Granted Patent B2

US 10,796,361 · App. 13/930,466 · Granted Oct 6, 2020

Inventors: Vineesh Puthiyottil (Kerala, IN); Sameer Kulkarni (Bangalore, IN)

Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.

G06Q30/08G06Q10/063114G06Q30/016

Abstract

Claims (117)

1. A method comprising

receiving, at an incident server, a ticket indicating a problem;

generating, at an auction server, an auction for the ticket;

generating, at the auction server, a plurality of messages based on the auction;

communicating, by the auction server, the plurality of messages to a plurality of agents as participants in the auction;

receiving, at the auction server, at least two responses to resolve the problem from at least two agents, the at least two responses including one of a bid, a hold, and a no bid, the bid including a time to resolution;

determining, at the auction server, that there is a conflict between two or more bids;

upon determining there is a conflict between the two or more bids:

resolving the conflict between the two or more bids based on a coefficient of deviation for each of the agents who responded, wherein the coefficient of deviation is calculated based on an estimated time for resolution for at least one completed ticket and an actual completion time for the at least one completed ticket; and

allocating, at the incident server, the ticket to one of the plurality of agents based on the resolved conflict, including automatically sending an electronic notification assigning the ticket to the one of the plurality of agents, the ticket including the time to resolution,

wherein the coefficient of deviation for an agent who responded is calculated using:

DNC n =( N dt t /N ct t )×( SDT n t /SET n t )×[ SDF (N-1) (T-1) SDF (N-1) (T-1) +DF n t ]

wherein:

DNC is the coefficient of deviation,

N dt is a total number of deviated tickets at time t,

N ct is a total number of completed tickets at time t,

SDT is a sum of a deviation time for all completed tickets of the agent in minutes,

SET t is a sum of an estimated time to resolution for all completed tickets of the agent in minutes,

SDF is a sum of a deviation factor for all completed tickets of the agent, and

DF is a deviation factor for each completed ticket of the agent,

and further wherein the auction server includes a learning module configured to execute an iterative computer operation that performs self-learning over multiple iterations of auctions for tickets and corresponding ticket resolutions, to track and optimize a discontinuity value, the discontinuity value being used by the auction server to adjust the time to resolution based on the multiple iterations.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating an auction includes:

determining a group based on the problem; and

broadcasting the ticket to the group.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein allotting the ticket includes:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining an auction winner based on a lowest time to resolution;

allotting the ticket to the auction winner; and

notifying the auction winner that the auction winner has been allotted the ticket.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for all of the bids is greater than a target time to resolution; and

if the time to resolution for all of the bids is greater than a target time to resolution, re-running the auction.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for all of the bids is greater than a target time to resolution; and

if the time to resolution for all of the bids is greater than a target time to resolution, notify a management entity.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining if all of the bids include a no bid; and

if all of the bids include a no bid, assigning the ticket to an agent.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on a historical performance of the agents with the bids within a range of each other.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other;

determining a priority coefficient based on severity and impact of tasks for each of the agents with the bids within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on a historical performance of the agents with the bids within a range of each other, wherein the historical performance is scaled based on the priority coefficient.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on the coefficient of deviation associated with the agents with the bids within a range of each other.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other;

determining a pressure factor based on completion of historical tasks under time pressure conditions for each of the agents with the bids within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on a historical performance of the agents with the bids within a range of each other, wherein the historical performance is scaled based on the pressure factor.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining if an incident associated with the problem is a candidate for collaboration; and

if the incident is a candidate for collaboration:

generating two or more tickets for the incident based on a number of tasks associated with resolving the incident;

generating an auction for each of the two or more tickets; and

monitoring the results of the collaboration.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the two or more tickets is associated with two or more tasks of the number of tasks.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

collecting historical data associated with a completion of a ticket;

storing the historical data;

generating the estimated time to completion for a ticket based on the historical data; and

evaluating a performance of an agent based on an actual time to completion for a plurality of tickets completed by the agent and the estimated time to completion for the plurality of tickets completed by the agent.

14. A system including a non-transitory computer readable medium including code segments that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive a ticket indicating a problem;

generate an auction for the ticket;

generate a plurality of messages based on the auction;

communicate the plurality of messages to a plurality of agents as participants in the auction, the plurality of messages being communicated via at least one of a wired and wireless communications network;

receive at least two responses to resolve the problem from at least two agents, the at least two responses including one of a bid, a hold and a no bid, the bid including a time to resolution;

determine that there is a conflict between two or more bids;

upon determining there is a conflict between the two or more bids:

resolve the conflict between the two or more bids based on a coefficient of deviation for each of the agents, wherein the coefficient of deviation is calculated based on an estimated time for resolution for at least one completed ticket and an actual completion time for the at least one completed ticket; and

allocate the ticket to one of the plurality of agents based on the resolved conflict, including automatically sending an electronic notification assigning the ticket to the one of the plurality of agents, the ticket including the time to resolution,

wherein the coefficient of deviation for an agent who responded is calculated using:

DNC n =( N dt t /N ct t )×( SDT n t /SET n t )×[ SDF (N-1) (T-1) SDF (N-1) (T-1) +DF n t ]

wherein:

DNC is the coefficient of deviation,

N dt is a total number of deviated tickets at time t,

N ct is a total number of completed tickets at time t,

SDT is a sum of a deviation time for all completed tickets of the agent in minutes,

SET t is a sum of an estimated time to resolution for all completed tickets of the agent in minutes,

SDF is a sum of a deviation factor for all completed tickets of the agent, and

DF is a deviation factor for each completed ticket of the agent,

and further wherein the system includes a learning module configured to execute an iterative computer operation that performs self-learning over multiple iterations of auctions for tickets and corresponding ticket resolutions, to track and optimize a discontinuity value, the discontinuity value being used by the auction server to adjust the time to resolution based on the multiple iterations.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein generating an auction includes:

determine a group based on the problem; and

broadcast the ticket to the group.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein allotting the ticket includes:

fetching the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determining an auction winner based on a lowest time to resolution;

allotting the ticket to the auction winner; and

notifying the auction winner that the auction winner has been allotted the ticket.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the code segments further cause the processor to:

fetch the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determine if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on a historical performance of the agents with the bids within a range of each other.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the code segments further cause the processor to:

fetch the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determine if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other;

determine a priority coefficient based on severity and impact of tasks for each of the agents with the bids within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on a historical performance of the agents with the bids within a range of each other, wherein the historical performance is scaled based on the priority coefficient.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the code segments further cause the processor to:

fetch the time to resolution for each of the bids;

determine if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other; and

if the time to resolution for two or more of the bids are within a range of each other, allot the ticket based on the coefficient of deviation associated with the agents with the bids within a range of each other.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the code segments further cause the processor to:

determine if an incident associated with the problem is a candidate for collaboration; and

if the incident is a candidate for collaboration:

generate two or more tickets for the incident based on a number of tasks associated with resolving the incident; and

generate an auction for each of the two or more tickets.

Assignments (14)

Continuity (2)