Work Routing System Using Time-Averaged Occupancy Metrics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional contact center routing systems fail to accurately determine work-occupancy over a time period, leading to inefficient workload distribution and unfair allocation of tasks among agents, as they rely on instantaneous measurements that do not account for long-term workload or skill levels.
Innovation Solution
A work routing system that includes a resource monitoring module to determine resource-occupancy and a group monitoring module to assess group-occupancy over a predefined time period, allowing for fair policy-based assignment of work requests to teams with lower workloads, considering the type and difficulty level of work and skill levels of resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional instantaneous group-occupancy measurement is used, then the measurement is simple and quick, but it fails to reflect the actual workload over a time period and leads to unfair work allocation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from measuring occupancy at a single instantaneous point in time to measuring occupancy across a time dimension by tracking the duration of each occupancy state. This dimensional change allows the system to capture the total workload experienced by agent groups over a period, providing a more accurate and fair basis for work allocation decisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary monitoring and accumulation of occupancy data over a time period before making work allocation decisions. By pre-calculating the total occupancy duration for each agent group, the system prepares accurate workload metrics in advance, enabling fair and informed routing decisions without adding complexity to the real-time allocation process.
2Ease of operation
If work is allocated based on instantaneous occupancy, then allocation is quick and responsive, but it creates unfair workload distribution as agents who have been busy all day may receive additional work during their brief idle moments
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the total occupancy duration of agent groups is continuously monitored and fed back into the work allocation decision process. This feedback loop ensures that groups with higher cumulative workload over time receive fewer additional assignments, creating a self-regulating system that promotes fair workload distribution while maintaining overall contact center efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A work routing system of an enterprise is disclosed for allocating resources for routing a work request in an enterprise. The work routing system includes a resource monitoring module configured to determine resource-occupancy of a plurality of resources available in the enterprise, wherein the plurality of resources are grouped into one or more groups based on a predefined strategy. The work routing system further includes a group monitoring module configured to determine group-occupancy of the one or more groups based on at least one predefined criteria, wherein the group-occupancy is determined for a predefined time period. The work routing system further includes an assignment module configured to assign the work request to one of the one or more groups based on the group-occupancy.