ON-DEMAND UTILIZATION OF PROCTORING RESOURCES

1 . A system, comprising one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the one or more server hardware computing devices comprising one or more processors and memory storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

obtain demographic data based on one or more target attributes of a plurality of candidate users authorized to use an online proctored examination platform to complete examinations, the demographic data describing usage conditions of the platform by the plurality of candidate users;

determine, based at least in part on the demographic data, a demand for proctoring resources of the platform;

determine a composition of a plurality of available proctor users comprising each proctor user, of a plurality of proctor users authorized to use the platform to proctor the examinations taken by the plurality of candidate users, that is using the platform and is not allocated to any of the plurality of candidate users;

determine that the composition does not satisfy the demand;

identify, based on user data comprising on-demand designations, a first on-demand proctor user of the plurality of proctor users;

create a first request for additional proctors to satisfy the demand;

send the first request to a first client device associated with the first on-demand proctor user and in communication with the one or more server hardware computing devices via the network;

receive from the first client device an acceptance message generated in response to the first request; and

add the first on-demand proctor user to the plurality of available proctor users.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

determine, based on the demand, an expected duration that the first on-demand proctor user will be active as one of the additional proctors to satisfy the demand;

obtain, from one or more internal data stores of the platform, a corresponding value for each of one or more proctor attributes associated with the first on-demand proctor user;

determine, based on the expected duration and the corresponding values of the one or more proctor attributes, a compensation offer comprising a monetary amount to be paid to the first on-demand proctor user in response to the first on-demand proctor user being one of the additional proctors for the expected duration; and

create the first request to include the expected duration and the compensation offer.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores a plurality of system requirements for maintaining the proctoring resources of the platform at predefined levels, and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

determine whether the proctoring resources violate any of the plurality of system requirements; and

responsive to a determination that the proctoring resources violate a first system requirement of the plurality of system requirements:

determine the demand based further on the first system requirement being violated;

determine a type of corrective action associated with the first system requirement;

responsive to a determination that the type is an absolute corrective action, cause each of a plurality of examination processes executing on the platform to be suspended until the proctoring resources meet the first system requirement; and

responsive to a determination that the type is a soft corrective action:

determine a duration that the proctoring resources have been in violation of the first system requirement; and

responsive to the duration exceeding a predefined wait period, cause each of a plurality of examination processes executing on the platform to be suspended until the proctoring resources meet the first system requirement.

4 . A system, comprising one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the one or more server hardware computing devices comprising one or more processors and memory storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to implement, in an online proctored examination platform:

a proctor registry storing a plurality of registry entries each associated with a corresponding proctor user of a plurality of proctor users authorized to use the platform to proctor examinations provided by the platform; and

a proctor manager configured to:

determine, based at least on a measurement of proctoring resources available on the platform, that additional proctoring resources need to be made available;

identify, using the proctor registry, one or more on-demand proctor users of the plurality of proctor users, the one or more on-demand proctor users agreeing to receive requests to become available on the platform when the additional proctoring resources are needed;

send a corresponding request, of one or more requests for additional proctors, to each of the one or more on-demand proctor users;

receive a first acceptance message from a first on-demand proctor user of the one or more on-demand proctor users; and

responsive to the first acceptance message, cause the first on-demand proctor user to become available on the platform.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein to determine that additional proctoring resources need to be made available on the platform, the proctor manager is further configured to:

receive decision data comprising:

system requirements for proctoring resource availability, the system requirements describing a need for proctor users to become available in response to a violation of the system requirements; and

a first platform metric describing usage of the platform by a plurality of candidate users authorized to use the platform to complete the examinations in association with at least one of the plurality of proctor users; and

determine, based on the system requirements, the first platform metric, and the measurement of proctoring resources available on the platform, a plurality of offer parameters describing the additional proctoring resources needed.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the decision data further comprises demographic data describing a plurality of active candidate users, of the plurality of candidate users, that are currently using the platform, and a plurality of available proctor users, of the plurality of proctor users, that are currently using the platform and are not allocated to one of the plurality of active candidate users, the demographic data including the first platform metric, and to determine the plurality of offer parameters, the proctor manager is further configured to:

evaluate the demographic data to identify current platform usage conditions;

determine the plurality of offer parameters identifying the additional proctoring resources that, combined with the proctoring resources available on the platform, address the current platform usage conditions; and

use the plurality of offer parameters to identify the one or more on-demand proctor users.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the first platform metric describes a trend in the usage, the trend obtained from historical data of the platform, and to determine the plurality of offer parameters, the proctor manager is further configured to:

determine that the trend identifies an upcoming demand for proctoring resources; and

determine the plurality of offer parameters identifying the additional proctoring resources that, combined with the proctoring resources available on the platform, meet the upcoming demand; and

use the plurality of offer parameters to identify the one or more on-demand proctor users.

8 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the proctor manager is further configured to create the one or more requests for additional proctors, the one or more requests each comprising a description of requested proctoring services and a monetary amount to provide to an accepting proctor user that accepts the request and completes the requested proctoring services.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:

the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to implement in the platform a compensation processor configured to:

receive proctor user information describing one or more target attributes of the accepting proctor user;

produce, based at least in part on the proctor user information, the monetary amount to provide to the accepting on-demand proctor user; and

send the monetary amount to the proctor manager; and

to create the one or more requests for additional proctors, the proctor manager is further configured to:

receive from the compensation processor a first monetary amount to provide to the first on-demand proctor user; and

create a first request of the one or more requests, the first request comprising the first monetary amount, the proctor manager sending the first request to the first on-demand proctor user.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the proctor manager is further configured to:

obtain, from one or more internal data stores of the platform, one or more values each corresponding to one of the one or more target attributes associated with the first on-demand proctor user, the one or more target attributes including a trust score of the first on-demand proctor user, the trust score representing a risk of fraud posed to the platform by the first on-demand proctor user; and

send, as the proctor user information, the one or more values to the compensation processor.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:

the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to implement in the platform a compensation processor configured to:

receive one or more offer parameters of a plurality of offer parameters describing the additional proctoring resources needed, the one or more offer parameters including an expected duration that the additional proctors will be active;

produce, based at least in part on the one or more offer parameters, the monetary amount to provide to the accepting on-demand proctor user; and

send the monetary amount to the proctor manager; and

to create the one or more requests for additional proctors, the proctor manager is further configured to:

receive from the compensation processor a first monetary amount to provide to the first on-demand proctor user;

determine, based at least in part on the expected duration, the description of requested proctoring services; and

create a first request of the one or more requests, the first request comprising the first monetary amount and the description of requested proctoring services, the proctor manager sending the first request to the first on-demand proctor user.

12 . The system of claim 4 , wherein:

the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to implement in the platform a proctor pool storing a plurality of data elements each representing a slot that can be empty or filled by an entry comprising proctor user data associated with an available proctor user, of the plurality of proctor users, that is currently using the platform and is not allocated to a candidate user; and

the proctor manager is further configured to:

responsive to a request to add a proctor to an examination process:

identify a first available proctor user from a first entry in a first slot of the proctor pool;

allocate the first available proctor user to a first candidate user associated with the examination process; and

remove the first entry to empty the first slot;

obtain the measurement of proctoring resources available based on contents of the proctor pool; and

to cause the first on-demand proctor user to become available on the platform:

determine that the proctor pool includes an empty slot;

obtain, from one or more internal data stores of the platform, the proctor user data associated with the first on-demand proctor user;

create a corresponding entry including the proctor user data associated with the first on-demand proctor user; and

insert the corresponding entry into the empty slot to produce a filled slot.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the proctor manager is further configured to:

receive a second acceptance message from a second on-demand proctor user of the one or more on-demand proctor users; and

responsive to the second acceptance message:

determine that the proctor pool does not include an empty slot; and

send a notification to the second on-demand proctor user that no more additional proctors are needed.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the proctor manager is further configured to:

receive historical data describing past usage of the platform by a plurality of candidate users authorized to use the platform to complete the examinations in association with at least one of the plurality of proctor users;

determine that the historical data describes a trend in usage of the platform by the plurality of candidate users, the trend relevant to a current time period;

determine whether the trend indicates increased usage or decreased usage;

responsive to a determination that the trend indicates increased usage, add to the plurality of data elements at least one additional data element to increase a number of empty slots in the proctor pool; and

responsive to a determination that the trend indicates decreased usage, remove one or more of the plurality of data elements associated with an empty slot to decrease the number of empty slots in the proctor pool.

15 . The system of claim 4 , wherein:

the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to implement in the platform a proctor queue configured to store an array of data elements each representing an available proctor user, of the plurality of proctor users, that is currently using the platform and is not allocated to a candidate user; and

the proctor manager is further configured to:

responsive to a request to add a proctor to an examination process:

determine that a first data element at a first position in the array representing a front of the proctor queue identifies a first available proctor user;

allocate the first available proctor user to a first candidate user associated with the examination process;

remove the first data element from the array; and

update the proctor queue by moving any remaining data elements toward the front of the proctor queue;

obtain the measurement of proctoring resources available based on contents of the proctor queue; and

to cause the first on-demand proctor user to become available on the platform, add a second data element representing the first on-demand proctor user to the array at a second position representing an end of the proctor queue.

16 . A system, comprising one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the one or more server hardware computing devices comprising one or more processors and memory storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

receive decision data describing usage conditions of an online proctored examination platform;

determine, based at least on the decision data, a need for additional proctoring resources on the platform to meet a demand for proctoring resources;

send a request for proctoring services to each of one or more on-demand proctor users agreeing to receive requests to become available on the platform when the additional proctoring resources are needed;

receive a first acceptance message from a first on-demand proctor user of the one or more on-demand proctor users; and

responsive to the first acceptance message, cause the first on-demand proctor user to become available as one of the proctoring resources of the platform.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

receive proctor user data describing one or more attributes of each of a plurality of proctor users authorized to use the platform to proctor examinations provided by the platform; and

determine, based at least on the proctor user data and the usage conditions, that causing one or more of the one or more on-demand proctor users to become available as part of the proctoring resources of the platform satisfies the need.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

determine that the usage conditions indicate that a measurement of the proctoring resources available on the platform falls below a system-required minimum associated with the proctoring resources; and

determine that a violation of the system-required minimum requires immediate corrective action; and

send the request to all of the plurality of proctor users that are identified as on-demand proctor users.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

determine, based on the usage conditions, that the need is to add, from the plurality of proctor users as the additional proctoring resources, a certain number of trained proctor users, the corresponding proctor user data of the trained proctor users indicating that the trained proctor users are trained to proctor examinations for candidate users having trust scores representing a risk of cheating or theft posed to the platform by the candidate users that is above a predefined threshold; and

identify the certain number of trained proctor users as the one or more on-demand proctor users.

20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

determine, based on the usage conditions, that the need is to add, from the plurality of proctor users as the additional proctoring resources, a plurality of compatible proctor users each associated with proctor user data indicating that a first target attribute of the corresponding compatible proctor user matches a first attribute preference of a candidate user that is using the platform and is waiting to begin one of the examinations; and

identify the one or more on-demand proctor users from the plurality of compatible users.