Automated workflow method for assigning work items to resources

• US 20030152212A1
• Filed: 02/05/2003
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Sitkowski, Rafal, Qutub, Sami Joseph, Herman, Leta G., Levenelm, Gail, Mallows, Colin Lingwood, Flockhart, Andrew D., Steiner, Robert C., Landwehr, James M., Ju, Wen-Hua, Roybal, Larry John, Matteo, Peter J., Burok, Didina
• Granted Patent: US 6,707,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

An automated method for servicing a plurality of work items within committed times. A workflow including two or more work activities is assigned for each of the plurality of work items and a commitment is assigned either to each workflow or to each work item in each workflow. Queued work items are automatically assigned to a next available agent based on an activity state. A short-term predictor provides early detection of work items that are at risk of failing to meet their commitments. A long-term predictor detects backlogs of work items where excessive delays in queue are likely to put work items at risk of failing to meet their commitments. An activity'"'"'s state can also cause additional reserve and backup agents to be assigned to it, to service work items from its queue before their commitments are missed.

Claims

1. A method for assigning work items to resources in a workflow including one or more work activities that are completed in an assigned order, comprising:

assigning a commitment for completion of the workflow to each of a plurality of work items;

assigning a threshold for each of said work activities to each said work item, wherein said threshold is a portion of said commitment of said work item;

automatically determining a work activity status of each said work item from said commitment, said threshold, and an elapsed portion of said commitment of said work item; and

assigning one of said work items to a next available resource according to said work activity status.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning a commitment to said work item comprises:

assigning a commitment workflow start to said work item for a first work activity of said work activities within said workflow; and

assigning a commitment workflow end to said work item for a last work activity of said work activities within said workflow.

3. The method of claim 1 for assigning work items to resources in a plurality of workflows each including a plurality of work activities that are completed in an assigned order, wherein of said workflows have at least one common work activity.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning a threshold comprises:

assigning an upper threshold to each of said work items for each of said work activities, wherein a work item above said upper threshold is behind target and a work item below said upper threshold is on-target.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a work activity status comprises:

queuing a plurality of said work items for one of said work activities; and

predicting a short term predictor for each of said work items using said commitment, said elapsed portion of said commitment, and a predicted commitment portion of said work item.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

queuing a plurality of said work items for one of said work activities;

predicting a long term predictor for each one of said work items using said commitment, said elapsed portion of said commitment, and an estimated portion of said commitment of said work item; and

automatically invoking reserve and backup resources to service said queued common work items to avoid missed commitments.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning one of said work items comprises:

automatically assigning one of said work items waiting for one of said work activities to a next available resource having a skill to perform said activity according to said work activity status of said waiting work items.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning one of said work items comprises:

providing said work activity status of said work items to a resource; and

the resource selecting one of said work items to be completed by said resource.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

queuing a plurality of said work items for one of said work activities;

predicting a short term predictor for each one of said work items using said commitment, said elapsed portion of said commitment, and an estimated portion of said commitment of said work item;

organizing said plurality of work items in a work activity queue based on said short term predictor; and

automatically assigning a first queued work items from said plurality of work items to said next available resource based on said organization of said plurality of work items in said queue.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said next available resource is eligible to receive work items from two or more work activities further comprising:

queuing a work item for each of said two or more work activities in a corresponding activity queue;

predicting a short term predictor for a first work item in said corresponding activity queue using said commitment, said elapsed portion of said commitment, and an estimated portion of said commitment of said work item;

organizing said work item in said corresponding activity queue based on said short term predictor; and

automatically assigning a first queued work items from said corresponding activity queue to said next available resource based on said short term predictor of said first work items in said corresponding activity queues.

11. A method for assigning work items to resources in a workflow for said work items, said workflow including two or more work activities that are completed in an assigned order, comprising:

assigning a commitment to each of said work items wherein said commitment is time available to complete said work item;

assigning a threshold to two or more of said work items for a common one of said work activities, wherein each said threshold is a percentage of said commitment of corresponding said work item;

automatically determining a work activity status for each of said two or more work items from said commitment, said threshold, and a duration of elapsed time in said workflow of said work item; and

automatically assigning one of said work items waiting for said common work activity to a next available resource according to said work activity status.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a work activity status comprises:

queuing said two or more work items for said common work activity; and

predicting a short term predictor for each of said two or more work items using said commitment, said duration of elapsed time, and a predicted elapsed time of said work item.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein predicting a short term predictor comprises:

calculating a predicted elapsed time according to a sum of an actual elapsed time from a start of said commitment plus a weighted advance time until said next available resource is expected to become available to service one of said two or more work items; and

dividing said calculated predicted elapsed time by said duration of said commitment to calculate a predicted commitment.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

automatically invoking reserve and backup resources to service said two or more work items based on said work activity status to avoid missed commitments.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein automatically invoking reserve and backup resources comprises:

queuing said two or more work items for said common work activity;

predicting a long term predictor for each one of said two or more work items using said commitment, said duration of elapsed time, and an estimated wait time for each of said queued work items; and

automatically invoking said reserve and backup resources to service said queued work items to avoid said missed commitments.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein predicting a long term predictor comprises:

calculating an estimated elapsed duration as a sum of actual said duration of elapsed time plus a product of a position of a last one of said work items within an activity queue and a weighted advance duration until said next available resource becomes available; and

dividing said estimated elapsed duration by said duration of said commitment to calculate an estimated commitment.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein assigning a commitment to said work assignment comprises:

assigning a commitment workflow start to said work item for a first work activity of said work activities within said workflow; and

assigning a commitment workflow end to said work item for a last work activity of said work activities within said workflow.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

creating a work flow for each one of said plurality of work items, wherein creating a workflow comprises

assigning a plurality of work activities to the workflow, wherein one or more of said plurality of work activities within the work flow are common to another one or more of the work flows, and

assigning an order for completing said plurality of work activities in the workflow; and

assigning a commitment workflow start and a commitment workflow end for a first one and a last one of the plurality of work activities, respectively, to a work item.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein assigning a threshold comprises:

assigning an upper threshold to a work item for each of said two or more work activities, wherein a work item having a work item status above said upper threshold is behind target and a work item having a work activity status below said upper threshold is on-target.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

assigning a critical threshold to a work item for each of said two or more work activities, wherein any work item having said work activity status above said critical threshold is critical and any work item having said work activity status between said upper threshold and said critical threshold is behind target; and

assigning a lower threshold to a work item for each of said two or more work activities, wherein any work item having said work activity status below said lower threshold is ahead of target and any work item having said work activity status between said lower threshold and said upper threshold is on target.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein automatically calculating a work activity status comprises:

for each of said common work activities,

predicting a wait time until a resource becomes available to perform one of said common work activities according to an average availability time;

summing said predicted wait time and said duration of elapsed time of a work item to generate a predicted elapsed time of the work item; and

calculating said work activity status of the work item as a percentage of said commitment of the work item using to said predicted elapsed time.

22. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

creating a first workflow for one of the work items, wherein said first workflow includes a first subset of a plurality of work activities;

assigning a first commitment to said first workflow, said first commitment having a first start commitment and a first end commitment at a beginning and an end of said first workflow;

creating a second work flow for another of the work items, wherein said second workflow includes a second subset of said plurality of work activities, said first and said second subset having at least one work activity in common; and

assigning a second commitment to said second workflow, said second commitment having a second start commitment and a second end commitment at a beginning and an end of said second workflow.

23. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

creating a first workflow for one of the work items, wherein said first workflow includes a first subset of a plurality of work activities;

assigning a first commitment to said first workflow, said first commitment having a first start commitment and a first end commitment at a beginning and an end of said first workflow;

creating a second workflow for said one of the work items, wherein said second workflow includes a second subset of said plurality of work activities;

assigning a second commitment to said second workflow, said second commitment having a second start commitment and a second end commitment at a beginning and an end of said second workflow; and

assigning a third commitment to a combination of said first workflow and said second workflow wherein said start commitment of said first work flow is a third start commitment and a third end commitment is said second end commitment of said second workflow, wherein the third commitment is the duration required to complete said first workflow and said second work flow.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein two or more of said plurality of work items follow a same workflow further comprising:

assigning a different commitment to each of said plurality of work items, wherein said plurality of work items progress through said work flow at different rates according to the commitment assigned to each corresponding one of each of said plurality of work items.

25. A method for a plurality of agents within two or more workgroups to process a plurality of work items within a completion commitment of each of said plurality of work items through at least one workflow corresponding to the work items and including a plurality of activities to be completed in an assigned order by said plurality of agents, wherein agents in each of the workgroups have a skill corresponding to an activity performed by said work group, comprising:

assigning said commitment to each of said workflows including a start commitment assigned to a first one of said plurality of activities and an end commitment assigned to a last one of said plurality of activities, wherein said commitment is a time available to complete said corresponding workflow;

assigning a threshold to each of said plurality of activities, wherein said threshold is a percentage of said commitment;

automatically calculating an activity state, said calculation using said corresponding commitment and an elapsed time associated with each one of said queued work items; and

automatically assigning one of said queued items to a next available agent within said corresponding workgroup according to said activity state calculated for each of the queued work items, wherein said one of said queued work items having a worst activity state is completed first to prevent a missed commitment for said work item.

26. A product that assigns work items to resources in a workflow including one or more work activities that are to be completed in an assigned order, the product comprising:

instructions for directing a processor to;

assign a commitment for completion of said workflow to said work item;

queue said work item in an activity queue;

calculate a state of said queued work item;

organize said queued work items based on said calculated state; and

assign a next one of said queued work items to a next available resource based on said organization of said queued work items.

27. The product of claim 26 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for:

assigning a commitment workflow start to said work item for a first work activity of said one or more work activities within said workflow; and

assigning a commitment workflow end to said work item for a last work activity of said one or more work activities within said workflow.

28. The product of claim 26 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for assigning a threshold of said one or more work activities to said work item, wherein said threshold is a portion of said commitment of said work item.

29. The product of claim 28 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for assigning an upper threshold to each of said work items for each of said one or more work activities, wherein a work item above said upper threshold is behind target and a work item below said upper threshold is on target.

30. The product of claim 26 for assigning a plurality of work items to resources in plurality of workflows each including a plurality of work activities that are completed in an assigned order, wherein said workflows have at least one common work activity having a corresponding common activity queue.

31. The product of claim 30 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for:

queuing said plurality of work items in said common activity queue corresponding to said at least one common work activity;

predicting a short term predictor for each of said plurality of work items using said commitment, an elapsed portion of said commitment, and an estimated portion of said commitment of said corresponding work item;

organizing said plurality of work items in said common activity queue based on said short term predictor of said queued plurality of work items; and

assigning a first queued work items from said plurality of work items to said next available resource based on said organization of said plurality of work items in said common activity queue.

32. The product of claim 26 wherein said next available resource is eligible to receive said work item from two or more activity queues wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for determining an activity state of said two or more activity queues and assigning said next one of said queued work items to said next available resource based on said activity state of said corresponding activity queue.

33. The device of claim 32 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for:

queuing one or more of said work items for each of said two or more activity queues;

predicting a short term predictor for a first work item in said two or more activity queues using said commitment, an elapsed portion of said commitment, and an estimated portion of said commitment of said work item;

organizing said work items in said two or more activity queues based on said short term predictor; and

automatically assigning a first queued work item from a corresponding one of said two or more activity queues to said next available resource based on said short term predictor of said first work items in said two or more activity queues.

34. The product of claim 26 wherein said instruction further comprise instructions for:

providing said calculated state of said work item to a resource; and

selecting one of said work items to be serviced by said resource.