GB2568651A

GB2568651A - Obtaining information on operational status

Info

Publication number: GB2568651A
Application number: GB1715247.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Elmes Stuart; Russell David
Original assignee: My Credit Controllers Ltd
Current assignee: My Credit Controllers Ltd
Priority date: 2017-09-21
Filing date: 2017-09-21
Publication date: 2019-05-29
Also published as: GB201715247D0

Abstract

The method involves: querying more than one online source of publically available data relating to the operational status of an organisation 105, 106, 112, where a first search query to a first online database has broader search parameters then search queries made to a second online database; receiving search results; analysing the results to determine the operational status of the organisation 107, 109, 113; and displaying the operational status of the organisation 108, 110, 111, 114, 115. The online sources of information may be Companies House or The Gazette. Preferably, an insolvency notice for the organisation is identified and the search results are analysed to identify the presence of risk factors associated with the risk of insolvency. Preferably the operational status is a trading status. Preferably the organisation is a company, a partnership or a charity. The method is performed by a data processing apparatus with at least one processor and memory, a computer-readable medium, or a computer program.

Description

The present invention relates to a computer implemented method, an apparatus, a computer-readabie medium and a computer program.

Background

There are a number of reasons why someone might wish to investigate 10 whether a business is still trading.

As one example, a supplier that has delivered goods or services to a company under credit payment terms where that company fails to pay and can no longer be contacted might want to investigate whether the business 15 has entered insolvency. Chasing for payment when the business is in this situation is wasted time, so early notice that the company is in administration, receivership or liquidation can save time and money.

Private individuals may also have a need to find out if a business is still 20 trading. For example, someone who has not received delivery of goods that were paid for in advance or someone who has paid a deposit to a contractor who does not arrive to complete the works. If the payment was made with a credit card, it is often possible recover the payment from a credit card company if the business has gone into insolvency, so timely knowledge about 25 the company situation will allow the person to start proceedings to recover the funds.

Unfortunately, some companies that enter insolvency do not always provide clear information about their situation to customers, for example by contacting 30 them individually or adding an announcement to the company website. A customer trying to find out what is going on can often be faced with a telephone that is not answered.

There exist online resources that can be used to investigate whether a business is still trading.

In the UK, Companies House is the register of record for limited companies. Company information is made available to the public, and an online search for a company includes information about the company status, which can be • active • dissolved • liquidation • receivership • administration • voluntary-arrangement • converted-closed • insolvency-proceedings

The record at Companies House is definitive with a highly structured, accurate and complete database. However, the inventor has realised that this information is not always up to date. In addition, the company status terms are not immediately meaningful to a member of the public that is not familiar with corporate insolvency processes.

A second resource available in the UK is the Gazette, which is the UK’s official public record. The Gazette is a government publication, managed by The Stationery Office. Publications or notices are fully searchable online.

The Gazette publishes various notices, including new year honours, state notices such as the coming into force of government bills, wills and probate as well as corporate insolvency notices. The Gazette is much more likely to yield up to date information about a corporate insolvency as the insolvency practitioner is required to place notices at various stages of the process, including a notice of appointment at the very beginning. Any application by a creditor to a court for a corporate winding up is also published.

An online search is available on the Gazette website. However, the inventor has realised that the enormous range of searchable content makes it challenging to navigate and identify relevant information. A search for a company name will find a list of insolvency notices, but the terminology and descriptions will be unfamiliar to many people, who struggle to interpret and understand the status of the company.

Both Companies House and the Gazette provide their data on an Open Government License for others to repurpose and use.

The inventor has realised that current technical systems for retrieving and displaying data relating to the current status of a company are inefficient.

Summary

According to a first aspect, there is provided a computer implemented method comprising: querying more than one online source of publicly available data for information on whether or not an organisation is still operational, or is in the process of becoming inoperational, at least one query to a first online source having broader search parameters than another of the queries to a second online source: receiving search results in response to said querying; analysing the received search results In combination to determine an operational status of the organisation; and causing a display to output the determined operational status of the organisation.

The at least one query to the first online source may refrain from including any search terms relating to the iegal status of the organisation, whilst said another of the queries to the second online source comprises said search terms.

The received search results from the query to the first online source may be processed to search for an exact match with search terms that were selected by a user input.

The online sources may comprise at least one of Companies House and the Gazette

The determined operational status may be displayed as a summary conclusion, with detail relating to how this conclusion was determined accessible via a link displayed concurrently with the determined operational status.

The method may further comprise: identifying, from the received search results, at least one insolvency notice for the organisation being checked; and outputting to the display a link to view the notice in full.

The method may further comprise: analysing the received search results to identify the presence of any risk factors associated with risk of insolvency; and outputting to the display a warning with the determined operational status when such risk factors have been identified. The risk factors may include at least one of: a recently incorporated organisation having a similar name and common directors to the organisation being checked; late-filed statutory submissions; recent changes of directors; and County Court Judgements.

The organisation may be at least one of: a company, a partnership; and a charity.

The operational status may be a trading status.

According to a second aspect, there is provided a data processing apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer code that, when executed on the at least one processor, causes the processor to: query more than one online source of publicly available data for information on whether or not an organisation is still operational, or is in the process of becoming inoperational, at least one query to a first online source having broader search parameters than another of the queries to a second online source; receive search results in response to said querying; analyse the received search results in combination to determine an operational status of the organisation; and cause a display to output the determined operational status of the organisation.

The at least one query to the first online source may refrain from including any search terms relating to the legal status of the organisation, whilst said another of the queries to the second online source comprises said search terms.

The online sources may comprise at least one of Companies House and the Gazette

The processor may be further caused to: identify, from the received search results, at least one insolvency notice for the organisation being checked; and outputting to the display a link to view the notice in full.

The processor may be further caused to: analyse the received search results to identify the presence of any risk factors associated with risk of insolvency; and cause to be output to the display a warning with the determined operational status when such risk factors have been identified. The risk factors may include at least one of: a recently incorporated organisation having a similar name and common directors to the organisation being checked; late-filed statutory submissions; recent changes of directors; and County Court Judgements.

The operational status may be a trading status.

According to a third aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, caused the computer to perform the steps of any of claims 1 to 10.

According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to

10.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Hereunder follows a detailed description of embodiments of the invention, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is flowchart showing the inputs, database queries and logic that combine the multiple sources of data to provide simple feedback in plain language for the user:

Fig. 2 is a screenshot showing the presentation of Message A from the flowchart;

Fig. 3 is a screenshot showing the presentation of Message B from the flowchart:

Fig. 4 is a screenshot showing the presentation of Message C from the flowchart; and

Fig. 5 illustrates an example apparatus in which the presently described method may be implemented.

Detailed Description

In general, the present application relates to a mechanism for querying online data sets in an efficient manner. In particular, a user inputs at least one search term for an organisation (such as a company) into a single interface/application window. This search term is used to send queries to multiple online data sets/databases. The online data sets may be maintained by different groups/organisations. The online data sets may have differing degrees of reliability (such as discussed above in relation to the Gazette and Companies House).

The results from the queries are then processed and interpreted into plain language for everyday users, providing useful and simple guidance on whether a company is operational (e.g. if the company is trading), and what options are available to someone to recover monies owed. The interpreted result is output as a combined result, which more efficiently utilises display space. The combined result may be output as one of a limited number of output options. For example, the combined result may be output as any of: Company still trading; insolvency notices found; and Company in administration, only. Further information on how this combined result was determined, and/or further information relating to this combined result may be accessible via a link displayed concurrently with the combined result, such as a collapsible tab or a hotlink.

Figure 1 shows a flow chart of an example software process for this process. This example is provided with reference to Companies House and the Gazette. However, this is merely an example, and it is understood that other online resources may be used. It is understood that one of the online resources has more up-to-date information than the other online resource.

It is further understood that this process may be executed by at least one processor acting either remotely from the user or locally to the user.

At 100, the process starts.

At 101, the user starts to input a name of a company to be searched. The name is input into an input box. The input box may be accessed via a single webpage or via a single proprietary application interface. As the user inputs the name of the company for which information is being requested, a serverside program queries the Companies House database Application Programming Interface (API) for a match on the name. It is understood that although the name of a company is used in this example, other information identifying the company may be input by a user, and used to query Companies House for a match.

At 102, a list is returned from the API and presented to the user as a drop down list of company names, registered number and registered address from which to choose. The list updates as the user continues typing.

At 103, the user selects a name from the list or selects an option that the company name is not found on the list. Upon selecting the name or the option that the name is not present, further queries of the Companies House and Gazette APIs are performed as discussed below. Results returned from each of these two different sources are processed and combined to provide the inexpert user with a simple result in plain language. The code returning these results follows simple logic to display only Information relevant to the user based on the results.

At 104, the users selection (i.e. the name or the option that the name is not present) is assessed by the computer, and different action is taken depending on whether or not the name is determined to be on the list.

In the case that a company name is found on the iist:

In this case, at 105 the processor is configured to retrieve the company status from Companies House. This retrieved information may include any of: the registered address, the registered status of the company, and the company number. The registered address and company number may be displayed below the search box, giving the user confidence that the correct company was selected.

At 106 the program causes a query to be sent to the Gazette API that requests information on any insolvency notices filed for the company name. The Gazette returns a list of insolvency notices that are a “fuzzy match” to the search string. Consequently a return from a search on the company name could include false positives from companies that have names that include the same words. The company number (where available) is a unique number, but the inventors found that not all insolvency notices on the Gazette include the company number, so this cannot solely be relied upon to find notices. It was also found by the inventors that references to organisation type such as ‘Limited’, ‘LTD’, ‘LLP’ or ‘Partners’ are not consistently applied in the Gazette data set.

Given the limitations of the Gazette dataset and search options, a methodology has been developed that enables the return data to be processed and presented with a higher level of confidence.

First, any text associated with the organisation type (Ltd, Limited) is removed from the end of the search string sent to the Gazette to avoid false negative returns.

Second, each of the notices returned by the query is processed by a function that looks for an exact match with the search string either in the title of the notice or in the body text. Only when an exact match is found is the notice flagged as relevant. In other words, at least one search result (e.g. an insolvency notice) returned as a result of a query to the Gazette may be processed to search for an exact match with search terms that were selected by a user input.

At 107, it is assessed whether or not the company is listed as “active or not equal to “active”. If the selected company has any status other than “active” the method proceeds to 108, in which case a message (such as the message shown in Figure 4, with a status of “administration” as an example) is displayed to a user. This message is described below.

At 109, a determination is made as to whether or not the any relevant insolvency notices were found as a result of the query to the Gazette.

If no relevant insolvency notices were found, at 110, a message, such as Message A illustrated in Figure 2, is displayed to a user. A description of this message is described later.

If at least one relevant insolvency notice was found, at 111, a message, such as Message B illustrated in Figure 3, is displayed to a user. A description of this message is described later.

Figure 2 illustrates an example window that may be displayed when it is determined that a company is active and no insolvency notices has been found.

At the top of the window, there is provided a search box 201 into which the user has typed the name of the company of interest.

Immediately below this search box, the registered address and company number of the selected company is displayed at 202.

At 203, the cumulative result of the state of the company is displayed. Immediately adjacent to this cumulative result, there is provided a link to an expandable tab 204. The expandable tab 204 is represented by the text ‘More detail’ in Figure 2. If a user selects this expandable tab, the information labelled as 205 is displayed. This information 205 represents the detailed information used for determining the cumulative result displayed at 203. The detailed information may also list from where the information was retrieved, as shown in Figure 2. The more detailed information may comprise company type, date of creation, company status, insolvency history, whether the company was liquidated and date of dissolution, in this case it will also show that no insolvency notices have been found.

Figure 3 displays an example window that may be displayed when it is determined that a company is active and at least one relevant insolvency notice has been found.

At the top of the window, there is provided a search box 301 into which the user has typed the name of the company of interest.

Immediately below this search box, the registered address and company number of the selected company is displayed at 302.

At 303, the cumulative result of the state of the company is displayed as “Insolvency Notices found”. A pictorial icon indicating this is also displayed. Immediately adjacent to this cumulative result, there is provided a link to an expandable tab 304. The expandable tab 304 is represented by the text ‘More details’ in Figure 2. If a user selects this expandable tab, the information labelled as 305 is displayed. This information 305 represents the detailed information used for determining the cumulative result displayed at 303. The detailed information may also list from where the information was retrieved, as shown in Figure 3. The more detailed information may comprise company type, date of creation, company status, insolvency history, whether the company was liquidated and date of dissolution. In this case it will also show the insolvency notices that have been found.

Insolvency notices are presented to the user in the expanded list in tabulated format with columns headed Date, Notice Code, Type and Title. The Title text is a hot link that opens the text of the notice in a new browser window.

To provide additional information to a user, there is provided a link 306, represented by the text ‘Read this article’. This is a link to information explaining how to identify the administrator or liquidator or receiver and lodge a claim against the company.

Also mentioned above was “Message C”. Message C relates to a potential exampie window that may be displayed when it is determined that a company has a state other than “active at Companies House. This example window is described in relation to Figure 4, where a company of status “administration” is given by way of an example.

At the top of the window, there is provided a search box 401 into which the user has typed the name of the company of interest.

Immediately below this search box, the registered address and company number of the selected company is displayed at 402.

At 403, the cumulative result of the state of the company is displayed as “Company in Administration. Immediately adjacent to this cumulative result, there is provided a link to an expandable tab 404. The expandable tab 404 is represented by the text ‘More details’ in Figure 4. If a user selects this expandable tab, the information labelled as 405 is displayed. This information 405 represents the detailed information used for determining the cumuiative result displayed at 403. The detailed information may also list from where the information was retrieved, as shown in Figure 4. The more detailed information may comprise company type, date of creation, company status, insolvency history, whether the company was liquidated and date of dissolution. In this case it will also show the insolvency notices that have been found.

Provided in the ‘More detail’ text in Figure 4 is a link that reveals the full details of the return from Companies House, comprising company type, date of creation, company status, insolvency history, whether the company was liquidated and date of dissolution. Insolvency notices are tabulated with columns headed Date, Notice Code, Type and Title. The Title text is a hot link that opens the text of the notice in a new browser window.

In the case where the company is not found on the presented list:

In this case, at 112 the process sends a single query to the Gazette API that searches for insolvency notices for the company name following the same process as described in relation to 108.

At 113 a determination is made as to whether or not the any relevant insolvency notices were found as a result of the query to the Gazette.

If no relevant insolvency notices were found, at 114, a message, such as Message A (Fig 2) may be displayed (albeit without any information from Companies House being provided through the expandable tab 204).

If at least one relevant insolvency notice was found, at 111, a message, such as Message B illustrated in Figure 3, (albeit without any information from Companies House being provided through the expandable tab 404), is displayed to a user.

The analysis could be extended to include looking for risk factors associated with imminent insolvency. These might include such things as:

« A new company has recently been formed with a similar name and directors or persons of significant control in common • Statutory submissions such as accounts and annual returns are late • Recent changes in directorships have occurred • County Court Judgements are being sought by creditors

In a similar approach to keeping simplicity to that described above, the fact that risk factors have been identified could be reported, with the user able to reveal details and investigate further if required.

The presently described system addresses several technical considerations.

For example, the system is arranged to utilise fewer display resources than current systems. This is because a single search query Input by a user may result in queries being sent to multiple information sources. In contrast, different interfaces (and hence separate search queries are input by a user) in current systems. Moreover, the processor causes a single result to be output that combines and summarises the queried information received from each of the information sources. Information relating to this may be accessible using a collapsible tab, to further utilise display screen space more efficiently. All of these mechanisms results in a more efficient use of display resources.

Further, as the above-described processes result from a single search query, this results in the utilisation of fewer processing cycles than if the online information sources were queried individually (as is currently done). Therefore, the reformatting of the initial search query by the processor to tailor the transmitted query for the information available from different information sources, such that a broader search is made to certain information sources (e.g. a broader search is made to the Gazette than to Companies House) ultimately results a more efficient use of processing resources in the processing entity, relative to current systems.

Generally, any of the functions described herein can be implemented using software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), or a combination of these implementations. The terms module,” “functionality,” “component” and “logic” as used herein generally represent software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof. In the case of a software implementation, the module, functionality, or logic represents program code that performs specified tasks when executed on a processor (e.g. CPU or CPUs). The program code can be stored in one or more computer readable memory devices. The features of the techniques described below are platform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented on a variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety of processors.

For example, the user terminals may also include an entity (e.g. software) that causes hardware of the user terminals to perform operations, e.g., processors functional blocks, and so on. For example, the user terminals may include a computer-readable medium that may be configured to maintain instructions that cause the user terminals, and more particularly the operating system and associated hardware of the user terminals to perform operations. Thus, the instructions function to configure the operating system and associated hardware to perform the operations and in this way result in transformation of the operating system and associated hardware to perform functions. The instructions may be provided by the computer-readable medium to the user terminals through a variety of different configurations.

One such configuration of a computer-readable medium is signal bearing medium and thus is configured to transmit the instructions (e.g. as a carrier wave) to the computing device, such as via a network. The computerreadable medium may also be configured as a computer-readable storage medium and thus is not a signal bearing medium. Examples of a computerreadable storage medium include a random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), an optical disc, flash memory, hard disk memory, and other memory devices that may us magnetic, optical, and other techniques to store instructions and other data.

An example of an entity that may perform these functions is described in relation to Figure 5. This entity may be located locally to a user (e.g. at a user terminal configured to receive the input of the user) or remote to the user (e.g. at a server located in a network).

Figure 5 shows an example of apparatus 70. Apparatus 70 can be configured to execute an appropriate software code to provide control functions required by the process described herein. A processor 73 operates in accordance with 15 program code stored at memory 71. Both the processor and the memory may be implemented as one or more chips, Figure 5 showing two separate data processing units 72, 73. The memory may inciude read-oniy memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory and random-access memory. The above elements may be provided on one or more circuit boards. The apparatus also comprises an interface 74 for transmitting and/or receiving data over a communications network. It should be appreciated that the apparatus shown in Figure 5 described above may comprise further elements which are not directly involved with the embodiments of the invention described herein.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and 15 acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

querying more than one online source of publicly available data for information on whether or not an organisation is still operational, or is in the process of becoming inoperational, at least one query to a first online source having broader search parameters than another of the queries to a second online source;

receiving search results in response to said querying;

analysing the received search results in combination to determine an operational status of the organisation; and causing a display to output the determined operational status of the organisation.

2. A computer implemented method according to claim 1 where the at least one query to the first online source refrains from including any search terms relating to the legai status of the organisation, and wherein said another of the queries to the second online source comprises said search terms.

3. A computer implemented method according to any preceding claim where the received search resuits from the query to first online source are processed to search for an exact match with search terms that were selected by a user input.

4. A computer implemented method according to any preceding claim, where the online sources comprise at least one of Companies House and the Gazette

5. A computer implemented method according to any preceding claim where the determined operational status is displayed as a summary conclusion, with detail reiating to how this conclusion was determined accessible via a link displayed concurrently with the determined operational status.

6. A computer implemented method according to any preceding claim further comprising:

identifying, from the received search results, at least one insolvency notice for the organisation being checked; and outputting to the display a link to view the notice in full.

7. A computer implemented method according to any preceding claim, further comprising:

analysing the received search results to identify the presence of any risk factors associated with risk of insolvency; and outputting to the display a warning with the determined operational status when such risk factors have been identified.

8. A computer implemented method according to claim 7 where the risk factors include at least one of: a recently incorporated organisation having a similar name and common directors to the organisation being checked; late-filed statutory submissions; recent changes of directors; and County Court Judgements.

9. A computer implemented method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the organisation is at least one of: a company, a partnership; and a charity.

10. A computer implemented method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the operational status is a trading status.

11. A data processing apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer code that, when executed on the at least one processor, causes the processor to perform the steps of any of claims 1 to 10.

12. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, caused the computer to perform the steps of any of claims 1 to 10.

5

13. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 10.