Date and time dimensions for contact center reporting in arbitrary international time zones

• US 8,737,173 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2006
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Olson, Jeffrey James
• Primary Examiner(s): Kayes, Sean
• Application Number:
  US11/361,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20070201311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,014 Days
• Field of Search: 368/21, 368/46
• US Class Current: 368/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

In one embodiment, a computer readable medium is provided that includes a date time zone dimension table comprising a date key and a time zone key, the date key identifying a selected point in time relative to a selected temporal origin and the time zone key identifying one of a plurality of possible time zones, and at least one attribute, the at least one attribute describing time information for a selected date and time zone key pair.

Claims

1. A contact center, comprising:

a server operable to receive customer contacts and distribute the contacts to a plurality of agents for servicing; and

a database, the database comprising computer readable language expressing;

a date time zone dimension table comprising a date key and a time zone key, the date key identifying a selected point in time relative to a selected temporal origin and the time zone key identifying one of a plurality of possible time zones, and at least one attribute, the at least one attribute describing time information for a selected date and time zone key pair.

2. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the date key defines an elapsed time from the selected temporal origin at a grain of at least one of one-second, one-minute, fifteen minute, thirty minute, and sixty minute intervals.

3. The contact center of claim 2, wherein the at least one attribute identifies, for a corresponding date key value, a full date from year down to at least the grain of the date key.

4. The contact center of claim 3, wherein the at least one attribute comprises a plurality of a daylight saving indicator, an offset string relative to a selected universal time system, a year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a month of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a week of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the month corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the week corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a relative ordinal day of the week corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, an hour of the day corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, and a minute of the hour corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal half year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal quarter corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, and an application-specific time interval corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair.

5. The contact center of claim 2, wherein the date time zone dimension data structure comprises a plurality of date dimension tables and wherein the selected temporal origin is 1970-01-01 00:

00;

00 UTC.

6. The contact center of claim 1, further comprising:

a time zone dimension table comprising the time zone key as a primary key and at least one attribute describing a time zone corresponding to a selected time key value.

7. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the language further expresses a plurality of date dimension tables generated from the date time zone dimension table, each of the date dimension tables corresponding to a single value of the time zone key and multiple values of the date key.

8. The contact center of claim 1, wherein, for the selected point in time, the date key has a plurality of values, each value corresponding to a different time zone key value.

9. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the date key is expressed in units of time of a timing convention independent of a specific time zone.

10. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the selected date key and time zone key values defines a row in the structure and wherein the row comprises a set of date key values associated with other points in time.

11. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the logical functions of the date key and time zone key are combined into one physical key.

12. The contact center of claim 1, wherein the set of date key values are associated with a plurality of this week, this day, this 60-minute interval, this 30-minute interval, this 15-minute interval, the prior year, the prior month, the prior week, the prior day, the prior 60-minute interval, the prior 30-minute interval, the prior 15-minute interval, the next year, the next week, the next month, the next day, the next 60-minute interval, the next 30-minute interval, and the next 15-minute interval, this fiscal year, this fiscal half year, this fiscal quarter, this application-specific time interval, the previous fiscal year, the previous fiscal half year, the previous fiscal quarter, the previous application-specific time interval, the next fiscal year, the next fiscal half year, the next fiscal quarter, and the next application-specific time interval.

13. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving, by a computer, a first time zone and time period;

(b) selecting, by the computer, a first time zone key corresponding to the first time zone; and

(c) selecting, by the computer, from among a plurality of date dimension tables, a first date dimension table for the selected first time zone key, the first date dimension table comprising the received time period, wherein each of the plurality of date dimension tables corresponds to a single value of a time zone key and multiple values of a date key and wherein the date key identifies a selected point in time relative to a selected temporal origin and the time zone key identifies one of a plurality of possible time zones.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the date key defines an elapsed time from the selected temporal origin in at least one of one-second, one-minute, fifteen minute, thirty minute, and sixty minute intervals and wherein the date key is expressed in units of time of a timing convention independent of a specific time zone.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one attribute corresponds to the time zone and date keys and wherein the at least one attribute comprises a plurality of a daylight saving indicator, an offset string relative to a selected universal time system, a year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a month of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a week of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the month corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a day of the week corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a relative ordinal day of the week corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, an hour of the day corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a minute of the hour corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal half year corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, a fiscal quarter corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair, and an application-specific time interval corresponding to the selected date and time zone key pair.