Support case management system

• US 20070116241A1
• Filed: 11/10/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Faihe, Yassine, Brothers, William, Flocken, Phil
• Application Number:
  US11/271,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20070116241A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

A method embodiment for assigning support in a customer support system comprising receiving a support request, identifying evaluation criteria corresponding to the request based upon a predetermined set of criteria types, comparing the evaluation criteria with support profiles of a plurality of support engineers, identifying a selected support engineer based upon the results of the comparison, and assigning the request to the selected support engineer.

Claims

1. A method for assigning support in a customer support system comprising:

receiving a support request;

identifying evaluation criteria corresponding to said request based upon a predetermined set of criteria types;

comparing said evaluation criteria with support profiles of a plurality of support engineers;

identifying a selected support engineer based upon the results of said comparison; and

assigning said request to said selected support engineer.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

comparing said identified evaluation criteria to corresponding criteria for a set of stored solutions prior to comparing said evaluation criteria with said support profiles of said support engineers;

determining if a solution exists in a solution database;

if said solution exists;

verifying said solution; and

reporting said solution.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said evaluation criteria comprises at least one of language, availability, expertise or experience.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said evaluation criteria are scored according to a predetermined hierarchy.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said comparing step comprises assigning a criteria score to each classification criteria and calculating a total score from said criteria scores of each classification.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein said identifying a selected support engineer step comprises selecting a support engineer based on said total score.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein a weighting factor is applied to each criteria score based upon a predetermined level of importance prior to calculating said total score.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said receiving step comprises receiving information from a customer via a telephone connection to a support agent.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said receiving step comprises receiving information from a customer is via a web portal.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said receiving step comprises receiving information from a customer via an automated phone system.

11. A system for assigning support in a customer support system comprising:

a support request received from a requester; and

a plurality of databases containing information about a set of support engineers;

wherein said support request is compared with said information and a support engineer is selected based upon the results of said comparison.

12. The system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said plurality of databases comprises a historical database, support engineer profiles database, and a customer profiles database.

13. The system as set forth in claim 11, further comprising a graphical user interface for providing system access.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having program logic stored thereon, wherein said program logic comprises machine readable code executable by a computer, wherein said machine readable code comprises instructions for:

receiving a support request;

identifying evaluation criteria corresponding to said request based upon a predetermined set of criteria types;

comparing said evaluation criteria with support profiles of a plurality of support engineers;

identifying a selected support engineer based upon the results of said comparison; and

assigning said request to said selected support engineer.

15. The computer program product as set forth in claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

comparing said identified evaluation criteria to corresponding criteria for a set of stored solutions prior to comparing said evaluation criteria with said support profiles of said support engineers;

determining if a solution exists in a solution database;

if said solution exists;

verifying said solution; and

reporting said solution to said customer.

16. The computer program product as set forth in claim 14, wherein said evaluation criteria comprises at least one of language, availability, expertise or experience.

17. The computer program product as set forth in claim 14, wherein said evaluation criteria are scored according to a predetermined hierarchy.

18. The computer program product as set forth in claim 14, wherein said instruction for said comparing step comprises instructions for assigning a criteria score to each classification criteria and instructions for calculating a total score from said criteria scores of each classification.

19. The computer program product as set forth in claim 18, wherein said instructions for identifying a selected support engineer step comprises instructions for selecting a support engineer based on said total score.

20. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19, further comprising instructions for applying a weighting factor to each criteria score based upon a predetermined level of importance prior to calculating said total score.