Work allocation tool

• US 8,239,249 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Belko, Michael, Karam, Matthew Douglas, Perez, Josue Manuel, Wintheiser, Richard Edward, Martin, Chad Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B.
• Application Number:
  US11/852,165
• Time in Patent Office: 1,796 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/9, 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for automatically allocating work projects to personnel based on work complexity level and level of knowledge and experience of the personnel. In one implementation, the methods and systems provide a work allocation tool that allows a user to input the level of complexity of the work projects according to one or more predefined criteria. The work allocation tool then automatically determines which of the available personnel has the required level of knowledge and experience to complete the work projects. Personnel who have already exceeded a target number or percentage of work projects in a given time period may be automatically excluded from the allocation. The work allocation tool thereafter randomly selects one of the available personnel and automatically allocates the work projects. An administrator interface allows a manager to define each person'"'"'s target numbers or percentages and to stop further allocations if needed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-readable instructions for processing work projects, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions executed by a computer to:

receive a work project to be allocated to at least one person, wherein the work project includes a life insurance application, the work project having a predefined complexity level, wherein the complexity level is defined by a range of value of a death benefit requested in the life insurance application, the complexity level increasing with the value of the death benefit requested in the life insurance application;

randomly select the at least one person to handle the work project, the at least one person having a level of knowledge and experience corresponding to the complexity level of the work project;

allocate the work project to the at least one person being selected to handle the work project; and

display a summary of personnel to whom work projects have been allocated according to the level of knowledge and experience of the personnel, the summary including a target workload for each person, the target workload being indicative of a maximum workload that should be allocated to each person.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to determine a complexity level of the work project based on one or more predefined criteria.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to generate one or more ranges of work project identification numbers for the complexity level, the ranges generated being dependent on a total number of work projects to be allocated over a predefined period of time that have substantially the same complexity level.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to determine which range of the generated ranges the work project falls into.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to randomly assign one or more employees having knowledge and experience corresponding to the complexity level to each one of the generated ranges.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to weigh one or more of the generated ranges to accommodate employees having specialized knowledge and experience.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the work project to be allocated is received from one of:

a source internal to a company, and a source external to the company.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-readable instructions for allocating work projects to appropriate personnel, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions executed by a computer to:

present a work project to be allocated to a work allocation tool wherein the work project includes a life insurance application;

provide a complexity level for the work project to the work allocation tool, wherein the complexity level is defined by a range of value of a death benefit requested in the life insurance application, the complexity level increasing with the value of the death benefit requested in the life insurance application;

indicate an employee role for the work project to the work allocation tool;

receive an identifier for at least one person selected by the work allocation tool to handle the work project, the at least one person having a level of knowledge and experience corresponding to the complexity level of the work project; and

display a summary of personnel to whom work projects have been allocated according to the level of knowledge and experience of the personnel, the summary including a target workload for each person, the target workload being indicative of a maximum workload that should be allocated to each person.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to allocate the work project to the at least one person selected by the work allocation tool, the allocating being performed according to one of:

automatically by the work allocation tool, and manually by the user.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the at least one person is one of:

an underwriter for the life insurance application, and a business associate for the life insurance application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the work project includes one of an engineering-related work project, a construction-related work project, a marketing-related work project, and a financing-related work project.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the work project includes one of a new work project and a work project that is being rerouted for further processing.

13. A method for managing allocation of work projects, the method comprising:

presenting, with a computing device, a work project to be allocated to a work allocation tool wherein the work project includes a life insurance application;

providing a complexity level for the work project to the work allocation tool, wherein the complexity level is defined by a range of value of a death benefit requested in the life insurance application, the complexity level increasing with the value of the death benefit requested in the life insurance application;

indicating an employee role for the work project to the work allocation tool;

receiving an identifier for at least one person selected by the work allocation tool to handle the work project, the at least one person having a level of knowledge and experience corresponding to the complexity level of the work project; and

displaying a summary of personnel to whom work projects have been randomly allocated according to a level of knowledge and experience of the personnel, the summary including a target workload for each person, the target workload being indicative of a maximum workload that should be allocated to each person;

allowing a user to make modifications to the target workload for each person; and

recalculating the target workload for each person based on the modifications.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising instructions for causing a computer to allow the user modify the summary of personnel for each person to receive one of:

additional work projects, and no additional work projects.

15. The method claim 13, wherein the summary of personnel further includes an indicator indicating the level of knowledge and experience of each person.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the summary of personnel further includes an indicator indicating whether each person has any specialized knowledge or experience.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the summary of personnel further includes a specialized work project workload for each person.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein each work project has a respective complexity level and the summary of personnel further includes a complexity level workload for each person.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the summary of personnel further includes an actual workload for each person, the actual workload indicative of a number of work projects that have been actually allocated to each person.