditional and, especially, social media resources to provide a sentiment-based solution for scoring the “greenness” of companies.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining print revenue behavior for an account are disclosed. A computing device may determine a print revenue for an account for each of a plurality of time periods. The computing device may select a best fit model from a plurality of models based on the print revenue for the account for the plurality of time periods. The computing device may determine a risk level associated with the account based on a best fit model. The risk level may be based on a difference between the best fit model and the print revenue for the account for each of time period.

Abstract: A server defines a plurality of compliance factors that specify one or more operations for compliance with a policy. The server configures at least one of the plurality of compliance factors to be completed based on an entity type of an entity. The server receives entity data of an entity. The entity data pertains to the compliance factors that correspond to an entity type of the entity. The server determines the status of at least one compliance factor based on the entity data and determines a compliance score for the entity based on the status of the at least one compliance factor. The server provides the compliance score to a user to notify the user of a level of compliance of the entity.

Abstract: Community driven prioritization of customer issues is described. In an implementation, a selectable portion of a user interface providing interaction with a community forum is selectable by a user to indicate agreement and associate with a posting in the community forum. The user may then automatically be provided results generated in response to the posting. In another implementation, associations matching a plurality of users and postings are utilized to assign priority to the postings and to prioritize responses to the postings.