System and method for ordered processing of telecommunicaion service orders

• US 8,059,803 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gregory, Michael A., Neidecker, Stan, McDougal, Harold Lester
• Primary Examiner(s): Aubaidi; Rasha Al
• Application Number:
  US10/610,208
• Time in Patent Office: 3,060 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 379/201.01
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for the automated routing and processing of telecommunication service orders. A system and method in accordance with the present invention may further prioritize the analysis and processing of telecommunication service orders, identify and classify past due telecommunication service orders for analysis and processing, and manage the order of completion of components of a telecommunication service order. A system and process in accordance with the present invention receives a service order and parses it to find messages on the service order that are included on a message table. Analysis rules provide actions to be taken with a service order based on the messages found in the service order.

Claims

1. A method for processing telecommunication service orders, the method comprising:

receiving a telecommunication service order, the telecommunication service order comprising a digital image;

automatically parsing, by an analyzer, the digital image of the service order using automated image processing to recognize messages within the digital image to determine what types of work must be performed to complete the service order, wherein recognizing the messages within the digital image includes identify where the messages are found on the telecommunication service order and identifying other messages in proximity to one another, wherein determining the types of work that must be performed to complete the service order includes distinguishing between two or more different types of work including a first type of work, a second type of work, and a third type of work, wherein the first type of work involves the modification of telephony switches in a telecommunication network, the second type of work involves processes such as the physical installation, manipulation, or connection of telecommunication hardware, and the third type of work involves software processing, such as the establishment of billing codes or the automated establishment of services over existing physical resources;

automatically determining, by the analyzer, in what order to complete the work that must be performed to complete the service order by matching messages found in the telecommunication service order with messages in a message table and applying analysis rules to determine what actions to take based upon the messages found in the telecommunication service order, wherein determining in what order to complete the work includes identification of steps in the order completion process that must be completed prior to initiating subsequent steps; and

routing the service order to external systems for completion in the order that it was determined that the work must be performed to complete the service order.

2. The method for processing telecommunication service orders of claim 1, wherein parsing the digital image of the service order further includes identifying a location where a message is found on the digital image.

3. The method for processing telecommunication service orders of claim 1, further comprising scanning the service order for one of a plurality of service order priority status messages indicating a priority status assigned to the service order.

4. The method for processing telecommunication service orders of claim 3, wherein the plurality of service order priority status messages includes a deferred status, an emergency status, and a normal status.

5. The method for processing telecommunication service orders of claim 3, assigning a default priority status to the service order if the service order does not contain one of the plurality of service order priority status messages.

6. The method for processing telecommunication service orders of claim 1, further comprising assigning a predetermined priority status to the service order to service orders originating from a particular source.

7. A system for processing telecommunication service order, the system comprising:

a processing unit configured to

maintain a message table, the message table comprising messages that may be found in a service order;

maintain analysis rules, the analysis rules providing actions to be taken with a service order based on the messages found in the service order;

receive a service order, the service order being a digital image;

automatically parse the service order using an automated image processing technique to recognize messages within the service order;

analyze the service order by applying the analysis rules to determine at least two of a plurality of actions to take with the service order based upon the messages found in the service order in comparison with the messages in the message table, wherein the analyze step includes identify where the messages are found on the service order and identifying other messages in proximity to one another, wherein determining at least two of the plurality of actions to take with the service order includes distinguishing between two or more different types of work including a first type of work, a second type of work, and a third type of work, wherein the first type of work involve the modification of telephony switches in a telecommunication network, the second type of work involve processes such as the physical installation, manipulation, or connection of telecommunication hardware, and the third type of work involve software processing, such as the establishment of billing codes or the automated establishment of services over existing physical resources;

determine which of the plurality of actions to take with the service order must occur prior to other of the plurality of actions; and

perform the plurality of actions with the service order in the order determined.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of actions that may be taken with a service order comprises:

routing the service order to at least one external system for physical work necessary to complete the service order;

routing the service order to at least one external system for non-physical work necessary to complete the service order; and

processing the service order internally.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

determining which of the plurality of actions to take with the service order must occur prior to other of the plurality of actions further comprises determining which of the plurality of actions may occur without prior action.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein taking the plurality of actions with the service order in the order determined comprises:

routing the service order to a first external system for physical work necessary to complete the service order; and

routing the service order to a second external system for non-physical work necessary to complete the service order subsequent to routing the service order to the first external system for physical work.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein taking the plurality of actions with the service order in the order determined further comprises:

processing the service order internally prior to routing the service order to a first external system for physical work necessary to complete the service order.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein taking the plurality of actions with the service order in the order determined further comprises:

processing the service order internally subsequent to routing the service order to a first external system for physical work necessary to complete the service order.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of actions to take with a service order comprises:

routing the service order via e-mail for processing;

routing the service order to a web queue for processing;

printing the service order at a predetermined printer for processing;

routing the service order to an automated system using TCP/IP FTP procedures for processing;

routing the service order to an automated system using TCP/IP Sockets procedures for processing;

routing the service order via fax transmission for processing; and

routing the service order to an automated system over an IMSTOC connection.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of actions to take with a service order further comprises:

processing the service order internally to generate an XML document from the digital image of the service order; and

processing the service order internally to add an outbound message to the service order.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

maintaining analysis rules further comprises maintaining analysis rules providing actions to be taken with a service order based on the messages found in the service order, the location of messages in the digital image of the service order, and the location of messages on the service order relative to other messages on the service order; and

analyzing the service order by applying the analysis rules to determine at least two of a plurality of actions to take with the service order based upon the messages found in the service order further comprises applying the analysis rules to determine at least two of a plurality of actions to take with the service order based upon the messages found in the service order, the location of messages on the digital image of the service order, and the location of messages on the service order relative to other messages on the service.