Method and apparatus for workflow scheduling and forecasting

• US 20070179829A1
• Filed: 01/27/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Palmer, Joel, Laperi, Erian, Gray, Jonathan, Dilks, Jeremy
• Application Number:
  US11/341,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20070179829A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

A method and system for workflow scheduling and forecasting is disclosed. The method may include automatically generating a predicted workforce schedule for a work tour period, such as a period of several weeks or months, and populating the workforce schedule with workforce members based on prioritized work tour preferences received from the workforce members. A current workload assessment may then be applied to the populated workforce schedule based on current assignment availability and predicted workload for later in the current day. The system may include a workload database, A workforce scheduling server, and a workload allocation server. The workload database contains currently available assignments and historical workload levels and a business rule database containing workforce hours requirements. The workforce scheduling server generates a workforce schedule that the workload allocation server uses to distribute existing, and predict future, tasks among the scheduled workforce.

Claims

1. A workforce management system for dynamically arranging work schedules and workloads, the system comprising:

a workload database comprising currently available assignments and historical workload levels; and

a workforce scheduling server comprising;

a business rule database comprising workforce hours requirements;

a workforce schedule application configured for automatically generating a workforce schedule based on historical workload data from the workload database and workforce hours requirements from the business rule database, wherein the workforce schedule comprises a plurality of work tours, each work tour having a predetermined daily schedule for a length of the work tour; and

a work tour bidding application configured to receive work tour preference requests from workforce members and generate a populated workforce schedule, wherein each of the workforce members is associated with a respective one of the plurality of work tours.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a workload allocation server in communication with the workforce scheduling server, the workload allocation server comprising an assignment distribution application configured to automatically forecast a daily workload based on the currently available assignments and historical workload levels, and configured to distribute assignments to each of the workforce members on the populated workforce schedule in response to the forecasted daily workload.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the work tour bidding application comprises instructions for generating an interface to receive work tour preferences or vacation requests from workforce members.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the work tour bidding application comprises a work tour priority routine responsive to received work tour preferences to assign work tours based on a priority rating associated with each workforce member.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the priority rating comprises a seniority of a respective workforce member.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the workforce schedule application comprises processor executable instructions for executing the following method:

a. retrieving historical workload data from the workload database for previous instances of a particular day of a week, the historical workload data comprising a number of assignments handled;

b. determining a predicted number of assignments by calculating an average of the number of assignments handled for the particular day of the week;

c. multiplying the average by an estimated time per assignment and applying the workforce hours requirements to determine a number of workforce members necessary to handle the predicted number of assignments; and

d. repeating steps a-c for each day of the week and generating the workforce schedule comprising a plurality of tours.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein instructions for determining the predicted number of assignments by calculating the average, comprise instructions for calculating a weighted average of the number of assignments handled in a previous N instances of the particular day of the week, wherein more recent instances of the particular day of the week are weighted more heavily than older instances.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions for determining the predicted number of assignments comprise instructions for determining an average number of work items received (A_{[d, h]}) for a given hour of a given day of the week according to the relation:

9. A method of dynamically arranging work schedules comprising:

retrieving historical workload data from a workload database and business rule data from a business rule database;

automatically generating a workforce schedule template comprising a plurality of work tours based on the retrieved historical workload data and business rule data, wherein each work tour comprises a predetermined daily schedule for a length of the work tour;

receiving work tour preference requests from workforce members;

automatically generating a populated workforce schedule by populating the workforce schedule template based on the received work tour preference requests, wherein each of a plurality of workforce members is associated with a respective one of the plurality of work tours.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting to a client instructions for generating a graphic user interface configured to receive work tour preference requests.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein automatically generating a populated workforce schedule template comprises automatically processing all received work tour preference requests to assign work tours based on a priority rating associated with each workforce member.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the priority rating comprises a seniority of a respective workforce member and processing all received workforce tour preference requests, comprises assigning work tours to workforce members in order of seniority.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

automatically forecasting at a beginning of a day of a work tour a workload allocation based on currently available assignments and historical workload levels; and

distributing assignments among the workforce members on the populated workforce schedule based on the forecasted daily workload.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating the workload allocation on a periodic basis during the day, wherein dynamic changes in a number or type of currently available assignments are accounted for.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising automatically forecasting an amount of overtime hours necessary to complete a forecasted amount of workload if the forecasted amount of workload exceeds a current workforce capacity.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein automatically forecasting at the beginning of the day comprises:

retrieving the populated workforce schedule, currently available assignments and historical workload levels from the workload database; and

forecasting a present day workload based on the currently available assignments and historical workload levels.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically alerting a manager of a need to schedule overtime via a manager interface.

18. A computer readable medium comprising instructions for carrying out the following steps:

retrieving historical workload data from a workload database and business rule data from a business rule database;

automatically generating a workforce schedule template comprising a plurality of work tours based on the retrieved historical workload data and business rule data, wherein each work tour comprises a predetermined daily schedule for a length of the work tour;

receiving work tour preference requests from workforce members;

automatically generating a populated workforce schedule by populating the workforce schedule template based on the received work tour preference requests, wherein each of a plurality of workforce members is associated with a respective one of the plurality of work tours.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for transmitting to a client instructions for generating a graphic user interface configured to receive work tour preference requests.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein instructions for automatically generating a populated workforce schedule template comprise instructions for automatically processing all received work tour preference requests to assign work tours based on a priority rating associated with each workforce member.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for executing the following steps:

automatically forecasting at a beginning of a day of a work tour a workload allocation based on currently available assignments and historical workload levels; and

distributing assignments among the workforce members on the populated workforce schedule based on the forecasted daily workload.