SERVICE SCHEDULING

• US 20100036690A1
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Garg, Dinesh, Chafle, Girish B., Kedia, Vikas, Jain, Prashant, Tandon, Anju, Mehta, Sameep, Parija, Gyana R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,458,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Techniques for scheduling one or more services are provided. The techniques include obtaining customer information, obtaining one or more service characteristics for each of the one or more services, and using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling one or more services, comprising the steps of:

obtaining customer information;

obtaining one or more service characteristics for each of the one or more services; and

using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer information comprises a customer profile, wherein the customer profile comprises at least one of relative importance of the customer and relationship of the customer with a service provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more service characteristics comprise at least one of profitability, criticality, and one or more resource requirements of the one or more services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining resource availability.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer information comprises at least one of amount of time spent in waiting by the customer, and number of additional incoming customers requesting a service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing historical data to recommend one or more operational changes to one or more scheduled services.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report based on the one or more scheduled services.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services comprises reducing overall average wait time for the customer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services comprises scheduling the one or more services based on a priority to provide a differentiated service to one or more customers, wherein the priority is determined using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code for scheduling one or more services, said computer program product including:

computer readable program code for obtaining customer information;

computer readable program code for obtaining one or more service characteristics for each of the one or more services; and

computer readable program code for using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the customer information comprises a customer profile, wherein the customer profile comprises at least one of relative importance of the customer and relationship of the customer with a service provider.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the one or more service characteristics comprise at least one of profitability, criticality, and one or more resource requirements of the one or more services.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the customer information comprises at least one of amount of time spent in waiting by the customer, and number of additional incoming customers requesting a service.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer readable code for using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services comprises computer readable program code for scheduling the one or more services based on a priority to provide a differentiated service to one or more customers, wherein the priority is determined using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer readable program code for analyzing historical data to recommend one or more operational changes to one or more scheduled services.

16. A system for scheduling one or more services, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to said memory and operative to;

obtain customer information;

obtain one or more service characteristics for each of the one or more services; and

use the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the customer information comprises a customer profile, wherein the customer profile comprises at least one of relative importance of the customer and relationship of the customer with a service provider.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more service characteristics comprise at least one of profitability, criticality, and one or more resource requirements of the one or more services.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the customer information comprises at least one of amount of time spent in waiting by the customer, and number of additional incoming customers requesting a service.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein in using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics to schedule the one or more services, the at least one processor coupled to said memory is further operative to schedule the one or more services based on a priority to provide a differentiated service to one or more customers, wherein the priority is determined using the customer information and the one or more service characteristics.