Method and system for automatically monitoring the performance quality of call center service representatives

• US 5,696,811 A
• Filed: 06/20/1996
• Issued: 12/09/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: E-Talk Corporation
• Original Assignee: Teknekron Infoswitch Corp. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Maloney, Michael J., McCalmont, David T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/667,861
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 379/34, 379/112, 379/265, 379/88, 379/85, 379/134, 379/135, 379/136, 379/138, 379/266, 379/308, 379/309, 379/210, 379/211, 379/157, 379/89, 379/133
• US Class Current: 379/265.07
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/10 together with the recording, indicating or registering of other data, e.g. of signs of identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6018 Subscriber or terminal logon/logoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

A method and system permit monitoring the performance of a call center agent or similar service representative in servicing calls in a call center by determining an interval within which to monitor the service representative'"'"'s performance in responding to calls, as well as by determining a number of calls or length of time for monitoring the representative within the interval. The invention automatically and randomly determines the precise time within the interval for monitoring the agent for a pre-determined period of time or for a pre-determined number of calls and records the performance of the service representative at the automatically and randomly determined time with or without notification to the agent. The recorded performance may then be listened to and annotated by a call center supervisor. This provides the call center supervisor with an automated method and system for scheduling and monitoring the performance of call center agents or service representatives that is consistent and equitable among all monitored agents.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in handling customer calls, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a time interval within which to monitor customer calls between the service representatives and customers;

determining for each service representative a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored within the time interval; and

automatically recording a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each service representative during the time interval in a memory in digital format.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of randomly determining for each service representative to be monitored a time period within the time interval to individually monitor each service representative'"'"'s customer calls.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said time period further comprises a plurality of predetermined time periods.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of playing back said recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of annotating said recorded customer calls by retrieving said recorded customer calls from the memory and adding additional data to said recorded customer calls.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of automatically generating periodic reports of a plurality of said recorded customer calls.

7. A system for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the system comprising:

a processor for executing a plurality of computer implemented instructions comprising;

instructions for determining a time interval within which to monitor customer calls between the service representatives and customers; and

instructions for determining for each representative a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored within the time interval; and

a recorder for automatically recording a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each representative during the time interval in a memory in digital format.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising instructions for randomly determining for each service representative to be monitored a time period within the time interval to individually monitor each service representative'"'"'s customer calls.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said time period further comprises a plurality of predetermined time periods.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising instructions that permit a user to retrieve said recorded customer calls from the memory and for adding additional data to said recorded customer calls.

11. The system of claim 7 further comprising instructions that permit said recorded customer calls to be played back.

12. The system of claim 7 further comprising instructions that permit said recorded customer cells to be played back at one of a plurality of different speeds.

13. The system of claim 7 further comprising instructions for automatically generating periodic reports on a plurality of said recorded customer calls.

14. A system for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the system comprising:

a supervisor workstation for executing supervisor instructions comprising;

instructions for determining a time interval within which to monitor customer calls between the service representatives and customers; and

instructions for determining a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored for each service representative;

a service monitoring control processor for executing service monitoring control instructions, the service monitoring control instructions comprising instructions for scheduling the recording by a recorder of a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each representative during the time interval; and

the recorder for recording the customer calls for each representative in a memory in digital format.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for notifying the service representative that said recording will occur.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein said service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for randomly determining for each service representative to be monitored a time period within the time interval to individually monitor each service representative'"'"'s customer calls.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said time period further comprises a plurality of predetermined time periods.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein said service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions that permit a user to retrieve said recorded customer calls from said memory and to add additional data to said recorded customer calls.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein said service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions that permit said recorded customer calls to be played back.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein said service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for reporting said recorded customer calls to said supervisor workstation.

21. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a maximum number of customer calls for each service representative to be recorded within a predetermined time interval;

randomly determining a time period within the time interval for recording each of the service representatives for a number of customer calls less than or equal to said maximum number of customer calls; and

automatically recording said customer calls between the service representatives and customers during said time period.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of automatically generating periodic reports of a plurality of said recorded customer calls.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of playing back said recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of annotating said recorded customer calls by retrieving said recorded customer calls from the memory and adding additional data to said recorded customer calls.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein said time period further comprises a plurality of predetermined time periods.

26. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in handling customer calls, the method comprising:

determining for each service representative a time interval in which to monitor customer calls between the service representative and customers;

determining for each service representative a maximum number of customer calls to monitor;

opening a voice file associated with the service representative;

detecting the connection of a customer call to the service representative;

recording the customer call in the voice file;

repeating the steps of detecting and recording for each customer call to monitor; and

closing the voice file if the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length; and

closing the voice file if the maximum monitoring length has been reached.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length; and

closing the voice file if the maximum monitoring length has been reached, wherein the maximum monitoring length is reached before the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length;

determining that the maximum monitoring length has been reached during the recording of a particular customer call; and

closing the voice file upon recording the particular customer call.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length;

determining that the maximum monitoring length has been reached during the recording of a particular customer call and before the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded; and

closing the voice file upon recording the particular customer call.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of determining a time interval comprises randomly determining a time period within the time interval to monitor customer calls.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of determining a time interval comprises randomly determining a plurality of time periods within the time interval to monitor customer calls.

33. The method of claim 26, further comprising accessing the voice file and playing back the recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

34. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

retrieving a selected recorded customer call from the voice file; and

adding additional data to the selected recorded customer call.

35. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating periodic reports of a plurality of the recorded customer calls.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein the voice file comprises a memory in digital format.