Intelligent problem tracking electronic system for optimizing technical support

• US 9,940,582 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boothe, Paul A., Cases, Moises, Mutnury, Bhyrav M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Casanova, Jorge A
• Application Number:
  US12/199,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,513 Days
• Field of Search: 706 46, 707751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to technical support management and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for intelligent problem tracking to optimize technical support. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for intelligent problem tracking can include receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system, determining a level of technical sophistication of the user based upon the recorded information, selecting a technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user, and transmitting a resolution to the problem in a message to the end user computing system commensurate with the selected technical support level.

Claims

1. A method for intelligent problem tracking comprising:

opening an operating system (OS) ticket in memory of an end user computing system;

responsive to the opening of the OS ticket, monitoring in the end user computing system, end user applied modifications to a configuration of the OS and recording information in the OS ticket of end user behavior in respect to end user applied modifications;

electronically transmitting the ticket with the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification to a diagnostic utility logic over a computer communications network and determining in the diagnostic utility logic from the OS ticket a level of technical sophistication of the user based upon the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification;

mapping the technical sophistication level to a corresponding technical support level;

selecting by the diagnostic utility logic the mapped technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user; and

transmitting a resolution to the problem by the diagnostic utility logic to the end user computer system over the computer communications network in a message to the end user computing system commensurate with the selected technical support level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving recorded information tracking at least one modification made by the user to a system registry of the end user computing system recorded while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving recorded information tracking at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the end user computing system recorded while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving an operating system (OS) ticket, wherein the OS ticket archives at least one modification made by the user to a system registry of the end user computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving an operating system (OS) ticket, wherein the OS ticket archives at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the end user computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a level of technical sophistication of the user comprises analyzing an OS ticket containing at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem, based on the complexity of the behavior of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a technical support level comprises receiving an OS ticket containing at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem, and connecting the user with technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user.

8. An intelligent problem tracking data processing system comprising:

a memory and a processor;

a bus connecting the processor and the memory; and

intelligent problem tracking logic coupled to the memory, the logic comprising program code enabled to open an operating system (OS) ticket in memory of an end user computing system, responsive to the opening of the OS ticket, monitor in the end user computing system, end user applied modifications to a configuration of the OS and record information in the OS ticket of end user behavior in respect to end user applied modifications, electronically transmit the ticket with the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification to a diagnostic utility logic over a computer communications network and determine in the diagnostic utility logic from the OS ticket a level of technical sophistication of the user based upon the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification, map the technical sophistication level to a corresponding technical support level, select by the diagnostic utility logic the mapped technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user, and transmit a resolution to the problem by the diagnostic utility logic to the end user computer system over the computer communications network in a message to the end user computing system commensurate with the selected technical support level.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the intelligent problem tracking engine comprises complexity tracking logic and diagnostic utility logic.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the complexity tracking logic comprises program code enabled to observe a behavior of a user in addressing a problem in a computing system, and determine a level of technical sophistication of the user based upon the observed behavior.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the diagnostic utility logic comprises program code enabled to select a technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user, and communicate a message through the computing system to the user commensurate with the selected technical support level.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium storing computer usable program code for intelligent problem tracking, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for opening an operating system (OS) ticket in memory of an end user computing system;

computer usable program code for responding to the opening of the OS ticket by monitoring in the end user computing system, end user applied modifications to a configuration of the OS and recording information in the OS ticket of end user behavior in respect to end user applied modifications;

computer usable program code for electronically transmitting the ticket with the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification to a diagnostic utility logic over a computer communications network and determining in the diagnostic utility logic from the OS ticket a level of technical sophistication of the user based upon the recorded information in respect to the end user applied modification;

computer usable program code for mapping the technical sophistication level to a corresponding technical support level;

computer usable program code for selecting by the diagnostic utility logic the mapped technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user; and

computer usable program code for transmitting a resolution to the problem by the diagnostic utility logic to the end user computer system over the computer communications network in a message to the end user computing system commensurate with the selected technical support level.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving recorded information tracking at least one modification made by the user to a system registry of the end user computing system recorded while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving recorded information tracking at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the end user computing system recorded while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving an operating system (OS) ticket, wherein the OS ticket archives at least one modification made by the user to a system registry of the end user computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for receiving recorded information of tracked end user behavior collected in an end user computing system while the end user addresses a problem in the end user computing system comprises receiving an operating system (OS) ticket, wherein the OS ticket archives at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the end user computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for determining a level of technical sophistication of the user comprises analyzing an OS ticket containing at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem, based on the complexity of the behavior of the user.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein computer usable program code for selecting a technical support level comprises receiving an OS ticket containing at least one modification made by the user to a configuration of the computing system over an interval of time as the user attempts to address the problem, and connecting the user with technical support level corresponding to the determined level of technical sophistication of the user.