Schedule management interface

• US 8,768,737 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pagerduty, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pagerduty, Inc.
• Inventors: Solomon, Dan Alexandru, Laban, John Gary Ryan, Enders, Ian Alexander, Basiri, Ali, Miklas, Andrew Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): MANSFIELD, THOMAS L
• Application Number:
  US13/830,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20140180748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.12, 705/7.13
• US Class Current: 705/7.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards generating schedules for managing team members that may be responsible to be on-call for responding to incidents. Schedules may be configured to schedule team members and manage the rotation of one or more team members assigned to one or more schedule layers. Also, schedules may be employed to determine which team member may be responsible to respond and/or resolve incidents that may be reported and/or detected. If a team member is determined to be the on-call or responsible team member, a notification engine may determine the methods for notify the responsible of the incidents. Further, the notification engine may monitor whether the responsible team has received the notification. The notification engine may employ one or more other notification methods to ensure that the responsible team member may be notified.

Claims

1. A method for managing schedules over a network using a network computer, comprising:

wherein the network computer performs actions, including;

generating at least one schedule layer that includes at least a start time, a shift duration, a precedence value, and at least one team member;

generating at least one schedule entry for each schedule layer, wherein the at least one schedule entry includes a team member and a time range;

comparing each schedule entry to each other schedule entry for all schedule layers based on an ordering of each precedence value for each schedule layer;

determining at least one final schedule entry based on at least one compared schedule entry that corresponds to a schedule layer having a highest ordering, wherein the at least one final schedule entry includes at least a portion of the time range and the team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry;

generating a final schedule based on the at least one final schedule entry for each team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; and

generating a plurality of epochs based on each equivalent time period within the final schedule where the same allocation of team members in the final schedule repeats, wherein jumping forward in time by each repeated epoch at least provides reduced computation of at least a virtual start time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, generating at least one restriction that is included with the at least one schedule layer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, generating at least one override schedule layer having a highest precedence value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the at least one schedule entry, further comprises, modifying the time range based on the virtual start time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if an end of the shift duration is reached for a schedule layer and a current team member is assigned to at least one schedule entry that corresponds to a portion of the at least one shift duration, rotating a next team member of the schedule layer to be the current team member for another portion of the at least one shift duration.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, determining a responsible team member based on the final schedule and a time of occurrence of a reported incident.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, providing at least one notification to at least one responsible team member based on a reported incident, wherein the responsible team member is determined based on a time that the incident is reported.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, communicating with at least one monitoring service, wherein the at least one monitoring service provides incident reports.

9. A system arranged for managing schedules over a network, comprising:

a server device, including;

a transceiver that is operative to communicate over the network;

a non-transitive memory that is operative to store at least instructions; and

a processor device that is operative to execute instructions that provide actions, including;

generating at least one schedule layer that includes at least a start time, a shift duration, a precedence value, and at least one team member;

generating at least one schedule entry for each schedule layer, wherein the at least one schedule entry includes a team member and a time range;

comparing each schedule entry to each other schedule entry for all schedule layers based on an ordering of each precedence value for each schedule layer;

determining at least one final schedule entry based on at least one compared schedule entry that corresponds to a schedule layer having a highest ordering, wherein the at least one final schedule entry includes at least a portion of the time range and the team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry;

generating a final schedule based on the at least one final schedule entry for each team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; and

generating a plurality of epochs based on each equivalent time period within the final schedule where the same allocation of team members in the final schedule repeats, wherein jumping forward in time by each repeated epoch at least provides reduced computation of at least a virtual start time; and

a client device, comprising,

a transceiver that is operative to communicate over the network;

a non-transitive memory that is operative to store at least instructions; and

a processor device that is operative to execute instructions that provide actions, including;

displaying at least a portion of the final schedule; and

displaying at least one notification to the at least one team member.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising, generating at least one restriction that is included with the at least one schedule layer.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising, generating at least one override schedule layer having a highest precedence value.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein generating the at least one schedule entry, further comprises, modifying the time range based on the virtual start time.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising, if an end of the shift duration is reached for a schedule layer and a current team member is assigned to at least one schedule entry that corresponds to a portion of the at least one shift duration, rotating a next team member of the schedule layer to be the current team member for another portion of the at least one shift duration.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising, determining a responsible team member based on the final schedule and a time of occurrence of a reported incident.

15. The system of claim 9, further comprising, providing at least one notification to at least one responsible team member based on a reported incident, wherein the responsible team member is determined based on a time that the incident is reported.

16. The system of claim 9, further comprising, communicating with at least one monitoring service, wherein the at least one monitoring service provides incident reports.

17. A network device that is operative for managing schedules, comprising:

a transceiver that is operative to communicate over a network;

a non-transitive memory that is operative to store at least instructions; and

a processor device that is operative to execute instructions that provide actions, including;

generating at least one schedule layer that includes at least a start time, a shift duration, a precedence value, and at least one team member;

generating at least one schedule entry for each schedule layer, wherein the at least one schedule entry includes a team member and a time range;

comparing each schedule entry to each other schedule entry for all schedule layers based on an ordering of each precedence value for each schedule layer;

determining at least one final schedule entry based on at least one compared schedule entry that corresponds to a schedule layer having a highest ordering, wherein the at least one final schedule entry includes at least a portion of the time range and the team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry;

generating a final schedule based on the at least one final schedule entry for each team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; and

generating a plurality of epochs based on each equivalent time period within the final schedule where the same allocation of team members in the final schedule repeats, wherein jumping forward in time by each repeated epoch at least provides reduced computation of at least a virtual start time.

18. The network device of claim 17, further comprising, generating at least one restriction that is included with the at least one schedule layer.

19. The network device of claim 17, further comprising, generating at least one override schedule layer having a highest precedence value.

20. The network device of claim 17, wherein generating the at least one schedule entry, further comprises, modifying the time range based on the virtual start time.

21. The network device of claim 17, further comprising, if an end of the shift duration is reached for a schedule layer and a current team member is assigned to at least one schedule entry that corresponds to a portion of the at least one shift duration, rotating a next team member of the schedule layer to be the current team member for another portion of the at least one shift duration.

22. The network device of claim 17, further comprising, determining a responsible team member based on the final schedule and a time of occurrence of a reported incident.

23. The network device of claim 17, further comprising, providing at least one notification to at least one responsible team member based on a reported incident, wherein the responsible team member is determined based on a time that the incident is reported.

24. A processor readable non-transitive storage media that includes instructions for managing schedules, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor device enables actions, comprising:

generating at least one schedule layer that includes at least a start time, a shift duration, a precedence value, and at least one team member;

generating at least one schedule entry for each schedule layer, wherein the at least one schedule entry includes a team member and a time range;

comparing each schedule entry to each other schedule entry for all schedule layers based on an ordering of each precedence value for each schedule layer;

determining at least one final schedule entry based on at least one compared schedule entry that corresponds to a schedule layer having a highest ordering, wherein the at least one final schedule entry includes at least a portion of the time range and the team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry;

generating a final schedule based on the at least one final schedule entry for each team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; and

generating a plurality of epochs based on each equivalent time period within the final schedule where the same allocation of team members in the final schedule repeats, wherein jumping forward in time by each repeated epoch at least provides reduced computation of at least a virtual start time.

25. The media of claim 24, further comprising, generating at least one restriction that is included with the at least one schedule layer.

26. The media of claim 24, further comprising, generating at least one override schedule layer having a highest precedence value.

27. The media of claim 24, wherein generating the at least one schedule entry, further comprises, modifying the time range based on the virtual start time.

28. The media of claim 24, further comprising, if an end of the shift duration is reached for a schedule layer and a current team member is assigned to at least one schedule entry that corresponds to a portion of the at least one shift duration, rotating a next team member of the schedule layer to be the current team member for another portion of the at least one shift duration.

29. The media of claim 24, further comprising, determining a responsible team member based on the final schedule and a time of occurrence of a reported incident.

30. The media of claim 24, further comprising, providing at least one notification to at least one responsible team member based on a reported incident, wherein the responsible team member is determined based on a time that the incident is reported.