Monitoring and displaying the scheduled and actuated activities of a workforce

• US 8,719,067 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Witness Systems Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fama, Jason, Peleg, Uri, Bourke, Michael R. Jr., Lawrence, Richard M., Joshi, Sameet Vasant
• Primary Examiner(s): Choi, Peter
• Assistant Examiner(s): WALKER III, GEORGE H
• Application Number:
  US13/149,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20110295639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.15
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for scheduling a workforce. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: collecting an agent activity of a first class and an agent activity of a second class; and displaying the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the same timeline axis. The agent activities are collected from a contact center data source. The second class is different from the first class. Both activities are associated with the same agent. Each activity is derived from a different virtual data source.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for presenting different queue hopping activities of an agent on a timeline, the method comprising:

collecting with an activity collector, from a customer center data source, an agent activity of a first class and an agent activity of a second class, both activities associated with the agent, each activity derived from a separate data source, wherein each activity indicates a scheduled time;

receiving with the activity collector a first and a second agent event, both events associated with the agent, the first agent event received from a first virtual data source and the second agent event received from a second, different, virtual data source, both virtual data sources associated with the same physical data source, and each associated with a one event-to-activity mapping, wherein the first and second agent events each indicate an occurrence time event mode, and event reason;

mapping with an activity tracking viewer the first agent event to a first agent activity and a second agent event to a second agent activity based on the one event-to-activity mapping, the event modes, and the event reasons;

displaying with the activity tracking viewer a timeline axis comprising a plurality of time periods;

displaying the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the timeline axis such that the scheduled time fir the agent activity of the first class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis and the scheduled time for the agent activity of the second class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

displaying with the activity tracking viewer the first agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the first agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

displaying with the activity tracking, viewer the second agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the second agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

determining with a processor whether at least one of the occurrence times of the first and second agent events corresponds to one of the scheduled times of the agent activities of the first and second class, and if so, determining whether the agent event complies with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time; and

displaying with the activity tracking viewer an indication of an adherence exception along the timeline axis if the agent event does not comply with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first class is different from the second class, and the separate data sources are different virtual data sources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along. the timeline axis comprises displaying the two anent activities with different visual attributes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the different visual attributes are different colors.

5. The method of claim 1, the collecting step further comprising:

mapping with the activity collector the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class; and

mapping with the activity collector the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class.

6. The method of claim 1, the receiving step further comprising:

mapping with the activity collector the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class through a first mapping definition associated with the first virtual data source; and

mapping with the activity collector the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class through a second mapping definition associated with the second virtual data source.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second agent events comprise actual activities performed by the agent, and the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class comprise scheduled activities for the agent.

8. The method of claim further comprising the steps of:

determining with the processor whether at least one of the activities of the first and second class complies with a predefined policy; and

displaying with the activity tracking viewer an exception if the activity does not comply with the policy.

9. A system for presenting different queue hopping activities of an agent as activities on a timeline, the system comprising:

an activity collector configured to collect, from a contact center data source, an agent activity of a first class and an agent activity of a second class, both activities associated with the agent, each activity derived from a separate data source, wherein each activity indicates a scheduled time;

the activity collector configured to receive a first and a second agent event, both events associated with the agent, the first agent event received from a first virtual data source and the second agent event received from a second, different, virtual data source, both virtual data sources associated with the same physical data source, and each associated with a one event-to-activity mapping, wherein the first and second agent events each indicate an occurrence time event mode and event reason;

an activity tracking viewer configured to map the first agent event to a first agent activity and a second agent event to a second agent activity based on the one event-to-activity mapping, the event modes, and the event reasons;

the activity tracking viewer configured to display a timeline axis comprising a plurality of time periods;

the activity tracking viewer configured to display the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the timeline axis such that the scheduled time for the agent activity of the first class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis and the scheduled time for the agent activity of the second class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

the activity tracking viewer configured to display the first agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the first, agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

the activity tracking viewer configured to display the second agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the second agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

a processor configured to determine whether at least one of the occurrence times of the first and second agent events corresponds to one of the scheduled times of the agent activities of the first and second class, and if so, determine whether the agent event complies with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time; and

the activity tracking viewer configured to display an indication of an adherence exception along the timeline axis if the agent event does not comply with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first class is different from the second class, and the separate data sources are different virtual data sources.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the activity tracking viewer, to display the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the timeline axis, displays the two agent activities with different visual attributes.

12. The system of claim 9, the activity collector further configured to:

map the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class; and

map the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class.

13. The system of claim 9, the activity collector further configured to:

map the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class through a first mapping definition associated with the first virtual data source; and

map the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class through a second mapping definition associated with the second virtual data source.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a workforce manager comprising a scheduler; and

a quality monitor configured to provide, to the scheduler, at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score,

wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities, wherein the workforce schedule is based at least in part on the at least one quality goal and the at least one agent quality score.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for performing a computer-executed method of presenting, different queue hopping activities of an agent as different activities on a single timeline, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting, from a contact center data source, an agent activity of a first class and an agent activity of a second class, both activities associated with the agent, each activity derived from a different virtual data source, wherein each activity indicates a scheduled time;

receiving a first and a second agent event, both events associated with the agent, the first agent event, received from a first virtual data source and the second agent event received from a second, different, virtual data source, and each associated with a one event-to-activity mapping, both virtual data sources associated with the same physical data source, wherein the first and second agent events each indicate an occurrence time event mode, event reason;

mapping the first agent event to a first agent activity and the second agent to a second agent activity based on the one event-to-activity mapping, the event modes, and the event reasons;

displaying a timeline axis comprising a plurality of time periods;

displaying the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the timeline axis such that the scheduled time for the agent activity of the first class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis and the scheduled time for the agent activity of the second class is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

displaying the first agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the first agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

displaying the second agent event along the timeline axis such that the occurrence time for the second agent event is aligned with the corresponding time period of the timeline axis;

determining whether at least one of the occurrence times of the first and second agent events corresponds to one of the scheduled times of the agent activities of the first and second class, and if so, determining, whether the agent event complies with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time;

displaying an indication of an adherence exception along the timeline axis if the agent event does not comply with the class of agent activity at the corresponding time.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first class is different from the second class, and the separate data sources are different virtual data sources.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein displaying the agent activity of the first class and the agent activity of the second class along the timeline axis comprises displaying the two agent activities with different visual attributes.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the receiving step further comprising:

mapping the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class; and

mapping the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 the receiving step further comprising:

mapping the first agent event to the agent activity of the first class through a first mapping definition associated with the first virtual data source; and

mapping the second agent event to the agent activity of the second class through a second mapping definition associated with the second virtual data source.