One-to-one matching in a contact center

• US 8,634,543 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2010
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Flockhart, Andrew D., Steiner, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): MAUNG, THOMAS H
• Application Number:
  US12/882,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20110255683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.01
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms

Abstract

A queueless contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, achieve true one-to-one matching. Solutions are also provided for managing data structures utilized by the queueless contact center. Furthermore, mechanisms for generating traditional queue-based performance views and metrics for the queueless contact center are proposed to help facilitate a smooth transition from traditional queue-based contact centers to the next generation contact centers described herein.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a work assignment engine, a work item;

considering, by the work assignment engine, every resource in a resource pool as a potential resource for assigning to the work item, wherein resources in the resource pool that are considered as a potential resource include available, non-available, qualified and non-qualified resources;

determining, by the work assignment engine, a selected resource from the resource pool for processing the work item; and

assigning, by the work assignment engine, the work item to the selected resource, wherein determining a selected resource from the resource pool comprises;

determining an attribute combination for the work item, wherein the attribute combination for the work item comprises one or more attributes associated with processing requirements of the work item;

analyzing every resource in the resource pool to determine whether each resource comprises an attribute combination sufficient to fulfill the processing requirements of the work item as determined by the attribute combination of the work item;

based on the analyzing step, determining a group of qualified resources that have the requisite attribute combination; and

analyzing one or more attributes of each resource in the group of qualified resources to determine the selected resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource pool comprises every resource in a contact center and wherein the resource pool comprises an unordered collection of every resource in the contact center.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a communication at the contact center; and

generating the work item in the contact center, the work item representing the communication as a processing task in the contact center.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the work item is generated by the work assignment engine.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected resource is an optimal resource at the time of determining and is selected from a group of qualified and eligible resources and wherein the group of qualified resources is determined via the considering step.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the work item to the selected resource comprises at least one of transferring a non-realtime communication associated with the work item to the selected resource and establishing a realtime communication channel between an initiator of the work item and the selected resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing every resource in the resource pool comprises scanning a resource bitmap which correlates a resource to an attribute combination.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each resource in the group of qualified resources comprises an attribute combination equal to the attribute combination of the work item and are further analyzed for eligibility prior to determining the selected resource.

9. A method, comprising:

determining, by a work assignment engine, that a resource has become available;

considering, by the work assignment engine, every work item in a work pool as a potential work item for assigning to the resource, wherein work items in the work pool that are considered as a potential work item for assigning to the resource include assigned and unassigned work items;

determining, by the work assignment engine, a selected work item from the work pool for assigning to the resource; and

assigning, by the work assignment engine, the selected work item to the resource, wherein determining a selected work item from the work pool comprises;

determining an attribute combination for the resource, wherein the attribute combination for the resource comprises one or more attributes associated with processing capabilities of the resource;

analyzing every work item in the work pool to determine whether each work item comprises an attribute combination matching the processing capabilities of the resource as determined by the attribute combination of the resource;

based on the analyzing step, determining a group of qualified work items that have the requisite attribute combination; and

analyzing attributes of the resource to determine the selected work item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the work pool comprises every work item in a contact center and wherein the work pool comprises an unordered collection of every work item in the contact center.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the selected work item is an optimal work item at the time of determining and is selected from a group of qualified and eligible work items and wherein the group of qualified work items is determined via the considering step.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein analyzing every work item in the work pool comprises scanning a work item bitmap which correlates a work item to an attribute combination.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein each work item in the group of qualified work items comprises an attribute combination equal to the attribute combination of the resource.

14. A contact center, comprising:

a routing mechanism including a work item assignment engine configured to make work item assignment decisions by analyzing every resource or work item in the contact center as a potential resource or work item for assigning to a work item or resource, respectively, wherein every resource or work item analyzed by the routing mechanism include available and non-available resources or work items, wherein the routing mechanism has access to one or more bitmaps which correlate a resource or work item to a respective attribute combination representing the resource'"'"'s or work item'"'"'s processing capabilities, wherein the work assignment engine is configured to determine an attribute combination for the work item or resource and search the one or more bitmaps for a corresponding attribute combination, and wherein qualified and eligible resources or work items are determined because their respective attribute combination equals the attribute combination for the work item or resource.

15. The contact center of claim 14, wherein every resource or work item in the contact center is represented in a resource or work item pool and wherein the resource or work item pool comprises an unordered collection which lists every resource or work item in the contact center.

16. The contact center of claim 15, wherein the contact center comprises a distributed contact center and wherein every resource in the distributed contact center is listed in the resource pool.

17. The contact center of claim 14, wherein the work item is assigned to a selected resource after analyzing a resource bitmap.