METHODS, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEMS FOR DISPATCHING SERVICE TECHNICIANS
First Claim
1. A system for dispatching a plurality of locate technicians to perform a plurality of locate activities, each locate activity corresponding to at least one locate ticket requesting that a presence or absence of at least one underground facility be determined within a planned dig area, the system comprising:
- A) at least one first storage device for maintaining a ticket database;
B) at least one second storage device for maintaining a technician database;
C) at least one first processor programmed to implement a scheduling engine for;
C1) allocating the plurality of locate technicians to the plurality of locate activities, andC2) scheduling the plurality of locate activities; and
D) at least one second processor programmed to implement a dispatch engine for;
D1) retrieving ticket information from the ticket database;
D2) determining a performance deadline for a locate activity of the plurality of locate activities based at least in part on the ticket information retrieved from the ticket database;
D3) retrieving technician information from the technician database, the technician information comprising shift information indicating availability of the plurality of locate technicians; and
D4) providing inputs to the scheduling engine based at least in part on the ticket information and the technician information, comprising determining a latest start time for the locate activity based at least in part on the performance deadline for the locate activity and the shift information, further comprising providing the latest start time to the scheduling engine in association with the locate activity.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Scheduling of activities for field service technicians may be improved by modifying availability constraints associated with appointment windows for activities. Activities may be scheduled based on a performance deadline and relevant shift times of the resources to whom the activity may be allocated, as well as a variety of parameters relating to activities, resources and/or relevant environmental conditions (e.g., weather, traffic). An activity may be moved from one calendar day to another, a location constraint at the beginning and/or the end of a technician'"'"'s shift may be removed or modified, and/or information updates may be provided in real time or near real time (e.g., every five minutes or less) throughout a work day to facilitate scheduling. In one example for scheduling dispatch of locate technicians for locate operations, ticket information relating to locate request tickets, as well as resource information relating to available technicians, may be extracted from a ticket database and a resource/technician database to provide appropriate inputs to a scheduling engine, based at least in part on matching available resources to performance deadlines associated with locate requests.
54 Citations
49 Claims
-
1. A system for dispatching a plurality of locate technicians to perform a plurality of locate activities, each locate activity corresponding to at least one locate ticket requesting that a presence or absence of at least one underground facility be determined within a planned dig area, the system comprising:
-
A) at least one first storage device for maintaining a ticket database; B) at least one second storage device for maintaining a technician database; C) at least one first processor programmed to implement a scheduling engine for; C1) allocating the plurality of locate technicians to the plurality of locate activities, and C2) scheduling the plurality of locate activities; and D) at least one second processor programmed to implement a dispatch engine for; D1) retrieving ticket information from the ticket database; D2) determining a performance deadline for a locate activity of the plurality of locate activities based at least in part on the ticket information retrieved from the ticket database; D3) retrieving technician information from the technician database, the technician information comprising shift information indicating availability of the plurality of locate technicians; and D4) providing inputs to the scheduling engine based at least in part on the ticket information and the technician information, comprising determining a latest start time for the locate activity based at least in part on the performance deadline for the locate activity and the shift information, further comprising providing the latest start time to the scheduling engine in association with the locate activity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
16. The system of 13, wherein:
-
the at least one first processor is further programmed to provide optimized schedules with respect to a value metric; and providing inputs to the scheduling engine further comprises assigning a base value to the locate activity based at least in part on the service category for the locate activity.
-
-
18. The system of 17, wherein:
-
the at least one first processor is further programmed to provide optimized schedules with respect to a value metric; and providing inputs to the scheduling engine further comprises assigning a base value to the locate activity based at least in part on the underground facility type associated with the locate activity.
-
-
25. A method for dispatching a plurality of locate technicians to perform a plurality of locate activities, each locate activity corresponding to at least one locate ticket requesting that a presence or absence of at least one underground facility be determined within a planned dig area, the method comprising:
-
A) retrieving technician information from a technician database maintained on at least one first storage device, the technician information comprising shift information indicating availability of the plurality of locate technicians; B) providing first inputs to a scheduling engine based at least in part on the technician information; C) retrieving ticket information from a ticket database maintained on at least one second storage device; D) determining a performance deadline for a locate activity of the plurality of locate activities based at least in part on the ticket information; E) providing second inputs to a scheduling engine based at least in part on the ticket information and the technician information, comprising determining a latest start time for the locate activity based at least in part on the performance deadline for the locate activity and the shift information; F) selecting, by the scheduling engine, a start time for the locate activity based at least in part on the first and second inputs; G) allocating, by the scheduling engine, at least one locate technician to perform the locate activity; and H) dispatching the at least one locate technician to perform the locate activity. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
-
-
38. The method of 37, wherein estimating an expected duration for the locate activity comprises:
-
determining a facility type to be located during the locate activity; determining the expected duration for the locate activity based at least in part on the facility type.
-
-
49. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method for scheduling dispatch a plurality of locate technicians to perform a plurality of locate activities, each locate activity corresponding to at least one locate ticket requesting that a presence or absence of at least one underground facility be determined within a planned dig area, the method comprising:
-
A) retrieving technician information from a technician database maintained on at least one first storage device, the technician information comprising shift information indicating availability of the plurality of locate technicians; B) providing first inputs to a scheduling engine based at least in part on the technician information; C) retrieving ticket information from a ticket database maintained on at least one second storage device; D) determining a performance deadline for a locate activity of the plurality of locate activities based at least in part on the ticket information; and E) providing second inputs to a scheduling engine based at least in part on the ticket information and the technician information, comprising determining a latest start time for the locate activity based at least in part on the performance deadline for the locate activity and the shift information.
-
Specification