System for automatically routing calls to call center agents in an agent surplus condition based on agent occupancy

• US 6,347,139 B1
• Filed: 12/06/1999
• Issued: 02/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Reiman, Marty I., Jensen, Roy A., Fisher, Thomas S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US09/454,496
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/266, 379/309, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.08, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/266.01, 379/266.02, 379/266.03
• US Class Current: 379/265.12
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

The system for automatically routing calls to call center agents in an agent surplus condition provides the call center administrator with an automatic agent assignment paradigm which functions to automatically increase the efficiency of assigning multiple skill agents to contacts. The presence of an agent surplus condition provides the present system with a plurality of choices in the assignment of the agent to process a presently received contact. Since the agents who staff the call center include multiple skill agents, the system must make a determination of not only which of the available agents is the best equipped to handle the present contact, but also how that assignment statistically effects the efficiency of successive assignments of agents to contacts next received, based upon the past performance of the agents and the call center. Since the traffic load presented to the call center tends to be highly variable and of content that is difficult to predict, the present system provides several automatic agent assignment paradigms that each have a statistically different impact on the performance of the call center, based upon the quality and quantity of the incoming calls.

Claims

1. A call management system, that is operational in a call center system, for interconnecting a customer who is using a communication device, with a selected one of a plurality of agents who are connected to said call center system, said call management system comprising:

means for retrieving data relating to said customer to determine a service need of said customer;

means, responsive to said determined service need, for selecting a one of said plurality of agents who is capable of serving said customer to serve said customer as a function of agent occupancy with respect to said service need, comprising;

means for computing a Weighted Call Handling Time for each skill of said plurality of agents,

means for computing an weighted inter call time whenever an incoming call is offered to a skill at a given queue priority; and

means for establishing a communication connection through said call center system to said selected one of said plurality of agents who is capable of serving said customer.

2. The call management system of claim 1 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means for computing agent occupancy by taking the ratio of the Weighted Call Handling Time and the sum of the Weighted Call Handling Time and the Weighted Inter-call Time.

3. The call management system of claim 1 wherein said means for computing a Weighted Call Handling Time comprises:

means for updating an exponential moving average whenever a call is completed.

4. The call management system of claim 1 further comprising:

means for selecting the skill whose active agents have the highest average occupancy relative to the average administered target occupancy for these agents.

5. The call management system of claim 4 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means, responsive to the average occupancy of these agents relative to the average administered target occupancy of two skills being equal, for selecting the skill with the oldest call waiting.

6. The call management system of claim 1 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means for intentionally leaving a multi-skilled agent idle, even though one or more calls are in queue for one or more of the agent'"'"'s skills, when the agent'"'"'s occupancy is greater than the administered target occupancy for that agent.

7. The call management system of claim 1 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means for selecting the agent whose occupancy is west relative to the administered target occupancy for that agent.

8. A method of operating a call management system, that is operational in a call center system, for interconnecting a customer who is using a communication device, with a selected one of a plurality of agents who are connected to said call center system, said call management system comprising the steps of:

retrieving data relating to said customer to determine a service need of said customer;

selecting, in response to said determined service need, a one of said plurality of agents who is capable of serving said customer to serve said customer as a function of agent occupancy with respect to said service need, comprising;

computing a Weighted Call Handling Time for each skill for each skill of said plurality of agents,

computing an weighted inter call time whenever an incoming call is offered to a skill at a given queue priority; and

establishing a communication connection through said call center system to said selected one of said plurality of agents who is capable of serving said customer.

9. The method of operating a call management system of claim 8 wherein said step of selecting further comprises:

computing agent occupancy by taking the ratio of the Weighted Call Handling Time and the sum of the Weighted Call Handling Time and the Weighted Inter-call Time.

10. The method of operating a call management system of claim 8 wherein said step of computing a Weighted Call Handling Time comprises:

updating an exponential moving average whenever a call is completed.

11. The method of operating a call management system of claim 8 further comprising:

selecting the skill whose active agents have the highest average occupancy relative to the average administered target occupancy for these agents.

12. The method of operating a call management system of claim 11 wherein said step of selecting further comprises:

selecting, in response to the average occupancy of these agents relative to the average administered target occupancy of two skills being equal, the skill with the oldest call waiting.

13. The method of operating a call management system of claim 8 wherein said step of selecting further comprises:

intentionally leaving a multi-skilled agent idle, even though one or more calls are in queue for one or more of the agent'"'"'s skills, when the agent'"'"'s occupancy is greater than the administered target occupancy for that agent.

14. The method of operating a call management system of claim 8 wherein said step of selecting further comprises:

selecting the agent whose occupancy is lowest relative to the administered target occupancy for that agent.

15. A call management system, that is operational in a call center system, for interconnecting a customer who is using a communication device, with a selected one of a plurality of agents who are connected to said call center system, said call management system comprising:

means for retrieving data relating to said customer to determine a service need of said customer;

means, responsive to said determined service need, for selecting a one of said plurality of agents to serve said customer as a function of agent occupancy, with respect to said service need, comprising;

means for computing agent occupancy by taking the ratio of a Weighted Call Handling Time and the sum of said Weighted Call Handling Time and a Weighted Inter-call Time,

means for selecting the skill whose active agents have the highest average occupancy relative to the average administered target occupancy for these agents,

means for selecting the agent whose occupancy is lowest relative to the administered target occupancy for that agent; and

means for establishing a communication connection through said call center system to said selected one of said plurality of agents who is capable of serving said customer.

16. The call management system of claim 15 wherein said means for computing a Weighted Call Handling Time comprises:

means for updating an exponential moving average whenever a call is completed.

17. The call management system of claim 15 wherein said means for selecting comprises:

means for computing a Weighted Call Handling Time for each skill.

18. The call management system of claim 17 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means, responsive to the average occupancy of these agents relative to the average administered target occupancy of two skills being equal, for selecting the skill with the oldest call waiting.

19. The call management system of claim 16 wherein said means for selecting further comprises:

means for intentionally leaving a multi-skilled agent idle, even though one or more calls are in queue for one or more of the agent'"'"'s skills, when the agent'"'"'s occupancy is greater than the administered target occupancy for that agent.