Automated Alternative Selection for Compound Vehicle Price Quotes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face difficulties in finding and comparing prices for vehicles due to various factors such as specifications, availability, and geographic location, leading to a lack of awareness about alternative vehicles that may offer better price points or features.
Innovation Solution
An automated system that maintains a database of vehicles and their features, allowing users to submit requests for price quotes, which then searches for matching vehicles and generates compound price quotes that include alternatives based on predefined targets, providing timely, detailed, and accurate information on features, pricing, and availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a customer requests a specific vehicle specification, then the search results are precise and match the customer's requirements, but the availability of alternatives with better price points or features is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts search parameters by identifying alternative specifications when initial search results fail to meet the target. This involves modifying vehicle attributes such as make, model, year, trim, color, body style, equipment level, and other features to generate expanded search queries that capture alternative vehicles with comparable or superior value propositions.
Solution Approach 2:
The search process is made dynamic through iterative refinement. When first search results do not satisfy the target criteria, the system automatically performs second searches with alternative specifications, creating a multi-stage adaptive search mechanism that balances precision with versatility in vehicle selection.
2Loss of information
If the system provides detailed information about multiple vehicle alternatives, then the customer has more choices and better information, but the complexity of the quoting system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The compound price quote is segmented into multiple distinct vehicle options, each with its own detailed specification sheet including price, features, equipment level, and availability. This segmentation allows the system to present comprehensive information about multiple alternatives in an organized, manageable format that reduces perceived complexity for the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The quoting system performs multiple functions simultaneously: it conducts initial searches, identifies alternative specifications, performs secondary searches, evaluates results against targets, and generates comprehensive compound price quotes all through a single integrated process. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate systems into one unified solution.
3Productivity
If the system automatically identifies and searches for alternative specifications, then the productivity of price quote generation increases, but the difficulty of determining appropriate alternatives increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the results of initial searches are evaluated against predefined targets, and this evaluation feeds into the automatic identification of alternative specifications. The feedback loop ensures that alternatives are identified based on systematic criteria rather than random selection, improving both the accuracy and efficiency of the alternative identification process.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for automated alternative selection for compound price quotes are provided. A requesting party submits a request that includes information regarding at least one specification. A database is searched based on the information provided by the request. The search results are evaluated to determine whether they meet a predefined target. When the search results do not meet a predefined target, an alternative specification is identified. At least a second set of search results is retrieved from the database that may be used to meet the target. Vehicles are selected for inclusion in a compound price quote. A compound price quote including multiple price quotes for each selected vehicles is generated.