Early generation of service requests

• US 8,892,709 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2011
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Podlaseck, Mark E., Shwartz, Larisa, Vukovic, Maja
• Primary Examiner(s): Survillo, Oleg
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, JANAKKUMAR T
• Application Number:
  US13/224,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20130060923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A method, data processing system, and computer program product for managing services. A computer identifies information in a number of discussions in a discussion forum. The computer determines that the information is associated with a service. The computer then generates a new request for the service in an absence of a current request for the service.

Claims

1. A method for managing services, the method comprising:

crawling, by a computer, over a number of discussions in an online chat forum to extract information posted by a user of the online chat forum using a domain-specific dictionary of terms;

determining, by the computer, that the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with a service of the services, wherein the computer determines that the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service by using a model that includes a first policy that determines whether the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service using a set of keywords related to the service;

responsive to the computer determining that a trust level assigned to the user of the online chat forum exceeds a specified threshold, generating, by the computer, a new request for the service in an absence of a current request by the user of the online chat forum for the service, wherein the computer generates the new request by sending a request to the user of the online chat forum for additional information and using the additional information received from the user of the online chat forum to generate the new request, and wherein the trust level assigned to the user is selected using a second policy that utilizes other information posted by the user in the past on the online chat forum that has a history of being accurate information;

sending, by the computer, the new request for the service to a service provider;

receiving, by the computer, data from the service provider indicating that the service is scheduled; and

adding, by the computer, new information to the online chat forum indicating the service is scheduled.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating, by the computer, the new request for the service in the absence of the current request by the user of the online chat forum for the service further comprises:

generating, by the computer, the new request in response to determining that the service is authorized; and

canceling, by the computer, the new request in response to determining that the service is not authorized.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding, by the computer, an indication to the online chat forum that the service for an item has been completed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the new information further comprises an indication that the current request exists for the service, and wherein the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum associated with the service is used to update the current request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the crawling, determining, generating, and adding steps are performed throughout a lifecycle of providing the service for an item responsive to the additional information being added to the online chat forum, and wherein the crawling, determining, generating, and adding steps are performed within a threshold of time suitable for responding to the additional information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first policy further uses a predictive analysis algorithm to determine whether the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust level assigned to the user also is based upon a number of posts to the online chat forum made by the user, a number of service requests made by the user, and a number of service requests made by the user that were resolved.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service is to fix a problem associated with a physical item in a computer system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum in an additional number of discussions in an additional number of online chat forums.

10. A data processing computer system for managing services comprising:

a bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device stores program code; and

a processor unit connected to the bus, wherein the processor unit executes the program code to crawl over a number of discussions in an online chat forum to extract information posted by a user of the online chat forum using a domain-specific dictionary of terms;

determine the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with a service of the services, wherein the processor unit determines that the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service by using a model that includes a first policy that determines whether the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service using a set of keywords related to the service;

generate a new request for the service in an absence of a current request by the user of the online chat forum for the service in response to determining that a trust level assigned to the user of the online chat forum exceeds a specified threshold, wherein the new request is generated by sending a request to the user of the online chat forum for additional information and using the additional information received from the user of the online chat forum to generate the new request, and wherein the trust level assigned to the user is selected using a second policy that utilizes other information posted by the user in the past on the online chat forum that has a history of being accurate information;

send the new request for the service to a service provider;

receive data from the service provider indicating that the service is scheduled; and

add new information to the online chat forum indicating the service is scheduled.

11. A computer program product for managing services comprising:

a computer readable storage device;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for crawling over a number of discussions in an online chat forum to extract information posted by a user of the online chat forum using a domain-specific dictionary of terms;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for determining that the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with a service of the services, wherein the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is determined to be associated with the service by using a model that includes a first policy that determines whether the information extracted from the number of discussions in the online chat forum is associated with the service using a set of keywords related to the service;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for generating a new request for the service in an absence of a current request by the user of the online chat forum for the service in response to determining that a trust level assigned to the user of the online chat forum exceeds a specified threshold, wherein the new request is generated by sending a request to the user of the online chat forum for additional information and using the additional information received from the user of the online chat forum to generate the new request, and wherein the trust level assigned to the user is selected using a second policy that utilizes other information posted by the user in the past on the online chat forum that has a history of being accurate information;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for sending the new request for the service to a service provider;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for receiving data from the service provider indicating that the service is scheduled; and

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, for adding new information to the online chat forum indicating the service is scheduled.