Method and system for enterprise service balancing

• US 6,744,877 B1
• Filed: 03/08/1999
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Edwards, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, BING Q
• Application Number:
  US09/264,497
• Time in Patent Office: 1,912 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142.04, 379/142.06, 379/142.17, 379/220.01, 379/221.01, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.12, 379/266.02, 379/112.09, 379/142.01, 379/207.13, 379/265.09
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• 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 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

A method and system for processing an enterprise'"'"'s incoming customer communications on the basis of the enterprise'"'"'s business objectives. An enterprise service balancer distributes work based upon enterprise resources and immediate resource availability. The enterprise service balancer provides an instantaneous best possible service for a customer communication (e.g., a call) by matching the customer communication with the most appropriate available resource in the enterprise, as a whole, in accordance with the enterprise'"'"'s definition of best service. The enterprise service balancer may refrain from moving media for a customer communication to an identified resource until after determining that the identified resource accepts the customer communication for further processing. The enterprise service balancer looks for an enterprise resource having a specific skills set when the enterprise receives a customer communication requiring the specific skills set. The enterprise service balancer operates in conjunction with enterprise resources as diverse as call center agents, back office agents, and robotic call processing applications. The back office agents, such as technical staff members, represent persons who do not typically handle customer communications. The robotic call processing system may operate in conjunction with an interactive voice response (“IVR”) system or other such robotic system appropriate for the communications media. The enterprise service balancer may process customer communications arriving via media such as telephony, e-mail, video kiosk, and an internet.

Claims

1. A method for processing customer communications received by a communication-processing system that comprises a plurality of communication-processing resources, each with a communication-processing resources set that includes a description of the communication-processing resource, comprising:

receiving a customer communication into the communication-processing system;

parking the communication at a location that is not dedicated for use by some communication-processing resources of the system to an exclusion of other communication-processing resources of the system;

analyzing the customer communication to create a communication properties set;

selecting a communication-processing resource of the plurality of communication-processing resources by comparing the communication properties set against the communication-processing resources set that includes a description of the communication-processing resource for at least a portion of the communication-processing resources, wherein the selecting step is made irrespective of whether the communication-processing resource is presently available and free to process the transaction and/or is presently busy with other work;

sending a new work indicator to the selected communication-processing resource, the new work indicator comprising information in both the communication properties and the communication-processing resources sets, wherein the new work indicator comprises a pointer to the communication;

receiving a reply from the selected communication-processing resource, the reply indicating whether or not the selected communication-processing resource elects to service the customer communication; and

when the selected communication-processing resource elects to service the customer communication, requesting that the transaction pointed to by the new work indicator be connected to an address of the selected communication-processing resource provided in the request, transferring the communication for processing from the location where the selected transaction is parked to the address provided in the request, and thereafter forwarding to the selected communication-processing resource customer further customer-related information not included in the new work indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising when the selected communication-processing resource elects not to service the customer communication, thereafter not forwarding to the selected communication-processing resource customer further customer-related information not included in the new work indicator.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the new work indicator is associated with the customer communication and comprises a plurality of a customer identifier, a customer'"'"'s level of service, historical transaction records for the customer, and a database link referencing customer information associated with the customer, the method further comprising:

selecting data from the communication properties set and including the selected data in the new work indicator.

4. A system for processing calls received by a call-processing system that comprises a plurality of call-processing resources, each with a call-processing resources set that includes a description of the call-processing resource, comprising:

at least one call receiver that receives calls;

a call parking application operable to park a received call at a location that is not dedicated for use by some call-processing resources of the system to an exclusion of other call-processing resources of the system; and

an enterprise service balancer that comprises;

a receiver that receives a call notification from the at least one call receiver pertaining to a received call;

an analyzer that analyzes the received call to compose a call properties set for the received call;

a comparator that selects one of the call-processing resources of the plurality of call-processing resources to process the received call by comparing the call properties set with the call-processing resources set for at least a portion of the call-processing resources; and

a transmitter that sends a new work indicator to the selected call-processing resource, the new work indicator comprising information from each of the call properties and call-processing resources sets, wherein the information comprises a pointer to the received, parked call; and

a work pusher operatively connected to the enterprise service balancer that directs the transfer of the received, parked call to the selected call-processing resource after the new work indicator has been received by the selected call-processing resource.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the new work indicator comprises a plurality of a call pointer, a caller identifier, a caller'"'"'s level of service, historical transaction records for the caller, and a database link referencing caller information associated with the caller.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the selected call-processing resource is not instantly available but may be available within a configurable time period, the enterprise service balancer parks the received call and assigns to a resource identifier associated with the call an identifier associated with the selected call-processing resource, and, if the selected call-processing resource is not available to service the call within the configurable time period, the comparator selects a different call-processing resource to service the call.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein the description of the call-processing resource includes a skill level, and wherein the comparator'"'"'s comparison of the call properties set against the call-processing resources set to select the call-processing resource comprises selecting the selected call-processing resource to have an adequate skills level among a set of available call-processing resources in the plurality of call-processing resources.

8. The system of claim 4 wherein the call-processing resources set includes a plurality of an agent skills level, an optimal skills range, a qualified skills range, an agent identification, an agent telephony address, and a recent customer transaction list.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein work pusher directs the transfer of the received call when the selected call-processing resource has elected to service the received call.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the comparison by the comparator to individually select a call-processing resource from among the plurality of call-processing resources is made irrespective of whether the resource is presently available and free to process the call or is presently busy with other work.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein, when an individual call-processing resource is available and free to process a call, the comparator is operable to use predetermined objectives and information in workpackets of the calls that are waiting to be processed to individually select a waiting call for processing by the individual resource from among all waiting calls whose workpackets either identify the individual resource or identify determined required attributes that are all possessed by the individual resource.

12. The system of claim 4, wherein the work pusher does not direct the transfer of the received, parked call when the individual resource, using the information in the sent new work indicator, determines, based upon predetermined objectives, that it will not process the received, parked call pointed to by the sent new work indicator.

13. A system for processing customer communications received by a communications-processing system that comprises a plurality of communications-processing resources, each with a communication-processing resources set that includes a description of the communication-processing resource, comprising:

at least one communications receiver that receives customer communications;

a communication parking application that parks a received communication at a location not dedicated for use by some communication-processing resources of the system to an exclusion of other communication-processing resources of the system; and

an enterprise service balancer that includes;

a receiver that receives a customer communication notification from the at least one communication receiver pertaining to a received communication;

an analyzer that analyzes the received communication to compose a communication properties set for the received communication;

a transmitter that sends a new work indicator to the selected communication-processing resource, the new work indicator comprising information from each of the communication properties and communication-processing resources sets, wherein the information comprises a pointer to the received, parked communication;

a work pusher operatively connected to the enterprise service balancer that directs the transfer of the received, parked communication to the selected communication-processing resource after the new work indicator has been received by the selected communication-processing resource; and

a comparator that selects a communications-processing resource of the plurality of communications-processing resources to process the customer communication by comparing the communication properties set with the description of the communication-processing resource set for at least a portion of the communication-processing resources, wherein, when the selected communications-processing resource is not instantly available but may be available within a configurable time period, the communication parking application parks the communication, and, when the selected communications-processing resource is not available to service the communication within the configurable time period, the comparator selects a different communications-processing resource from among the plurality of communications-processing resources to service the communication.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the selected communications-processing resource, after reviewing the new work indicator, elects to service the communication and the enterprise service balancer thereafter provides further customer information to the selected communications-processing resource.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the new work indicator comprises a plurality of a communication pointer, a customer identifier, a customer'"'"'s level of service, historical transaction records for the customer, and a database link referencing customer information associated with the customer.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the work pusher comprises:

a first communications link for transmission of the new work indicator;

a second communications link for transmission of any associated media with the customer communication;

a receiver configured to receive a transfer request over the first communications link from the selected communications-processing resource that includes the selected resource'"'"'s addresses on the first and second communication links, to establish a second communications link with the selected communications-processing resource, to transfer the new work indicator to the selected communications-processing resource over the first communications link, and to transfer any associated media over the second communications link.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the communication-processing resources set includes a plurality of an agent skills level, an optimal skills range, a qualified skills range, an agent identification, an agent telephony address, and a recent customer transaction list and the enterprise service balancer assigns to a resource identifier associated with the customer communication a value associated with the selected communications-processing resource.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the comparison by the comparator to individually select a communications-processing resource from among the plurality of communications-processing resources is made irrespective of whether the resource is presently available and free to process the communication or is presently busy with other work.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein, when an individual communication processing resource is available and free to process a communication, the comparator is operable to use predetermined objectives and information in workpackets of the communications that are waiting to be processed to individually select a waiting communication for processing by the individual resource from among all waiting communications whose workpackets either identify the individual resource or identify determined required attributes that are all possessed by the individual resource.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the work pusher does not direct the transfer of the received, parked communication when the individual resource, using the information in the sent new work indicator, determines, based upon predetermined objectives, that it will not process the received, parked communication pointed to by the sent new work indicator.

21. A method of processing transactions in a transaction-processing system, comprising:

in response to receipt of a transaction for processing in the transaction-processing system, parking the transaction at a location that is not dedicated for use by some transaction-processing resources of the system to an exclusion of other transaction-processing resources of the system;

generating a workpacket of information associated with the transaction and including a pointer to the transaction;

determining attributes that a transaction-processing resource must possess in order to process the transaction;

optionally, using the determined required attributes to individually select at least one of the transaction-processing resources of the system to process the transaction, the selection being made irrespective of whether the at least one resource is presently available and free to process the transaction or is presently busy with other work;

identifying one of (a) the determined required attributes and (b) the selected at least one resource, in the workpacket;

in response to an individual transaction-processing resource being available and free to process a transaction, using predetermined objectives and information in the workpackets of the transactions that are waiting to be processed to individually select a waiting transaction for processing by the individual resource from among all waiting transactions whose workpackets either identify the individual resource or identify determined required attributes that are all possessed by the individual resource;

sending the workpacket of the selected transaction to the individual resource for use of the information in the workpacket by the individual resource;

requesting that the transaction pointed to by the sent workpacket be connected to an address of the individual resource provided in the request; and

in response to the request, transferring the selected transaction for processing from the location where the selected transaction is parked to the address provided in the request.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein, when the selected transaction-processing resource does not elect to process the transaction, the requesting step is not performed.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the required attributes of the resource include a skill level and wherein the using step comprises:

selecting the resource by determining that the selected resource has an adequate skills level among a set of resources in the plurality of resources.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the required attributes includes a description of at least one of an agent skills level, an optimal skills range, a qualified skills range, an agent identification, an agent telephony device address, and a recent customer transaction list and wherein the using step further comprises comparing a call properties set associated with the transaction against the description of at least one of an agent skills level, an optimal skills range, a qualified skills range, an agent identification, an agent telephony device address, and a recent customer transaction list for the resources set for the at least a portion of the resources.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the required attributes includes an indication of prior contacts with callers, and wherein the using step includes comparing a call properties set associated with the transaction against the required attributes of the resource of at least a portion of the resources sets to select the resource having a prior contact indicated with a caller who initiated the transaction.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the requesting step comprises the following substeps;

the individual resource using the information in the sent workpacket to determine, based upon predetermined objectives, whether it will or will not process the transaction pointed to by the sent workpacket; and

in response to determining that it will process the transaction pointed to by the sent workpacket, the individual resource requesting the transaction pointed to by the sent workpacket.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the using step is performed.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the identifying step identifies the determined required attributes.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the identifying step identifies the selected at least one resource.