Interface and method of designing an interface

• US 20040240635A1
• Filed: 07/02/2004
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bushey, Robert R., Martin, John M., Pasquale, Theodore, Liddell, Gregory W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,076,049 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A method is provided for designing an interface system. The method includes receiving a call from a customer at a call center, and logging a reason the customer is calling the call center. Subsequently, reasons from multiple customers are collected and categorized into task categories to be performed by the interface system. Menu options can then be designed based upon the task categories. The menu options include some of the language the customers used to express the reason for calling the call center. Performance of the interface system is evaluated by using cumulative response time (CRT), which is a total time a user interfaces with the system, and routing accuracy. The routing accuracy accounts for whether the user successfully navigated the interface system to a correct destination, whether the user navigated to an incorrect destination, and whether the user did not navigate to any destination.

Claims

1. A method for designing an interface system, comprising:

evaluating performance of the interface system using cumulative response time (CRT), comprising a total time a user interfaces with the system, and routing accuracy that accounts for whether the user successfully navigated the interface system to a correct destination, whether the user navigated to an incorrect destination, and whether the user did not navigate to any destination.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising evaluating the designed interface system utilizing usability tests to optimize the interface system.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the usability tests compare menu options of the designed interface system with an existing interface system.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein evaluating the designed interface system further comprises identifying ineffective task categories and menu option combinations.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising designing menu options based upon task categories and user task statements utilizing a portion of task statements.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the user task statements are mapped to an associated menu option.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising organizing menu options by locating high frequency tasks earlier in the sequence of menu options.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interface system comprises an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a prediction model based upon expected user task volume and task frequency is utilized to provide an indication of how the interface system will perform.

10. A method for designing an interface system, comprising:

determining frequency of task occurrence for a plurality of call centers;

determining an adjusted task frequency for each call center by multiplying a call volume weight for the call center by the task frequency for the call center;

determining an overall adjusted task frequency by summing each call center'"'"'s adjusted task frequency; and

categorizing tasks in accordance with the overall adjusted task frequency to design an interface system options menu.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein user relevant terms, obtained from the call centers, are used in the menu options.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising evaluating the performance of the interface system by use of an analytic scoring model.

13. The method according to claim 10, in which categorizing the tasks further comprises grouping and ordering the menu options in accordance with the overall adjusted task frequency.

14. The method according to claim 13, in which categorizing the tasks further comprises ordering menu options so that higher frequency tasks are positioned higher in the sequence of options.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein a prediction model based upon expected user task volume and task frequency is utilized to provide an indication of how the interface system will perform.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein cumulative response time (CRT) and routing accuracy are used to evaluate performance of the interface system.

17. A method for designing an interface system, comprising:

receiving a call from a customer at a call center;

logging a reason the customer is calling the call center;

collecting a plurality of reasons from a plurality of customers;

categorizing the reasons into task categories to be performed by the interface system; and

designing menu options based upon the task categories, the menu options including at least a portion of language one of the customers used to express the reason for calling the call center.

18. The method of claim 17, in which the logging further comprises logging an opening statement by the customer as the reason the customer is calling the call center.

19. The method of claim 17, in which the categorizing further comprises categorizing the reasons in pre-defined task categories derived from potential tasks the customer might require from an organization.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the menu options closely match various tasks the customers are trying to accomplish when accessing the interface system.