IP Library Granted Patent US 12,626,201
Granted Patent B2
US 12,626,201 · App. 17/739,120 · Granted May 12, 2026

System and method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule

Inventors: Vaibhav Chobe (Pune, IN); Priyanka Padalalu (Pune, IN); Ojas Pitre (Mumbai, IN)
Assignee: NICE LTD.
G06Q10/063116G06F16/90335G06F16/9038
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,626,201
App. No.
17/739,120
Granted
May 12, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A computerized-system for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center is provided here in. Upon receiving a time-off request from a source-agent, operating a Time-off Convertor (TC) module. The TC module includes (i) searching open trade requests in dates where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, to yield a list-of-trading-agents; (ii) retrieving from the yielded list-of-trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date; (iii) presenting the compatible-agents, via a display unit; (iv) enabling the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent, sending an approval request to the agent; and (v) upon acceptance of the agent, sending to the source-agent and to the agent a trade-success-notification, and operating change of scheduled shifts in one or more WFM MSs.

Claims (36)

1 . A computerized-system for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center, the computerized-system comprising:

one or more processors,

a trade-requests database and a memory to store the database thereon,

said trade-requests database is associated with one or more Engagement Manager (EM) Micro Services (MS) s,

upon receiving a time-off request for a shift in a specified date via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an Engagement Manager (EM) mobile application that is running on a computerized-device of a source-agent,

wherein a source-agent is an agent that is sending a time-off request, for the shift in the specified date,

said one or more processors are configured to:

(i) search in the trade-requests database, open trade requests of trading-agents in dates, other than the specified date, where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, during a preconfigured period to yield a list of trading-agents;

(ii) retrieve from the yielded list of trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date;

(iii) present the compatible-agents to the source-agent, via the GUI on a display unit associated to the computerized-device of the source-agent;

(iv) configure the GUI of the EM mobile application to enable the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending an approval request to the agent via a notification-service component;

(v) upon acceptance of the approval request by the agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, send to the computerized-device of the source-agent and to a computerized-device of the agent a trade-success-notification, via the notification-service component to be presented on the display unit and operating change of scheduled shifts to the source-agent and the agent in one or more Workforce Management (WFM) MSs, such that the agent is scheduled to the shift in the specified date and the source-agent is scheduled to the scheduled-shift of the agent,

wherein said EM mobile application is communicating with one or more EM MSs,

(vi) when no compatible-agents have been retrieved, present via the GUI on the display unit to the source-agent schedule-swap of shifts for selection;

(vii) upon selection of the schedule-swap of shifts by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, search one or more shifts during a preconfigured period which are understaffed and the source-agent is not scheduled to and present the one or more shifts to the source-agent via the GUI on the display unit for schedule-swap selection; and

(viii) upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, of a shift from the one or more shifts, which are understaffed, operate change of shifts to the source-agent in the one or more WFM MSs from the shift in the specified date to the selected shift.

2 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein compatible-agents are agents having preconfigured parameters in the EM mobile application.

3 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein an option of the one or more options is to initiate a new trade-request.

4 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein an option of the one or more options is taking time-off, and wherein upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, removing the scheduled-shift from the one or more WFM MSs.

5 . A computerized-method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center, the computerized-method comprising:

upon receiving a time-off request for a shift in a specified date via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an Engagement Manager (EM) mobile application that is running on a computerized-device of a source-agent,

wherein a source-agent is an agent that is sending a time-off request, for the shift in the specified date,

operating a Time-off Convertor (TC) module, said operating the TC module comprising executing, by the computerized device:

(i) searching in a trade-requests database open trade requests of trading-agents in dates, other than the specified date, where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, during a preconfigured period to yield a list of trading-agents;

(ii) retrieving from the yielded list of trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date;

(iii) presenting the compatible-agents to the source-agent, via a display unit associated to the computerized-device of the source-agent;

(iv) configuring the GUI of the EM mobile application to enable the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending an approval request to the agent via a notification-service component; and

(v) upon acceptance of the approval request by the agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending to the computerized-device of the source-agent and to a computerized-device of the agent a trade-success-notification, via the notification-service component to be presented on the display unit and operating change of scheduled shifts to the source-agent and the agent in the one or more Workforce Management (WFM) MSs, such that the agent is scheduled to the shift in the specified date and the source-agent is scheduled to the scheduled-shift of the agent,

wherein said EM mobile application is communicating with one or more EM MSs,

(vi) when no compatible-agents have been retrieved, presenting via the GUI on the display unit to the source-agent schedule-swap of shifts for selection;

(vii) upon selection of the schedule-swap of shifts by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, searching one or more shifts during a preconfigured period which are understaffed and the source-agent is not scheduled to and presenting the one or more shifts to the source-agent via the GUI on the display unit for schedule-swap selection; and

(viii) upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, of a shift from the one or more shifts, which are understaffed, operating change of shifts to the source-agent in the one or more WFM MSs from the shift in the specified date to the selected shift.

6 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein compatible-agents are agents having preconfigured parameters in the EM application.

7 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein an option of the one or more options is to initiate a new trade-request.

8 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein an option of the one or more options is taking time-off, and wherein upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, removing the scheduled-shift from the one or more WFM MSs.

9 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein the TC module is configured to be enabled or disabled.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 26, 2026
From: NICE LTD; NICE SYSTEMS INC.; NICE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES INC.; INCONTACT, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 074986/0208 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 8, 2022
From: CHOBE, VAIBHAV; PADALALU, PRIYANKA; PITRE, OJAS
To: NICE LTD.
Reel/Frame 059865/0804 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230359961A1 · Nov 9, 2023
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