System and method for automated performance monitoring for a call servicing system

• US 20070025528A1
• Filed: 07/07/2005
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Martin, John, Bushey, Robert, Knott, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/32.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/10 Providing fault- or trouble-signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and reporting automated call-processing performance is disclosed. Initially, performance metrics can be established for normal or acceptable system performance. Performance metrics may be determined for individual components and/or a combination of components in a system, wherein the individual metric may help to provide a performance indicator for the call processing system. The performance metrics can be established by utilizing historical data gathered from past operating characteristics or operating parameters. The performance metric can be calculated from past operating characteristics and could be a statistical distribution or a statistical value. This statistical distribution will often conform to a Gaussian distribution also known as a bell curve. However, acceptable performance limits can be set based on nearly any statistical distribution. A monitor can collect data over a predetermined time interval and process the monitored data to provide a “near” real-time performance data. When the near real time performance data falls within a pre-defined range of normal operation (based on the statistical distribution) system operation is most likely acceptable and operation proceeds. However, when the system performance data is outside of a normal range of operation, beyond a performance metric or exceeds a threshold value an alarm can be set to notify a human or an electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring an automated call processing system comprising:

establishing a performance metric that is related to at least a portion of an

operational characteristic of a call processing center;

tracking a performance indicator in near real time, the performance indicator

related to the operational characteristic;

detecting a deviation between the performance indicator and the performance

metric; and

triggering an alarm in response to the detected deviation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational characteristic is one of an average call duration, a system response time, a premature disconnect count, a verbal extensible mark up language (VXML) server access time, a caller hang up rate, an excessive confirmation rate, and a false acceptance rate.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a message responsive to the alarm trigger.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the performance metric further comprises consideration of at least one of a mean a standard deviation, and a z-score developed from a collection of information representing measurements of the operational characteristic.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the deviation is detected when the performance indicator is greater than or less than plus or minus one (1) standard deviation or a z-score from the mean.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the performance indicator and the performance metric on a periodic basis.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance indicator is based on activities related to one of an interactive voice response system, a speech recognition module and a voice extensible mark up language server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metric is based on one of an uncorrected mean or a standard deviation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm is triggered after one of an extreme value or a time averaged parameters.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a subsequent caller is routed to an agent when the deviation is detected.

11. A system for monitoring performance of a call center comprising:

an interactive voice response system (IVRS) configured to accept spoken caller input and to process a call responsive to the spoken caller input;

a server coupled to the IVRS and configured to supply executable objects to the IVRS; and

a monitor coupled to the IVRS and configured to monitor at least one parameter of the IVRS related to caller activity, to maintain a performance metric for the at least one parameter, and to determine if the at least one parameter has deviated from the performance metric.

12. The system as in claim 11, wherein the parameter is one of a call time duration, a caller hang up, and a delay time.

13. The system as in claim 11, further comprising a database coupled to the monitor and configured to store information associated with the monitored parameter.

14. The system as in claim 13, further comprising a statistical processor configured to calculate one of an actual mean, an actual standard deviation, an actual range, or an actual median, for the stored information.

15. The system as in claim 14, further comprising calculating one of the actual mean, the actual standard deviation, the actual range, or the actual median, utilizing historical data from approximately a previous half hour time period.

16. The system as in claim 14, further comprising an alarm generator responsive to an output of the statistical processor.

17. The system as in claim 14, further comprising a switch for switching the caller to a human operator when monitored data is not in compliance with the performance metric.

18. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions to manipulate a computing platform to:

establish a baseline performance metric that represents an operational characteristic of a call processing center;

track an actual performance for the operational characteristic in near real time;

detect a deviation between the performance metric and the actual performance; and

trigger an alarm in response to detecting the deviation.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions to process an average operational characteristic including one of an average call duration, a system response time, a premature disconnect count, a voice extensible mark up language (VXML) server access time, a caller hang up rate, an excessive confirmation rate, and a false acceptance rate.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions to transmit a message responsive to the alarm trigger.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions to establish a performance metric by calculating at least one of a mean and a standard deviation, developed from a collection of information representing measurements of the operational characteristic.