Using information about software events to route contacts in a contact center

• US 7,212,624 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2002
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Moran, Thomas, O'Connor, Neil
• Primary Examiner(s): Bui; Bing Q.
• Application Number:
  US10/253,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20040057572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.17, 379/265.02, 379/265.09, 379/265.12, 379/266.01, 379/266.02
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

A need exists to provide software support in a simple and effective manner over long periods of time. At the same time there is a need to allow contact centers to route calls appropriately when those calls relate to complex software support queries. This needs to be achieved without requiring complex call routing methods and apparatus at the contact center. The present invention addresses these problems by using software error codes or the like to route calls in a contact center.

Claims

1. In a contact center comprising a plurality of skillsets each with an associated queue, a method of automatically routing an incoming contact to one of the queues, said method comprising the steps of:

(i) receiving the incoming contact, said contact being associated with a software application and comprising information about an event that has occurred during execution of that software application;

(ii) routing the incoming contact to one of the queues on the basis of the information about the events;

wherein the information about the event comprises at least one of a software error code and a software module identifier.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step (ii) of routing further comprises accessing a pre-specified mapping between the queues and information about events that may occur during execution of the software application.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said pre-specified mapping is provided by the software application.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said pre-specified mapping is extracted automatically from the software application.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said incoming contact comprises a communications message in a form selected from:

email, a web-based communications message, a session initiation protocol communications message, fax, a conventional telephone call, a wireless telephone call, a voice over internet protocol telephone call and a text message.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said incoming contact comprises an extensible mark-up language (XML) file, said method further comprising:

parsing said XML file using an XML parser at the contact center;

executing pre-specified methods on the basis of the results of the XML parsing process and a SAX interface at the contact center.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises sending information about the event from the contact center to an associated problem report system.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said incoming contact comprises information selected from:

information about a time when the event occurred, information about a time zone in which the software application exists, information about a customer location at which the software application is provided, address information of the software application, a stack trace and a screen capture.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises establishing a two-way communication session with an entity from which the incoming contact was received.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 which further comprises carrying out remote maintenance of the entity from which the incoming contact was receive using the two-way communication session.

11. A computer program arranged to control a contact center in order to carry out the method of claim 1.

12. A contact center comprising:

(i) a plurality of skillsets each with an associated queue;

(ii) an input arranged to receive an incoming automatic contact, said contact being associated with a software application and comprising information about an event that has occurred during execution of that software application, the information about the event comprising at least one of a software error code and a software module identifier; and

(iii) a routing engine arranged to route the incoming contact to one of the queues on the basis of the information about the event.

13. A method of automatically sending a contact request to a contact center, said method comprising the steps of:

obtaining information about an event that has occurred during execution of a software application, the information about the event comprising at least one of a software error code and a software module identifier;

forming a contact request comprising said obtained information about the event; and

sending said contact request to a pre-specified contact center.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 which is carried out by the software application itself.

15. A method as claimed in claim 13 which is carried out by an alarm routing engine arranged to be connected to the software application.

16. A method as claimed in claim 13 which further comprises setting up a two-way communication session with the pre-specified contact center.

17. A computer program arranged to control an alarm routing engine in order to carry out the method of claim 13.

18. An alarm routing engine arranged to automatically send a contact request to a contact center, said alarm routing engine comprising:

an input arranged to obtain information about an event that has occurred during execution of a software application, the information about the event comprising at least one of a software error code and a software module identifier;

a processor arranged to form a contact request comprising said obtained information about the event; and

an output arranged to send the contact request to the contact center.