Systems, methods and computer readable media for measuring the performance and travel efficiency of a technician

• US 20050288948A1
• Filed: 11/12/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Devulapalli, Ravi, Timko, Jerome, Duttera, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US10/987,233
• Publication Number:
  US 20050288948A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are for creating a technician performance measure for job-related travel and for measuring the efficiency of a technician. A planned travel time is calculated for a technician that comprises an average of actual travel times within a defined area according to variable travel characteristics. The actual travel time is measured and compared to the planned travel time for an indication of travel efficiency. The planned travel time is added to a planned work time and compared to an actual work and travel total for an indication of overall performance efficiency.

Claims

1. A method for creating a technician performance measure for job-related travel, the method comprising:

receiving a travel segment distance measurement between at least two locations within at least one defined area;

receiving an average speed measurement from a database;

wherein the average speed measurement is determined from calculating an average of all speed measurements of a plurality of speed measurements stored in the database that correspond to a requested travel characteristic within the at least one defined area;

wherein at least one travel characteristic is stored in the database with each of the plurality of speed measurements such that each of the at least one travel characteristic describes at least one variable travel condition within the at least one defined area; and

calculating a to-job travel time estimate by dividing the segment distance measurement by the average speed measurement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two locations corresponds to at least two addresses and wherein the segment distance measurement is determined by mapping the at least two addresses and measuring the distance by roadway between the at least two addresses according to a desired route.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein computer-readable media is used to map the at least two addresses and measure the distance by roadway between the addresses according to a desired route.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein if any of the at least two addresses is not located on a map, then calculating the to-job travel time estimate comprises:

receiving at least one estimated to-job travel time from a table comprising travel time estimations per job according to density designations assigned to each of the at least two locations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the to-job time estimations are created from historical time data measured while technicians traveled between jobs, and wherein the traffic density designations are classifications with which the historical time data is associated depending on traffic density where the historical time data was collected.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding at least one in-job travel time estimation corresponding to travel that occurs during at least one job to the to-job travel time calculation to arrive at a total planned travel time estimation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one in-job travel time estimation is created from historical data measured while at least one technician traveled during a plurality of jobs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of speed measurements stored in the database were created using a Global Positioning System (GPS) installed in a vehicle operated by the technician.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one defined area comprises an area assigned to a particular service center.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one travel characteristic comprises a particular technician.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one travel characteristic comprises a time of day range.

12. A method for measuring the efficiency of a technician, the method comprising:

calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to complete a plurality of tasks;

calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to travel, wherein the travel time estimate is specific to a defined area corresponding to the plurality of tasks, and wherein the travel time estimate is based on a historical sample of travel times measured in the defined area;

adding the task completion time estimate and the travel time estimate to arrive at a total job time estimate;

measuring actual time taken to complete the plurality of tasks, wherein the actual time includes travel time;

measuring actual travel time; and

calculating total technician efficiency by comparing the measured actual time to the calculated total job time estimate.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein calculating the estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to complete the plurality of tasks comprises:

for each task of the plurality of tasks, calculating an average time required to perform the task from a plurality of historical measurements of actual times taken to perform the task to arrive at a time estimate for each task; and

adding each time estimate together to arrive at a total time estimate for the technician to perform all tasks of the plurality of tasks.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to travel comprises:

receiving a travel segment distance measurement between at least two locations within the defined area;

receiving an average speed measurement from a database,

wherein the average speed measurement is determined from calculating an average of all speed measurements of a plurality of speed measurements stored in the database that correspond to a requested travel characteristic within the defined area, and

wherein at least one travel characteristic is stored in the database with each of the plurality of speed measurements such that each of the at least one travel characteristic describes at least one variable travel condition within the at least one defined area; and

calculating a to-job travel time estimate by dividing the segment distance measurement by the average speed measurement.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising adding an in-job travel time estimate corresponding to travel that occurs during at least one task to the to-job travel time estimate corresponding to travel from one task to another task, wherein the in-job travel time estimate is created from historical data measured while technicians traveled during a plurality of tasks.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein measuring actual travel time comprises using a GPS installed in an automobile driven by the technician to record the time that the vehicle is in motion and the time that the vehicle is not in motion for less than a predetermined amount of time.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising calculating the travel efficiency of the technician by comparing the measured actual travel time to the estimated amount of time required for the technician to travel.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising preparing a detailed technician report that displays the estimated and actual times for completing the plurality of tasks, an efficiency indication based on the difference between the estimated and actual times for completing the plurality of tasks, the estimated and actual travel times, and an efficiency indication based on the difference between the estimated and actual travel times.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method of measuring the efficiency of a technician, the method comprising:

calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to complete a plurality of tasks;

calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to travel, wherein the travel time estimate is specific to a defined area corresponding to the plurality of tasks, and wherein the travel time estimate is based on a historical sample of travel times measured in the defined area;

adding the task completion time estimate and the travel time estimate to arrive at a total job time estimate;

measuring actual time taken to complete the plurality of tasks, wherein the actual time includes travel time;

measuring actual travel time; and

calculating total technician efficiency by comparing the measured actual time to the calculated total job time estimate.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein calculating an estimate of the amount of time required for the technician to travel comprises:

receiving a travel segment distance measurement between at least two locations within the defined area;

receiving an average speed measurement from a database,

wherein the average speed measurement is determined from calculating an average of all speed measurements of a plurality of speed measurements stored in the database that correspond to a requested travel characteristic within the defined area, and

wherein at least one travel characteristic is stored in the database with each of the plurality of speed measurements such that each of the at least one travel characteristic describes at least one variable travel condition within the at least one defined area; and

calculating a to-job travel time estimate by dividing the segment distance measurement by the average speed measurement.