Method and system for customer service process management
First Claim
1. A method for generating a service plan that describes a plurality of services and associated electronic workflow for a customer using a computer based system comprising the steps of:
- creating the service plan using the computer based system, the service plan including a plurality of structured sentences for each of a plurality of specific needs of a particular customer in an electronic storage area of the computer based system, wherein the plurality of structured sentences together form a part of the service plan, said plurality of structured sentences including structured sentences for services, each structured sentence for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the specific customer needs, wherein the step of creating the service plan includes the steps ofautomatically determining whether a draft of the service plan includes one or more structured sentences for service requiring one or more encounters between the customer and the service provider, and, if so,automatically re-evaluating and adjusting if needed any existing encounter itineraries for the customer andgenerating new encounter itineraries, wherein each encounter itinerary includes a list of scheduled and unscheduled events for the encounter, including where and when the customer is to go to at least certain ones of the events; and
creating the electronic workflow using the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, the electronic workflow adapted to assist in providing each needed service, the step of creating the electronic workflow including the step of the computer based system using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service, wherein at least certain ones of the workflow process instances include a plurality of tasks corresponding to steps for providing one of the services to the particular customer, which one service relates to the corresponding structured sentence for service.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for managing customer service processes for individuals and populations. In a specific health care embodiment, a clinician creates a draft care plan for a patient using template metadata. This plan includes a list of specific services to be provided. It can be routed to members of an inter-disciplinary team for input. Once finalized, workflow processes are instantiated for each service. An optimized itinerary is created for patient encounters. A workflow automation server manages the execution of each process instance, invoking resources according to workflow metadata. Care plans and encounter itineraries are automatically translated to a patient-understandable form. Clinical practice and outcomes data are analyzed to identify opportunities for improvement of the metadata. The method and system allows for selection of a population of patients, analysis of population data to identify needed services, and initiation of population interventions through automated updates to individual care plans.
-
Citations
79 Claims
-
1. A method for generating a service plan that describes a plurality of services and associated electronic workflow for a customer using a computer based system comprising the steps of:
-
creating the service plan using the computer based system, the service plan including a plurality of structured sentences for each of a plurality of specific needs of a particular customer in an electronic storage area of the computer based system, wherein the plurality of structured sentences together form a part of the service plan, said plurality of structured sentences including structured sentences for services, each structured sentence for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the specific customer needs, wherein the step of creating the service plan includes the steps of automatically determining whether a draft of the service plan includes one or more structured sentences for service requiring one or more encounters between the customer and the service provider, and, if so, automatically re-evaluating and adjusting if needed any existing encounter itineraries for the customer and generating new encounter itineraries, wherein each encounter itinerary includes a list of scheduled and unscheduled events for the encounter, including where and when the customer is to go to at least certain ones of the events; and creating the electronic workflow using the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, the electronic workflow adapted to assist in providing each needed service, the step of creating the electronic workflow including the step of the computer based system using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service, wherein at least certain ones of the workflow process instances include a plurality of tasks corresponding to steps for providing one of the services to the particular customer, which one service relates to the corresponding structured sentence for service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method for creating a service plan and associated electronic workflow for a particular customer using a computer based system comprising the steps of:
-
providing electronically; a plurality of structured sentence data items for each of a plurality of possible customer needs in an electronic storage area of the computer based system, said plurality of structured sentence data items including structured sentence data items for services, each structured sentence data item for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the possible customer needs; a generic electronic workflow process specification, in addition to the plurality of structured sentence data items, that is adapted to assist completion of each needed service and is stored in a different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items; and at least first and second templates stored in a further different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items and the different electronic storage area of the generic workflow process specification, each of said at least first and second templates comprising a different set of certain ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items, different ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items relating to different possible customer needs and each including a subject and at least one attribute; selecting at least a first template that relates to an identified customer need using the computer based system; creating the service plan for the particular customer using the computer based system, the step of creating the service plan including the step of selecting structured sentence data items within the first template that relate to a specific need of a the particular customer to obtain the service plan for the particular customer with structured sentences therein corresponding to the selected structured sentence data items, the structured sentences in the service plan being different from and in addition to the selected structured sentence data items, and wherein the step of selecting the structured sentence data items also includes the step of determining a value for the at least one attribute for each of the selected structured sentences in the service plan for the particular customer, wherein the step of selecting the structured sentence data items includes the steps of; visually displaying certain ones of the structured sentence data items on a screen of a display, wherein the step of visually displaying includes the step of visually displaying attributes of one of the certain ones of the structured sentence data items; and creating one structured sentence corresponding to the specific need of the particular customer by selecting one of the displayed certain ones of the structured sentence data items, wherein the step of creating the one structured sentence corresponding to the specific need of the particular customer includes selecting a selected value obtained from one of the attributes; and creating the electronic workflow using the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, using the generic workflow specification and the service plan, the electronic workflow being adapted to assist completion of each needed service, wherein the step of creating the workflow includes the step of the computer system using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 47, 48)
-
-
30. A method for creating a service plan and associated electronic workflow for a particular customer using a computer based system comprising the steps of:
-
providing electronically; a plurality of structured sentence data items for each of a plurality of possible customer needs in an electronic storage area of the computer based system, said plurality of structured sentence data items including structured sentence data items for services, each structured sentence data item for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the possible customer needs; a generic electronic workflow process specification, in addition to the plurality of structured sentence data items, that is adapted to assist completion of each needed service and is stored in a different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items; and at least first and second templates stored in a further different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items and the different electronic storage area of the generic workflow process specification, each of said at least first and second templates comprising a different set of certain ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items, different ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items relating to different possible customer needs and each including a subject and at least one attribute; selecting at least a first template that relates to an identified customer need using the computer based system; creating the service plan for the particular customer using the computer based system, the step of creating the service plan including the step of selecting structured sentence data items within the first template that relate to a specific need of the particular customer to obtain the service plan for the particular customer with structured sentences therein corresponding to the selected structured sentence data items, the structured sentences in the service plan being different from and in addition to the selected structured sentence data items, and wherein the step of selecting the structured sentence data items also includes the step of determining a value for the at least one attribute for each of the selected structured sentences in the service plan for the particular customer, wherein the step of selecting the structured sentence data items includes the steps of; visually displaying certain ones of the structured sentence data items on a screen of a display; and creating one structured sentence corresponding to the specific need of the particular customer by selecting one of the displayed certain ones of the structured sentence data items; displaying the one structured sentence on the screen of the display after the step of creating the one structured sentence corresponding to the specific need of the particular customer; and creating the electronic workflow using the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, using the generic workflow specification and the service plan, the electronic workflow being adapted to assist completion of each needed service, wherein the step of creating the workflow includes the step of the computer system using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service. - View Dependent Claims (31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
42. An apparatus for generating a service plan and associated electronic workflow for a customer comprising:
-
means for creating, in an electronic storage area of a computer based system, the service plan for the customer by executing instructions on the computer based system, the service plan including a plurality of structured sentences for each of a plurality of specific customer needs of customers, said plurality of structured sentences including structured sentences for services, each structured sentence for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the specific customer needs, wherein the means for creating the service plan includes; means for automatically determining whether a draft of the service plan includes one or more structured sentences for service requiring one or more encounters between the customer and the service provider, and, if so, means for automatically re-evaluating and adjusting if needed any existing encounter itineraries for the customer and means for generating new encounter itineraries, wherein each encounter itinerary includes a list of scheduled and unscheduled events for the encounter, including where and when the customer is to go to at least certain ones of the events; and means for creating the electronic workflow by executing other instructions on the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, capable of assisting completion of each needed service, and stored in a different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the service plan, the means for creating including means for using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service, wherein at least certain ones of the workflow process instances include a plurality of tasks corresponding to steps for providing one of the services to the particular customer, which one service relates to the corresponding structured sentence for service. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
62. A method for creating a service plan and associated electronic workflow for a particular customer using a computer based system comprising the steps of:
providing electronically; a plurality of structured sentence data items for each of a plurality of possible customer needs in an electronic storage area of the computer based system, said plurality of structured sentence data items including structured sentence data items for services, each structured sentence data item for service identifying a needed service corresponding to one of the possible customer needs; a generic electronic workflow process specification, in addition to the plurality of structured sentence data items, that is adapted to assist completion of each needed service and is stored in a different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items; and at least first and second templates stored in a further different electronic storage area of the computer based system than the electronic storage area of the plurality of structured sentence data items and the different electronic storage area of the generic workflow process specification, each of said at least first and second templates comprising a different set of certain ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items, different ones of said plurality of structured sentence data items relating to different possible customer needs and each including a subject and at least one attribute; selecting at least a first template that relates to an identified customer need using the computer based system; creating the service plan for the particular customer using the computer based system, the step of creating the service plan including the step of selecting structured sentence data items within the first template that relate to a specific need of the particular customer to obtain the service plan for the particular customer with structured sentences therein corresponding to the selected structured sentence data items, the structured sentences in the service plan being different from and in addition to the selected structured sentence data items, and wherein the step of selecting the structured sentence data items also includes the step of determining a value for the at least one attribute for each of the selected structured sentences in the service plan for the particular customer, wherein the step of creating the service plan includes the steps of automatically determining whether a draft of the service plan includes one or more structured sentences for service requiring one or more encounters between the customer and the service provider, and, if so, automatically re-evaluating and adjusting if needed any existing encounter itineraries for the customer and generating new encounter itineraries, wherein each encounter itinerary includes a list of scheduled and unscheduled events for the encounter, including where and when the customer is to go to at least certain ones of the events; and creating the electronic workflow using the computer based system, the electronic workflow being different from and in addition to the service plan, using the generic workflow specification and the service plan, the electronic workflow being adapted to assist completion of each needed service, wherein the step of creating the workflow includes the step of the computer system using each structured sentence for service to create a workflow process instance for each needed service. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
Specification