Computer-Implemented System And Method For Integrating Human Observations Into Analytics Data

• US 20150310070A1
• Filed: 04/29/2014
• Published: 10/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Stefik, Mark Jeffrey, Eldershaw, Craig, Taniguchi, Makiko, Torres, Francisco Eduardo, Jarvis, Peter, Jia, Lu, Liu, Pai, Tarkan, Sureyya, Wu, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 10,013,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A computer-implemented system and method for integrating user observations into operational data is provided. A database maintains notes each having received from a user and comprising a subjective observation. Operational data including workflow data of an objective nature is defined. Each of the notes is associated with one or more tags. The note associated with the tags is further maintained in the database. Criteria for retrieving the note are defined for the workflow data and forming a query for each of the workflow data. The query to select the note associated with the tags is executed for the workflow data based on the criteria and the selected note is integrated into the workflow data. The workflow data with the integrated note is displayed on a display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for integrating user observations into operational data, comprising the steps of:

maintaining notes in a database, each note having received from a user and comprising a subjective observation;

defining operational data comprising workflow data of an objective nature;

associating each of the notes with one or more of tags and further maintaining the note associated with the tags in the database;

defining criteria for retrieving the note for the workflow data and forming a query for each of the workflow data;

executing the query to select the note associated with the tags for the workflow data based on the criteria and integrating the selected note into the workflow data; and

displaying the workflow data with the integrated note on a display,

wherein a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform the method steps.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining classification of the tags for organizing tags in categories;

matching each of the categories for each of the tags associated to the notes with the query for each of the workflow data; and

selecting the notes for integration based on the matched category with the criteria.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

generating summaries of each of the notes; and

utilizing the summaries of the notes comprising at least one of;

analyzing a trend of the notes for organizing the categories of the tags based on the summaries; and

identifying the workflow data matching with the summaries of the notes.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the classification of the tags is organized as at least one of a directed graph, hierarchy, and lists of lists.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising:

recognizing one or more of the categories which are related each other; and

automatically creating a category above the related categories as a new category.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing predefined tags to each note comprising information at least one of day, time, and location when the note is created, identifier of the user, and work activity of the user.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

providing predefined tags for selecting by the user for associating with the note; and

providing a field on a user interface to enter tags manually by the user for associating with the note.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the notes comprise at least one of text, pictures, videos, animation, and sound recordings.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the notes comprise at least one of time created, location, title of the note, name of the user, comments, priority, request for exception, and purpose of the note.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a receiver of the note when the tag is associated with the note; and

routing the note associated with the tag to the identified receiver.

11. A computer-implemented method for integrating user observations into analytics data, further comprising the steps of:

maintaining organizational workflow data of an objective nature comprising structured data for operating transactions in an organization;

maintaining annotations in a database, each annotation having received from a user who belongs to the organization as a creator and comprising a subjective observation;

tagging each of the annotations with one or more of tags;

embedding the tagged annotation into the structured data by determining relevance of the tagged annotation to each of the structured data; and

performing data processing of the structured data and visualizing, on a user interface, analytics data based on the processed structured data with the embedded tagged annotation,

wherein a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform the method steps.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

displaying the analytics data with the embedded tagged annotation for one group of the users in the organization on the user interface;

receiving a request for obtaining another analytics data from other group of users in the organization;

rearranging the analytics data for use by the other group of users; and

presenting the rearranged analytics data on the user interface for the other group of users with the embedded tagged annotation.

13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining categories of the tags as tag classification;

identifying criteria for retrieving the annotations for each of the structured data and forming queries for each of the structured data; and

determining the tagged annotation as relevant for the structured data by matching each query for each of the structured data with each category for each tag.

14. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining an interface for search of the annotation in the database, comprising;

generating and storing summaries of the annotations in the database;

performing search of the annotations based on at least one of the summaries and tags associated with the annotations; and

displaying a result of search of the annotations.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:

filtering the result of search for display by at least one of time window, location, identity of the user who created the annotation, and ranking of the user who created the annotation.

16. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

identifying an alert attached to the embedded tagged annotation;

determining one or more of receivers of the embedded tagged annotation based on the alert;

displaying the embedded tagged annotation to the determined receivers on the user interface.

17. A method according to claim 16, further comprising at least one of:

automatically identifying a group of the users of the structured data as the receivers based on at least one of summary of the annotation and the tag; and

receiving, from at least one of the users in the organization, one or more of specific users of the structured data as the receivers.

18. A method according to claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a response to the alert by at least one of the receivers; and

reflecting the response to the embedded tagged annotation.

19. A method according to claim 11, wherein the analytics data is shown as at least one of maps, timelines, charts, and tables.

20. A method according to claim 11, wherein the user interface is provided as at least one of dashboard application and Web application.