Processes and systems for managing status changes to work orders

• US 7,624,033 B1
• Filed: 09/04/2001
• Issued: 11/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scherer, Rita H., Marcopulos, Judy M., Jean, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): DeCady; Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROBERTSON, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US09/946,270
• Time in Patent Office: 3,003 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/7.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

Processes and systems are disclosed for managing status changes to a work order. One embodiment includes communicating with a communications network and receiving a change in status to the work order. The change in status is annotated with a date and a time, with the date and the time reflecting the local time zone of a telephone system wire center where the work order is locally managed. This embodiment validates that the annotated date and the time are chronologically after a previous change in status to the work order. The status of the work order is then updated. Each change in the status of the work order is date and time stamped as the work order progresses from creation to closure.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process of managing status changes to a work order for management reporting, and auditing activities of work order performance in a telephone facility network, the process comprising:

configuring, in a computer memory, a table of local user defined event handling rules including status change event rules wherein each status change event rule indicates one or more actions to be performed on a work order for at least one status transition resulting from a change-in-status in the performance of a work order;

acquiring, from a communications network, a telephone line record from at least one of i) results from a mechanized loop test, ii) results from an automated local loop test system, iii) information from a digital subscriber line communication system, iv) information from a fiber optic communication system, and v) information from an Integrated Services Digital Network communication system, the telephone line record comprising at least one of i) customer information from a Customer Record Information System, ii) facility information from a Loop Facility Assignment Control System, and iii) equipment information from a switch system;

creating a work order using information from the acquired telephone line record and assigning the work order an initial status;

receiving, from a communications network, work order change-in-status information wherein said change-in-status information includes a work order identifier, a status code, and a generating identifier;

annotating the change-in-status information with a date and a time reflecting the local time zone of a telephone system wire center where the work order is locally managed;

validating that the annotated date and the time are chronologically after a previous change in status to the work order;

updating the work order with the change in status; and

archiving each change in status to the work order as the work order progresses from creation to closure;

filtering the table of event handling rules for the work order change-in-status information for an event criteria, the event criteria specifying a status transition matching one or more event handling rules, wherein the work order is automatically updated according to the corresponding actions of the one or more event handling rules, wherein at least one of the one or more event handling rules includes a corresponding action to set the status of the work order to a specified status code based on the change-in-status information and corresponding action of the event handling rules; and

providing a notification, via a communications network, of the transition to the specified status based on the change-in-status information;

wherein each transition in status in the life of the work order is tracked and logged for management, reporting, and auditing activities.

2. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, where the generating identifier is a user identifier representing a user generating the change in status of the work order.

3. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, where the generating identifier is a system name representing a system generating the change in status of the work order.

4. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, where the generating identifier is a software component name representing a computer software component generating the change in status of the work order.

5. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, further comprising manually editing the date and the time to permit a user to backdate the change in status.

6. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 5, further comprising retaining the annotated date and time for a comparison to the manually-edited date and time.

7. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, further comprising identifying the work order using a telephone number.

8. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, further comprising identifying the change in status information using a telephone number.

9. A process of managing status changes to a work order according to claim 1, further comprising communicating a notification, via the communications network, when the change in status updates the work order to an intermediate status code.

10. A system for managing status changes to a work order for management, reporting, and auditing activities of work order performance in a telephone facility network, the system comprising

a computer and a memory comprising

a Status Manager module operable to:

configure, in a computer memory, a table of local user defined event handling rules including status change event rules wherein each status change event rule indicates one or more actions to be performed on a work order for at least one status transition resulting from a change-in-status in the performance of a work order;

acquire, from a communications network, a telephone line record from at least one of i) results from a mechanized loop test, ii) results from an automated local loop test system, iii) information from a digital subscriber line communication system, iv) information from a fiber optic communication system, and v) information from an Integrated Services Digital Network communication system, the telephone line record comprising at least one of i) customer information from a Customer Record Information System, ii) facility information from a Loop Facility Assignment Control System, and iii) equipment information from a switch system;

create the work order using information from the acquired telephone line record and assign the work order an initial status;

receive, from a communications network, work order change-in-status information wherein said change-in-status information includes a work order identifier, a status code, and a generating identifier;

annotate the change-in-status information with a date and a time reflecting the local time zone of a telephone system wire center where the work order is locally managed;

validate that the annotated date and the time are chronologically after a previous change in status to the work order;

update the work order with the change in status; and

archive each change in status to the work order as the work order progresses from creation to closure;

filter the table of event handling rules for the work order the change-in-status for an event criteria, the event criteria specifying a status transition matching one or more event handling rules, wherein the work order is automatically updated according to the corresponding actions of the one or more event handling rules, wherein at least one of the one or more event handling rules includes a corresponding action to set the status of the work order to a specified status code based on the change-in-status information and corresponding action of the event handling rules; and

provide a notification, via a communications network, of the transition to the specified status based on the change-in-status information;

wherein each change in status in the life of the work order is tracked and logged for management, reporting, and auditing activities.

11. A computer program product for managing status changes to a work order for management, reporting, and auditing activities of work order performance in a telephone facility network, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

a Status Manager module stored on the computer-readable medium, the Status Manager module operable to;

configure, in a computer memory, a table of local user defined event handling rules including status change event rules wherein each status change event rule indicates one or more actions to be performed on a work order for at least one status transition resulting from a change-in-status in the performance of a work order;

acquire, from a communications network, a telephone line record from at least one of i) results from a mechanized loop test, ii) results from an automated local loop test system, iii) information from a digital subscriber line communication system, iv) information from a fiber optic communication system, and v) information from an Integrated Services Digital Network communication system, the telephone line record comprising at least one of i) customer information from a Customer Record Information System, ii) facility information from a Loop Facility Assignment Control System, and iii) equipment information from a switch system;

create the work order using information from the acquired telephone line record and assign the work order an initial status;

receive, from a communications network, work order change-in-status information wherein said change-in-status information includes a work order identifier, a status code, and a generating identifier;

annotate the change-in-status information with a date and a time, reflecting the local time zone of a telephone system wire center where the work order is locally managed;

validate that the annotated date and the time are chronologically after a previous change in status to the work order;

update the work order with the change in status; and

archive each change in status to the work order as the work order progresses from creation to closure;

filter the table of event handling rules for the work order the change-in-status for an event criteria, the event criteria specifying a status transition matching one or more event handling rule, wherein the work order is automatically updated according to the corresponding actions of the one or more event handling rules, wherein at least one of the one or more event handling rules includes a corresponding action to set the status of the work order to a specified status code based on the change-in-status information and corresponding action of the event handling rules; and

provide a notification, via a communications network, of the transition to the specified status based on the change-in-status information;

wherein each change in status in the life of the work order is tracked and logged for management, reporting, and auditing activities.