Rail Freight Price Quotation System with Promotional Event Notification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for providing price quotations for transportation services lack flexibility, often requiring customers to contact account managers via traditional means, leading to increased costs and resource utilization for both customers and service providers.
Innovation Solution
A computer-based system that allows users to input parameters specifying transportation services, interacts with a database of promotional events to identify eligible discounts, and provides users with both initial and promotional price quotes, enabling them to modify service parameters to benefit from discounts, thereby reducing costs and improving resource allocation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If customers contact account managers via traditional means (telephone, mail, e-mail) to obtain customized price quotations, then they can receive personalized service, but costs and resource utilization increase for both customers and service providers
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables customers to independently obtain customized price quotations through an automated electronic platform. Customers can input their transportation requirements and receive personalized quotes without contacting account managers, thereby eliminating the need for manual intervention while reducing costs and resource consumption for both parties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of human-to-human communication (telephone, mail, e-mail) with an automated electronic information system. The computer-based platform automatically processes customer requests, retrieves pricing information, and generates customized quotations, substituting manual operations with automated digital processes that reduce resource utilization.
2Adaptability or versatility
If systems provide predefined goods and services from which users make selections, then the system structure is simple, but flexibility in service definition is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically generates customized price quotations based on customer-specific requirements rather than providing static predefined options. The electronic platform adapts to different customer needs by automatically adjusting pricing parameters, service conditions, and quotation details, enabling flexible service definition while maintaining automated processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes to achieve flexibility in service definition. The system allows customers to specify various parameters (transportation requirements, service conditions, etc.), and automatically adjusts pricing and service parameters accordingly. This enables customized service definitions without requiring complex manual configuration, as the system dynamically modifies parameters based on input requirements.
3Productivity
If price quotations are generic and given to all customers, then the system is simple to operate, but customized pricing requires additional manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The automated electronic platform enables customers to independently obtain customized price quotations by inputting their specific requirements. The system automatically processes these requests, retrieves relevant pricing information, and generates personalized quotes without requiring manual intervention from account managers, thereby maintaining high productivity while improving ease of operation for customized quotations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where customer inputs (transportation requirements, service conditions) are automatically processed to generate appropriate price quotations. The automated platform continuously adapts pricing based on customer feedback and requirements, enabling efficient generation of customized quotes without manual intervention while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for providing a price quotation information for shipping goods by rail. A computer delivers first information to a user prompting the user to enter at the computer a parameter, the parameter specifying a given characteristic of a transportation service. In response to an entry by the user, a database of promotional events, including a plurality of entries mapping one or more discount eligibility criteria to a promotional event, is processed to identify an entry associated to a certain discount data element and to a certain promotional event. The certain discount eligibility criterion in the identified entry is such that it would be satisfied if the parameter provided by the user was altered. The computer then delivers second information to the user indicative of the certain promotional event.