Method and apparatus for assessing the status of work waiting for service
First Claim
1. A method in a contact center comprising a central server for distributing work items to workstations of a first set of resources and a work queue having a plurality of work items, the method comprising:
- determining that the plurality of work items have been received at at least one telecommunications component of the contact center from a plurality of customers, wherein the at least one telecommunications component comprises at least one of a Private Branch eXchange (PBX) and a server;
generating in said central server using a workload monitoring agent, based at least in part on said work queue, an ordered set of work items related to the plurality of work items in the work queue, wherein the ordered set of work items comprises real-time work items and non-real-time work items, wherein each work item in said ordered set comprises a service time goal;
analyzing said ordered set, wherein the analyzing step determines a required queue position for each of the plurality of work items and wherein at least one of the following is true for a selected required queue position;
(i) multiple of the work items have a determined required queue position equal to the selected required queue position; and
(ii) no work items have a determined required queue position equal to the selected required queue position and wherein the selected required queue position is closer to a head of the ordered set than another selected required queue position that equals a determined required queue position of at least one of the work items;
based on said analyzing step, determining a state of said work queue to be one of an “
On Target”
state when there are no predicted shortfalls in resources for the work items in the ordered set and a state other than “
On Target”
that indicates a predicted shortfall in resources for the work items in the ordered set;
when the workload monitoring agent predicts an “
On Target”
state, determining to forward work items in the work queue to workstations of the first set of resources; and
when the workload monitoring agent predicts a state other than the “
On Target”
state, determining to additionally forward work items to workstations of a second set of resources.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for assessing the status of work waiting for service in a work queue or a work pool. Work items are placed in the work queue or work pool and have a service time goal. The work items in the work queue or work pool are scanned and a required queue position for each work item is calculated according to the amount of time remaining prior to the expiration of the service time goal and weighted advance time for servicing of work items in the work queue or pool. An array of counters has elements which correspond to required queue positions. Upon the calculation of the required queue position for a work item, the counter corresponding to the required queue position is incremented. When all of the work items are scanned, the array of counters is analyzed to predict a future state of the work queue or work pool.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method in a contact center comprising a central server for distributing work items to workstations of a first set of resources and a work queue having a plurality of work items, the method comprising:
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determining that the plurality of work items have been received at at least one telecommunications component of the contact center from a plurality of customers, wherein the at least one telecommunications component comprises at least one of a Private Branch eXchange (PBX) and a server; generating in said central server using a workload monitoring agent, based at least in part on said work queue, an ordered set of work items related to the plurality of work items in the work queue, wherein the ordered set of work items comprises real-time work items and non-real-time work items, wherein each work item in said ordered set comprises a service time goal; analyzing said ordered set, wherein the analyzing step determines a required queue position for each of the plurality of work items and wherein at least one of the following is true for a selected required queue position; (i) multiple of the work items have a determined required queue position equal to the selected required queue position; and (ii) no work items have a determined required queue position equal to the selected required queue position and wherein the selected required queue position is closer to a head of the ordered set than another selected required queue position that equals a determined required queue position of at least one of the work items; based on said analyzing step, determining a state of said work queue to be one of an “
On Target”
state when there are no predicted shortfalls in resources for the work items in the ordered set and a state other than “
On Target”
that indicates a predicted shortfall in resources for the work items in the ordered set;when the workload monitoring agent predicts an “
On Target”
state, determining to forward work items in the work queue to workstations of the first set of resources; andwhen the workload monitoring agent predicts a state other than the “
On Target”
state, determining to additionally forward work items to workstations of a second set of resources. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification