WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

• US 20070203778A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Patey, Kristin, Lowson, John
• Application Number:
  US11/276,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20070203778A1
• 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 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work

Abstract

Methods and system for managing workflow in an information data processing system are described herein. A workflow server communicates with and receives work items from one or more information systems, such as a customer information system. Work items may include exceptions spawned by each information system, e.g., an item or error requiring manual resolution. The workflow server assigns each work item to an employee queue based on a comparison of skills needed to resolve the work item with skills of each end-user available to resolve a work item. The workflow server tracks work item assignments and resolutions by various indicators, such as by employee, business sector, and the like, and maintains an audit trail for later analysis and reporting of workflow resolutions.

Claims

1. A data processing system, comprising:

a customer information system (CIS) generating a plurality of work items corresponding to a business entity responsible for operating said CIS;

a work item database;

a workflow management module communicatively connected to the CIS, receiving the plurality of work items from the CIS, and storing information corresponding to the plurality of work items in the work item database, said workflow management module automatically assigning each work item to an employee work queue selected from a plurality of employee work queues based on a skill set associated with each work item and a skill set associated with each employee work queue, and said workflow management module storing audit trail data corresponding to each work item in the work item database.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said stored audit trail data comprises a start time and an end time corresponding to when an employee corresponding to the assigned employee work queue for each work item indicated he or she began work on the assigned work item and resolved the assigned work item, respectively.

3. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising a second customer information management system (second CIS) generating a second plurality of work items, wherein said second CIS is not natively compatible with the CIS, and wherein the workflow management module receives the second plurality of work items from the second CIS and stores information corresponding to the second plurality of work items in the work item database, said workflow management module automatically assigning each work item of the second plurality of work items to an employee work queue selected from the plurality of employee work queues based on a skill set associated with each work item of the second plurality of work items and the skill set associated with each employee work queue, and said workflow management module storing audit trail data corresponding to each work item of the second plurality of work items in the work item database.

4. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising a scanner module that receives a scanned image of a paper document from an external scanner,

wherein the workflow management module automatically receives the scanned image from the scanner module and automatically creates a work item based on the scanned image.

5. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising an electronic communication module that receives an electronic communication from a source external to the data processing system,

wherein the workflow management module automatically receives the electronic communication from the electronic communication module and automatically creates a work item based on the electronic communication.

6. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein each work item comprises an exception created by the CIS resulting from an error occurring during a business process function of the CIS.

7. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising a reports module that analyzes user input defining a desired type of report and a desired scope of the report, queries the work item database based on the desired type and scope of the report, and outputs a report providing work item information based on the desired type and scope of the report.

8. The data processing system of claim 7, wherein the desired type of report is selected from types comprising productivity, volumes, utilization, and on-target.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the desired type of report is further selected from a set of sub-types comprising at least two of client, user, team, and business function.

10. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said automatic assignment of each work item is further based on an availability of each employee work queue.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, further comprising:

an administration module exposing an ability for a user having predefined permissions to modify the availability of each employee work queue.

12. The data processing system of claim of claim 11, wherein the administration module further exposes the ability for the user having predefined permissions to modify a completion status of each work item.

13. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising a web user interface module providing a user interface to each employee corresponding to one of the plurality of work queues upon successful login to the data processing system by the corresponding employee, said user interface comprising a list of one or more work items presently assigned to the employee work item queue corresponding to the logged in employee.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein web user interface module color codes each work item in the list.

15. A method of managing an exception in an information system, comprising the steps of:

receiving a first exception from a first application of the information system, wherein the first exception corresponds to a request for manual resolution;

identifying a first end-user from a plurality of users to resolve the first exception;

assigning the first exception to the first end-user;

receiving a second exception from a second application of the information system, wherein the second exception corresponds to a request for manual resolution, and wherein the second application is different from the first application;

determining a second end-user from the plurality of users to resolve the second exception; and

assigning the second exception to the second end-user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of identifying a first end-user from a plurality of users to resolve the first exception includes the steps of:

determining at least one skill associated with resolving the first exception;

identifying at least one user having one or more skills corresponding to the at least one skill associated with resolving the first exception; and

selecting the first end-user from the identified at least one user.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of identifying a first end-user from a plurality of users to resolve the second exception includes the steps of:

determining a work queue for each of the plurality of users; and

comparing the work queues of each of the plurality of users.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from the first end-user to reassign the exception;

reassigning the exception to a third end-user, wherein the third end-user is selected from the at least one user having one or more skills corresponding to the at least one skill associated with resolving the first exception.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first end-user and the second end-user each have a work queue, wherein each work queue is prioritized.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of identifying a first end-user from a plurality of users to resolve the first exception is based on a user input;

21. An information system for processing exceptions, comprising:

a plurality of service applications, wherein each of the plurality of service applications are configured to automatically a resolve a plurality of tasks and generate one or more exceptions corresponding to tasks that require manual resolution;

a data server for receiving the one or more exceptions from the plurality of service applications, wherein the data server configures data associated with each of the one or more exceptions to conform to a predefined format; and

a workflow manager configured to assign the one or more exceptions to one of a plurality of end-users based on a comparison of skills associated with the exception and skills of the plurality of end-users.

22. The information system of claim 21, wherein the data server includes a message-based application integration module.

23. The information system of claim 21, further comprising a security module configured to authenticate users of the system.

24. The information system of claim 21, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to generate statistics associated with a workflow of one or more end-users.

25. The information system of claim 21, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to prioritize a plurality of exceptions in a work queue of an end-user.

26. The information system of claim 21, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to determine an urgency level associated with one or more exceptions.

27. The information system of claim 21, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to track an audit trail for each exception.