METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOCATING PERSONNEL AND RESOURCES TO EFFICIENTLY COMPLETE DIVERSE WORK ASSIGNMENTS
First Claim
1. A method for processing work assignments of diverse types to a workforce having a plurality of members, wherein the method is accomplished with a scheduling software engine, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a first work assignment;
determining a type for the first work assignment;
creating a type queue for each diverse type of work assignment wherein a priority is assigned to each type queue;
placing the first work assignment in the type queue corresponding to the type of the first work assignment;
processing a subsequent work assignment as the first work assignment;
creating a schedule for each workforce member based on the type queue which has a highest priority;
determining availability in the schedule for each workforce member; and
assigning work assignment of a different type from a type queue having a next highest priority within the availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member from the type queue having the next highest priority.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a method for processing multiple work assignments to a mobile workforce having a plurality of mobile workforce members. The steps of this method include receiving a first work assignment. This work assignment is then examined to determine the type of work assignment, a service assignment or a pooled assignment. If the work assignment is a pooled work assignment, the work assignment is placed within a pooled work assignment queue. Similarly, if the work assignment is a service work assignment, that assignment is placed within a service work assignment queue. The process is iterative and additional work assignments may be received and sorted into the proper queue. A schedule may then be created for each individual work force member according to the assignments within the service queue. These scheduled are examined and periods of availability or slack times are identified. These periods of availability or slack time are then filled with work assignments from the pooled queue.
172 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A method for processing work assignments of diverse types to a workforce having a plurality of members, wherein the method is accomplished with a scheduling software engine, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a first work assignment;
determining a type for the first work assignment;
creating a type queue for each diverse type of work assignment wherein a priority is assigned to each type queue;
placing the first work assignment in the type queue corresponding to the type of the first work assignment;
processing a subsequent work assignment as the first work assignment;
creating a schedule for each workforce member based on the type queue which has a highest priority;
determining availability in the schedule for each workforce member; and
assigning work assignment of a different type from a type queue having a next highest priority within the availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member from the type queue having the next highest priority. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method for processing a plurality of work assignments to a mobile workforce having a plurality of mobile workforce members, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a first work assignment;
determining if the first work assignment is a service assignment or a pooled assignment;
placing the service assignment in a service queue;
placing the pooled assignment in a pooled queue;
processing a subsequent work assignment as the first work assignment;
creating a schedule for each mobile workforce member based on the service queue;
determining periods of availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member; and
assigning pooled work assignment where there are periods of availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member from the pooled queue. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A computer system directed by a computer program operable to schedule a plurality of diverse work assignments, the computer system comprising:
-
a storage device operable to store program data;
a memory operable to store a computer program;
a processor coupled to the storage device and the memory, the processor operable to execute the computer program such that the computer is directed by the computer program to schedule the plurality of diverse work assignments for a mobile workforce having a plurality of mobile workforce members;
receive a first work assignment;
determine if the first work assignment is a service assignment or a pooled assignment;
place the service assignment in a service queue;
place the pooled assignment in a pooled queue;
receive and process a subsequent work assignment as the first work assignment;
create a schedule for each mobile workforce member based on the work assignments in the service queue;
determine the availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member;
assign work assignments in the pooled queue to individual workforce members;
a communication system to distribute a work assignment schedule to the workforce members; and
a user interface used by the user to a access the computer program wherein the user may enter subsequent work assignments and workforce member schedules. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
27. A method for processing work assignments of diverse types to a workforce having a plurality of members, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a first work assignment;
determining a type for the first work assignment;
creating a type queue for each diverse type of work assignment wherein a priority is assigned to each type queue;
placing the first work assignment in the type queue corresponding to the type of the first work assignment;
processing a subsequent work assignment as the first work assignment;
creating a schedule for each workforce member based on the type queue which has a highest priority;
determining availability in the schedule for each workforce member; and
assigning work assignment of a different type from a type queue having a next highest priority within the availability in the schedule for each mobile workforce member from the type queue having the next highest priority.
-
Specification