System and method for data management

Abstract

A method for the management of data collected from a remote computing device including the steps of: creating a questionnaire; transmitting the questionnaire to a remote computer, executing the questionnaire in the remote computer to prompt a user for responses to questions of the questionnaire; transmitting the responses to a sever via a network; making the responses available on the Web. Preferably, computers used in connection with the inventive method are loosely networked in that network connections between computers are not always available and, when a connection is not available, data is stored at a node of the network and transmitted at the earliest time when a connection is available. In one preferred embodiment, the inventive method is used to collect survey data and to make the responses to the survey available to a client in virtually real time over the Internet.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for managing data including the steps of:
 (a) creating a questionnaire comprising a series of questions;   (b) tokenizing said questionnaire; thereby producing a plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire;   (c) transmitting said plurality of tokens to a remote computing device;   (d) executing at least a portion of said plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire at said remote computing device to collect a response from a user;   (e) transmitting at least a portion of said response from the user to a server via a network; and   (f) storing said response at said server.   
     
     
         2 . The method for managing data of  claim 1  further comprising the step of:
 (g) translating said response to a format recognizable by a particular computer program; and 
 (h) accessing the translated response from a computer executing said particular computer program. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method for managing data of  claim 1  wherein step (a) includes the substeps of:
 (a) creating a questionnaire by:
 (i) entering a series of questions into a questionnaire design computer program; 
 (ii) identifying within said questionnaire design computer program the type of response allowed for each question of said series of questions; and 
 (iii) identifying within said questionnaire design computer program a branching path in said questionnaire for each possible response to each question of said series of questions. 
 
 
     
     
         4 . The method for managing data of  claim 1  wherein step (b) includes the substeps of:
 (b) tokenizing said questionnaire thereby producing a plurality of tokens representing said questionnaire by:
 (i) assigning at least one token to each question of said series of questions; 
 (ii) assigning at least one token to each response called for in said series of questions to identify the type of response required; and 
 (iii) assigning at least one token to each branch in said questionnaire to identify the required program control associated with said branch. 
 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of data management of  claim 1  wherein the transmission of said tokens in step (c) occurs via the network of step (e). 
     
     
         6 . A method for modifying a questionnaire used in data management according to the method of  claim 1  including the steps of:
 (a) making at least one incremental change to a portion of the questionnaire; 
 (b) tokenizing said at least one incremental change to said questionnaire; 
 (c) transmitting at least a portion of said tokens resulting from step (b) to a remote computing device, said transmitted tokens comprising less than the entire tokenized questionnaire; 
 (d) incorporating said transmitted tokens into said questionnaire at said remote computing device. 
 
     
     
         7 . A method for collecting survey data from a user comprising:
 (a) designing a questionnaire having branching logic on a first computer platform;   (b) automatically transferring said designed questionnaire to at least one loosely networked computer;   (c) executing said transferred questionnaire on said loosely networked computer, thereby collecting responses from the user;   (d) automatically transferring via the loose network any responses so collected to a central computer; and,   (e) making available on the Web any responses transferred to said central computer in step (d).   
     
     
         8 . The method for collecting survey data according to  claim 7  further comprising:
 (a) assessing a charge for each transferred response received by said central computer. 
 
     
     
         9 . A method for managing data transfers between computers including the steps of:
 (a) creating a questionnaire at a first site in a first computer located at a second site, said first site and said second site being connected by a network;   (b) transmitting said question to a remote computer via said network, said remote computer running an OIS;   (c) modifying said questionnaire with incremental changes at a third site in said first computer located at said second site; and   (d) modifying said questionnaire in said remote computer with said incremental changes.   
     
     
         10 . The method for managing data transfers between computers according to  claim 9  wherein said first site and said third site are the same. 
     
     
         11 . The method for managing data transfers between computers according to  claim 9  wherein said third site is at said remote computer.