Alert response device, alert response method, and alert response system

Abstract

This invention provides an alert response device, an alert response method, and an alert response system that can shorten the time required from the occurrence of a system trouble to the start of response. [Solution] The alert response device according to the embodiment includes a controller. The controller responds to alerts notified from the system. When the controller receives an alert from the system indicating the occurrence of a problem, it requests multiple personnel to simultaneously report their status. Based on the status of personnel collected from multiple personnel, the controller selects personnel to respond to the problem and establishes a support system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The disclosed embodiments relate to an alert handling device, an alert handling method, and an alert handling system.

Background Art

[0002] In an operating company of a system provided to customers, when a system trouble occurs and an alert is notified from the system, it is necessary to respond immediately. Therefore, a request for response is communicated to a person in charge of handling the system trouble.

[0003] In this case, currently, a person in charge who is convenient at that time may respond, but the burden on the person in charge who declared the response first increases.

[0004] Also, as a prior art, when a system trouble occurs, an alert notification order is determined based on the management authority of each person in charge. If the person in charge who received the alert notification cannot handle it, there is an alert notification device that notifies the next person in charge in the notification order (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] However, in the prior art alert notification device, since the response to the system trouble is not started until the alert is notified to the person in charge who can finally handle it, it may take time from the occurrence of the system trouble to the start of the response.

[0007] One embodiment of the invention has been made in view of the above, and aims to provide an alert response device, an alert response method, and an alert response system that can shorten the time from the occurrence of a system trouble to the start of a response. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An alert response device according to one embodiment of the system includes a controller. When the controller receives an alert from the system indicating the occurrence of a problem, it requests multiple personnel to simultaneously report their status. Based on the status of the personnel collected from the multiple personnel, the controller selects the personnel to respond to the problem and establishes a support system. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] The alert response device according to this embodiment requests multiple personnel to report their status simultaneously rather than sequentially, and builds a support system based on the collected information, thereby shortening the time from the occurrence of a system trouble to the start of response. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of the alert response system according to the embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the alert response system according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of personnel status information according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a skill map according to the embodiment. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of support system information according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing performed by the controller of the alert response device according to the embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] The embodiments of the alert response device, alert response method, and alert response system will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

[0012] ≪1. Overview of Alert Response System 10≫ First, an overview of the alert response system 10 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 1. Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of the alert response system 10 according to the embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the alert response system 10 according to the embodiment includes an alert response device 1, a client system (hereinafter simply referred to as "system 2"), and terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n.

[0013] System 2 is a service system provided to customers by the operating company of System 2. System 2 is, for example, a customer's homepage system. However, System 2 is not limited to a homepage system and may be any system, such as a car-sharing management system or a data management system for data collected by a dashcam.

[0014] Alert response device 1 is a device that, upon receiving an alert from system 2 indicating the occurrence of a system trouble (hereinafter simply referred to as "trouble"), establishes a support system to respond to the trouble and has the trouble dealt with.

[0015] Terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n (where n is a natural number) are devices used by multiple personnel 4-1 to 4-n (where n is a natural number) assigned to handle problems. For example, terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n are tablet devices.

[0016] Note that the terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n may be mobile terminal devices other than tablet terminals, such as smartphones. The terminal device 3 is installed with an application program that enables the person in charge 4 to log in to the system 2 and resolve troubles by operating it.

[0017] In the following description, when indicating an arbitrary terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n, it may be described as the terminal device 3. Also, when indicating an arbitrary person in charge among the plurality of persons in charge 4-1 to 4-n, it may be described as the person in charge 4.

[0018] In the system 2, troubles may occur (step S1). There are various cases of troubles, for example, a case where the load of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) becomes abnormally large and the operation of the system 2 becomes unstable, or a case where the system 2 malfunctions due to a bug in the program that realizes the system 2. When a trouble occurs, the system 2 notifies an alert to the alert response device 1 (step S2).

[0019] When the alert response device 1 is notified of an alert indicating the occurrence of a trouble from the system 2, it requests the terminal devices 3 of the plurality of persons in charge 4 to report the status of the person in charge 4 to all at once (step S3).

[0020] After that, the alert response device 1 collects the current information of each person in charge 4 from the terminal devices 3 of the plurality of persons in charge 4 (step S4). The status of the person in charge 4 here includes information such as whether the person in charge 4 can handle the occurred trouble and, if so, the extent to which they can handle it.

[0021] Then, based on the status of the person in charge 4 collected from the plurality of persons in charge 4, the alert response device 1 selects, for example, two persons in charge 4-1 and 4-2 to construct a support system 30 (step S5). Then, the alert response device 1 causes the two persons in charge 4-1 and 4-2 to handle the trouble.

[0022] In this way, the alert response device 1 requests multiple personnel 4-1 to 4-n to report their status simultaneously, rather than sequentially. Then, the alert response device 1 builds a support system 30 for the trouble based on the collected status reports from personnel 4-1 to 4-n, thereby shortening the time from the occurrence of a trouble to the start of a response.

[0023] ≪2. Configuration of Alert Response System 10≫ Next, with reference to Figure 2, an example of the configuration of the alert response system 10 according to the embodiment will be described. Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the alert response system 10 according to the embodiment.

[0024] As shown in Figure 2, the alert response device 1 is connected to the system 2 and terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n wirelessly or via wired communication, for example, by a communication network 100 such as the Internet.

[0025] The alert response device 1 comprises a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a controller 13. The communication unit 11 is a communication interface that communicates with system 2 and terminal devices 3-1 to 3-n.

[0026] The memory unit 12 is, for example, an information storage device such as a data flash, and stores the person in charge status information 21, the skill map 22, and the support system information 23. Specific examples of the person in charge status information 21, the skill map 22, and the support system information 23 will be described later with reference to Figures 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

[0027] The controller 13 includes a microcomputer with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), and various circuits. The controller 13 performs troubleshooting for system 2 by executing a program stored in ROM using the RAM as a working area. The program executed by the controller 13 may be stored in a storage device via an external communication line or the like.

[0028] The controller 13 may be composed of hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), either partially or entirely.

[0029] ≪3. Operation of Alert Response Device 1≫ Next, the operation of the alert response device 1 will be explained with reference to Figures 3 to 5. Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the person in charge status information 21 according to the embodiment. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the skill map 22 according to the embodiment. Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the support system information 23 according to the embodiment.

[0030] When a problem occurs, System 2 notifies Alert Response Device 1 of the problem. System 2 sends the alert via email. The email includes text data such as the name of the system experiencing the problem and a description of the problem.

[0031] When controller 13 receives an alert from system 2, it identifies the system 2 experiencing the problem from keywords included in the email received from system 2. This allows controller 13 to automatically identify the system 2 experiencing the problem from the email.

[0032] Subsequently, the controller 13 requests that the terminal devices 3 of multiple personnel 4 simultaneously report the status of each personnel 4. At this time, the controller 13 requests that each personnel 4 report the status of each personnel 4 within a predetermined time (for example, 13 minutes) after the alert is notified.

[0033] The designated time here is not limited to 13 minutes; it may be any time as long as a prompt response is possible. This allows the controller 13 to promptly report the situation to each person in charge 4.

[0034] Subsequently, the controller 13 collects the status of each person in charge 4 from each terminal device 3 and stores it in the storage unit 12 as person in charge status information 21. Here, an example of person in charge status information 21 will be explained with reference to Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, person in charge status information 21 is information that associates the person in charge ID, which is the identification information of each person in charge 4, with the status of that person in charge 4.

[0035] The status of Person in Charge 4 can be "No response," "Unable to respond," "Telephone only OK," "Screen confirmation only OK," or "Login possible." "No response" means that there is no response to the request from Alert Response Device 1.

[0036] "Unable to respond" means that a response has been made to the request from alert response device 1, but the system is unable to address the problem. "Telephone only OK" means that support is only available by telephone. "Screen confirmation only OK" means that only the screen related to system 2 displayed on terminal device 3 can be confirmed. "Login possible" means that it is possible to actually log in to system 2 using terminal device 3 and address the problem.

[0037] Among the multiple statuses corresponding to each person in charge ID, the status with a checkmark in the checkbox is the current status of person in charge 4 corresponding to that person in charge ID. After a predetermined time has elapsed since the alert was notified, the controller 13 selects a candidate person in charge 4 to handle the trouble based on the person in charge status information 21.

[0038] At this time, the controller 13 selects personnel 4 other than those whose status is "unresponsive" or "unable to respond" as candidates for personnel 4 to handle the trouble. Furthermore, the controller 13 selects personnel 4 from the selected candidates to handle the trouble based on the skill level of personnel 4 registered in the skill map 22 and the support system information 23, and constructs the support system 30.

[0039] Here, an example of the skill map 22 will be explained with reference to Figure 4, and an example of the support system information 23 will be explained with reference to Figure 5. As shown in Figure 4, the skill map 22 is information that associates the level type and skill level with the person in charge ID. The level type has two categories: "current level" and "expected level". The "current level" is the current skill level of person in charge 4. The "expected level" is the skill level that person in charge 4 is expected to be able to achieve in the future.

[0040] Skill levels include "Detailed Instructions via Phone / Chat (with Screen)", "Detailed Instructions via Phone / Chat (without Screen)", "Remote Summary Instructions", "Multiple Decisions Proposed", and "Single Decision". "Detailed Instructions via Phone / Chat (with Screen)" is the skill level at which detailed instructions can be given via phone or chat if a screen related to the problem is available.

[0041] "Detailed Instructions via Phone / Chat (No Screen)" is the skill level to provide detailed instructions via phone or chat even without a screen related to the problem. "Remote Summary Instructions" is the skill level to provide summary instructions for resolving the issue remotely, even without a screen related to the problem or phone / chat. "Judgment and Proposal (Multiple Judgments)" is the skill level to judge and propose multiple solutions to a problem, regardless of whether a screen is available or not. "Independent Judgment" is the skill level to independently judge and propose a pinpoint solution to a problem, regardless of whether a screen is available or not.

[0042] Among the multiple skill levels, the skill level with a checkbox checked represents the current skill level (including current level and expected level) of employee 4 corresponding to that employee ID. The determination of these skill levels, that is, which checkbox to check, is made by, for example, each employee 4's supervisor.

[0043] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5, the support system information 23 is information that associates priority with the support system. In the example shown in Figure 5, the highest priority is the support system 30, which consists of a staff member 4 whose expected level and current level differ, and follow-up staff member 4 whose skill level can be independently determined (staff member 4 whose skill level can be "independently determined").

[0044] The second priority is a support system 30 consisting of 4 staff members whose expected level differs from their current level, and 4 staff members whose skill level allows for judgment and proposal (4 staff members whose skill level is "judgment and proposal").

[0045] The third priority is a support system 30 consisting of one person capable of independent decision-making (person in charge 4 with a skill level of "independent decision-making"). If there are multiple people capable of independent decision-making, the controller 13 will shuffle to determine which person will handle the problem. The fourth priority is a support system 30 consisting of two people capable of proposing decisions (person in charge 4 with a skill level of "decision-making proposal").

[0046] The controller 13 determines the skill level of the candidate personnel 4 selected based on the personnel status information 21 from the skill map 22, and selects a personnel 4 to handle the trouble from among the personnel 4 with skill levels capable of handling the troubled system 2. In this way, the controller 13 can select a personnel 4 who can reliably resolve the trouble and build a support system 30.

[0047] Furthermore, the controller 13 constructs the support system 30 in a way that prioritizes it as highly as possible within the support system information 23. This allows the controller 13 to construct an appropriate support system 30 according to the skill level of the person in charge 4.

[0048] Furthermore, if the controller 13 is to build a support system 30 with a priority of 1st or 2nd, it will select multiple personnel 4 with different skill levels to build the support system 30.

[0049] This allows the less skilled employee (Employee 4) to improve their own skill level through the experience gained from this situation. Conversely, the more skilled employee (Employee 4) can improve their own skill level by teaching the less skilled employee (Employee 4) how to handle problems.

[0050] Furthermore, when the controller 13 begins addressing a problem, it notifies the terminal device 3 of the person in charge 4 who is not currently handling the problem, that is, the person in charge 4 who is not included in the support system 30, that the problem has been addressed.

[0051] This allows personnel 4, who are not included in the support system 30, to recognize that they are not included in the support system 30 for this particular problem, and therefore, if another alert is notified in the future, they can respond to that alert immediately.

[0052] Furthermore, the controller 13 displays images of how the problem was handled on the terminal device 3 used by the staff member 4 who was not handling the problem. This allows staff member 4, for example, who was not included in the support system 30 because their skill level was not high enough to handle the problem, to improve their own skill level by learning from the images of how the problem was handled.

[0053] Furthermore, each staff member 4's terminal device 3 is equipped with a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "Help UI") that the staff member 4 can use if they determine that they cannot resolve the issue while troubleshooting.

[0054] Then, if the help UI on the terminal device 3 of the person in charge 4 who is dealing with the problem is operated, the controller 13 requests support from the developer of the system 2 that is dealing with the problem.

[0055] For example, the controller 13 may play a voice message requesting support by calling the developer of system 2. Alternatively, the controller 13 may be configured to send an email requesting support to the developer's terminal device.

[0056] As a result, even if the person in charge 4 who is dealing with the problem determines that they cannot resolve it, according to the alert response system 10, the problem can be resolved by requesting support from the developer of system 2 and having them handle it.

[0057] Furthermore, if support from the System 2 developer is unavailable, Controller 13 will send an email or play a phone message to the supervisor of the person in charge 4 who has determined that they cannot resolve the issue, indicating this fact. This reduces the responsibility of person in charge 4 in dealing with the problem.

[0058] ≪4. Processing performed by the controller 13 of the alert response device 1≫ Next, with reference to Figure 6, the processes executed by the controller 13 of the alert response device 1 according to this embodiment will be described. Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processes executed by the controller 13 of the alert response device 1 according to this embodiment.

[0059] While the power is on, the controller 13 repeatedly executes the process shown in Figure 6. Specifically, when the power is turned on, the controller 13 first determines whether or not an alert has been notified from system 2 (step S101). If the controller 13 determines that no alert has been notified (step S101, No), it terminates the current process.

[0060] Furthermore, if the controller 13 determines that an alert has been notified (step S101, Yes), it identifies the system 2 where the problem occurred from the keywords included in the alert email (step S102). Subsequently, the controller 13 requests each of the personnel 4's terminal devices 3 to report their status simultaneously (step S103).

[0061] Subsequently, the controller 13 determines whether a predetermined time (for example, 13 minutes) has elapsed since the alert was notified (step S104). If the controller 13 determines that the predetermined time has not elapsed (step S104, No), it repeats the determination process in step S104 until the predetermined time has elapsed.

[0062] Then, if the controller 13 determines that a predetermined time has elapsed (step S104, Yes), it selects a candidate for the person in charge 4 to respond to the trouble based on the status of the person in charge 4 collected during the predetermined time (step S105).

[0063] Furthermore, the controller 13 selects a person 4 to handle the trouble from the selected candidates based on the skill map 22 (step S106). Then, the controller 13 builds a support system 30 with the highest possible priority based on the support system information 23 (step S107).

[0064] Subsequently, the controller 13 requests that the person in charge 4 included in the support system 30 take action, and notifies the other person in charge 4 who are not taking action that action has been initiated (step S108). Then, the controller 13 displays an image of the action being taken on the terminal device 3 of the other person in charge 4 who are not taking action on the problem (step S109).

[0065] Subsequently, the controller 13 determines whether or not the help UI of the terminal device 3 used by the person in charge 4 who is dealing with the problem has been operated (step S110). If the controller 13 determines that the help UI has not been operated (step S110, No), it repeats the determination process in step S110 until the help UI is operated.

[0066] Furthermore, if the controller 13 determines that the help UI has been operated (step S110, Yes), it requests support from the developer of the system 2 where the problem occurred (step S111), and then terminates the process.

[0067] Further effects and modifications can be readily derived by those skilled in the art. Therefore, broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments expressed and described above. Accordingly, various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the overall concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0068] 1. Alert response device 2 Systems 3 Terminal devices 4. Person in charge 10. Alert Response System 11 Communications Department 12 Storage section 13 Controllers 21. Person in Charge Status Information 22 Skill Map 23. Support System Information 30. Support System 100 Communication Networks

Claims

1. It has a controller that responds to alerts notified by the system, The aforementioned controller, When the aforementioned system issues an alert indicating a problem, it simultaneously requests multiple personnel to report on their respective situations. Based on the information collected from the aforementioned multiple personnel, select the personnel responsible for handling the aforementioned troubles and establish a support system. Alert response device.

2. The aforementioned controller, The person in charge is requested to report their status within a specified time after the aforementioned alert is notified. The alert response device according to claim 1.

3. Each of the aforementioned personnel is provided with a skill map in which a skill level indicating the level of skill required to handle the aforementioned trouble is registered. The aforementioned controller, Based on the information collected from the aforementioned multiple personnel, the support system is constructed by selecting personnel from among those selected to handle the trouble based on the skill level of the personnel registered in the skill map. The alert response device according to claim 1.

4. The aforementioned controller, When establishing the support system consisting of multiple personnel, select personnel with different skill levels to build the support system. The alert response device according to claim 3.

5. The aforementioned alert will be notified by email. The aforementioned controller, The system where the trouble occurred is identified from the keywords contained in the aforementioned email. From among the personnel with the skill level capable of handling the system in which the aforementioned trouble occurred, the personnel responsible for dealing with the trouble will be selected. The alert response device according to claim 3.

6. The aforementioned controller, When a response to the aforementioned problem is initiated, the person in charge who is not currently dealing with the problem will be notified that a response to the problem has been initiated. The alert response device according to claim 1.

7. The aforementioned controller, Images of the response to the aforementioned problem are displayed on a terminal device used by the person in charge who is not dealing with the problem. The alert response device according to claim 5.

8. The terminal device used by the person in charge to deal with the aforementioned trouble is equipped with a user interface to be operated when the person in charge determines that they cannot resolve the issue. The aforementioned controller, If the aforementioned user interface is operated, support will be requested from the system developer. The alert response device according to claim 1.

9. The controller of the alert response device that responds to alerts notified from the system, When the aforementioned system issues an alert indicating a problem, it simultaneously requests multiple personnel to report on their respective situations. Based on the information collected from the aforementioned multiple personnel, select the personnel responsible for handling the aforementioned troubles and establish a support system. How to handle alerts.

10. An alert response device that responds to alerts notified from the system, A terminal device used by the person in charge of troubleshooting the aforementioned system and Includes, The alert response device includes a controller, The aforementioned controller, When the system issues an alert indicating a problem, it simultaneously requests the terminal devices of multiple personnel to report their status. Based on the status of the aforementioned personnel collected from the terminal devices of multiple aforementioned personnel, a support system is established by selecting the personnel responsible for handling the aforementioned trouble. Alert response system.

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