System and methods for managing complex service delivery through coordination and integration of structured and unstructured activities

• US 8,554,596 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2006
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Company Limited (ByteDance Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bailey, John H., Kandogan, Eser
• Primary Examiner(s): Sterrett, Jonathan G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Swartz, Stephen S
• Application Number:
  US11/422,156
• Publication Number:
  US 20070282659A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,682 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.12, 705/7.21, 705/7.22
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

The invention allows for the integration of structured and unstructured human activities in the context of delivering one or more service. The systems and method described improve efficiency and quality of service delivery by increasing overall productivity and by providing better accountability for the actual cost of delivery.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of managing service delivery, said method including:

importing and instantiating a template workflow including work activities;

creating a new workflow via a processor by extending the work activities with a sub-activity and ad hoc actions taken by one or more activity participant;

prioritizing the work activities in the new workflow;

determining whether an incomplete work activity of the work activities is not going to be completed in time based on past work activities in the new workflow and a current priority of the incomplete work activity;

automatically escalating the current priority of the incomplete work activity if the incomplete work activity is not going to be completed in time;

detecting patterns in an activity repository, the patterns including common extensions to structured activities using tools or resources, or additional steps taken in context of a structured activity;

adding a new work activity to the new workflow based on the patterns; and

storing the new workflow in a storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said extending of the work activities includes associating:

a person with the sub-activity;

a resource with the sub-activity;

a tool with the sub-activity; and

a scheduled event with the sub-activity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said associating of the person with the sub-activity includes:

associating the person from specialists repository;

automatically associating the person from the template workflow;

automatically associating the person given a role assigned to a particular activity type;

automatically associating the person based on interaction context, the interaction context including at least one of an instant message, an email, and a telephone call; and

automatically associating the person based on a previously completed activity via skills and activity matching.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said associating of the resource with the sub-activity includes:

attaching the resource from a resource template repository;

automatically attaching the resource as defined by the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the resource based on a user action taken in context of an activity, the user actions including downloading a file from the Internet and creating a document.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said associating of the tool with the sub-activity includes:

attaching the tool from a tools repository;

automatically attaching the tool based on activity type;

automatically attaching the tool based on the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the tool based on a user action taken in context of an activity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said extending of the work activities includes retrieving the sub-activity from at least one of an email, a web document, and an activity repository.

19. The method of claim 1, further including automatically escalating an activity based on a scheduled event.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the scheduled event is a backup, and wherein the activity is an activity that is required to precede the backup.

7. A computer implemented method of managing service delivery, said method including:

importing and instantiating a template workflow including work activities from a storage device;

creating a new workflow via a processor by extending the work activities with a sub-activity and ad hoc actions taken by one or more activity participant, wherein the ad hoc actions are mediated via one or more activity agent;

prioritizing the work activities in the new workflow via the processor;

determining via an activity analysis service whether an incomplete work activity of the work activities is not going to be completed in time based on past work activities in the new workflow and a current priority of the incomplete work activity;

automatically escalating the current priority of the incomplete work activity via a statistical analysis system if the incomplete work activity is not going to be completed in time;

detecting patterns in an activity repository, the patterns including common extensions to structured activities using tools or resources, or additional steps taken in context of a structured activity;

adding a new work activity to the new workflow based on the patterns; and

storing the new workflow in the storage device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said extending of the work activities includes associating:

a person with the sub-activity;

a resource with the sub-activity;

a tool with the sub-activity; and

a scheduled event with the sub-activity.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said associating of the person with the sub-activity includes:

associating the person from specialists repository;

automatically associating the person from the template workflow;

automatically associating the person given a role assigned to a particular activity type;

automatically associating the person based on interaction context, the interaction context including at least one of an instant message, an email, and a telephone call; and

automatically associating the person based on a previously completed activity via skills and activity matching.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said associating of the resource with the sub-activity includes:

attaching the resource from a resource template repository;

automatically attaching the resource as defined by the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the resource based on a user action taken in context of an activity, the user actions including downloading a file from the Internet and creating a document.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said associating of the tool with the sub-activity includes:

attaching the tool from a tools repository;

automatically attaching the tool based on activity type;

automatically attaching the tool based on the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the tool based on a user action taken in context of an activity.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said extending of the work activities includes retrieving the sub-activity from at least one of an email, a web document, and an activity repository.

13. A system for managing service delivery, said system including:

a storage device including template workflows, the template workflows including work activities; and

a processor for creating a new workflow by extending the work activities in one of the template workflows with a sub-activity and ad hoc actions taken by one or more activity participant, the new workflow including prioritized work activities;

an activity analysis service for generating estimated completion times of on-going activities of the work activities;

a statistical analysis system for automatically escalating at least one of the on-going activities based on the estimated completion times;

an activity pattern recognition service for detecting patterns in an activity repository, the patterns including common extensions to structured activities using tools or resources, or additional steps taken in context of a structured activity, and adding a new work activity to the new workflow based on the patterns.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said processor extends the work activities by associating:

a person with the sub-activity;

a resource with the sub-activity;

a tool with the sub-activity; and

a scheduled event with the sub-activity.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor associates the person with the sub-activity by:

associating the person from specialists repository;

automatically associating the person from the template workflow;

automatically associating the person given a role assigned to a particular activity type;

automatically associating the person based on interaction context, the interaction context including at least one of an instant message, an email, and a telephone call; and

automatically associating the person based on a previously completed activity via skills and activity matching.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor associates the resource with the sub-activity by:

attaching the resource from a resource template repository;

automatically attaching the resource as defined by the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the resource based on a user action taken in context of an activity, the user actions including downloading a file from the Internet and creating a document.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor associates the tool with the sub-activity by:

attaching the tool from a tools repository;

automatically attaching the tool based on activity type;

automatically attaching the tool based on the template workflow; and

automatically attaching the tool based on a user action taken in context of an activity.

18. A computer program product for managing service delivery, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first program instructions to import and instantiate a template workflow, the template workflow including work activities;

second program instructions to create a new workflow by extending the work activities with a sub-activity and ad hoc actions taken by one or more activity participant;

third program instructions to prioritize the work activities in the new workflow;

fourth program instructions to determine whether an incomplete work activity of the work activities is not going to be completed in time based on past work activities in the new workflow and a current priority of the incomplete work activity;

fifth program instructions to automatically escalate the current priority of the incomplete work activity if the incomplete work activity is not going to be completed in time;

sixth program instructions to detect patterns in an activity repository, the patterns including common extensions to structured activities using tools or resources, or additional steps taken in context of a structured activity;

seventh program instructions to add a new work activity to the new workflow based on the patterns;

eighth program instructions to store the new workflow in a storage device,

wherein said first program instructions, said second program instructions, said third program instructions, said fourth program instructions, said fifth program instructions, said sixth program instructions, said seventh program instructions, and said eighth program instructions are stored on said computer readable storage medium.