Granted Patent B2

US 10,810,600 · App. 15/175,711 · Granted Oct 20, 2020

Inventors: Thomas L. Adrian (Dublin, CA); Cedric Young (Markham, CA); Peter Adams (San Jose, CA); Jek-Sun Wong (Brooklin, CA); Sun Chun Chu (Richmond Hill, CA); Dinesh Elaprolu (Fremont, CA); Brian Zaik (San Jose, CA); Sameer Mardhekar (Pune, IN)

Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.

G06Q30/016G06F16/9535

Abstract

Claims (90)

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the processor and memory configured to implement:

a user interface on a computing device, wherein the user interface includes at least one input field configured to receive textual input associated with an information technology (IT) customer service issue, and a response area for displaying results;

a context generation engine configured to determine a multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue based on the received textual input;

a relevance-based search engine configured to search a plurality of resources listed in a search content to identify specific resources for resolving the IT customer service issue, the specific resources including a plurality of IT tools maintained using a tools index; and

a content configuration engine configured to, based on the textual input and the multi-factor context, restrict searching for the specific resources to only a limited portion of the search content, and identify the specific resources that are located at different places, the identified specific resources including the plurality of IT tools,

the relevance-based search engine being further configured to:

assign, based on the multi-factor context, a respective relevancy score to each of the identified specific resources that are located at different places;

select at least one of the plurality of IT tools, based on the tools index;

execute the at least one of the plurality of IT tools to obtain an executed output thereof;

as additional context information is added to the multi-factor context, including the executed output, iteratively perform relevance-based searches of the search content to refine the assigned relevancy score, and update the tools index based on a result of the executed output to reflect an effectiveness of the at least one of the plurality of IT tools in resolving the IT customer service issue; and

provide, on the user interface for display in the response area, a ranked list of the identified specific resources that are located at different places, the ranked list being ordered based on the respective relevancy scores of the identified specific resources;

an action button for launching at least one of the identified specific resources; and

a resolution of the IT customer service issue by launching at least one of the identified specific resources in the ranked list.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured to,

in response to a selection of a resource displayed in the response area, access and display the selected resource, and update the multi-factor context to indicate selection of the selected resource.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the respective relevancy score for the selected resource is based on a number of times the selected resource has been accessed and wherein the number of times the selected resource has been accessed is incremented each time the selected resource is accessed.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the content configuration engine is further configured to:

receive configuration information for the plurality of resources, the configuration information being used to determine whether to allow or deny access to each of the plurality of resources based on the multi-factor context.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein denying access to a resource of the plurality of resources includes preventing the resource from being included in the ranked list of the subset of the plurality of resources.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multi-factor context includes one or more of customer context information, environment context information, and customer service process context information.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the relevance-based search engine is further configured to, based on the multi-factor context, perform a multi-form search for two or more specific resources of the plurality of resources, wherein the multi-form search includes a full text search for at least one specific resource of the plurality of resources.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein performing the multi-form search includes populating respective search interfaces for the two or more resources.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the different places the specific resources are located include one or more of:

an open customer service ticket;

a closed customer service ticket;

a work order;

a change request;

a knowledge article;

an Internet search engine result;

a request template;

an identity of a person;

a custom-configured resource; and

an IT customer service tool.

10. A computer-implemented method for identifying resources for resolving an information technology (IT) customer service issue, the computer-implemented method including implementing a method by executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the method comprising:

receiving textual input corresponding to the IT customer service issue;

determining, based at least in part on the textual input, a multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue;

searching a plurality of resources listed in a search content to identify specific resources for resolving the IT customer service issue, the specific resources including a plurality of IT tools maintained using a tools index, and the searching for the specific resources being restricted, based on the textual input and the multi-factor context, to only a limited portion of the search content, and identifying the specific resources that are located at different places, the identified specific resources including the plurality of IT tools;

assigning, based on the multi-factor context, a respective relevancy score for each of the identified specific resources that are located at different places;

selecting at least one of the plurality of IT tools, based on the tools index;

executing the at least one of the plurality of IT tools to obtain an executed output thereof;

as additional context information is added to the multi-factor context, including the executed output, iteratively searching the search content to refine the assigned relevancy score, and updating the tools index based on a result of the executed output to reflect an effectiveness of the at least one of the plurality of IT tools in resolving the IT customer service issue; and

displaying, in a graphical user interface,

a ranked list of the identified specific resources that are located at different places, the ranked list being ordered based on the respective relevancy scores of the identified specific resources, and an action button for launching at least one of the identified specific resources; and

resolving the IT customer service issue by launching the at least one of the identified specific resources in the ranked list.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the textual input corresponding with the IT customer service issue is a first input, the multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue is a first multi-factor context, and the specific resources are a first subset of the plurality of resources, the method further comprising:

receiving a second input corresponding with the IT customer service issue;

modifying, based at least in part on the second input, the first multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue to determine a second multi-factor context for the IT customer issue;

searching, based on the second multi-factor context, the plurality of resources;

modifying, based on the second multi-factor context, at least one respective relevancy score of the plurality of resources; and

displaying, in a graphical user interface, a ranked list of a second subset of the plurality of resources, the ranked list of the second subset of the plurality of resources being ordered based on the modified respective relevancy scores of the second subset of the plurality of resources.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the respective relevancy score for a resource of the plurality of resources is based on one or more of:

a frequency of occurrence of a search term included in the multi-factor context;

a number of occurrences of the search term in the resource; and

an amount of text in the resource.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the respective relevancy score for the resource of the plurality of resources is further based on at least one of:

a data field of the resource in which the search term appears; and

a number of times the resource has been viewed.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the multi-factor context includes one or more of customer context information; environment context information, and customer service process context information.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the customer context information includes one or more of:

a name of a customer associated with the IT customer service issue;

a location of the customer;

services associated with the customer;

any open IT customer service tickets associated with the customer; and

any closed IT customer service tickets associated with the customer.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the environment context information includes one or more of:

current known IT customer service issues;

change requests for IT services;

a product associated with the IT customer service issue; and

a service associated with the IT customer service issue.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the customer service process context information includes one or more of:

a role of an IT customer service agent working on the IT customer service issue; and

an indication of a communication channel that is being used between the IT customer service agent and a customer associated with the IT customer service issue.

18. A computer program product tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and including executable code that, when executed, by at least one processor is configured to cause the at least one processor to:

receive textual input corresponding to an IT customer service issue;

determine, based at least in part on the textual input, a multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue;

search a plurality of resources listed in a search content to identify specific resources for resolving the IT customer service issue, the specific resources including a plurality of IT tools maintained using a tools index, and the search for the specific resources being restricted, based on the textual input and the multi-factor context, to only a limited portion of the search content, the search identifying the specific resources that are located at different places, the identified specific resources including the plurality of IT tools;

assign, based on the multi-factor context, a respective relevancy score to each of the identified specific resources that are located at different places;

select at least one of the plurality of IT tools, based on the tools index;

execute the at least one of the plurality of IT tools to obtain an executed output thereof;

as additional context information is added to the multi-factor context, including the executed output, iteratively search the search content to refine the assigned relevancy score, and update the tools index based on a result of the executed output to reflect an effectiveness of the at least one of the plurality of IT tools in resolving the IT customer service issue; and

display, in a graphical user interface, a ranked list of the identified specific resources that are located at different places, the ranked list being ordered based on the respective relevancy scores of the identified specific resources, and an action button for launching at least one of the identified specific resources in the ranked list; and

resolve the IT customer issue by launching the at least one of the identified specific resources in the ranked list.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the textual input corresponding with the IT customer service issue is a first input, the multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue is a first multi-factor context, and the specific resources are a first subset of the plurality of resources, the computer program product further comprising executable code that, when executed by at least one processor, is configured to cause the at least one processor to:

receive a second input corresponding with the IT customer service issue;

modify, based at least in part on the second input, the first multi-factor context for the IT customer service issue to determine a second multi-factor context for the IT customer issue;

search, based on the second multi-factor context, the plurality of resources;

modify, based on the second multi-factor context, at least one respective relevancy score of the plurality of resources; and

display, in a graphical user interface, a ranked list of a second subset of the plurality of resources, the ranked list of the second subset plurality of resources being ordered based on the modified respective relevancy scores of the second subset of the plurality of resources.

Assignments (14)

Continuity (2)

Cited By (1)

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