Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1994-09-28
2001-12-25
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S309000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06333980
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to automatic call distributors and, more particularly, to an automatic call distributor and method for selecting one of a plurality of available agents to receive an incoming telephone call based on agent skills wherein the available agents are grouped into skill groups comprised of available agents having a common agent; skill. The agents within a skill group are further arranged by proficiency in the common agent skill.
Automatic call distributors (ACDs) are becoming increasingly utilized by businesses to automatically route incoming telephone calls to available agents. Some ACDs route incoming telephone calls based on the skills of the agents and the needs of the external callers. When agents having the necessary skills are unavailable, the customer is placed in one or more queues to wait for an available agent or is connected to an agent having somewhat related skills.
One method for automatic call distribution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,903 issued to Kohler et al. In the Kohler et al. method, each agent is assigned up to four skill numbers that represent various skills of the agent. For an agent having more than four skills, artificial skill numbers are used. In a travel agency, for example, agents may have knowledge of the cities, sites, etc. of one or more states. To accommodate agents having knowledge of more than four states, the Kohler method provides for the assignment of artificial skill numbers representing a group of states, such as the New England states.
Upon arrival of an incoming call, the call is assigned up to three prioritized skill numbers representative of the estimated skill requirements of the calling party. A first group of agents are then searched in an attempt to match the first prioritized skill number of the call with an available agent having that skill number. Failing to find a match of the first skill number, a second search is conducted for an available agent having either the first or second skill number.
If a match still has not been found, a search of the first group of agents is made for an agent having either the first, second or third skill number. If after the third search the incoming caller is not yet connected with an appropriate agent, a second group of agents is searched for a predetermined, artificial skill number designating general knowledge in the desired area while the first group of agents continues to be searched for either the first, second or third skill number.
The Kohler et al. method routes calls to those agents having the desired skill number on a time available basis If more than one agent having the desired skill is available, the agent who has been available for the longest period of time is connected to the caller. Unfortunately, the agent who has been available for the longest period of time may not have the highest proficiency in the desired skill amongst the available agents. Consequently, the caller may not be connected to the most informed agent.
As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the agent selection process disclosed in Kohler et al. may result in undesirable time delays as the agents are searched for a correct match. Since the Kohler et al. method searches all of the agents in a group at each level of searching, the system may take an inordinately long time to match caller skill requirements to agent skills, especially if each group has a large number of agents. The Kohler et al. method will search all the agents in the first group for all three skill numbers even if all the agents in the group are unavailable. Further, even after this extended time period, the caller may be connected to an agent having an artificial skill number and, therefore, possibly only a cursory knowledge of the subject matter of the call.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved automatic call distributor and method for grouping available agents by skills and for arranging the agents by proficiency in those skills such that the incoming caller is connected, in a timely fashion, to the available agent who has the highest proficiency in the specific skill deemed necessary to handle the call.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This need is met by the automatic call distributor and method in accordance with the present invention wherein agents are grouped into skill groups by agent skills and are further arranged within the skill group by proficiency in those skills. Agents having the same proficiency in a skill are further arranged within a skill group by the amount of time each agent has been available.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, each agent is assigned one or more agent-skill indicators indicative of one or more skills of the agent. A proficiency rating is associated with each agent-skill indicator. Skill groups are formed of available agents having a common agent-skill indicator. Available agents are those agents presently able to accept an incoming telephone call. For example, each available agent fluent in French is grouped into a single skill group. Agents may be members of more than one skill group. Unavailable agents who are presently unable to accept incoming telephone calls are removed from all queues of the skill groups until they become available.
Computer means detects the skill requirements of the callers and the minimum proficiency that is acceptable to answer the call and routes the incoming telephone calls to agents grouped in skill groups based on these skill requirements and minimum proficiency via connecting means. Computer means also detects when agents are available and unavailable and forms the skill groups of available agents. Agents within a skill group are arranged by descending proficiency ratings. The agent in the skill group with the highest proficiency rating receives the next telephone call to the skill group. Agents having a common proficiency rating in a skill group are further arranged by decreasing time of availability. Timing means in the computer means detects the length of time each agent has been available. Thus, the agent the highest proficiency rating within the skill group, if it is above the minimum proficiency rating, and has been available the longest time, amongst those agents having the highest proficiency rating, receives the next incoming telephone call to the skill group.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for selecting one of a plurality of agents to receive an incoming telephone call from a caller is provided. The method comprises the steps of: associating at least one agent-skill indicator with each of the agents, the agent-skill indicator being representative of at least one skill of each of the agents; grouping the agents into skill groups based on the agent-skill indicators; assigning a proficiency rating for each of the agent-skill indicators associated with each of the agents, the proficiency rating being representative of the proficiency of each of the agents in the skill represented by the agent-skill indicator; identifying a call-skill indicator deemed useful in satisfying a need of the caller; matching the call-skill indicator of the caller with one of the agent-skill indicators, the matched agent-skill indicator having a corresponding matched skill group; and connecting one of the agents in the matched skill group to the caller based on the proficiency rating of the connected agent.
Preferably, the method comprises the step of selecting a minimum proficiency rating for the caller and connecting one of the agents in the matched skill group to the caller if the proficiency rating of the connected agent is not less than the minimum proficiency rating.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for routing incoming telephone calls from a caller to one of a plurality of available agents is provided. The method comprises the steps of: associating at least one agent-skill indicator with each of the available agents, an agent-skill indicator being representative of a skill of an agent; associating a
Hollatz Michael C.
Righi Dan M.
Steinlicht Joseph C.
Sunderman Kurt E.
Rockwell International Corporation
Tsang Fan
Welsh & Katz Ltd.
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