Extensible permissions for administrative and target permissions
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus for providing resource access to a user within a computer network of the automatic contact distribution system. The method includes the steps of providing a permission set that defines a limited set of features within the computer network that the user can access, the user signing into the computer network of the automatic call distribution system, the system retrieving the permission set for the user and the system providing the user with limited access to the computer system based upon the permission set.
1. A method of providing resource access to a plurality of users within a computer network of the automatic contact distribution system comprising: providing a respective extensible permission set assigned to each respective user of the plurality of users that defines a limited plurality of network features within the computer network that the respective user can access providing a continuum of access, wherein each respective extensible permission set is associated with at least one access point and includes a hierarchy of permission levels;
a respective user of the plurality of users signing into the computer network of the automatic call distribution system via one of the at least one access points; the system retrieving the respective permission set for the respective user in response to signing into the network; and
the system providing the respective user with limited access to the computer system based upon the respective permission set and
wherein the respective permission set is used to detect activation of softkeys that are not allowed by the respective permission set mad any packets associated with the activation are deleted in response to detection.
2. The method of providing resource access as in claim 1 wherein the respective permission set further comprises identifiers of a plurality of servers within the computer system that the user can access and is embodied in a variable interface presented to the respective user wherein the variable interface includes graphical tools provided to the user based upon the respective permission set.
3. The method of providing resource access as in claim 2 wherein the permission set further comprises of a plurality of features within at least some of the plurality of servers that the user can access.
4. The method of providing resource access as in claim 3 further comprising displaying a set of access options on a desktop of the user where each access option of the set corresponds to a respective server and/or feature of the computer system.
5. The method of providing resource access as in claim 4 wherein the display of access options further comprises displaying a set of icons, wherein each icon provides access to a different server within the computer network.
6. The method of providing resource access as in claim 4 further comprising the user selecting an option of the set of options and receiving access to a corresponding server of the plurality of servers and wherein the respective permission set is used to detect activation of softkeys that are not allowed by the respective permission set and any packets associated with the activation are deleted in response to detection.
7. The method of providing resource access as in claim 5 wherein the permission set further comprises a plurality of resources associated with each of at least some of the plurality of servers to which the user is allowed access.
8. The method of providing resource access as in claim 7 further comprising the user selecting an option of the set of options and receiving access to a corresponding resource of the plurality of resources associated with the at least some of the plurality of servers.
9. The method of providing resource access as in claim 8 further comprising defining the user as a supervisor of the automatic contact distribution system and the resource information being agent data selected from the group consisting of agent scheduling, agent skills, group assignments and passwords.
10. The method of providing resource access as in claim 1 further comprising the respective permission set having a first level of a list of domains that the user is allowed to access, a second level below the list of domains made up of a list of servers within each domain that the user is allowed to access, and a third level of a list of data structures that the user is allowed to access within each server on the list of servers.
11. An apparatus for providing resource access to plurality of users within a computer network of the automatic contact distribution system comprising:
a respective extensible permission set assigned to each respective user of the plurality of users that defines a limited plurality of network features within the computer network that each respective user can access to provide a continuum of access, wherein each respective set iris associated with at least one access point and including a hierarchy of permission levels;
means for signing a respective user of the plurality of users into the computer network of the automatic call distribution system;
means within the system for retrieving the respective permission set for the respective user in response to signing into the network; and
means within the system for providing the respective user with limited access to the computer system based upon the respective permission set and
wherein the respective permission set is used to detect activation of softkeys that are not allowed by the respective permission set mad any packets associated with the activation are deleted in response to detection.
12. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 11 wherein the permission set further comprises identifiers of a plurality of servers within the computer system that the user can access.
13. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 12 wherein the permission set further comprises of a plurality of features within at least some of the plurality of servers that the user can access.
14. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 12 further comprising means for displaying a set of access options on a desktop of the user where each access option of the set corresponds to a respective server and/or feature of the computer system.
15. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 14 wherein the access options further comprise displayed icons wherein each icon provides access to a different server within the computer network.
16. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 13 further comprising the user selecting an option of the set of options and receiving access to a corresponding server of the plurality of servers.
17. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 16 wherein the permission set further comprises a plurality of resources associated with each of at least some of the plurality of servers to which the user is allowed access.
18. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 17 further comprising the user selecting an option of the set of options and receiving access to a corresponding resource of the plurality of resources associated with the at least some of the plurality of servers.
19. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 18 further comprising defining the user as a supervisor of the automatic contact distribution system and the resource information being agent data selected from the group consisting of agent scheduling, agent skills, group assignments and passwords.
20. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 18 further comprising defining the user as a supervisor of the automatic contact distribution system and the resource information being contact routing data selected from the group consisting of ANI, DNIS, URLs and contact routing criteria.
21. An apparatus for providing resource access to a plurality of users within a computer network of the automatic contact distribution system comprising:
a respective permission set assigned to each respective user of the plurality of users that defines a limited plurality of network features within the computer network that the respective user can access to provide a continuum of access, wherein each respective permission set includes a hierarchy of levels of permission; a user terminal that signs a respective user of the plurality of users into the computer network of the automatic call distribution system; and an access program within the system that provides the respective user with limited access to the computer system based upon the respective permission set and
wherein the respective permission set is used to detect activation of softkeys that are not allowed by the respective permission set mad any packets associated with the activation are deleted in response to detection.
22. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 21 wherein the permission set further comprises identifiers of a plurality of servers within the computer system that the user can access.
23. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 22 wherein the permission set further comprises of a plurality of features within at least some of the plurality of servers that the user can access.
24. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 22 further comprising a desktop that displays a set of access options on a desktop of the user where each access option of the set corresponds to a respective server and/or feature of the computer system.
25. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 24 wherein the access options further comprise icons.
26. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 25 wherein the permission set further comprises a plurality of resources associated with each of at least some of the plurality of servers to which the user is allowed access.
27. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 26 further comprising defining the user as a supervisor of the automatic contact distribution system and the resource information being agent data selected from the group consisting of agent scheduling, agent skills, group assignments and passwords.
28. The apparatus for providing resource access as in claim 26 further comprising defining the user as a supervisor of the automatic contact distribution system wherein the respective permission set contains affirmative and negative permission in a hierarchy of systems to which the supervision is given access including a concatenated list of identifiers of subsystems that the supervisor is allowed to access, the hierarchy having more than one path from the highest level for the hierarchy and the hierarchy giving free access to features below a bottom level of each path while not providing access to any parallel paths not contained within the hierarchy.
29. A method of providing resource access to a plurality of users within a computer network of the automatic contact distribution system comprising:
a respective user of the plurality of users signing into the computer network of the automatic call distribution system;
the system retrieving a respective permission set for the respective user of a plurality of permission sets wherein each respective permission set is associated with a plurality of access points and defines a hierarchy of permission levels of a plurality of network features that the respective user is allowed to access within the automatic contact distribution system to provide a continuum of access; and
the system providing the respective user with limited access to the computer system based upon the respective permission set and
wherein the respective permission set is used to detect activation of softkeys that are not allowed by the respective permission set mad any packets associated with the activation are deleted in response to detection.