Integrated activity management system5721913Abstract A system for managing workflow of specific types of activities includes a database and at least one computer workstation connected to an integrated activities management system. The integrated activities management system strictly controls the entry, routing and processing of attribute information associated with each of the activities to manage the execution of the activity. The integrated activities management system utilizes an information organization system to maintain attribute information concerning each activity in the form of data records consisting of linked data objects in the database. Each type of data object has associated control rules which govern the entry, routing and processing of its attribute information. The data objects in each data record are arranged in a hierarchical manner and including data objects from at least a first hierarchical level and an activity level. The first hierarchical level data object contains information common to activities of all types. The activity level data object contains attribute information common to only that type of activity. The use of the hierarchial arrangement and first hierarchical level data objects facilitates changes to the managing and tracking routines in an existing system, as well as modification of the system to manage new activities of similar or dissimilar types. Claims We claim: Description FIELD OF THE INVENTION
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Activity Data Object Set
Connection Lines
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Subscriber trouble ticket:
101, 102, 106
140, 142
Network trouble ticket:
101, 102, 108
140, 143
Purchase order: 101, 104, 110
141, 144
Service order: 101, 104, 112
141, 145
Shipping order: 101, 104, 114
141, 146
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An advantage of organizing activity information in an object-oriented manner is the relationship that exists between linked data objects and associated control rules. Data objects inherit the attribute information from the corresponding linked data objects of a higher hierarchical levels. Therefore, a data object of a lower hierarchical level may be referred to as a descendant of a linked data object of higher hierarchical level because it inherits the attribute information from its associated higher hierarchical level data objects. The IAMS 20 utilizes the inheritance characteristics of a linked set of data objects in a data record to manage an activity according to the corresponding information control rules. The hierarchical nature or linking configuration of the data objects in the database 70 should be transparent to the operator. This transparency may be accomplished by utilizing programming techniques well known in the art. An example of the information maintained in a data record in the database 70 which is used to manage a shipping order would be the attribute information 120, 124 and 134 of the work item data object 101, the order data object 104 and the shipping order data object 114. Therefore, for this example, the complete set of attribute information utilized to manage the shipping order would be "creation date/time", "closed date/time", "activity number", "status", "order identification number", "shipper name/address", "destination address"0 and "item description". A listing of the attribute information and corresponding set of data objects utilized in data records that manage the five types of activities of the telephone network support system 10 is shown in a chart 200 in FIG. 4. Each one of the activities is listed in a row 205. Listed below each activity in columns 210, 220, 230, 240 and 250 are the necessary linked data objects and attribute information to form the corresponding type of data record. The reference numbers of the necessary linked data objects are listed in subcolumns identified by an "A" and the corresponding attribute information is listed in subcolumns identified by a "B" for each type of data record. The attribute information in each of the subcolumns "B" is necessary to track and control a corresponding activity of the type listed above in the row 205. For example, the attribute information required to track a subscriber trouble ticket data record is shown in a subcolumn 216 and the corresponding reference numbers of data object types which must be linked in the respective data record are listed in a subcolumn 213. Thus, a data record created to manage and track a subscriber reported trouble includes the set of linked data objects 101, 102 and 108 containing the attribute information "created date/time", "closed date/time", "activity number", "status", "trouble ticket number", "trouble description", "diagnosis code", "diagnosis description", "subscriber name/address", and "related network trouble ticket". In a similar manner, the attribute information and linked data objects required to manage and track the disposition of a network trouble ticket, purchase order, service order and shipping order are shown in the columns 220, 230, 240 and 250, respectively. An exemplary arrangement of three data records 300, 310 and 320 which may be contained within the database 70 to track three corresponding activities is shown in FIG. 5. The three data records 300, 310 and 320 correspond to a network trouble ticket, a purchase order, and a shipping order, respectively. Each one of the data records 300-320 contains a data object from each one of the hierarchical levels 170, 172, and 174 of FIG. 3. For example, the data record 300 regarding the network trouble ticket comprises data objects 330, 332 and 334 which correspond to the data objects 101, 102 and 106 of the information organization system 100 of FIG. 3. Likewise, the data records 310 and 320 for the purchase and shipping orders consist of data objects 340, 342 and 344, and 350, 352 and 354, respectively, which correspond to the data objects 101, 104 and 110, and 101, 104, 114, of FIG. 3, respectively. The control rules 180-194 of the information organization system 100 of FIG. 3 may be contained within an area 360 of the database 70 as illustrated in FIG. 5 to control the entry, routing and processing of the corresponding attribute information of the data objects 330-354. The specific control rules of the control rules 180-194 that will be applied to each of the data objects 330-354 are based on the corresponding type of each data object, and have not been shown in FIG. 5 for ease of illustration. For example, if data object 342 in the set of data objects 310 is an order data object, such as the order data object 104 of FIG. 3, then the control rules 184 will be used to govern the entry, routing and processing of its attribute information. Similarly, the control rules 180, 182, 184, 186, 190 and 194, of FIG. 3 will govern the entry, routing and processing of the attribute information of the other data objects 330-354 shown in FIG. 5. The control rules 180-194 may be maintained in a hierarchical fashion in the area 360 of the database 70. The hierarchical arrangement of the control rules 180-194 may be similar in arrangement to that of the data objects 101-114 in the information organization system 100. Each one of the control rules 180-194 controls a respective type of data object as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, if a fourth data record for another shipping order were added to the database 70 of FIG. 5, the corresponding control rules that would apply to the corresponding data objects would be the same control rules 180, 184 and 194 that apply to the shipping order data record 320. The control rules 180-194 are not created or destroyed with creation or closing of data objects. Due to the inheritance of the linked data objects in the data records 300, 310 and 320, an operator of the IAMS 20 examining the information associated with the corresponding activities in the database 70 of FIG. 5 would see a display such as the following:
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Activity No. = 1
Activity Type = network trouble ticket
Created Date/Time = 3/19/94 11:00
Closed Date/Time =
Status = Created
Trouble Ticket No. =
25
Trouble description =
improper connections
Diagnosis Code = AMS
Diagnosis Description =
malfunctioning switch
Affected Subscriber List =
ABA - MDB
Activity No. = 2
Activity Type = purchase order
Created Date/Time = 3/20/94 14:25
Closed Date/Time =
Status = Created
Order No. = 694
Supplier Name/Address =
XXX Co.
101 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York
Activity No. = 3
Activity Type = shipping order
Created Date/Time = 3/20/94 16:40
Closed Date/Time =
Status = Created
Order No. = 699
Shipper Name/Address =
ABC Co.
1001 Broad Street
Los Angeles, CA
Destination Name/Address =
Smith Co.
237 W. 34th Street
New York, New York
Item Description = 12 handsets
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An efficiency is achieved in the design, development, and maintenance of programming code for an integrated activity management system utilizing the information organization system of the present invention. Specific types of attribute information which are common to two different types of activities within a classification group may be maintained on a corresponding higher hierarchical level data object. For example, the information for a "trouble ticket identification number" is common between the subscriber and network trouble tickets, and therefore, may be maintained within the second hierarchical level data object 102. The first hierarchical level data object 101 is reserved for attribute information 120 that is common to all activities whether of similar or dissimilar types. As a consequence, to expand the capabilities of the information organization system 100 to maintain information concerning how subscriber and network troubles are resolved, a "resolution code" attribute need only be added to the attribute information 122 of the trouble ticket data object 102. The corresponding control rules 182 would also have to be updated to accommodate the new resolution code information. Thus, the attribute information for two types of activities would have been changed by making a single change to the attribute information 122 of the trouble ticket data object 102 and its associated control rules 182. The activity level data objects 106 and 108 for subscriber trouble tickets and network trouble tickets need to be altered only if there are attribute information or rule changes specific to either one of those types of trouble tickets. As a result, there is less programming code to design and write in implementing and maintaining common attribute information in the information organization system 100 than in conventional workflow management systems. Although FIGS. 3-5 depict a method of organizing information that has three hierarchical levels, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that data records possessing data objects from more than three levels may be utilized according to the present invention. An IAMS 20 that manages activities by utilizing four levels of data object hierarchy is shown in FIG. 6 and is described below. The hierarchical method of organizing activity information provides a further advantage in minimizing the design, development and maintenance needed to track new types of activities incorporated into an existing IAMS 20. The manner by which the information organization system 100 of FIG. 3 may be readily expanded to manage new types of maintenance activities is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. In FIG. 6, an information organization system 400 manages all the types of activities managed by the system 100 of FIG. 3 as well as an install equipment work order, a replace equipment work order and a recover equipment work order. Similar components of FIGS. 3 and 6 are like numbered for clarity, such as the work item data object 101, the connection link 141 and the order data object 104. The data objects 101-114 of FIG. 6 may be linked to one another in a similar manner as that shown in FIG. 3. The attribute information 120-134 and associated control rules 180-194 of FIG. 3 exist in the information organization system 400 of FIG. 6, but have not been shown for ease of illustration. In FIG. 6, the order data object 104 may be linked to the data objects 110-114 as well as a work order data object 410. The work order data object 410 possess attribute information common to the three new work order activities which is not common to the other preexisting order activities, i.e., purchase, service and shipping order activities. The work order data object 410 may be further linked to an install equipment work order data object 412, a replace equipment work order data object 414 or a recover equipment work order data object 416, as shown by connection lines 406, 407 and 408, respectively. The data objects 101, 104 and 410-416 contain respective attribute information corresponding to the install equipment work order, the replace equipment work order and the recover equipment work order. The attribute information of the data objects 410-416 has not been shown in FIG. 6 for ease of illustration. The entry, routing and processing of the attribute information of the data objects 410-416 is controlled by corresponding control rules 430, 432, 434 and 436. Therefore, by simply adding four new types of data objects 410-416 and their associated control rules 430-436 the capabilities of the information organization system 100 of FIG. 3 have been expanded to process three new types of work orders. The information organization system 400 utilizes four levels of hierarchy, as shown by dashed lines 150, 160 and 440. The data records corresponding to the three new types of work orders would contain the work order data object 410 which is represented on a new third hierarchical level 450, The new third hierarchial level 450 is positioned between the second hierarchical level 172 and the activity data object level 174. The preexisting trouble ticket, purchase order, service order and shipping order data records are still implemented in the three levels of hierarchy 170, 172 and 174 despite the fact that the new work order data record utilizes four levels of hierarchy. The present invention may utilize any number of hierarchical levels as required for each activity to organize a like number of levels of attribute information commonality. A significant feature of the present invention is the inclusion of the first hierarchical level work item data object 101 in each data record. The advantage of this feature is an ability to manage dissimilar types of activities, whether related or otherwise, with a single IAMS 20. This advantage is illustrated in an information organization system 500 of FIG. 7 which is similar to the organization system 400 of FIG. 6, but which has been further modified to track and manage computer room and garage maintenance activities. In FIG. 7, data objects and connection lines similar to those of FIG. 6 are like numbered. The associated control rules and attribute information shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 exist in the information organization system 500 of FIG. 7, but have not been shown for ease of illustration. Data objects 101-114 and 410-416 of FIG. 7 are capable of operating in substantially the same way and contain substantially similar attribute information as the information organization system 400 of FIG. 6. The work item data object 101 of FIG. 7 may be linked to the trouble ticket and order data objects 102 and 104, as well as a new maintenance task data object 510. The maintenance task data object 510 may further be linked to either one of computer room maintenance or garage maintenance data objects 512 and 514. The computer room maintenance data object 512 may be linked to a backup files data object 516 or a change filter data object 518. Similarly, the garage maintenance work object 514 is capable of connecting to either of an oil maintenance data object 520 or a tire maintenance data object 522. In operation, the use of the information organization system 500 by the IAMS 20 facilitates the management and control of a large assortment of activities including the activities controlled by the information organization systems 100 and 400, as well as the activities of the computer room 88 and the garage facility 90. The activities in the computer room 88 which may be managed according to the information organization system 500 include the backup of computer files and the changing of air filters. The activities of the garage facility 90 which may be initiated and managed by the IAMS 20 include oil changes and tire maintenance of vehicles. As the information organization system 500 demonstrates, the IAMS 20 easily maintains and tracks a large assortment of activities having varying complexities. The information organization system 500 shown in FIG. 7 manages complex activities, such as diagnosing and resolving troubles in subscriber services, as well as simple scheduling activities, such as the changing of engine oil in the telephone company's vehicles. The information organization system 500 further demonstrates the flexibility of the present invention to readily expand to incorporate management of new dissimilar activities. Such expansion can be developed and implemented with minimal modification required. Another feature of the present invention is the ability to associate or attach two data records in the database 70 which correspond to two related activities. Two data records may be attached to one another when the completion of a corresponding activity to one of the sets is dependent on the completion of the activity characterized by the other set of data objects. Techniques for attaching related data records in the database 70 include the incorporation of attribute information in one of the data objects of the data records which indicates the activity number of any attached data records. FIG. 8 depicts an example of three attached data records 600, 610 and 620 in the database 70. The data record 600 is for managing a network trouble ticket and consists of linked data objects 630, 632 and 634, which correspond to the work item data objects 101, 102 and 106 of the information organization system 100 of FIG. 3. A new "attached child data records" attribute 660 has been added to the network trouble ticket data object 634. The data records 610 and 620 are subscriber trouble ticket data records and contain linked data objects 640, 642 and 644, and 650, 652 and 654, respectively, which correspond to the respective data objects 101, 102 and 108 of FIG. 3. Attached data records may be regarded as having a parent-child relationship. For instance, the network trouble ticket data record 600 may have been created in response to an automatic alarm generated in the telephone network support system 10 upon a telephone network outage. As subscribers call in to report service outages, subscriber trouble ticket data records, such as data records 610 and 620, would be created by an operator in the STTSC 62 and attached as children to the previously created parent network trouble ticket data record 600. The subscriber trouble ticket data records 610 and 620 are attached to the network trouble ticket data record 600 by the entry of the activity number "126" of the data record 600 in the "related network ticket" attribute information 662 and 664 of the data records 610 and 620. Correspondingly, the entries in the "attached child data record list" attribute 660 of the data record 600 are the activity numbers "215" and "225" of the attached data records 610 and 620. As a consequence, the ability to attach two particular types of data records to one another may be controlled in the corresponding control rules, such as control rules 186 and 188 for the network and subscriber data objects, respectively. An alternative technique for implementing the attachment of documents is to use a global data record attaching table which may be contained in the database 70. A suitable global data record attaching table 660 is shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, the activity number of parent data records of any attached data records are maintained in a column 672 and the corresponding child data objects are maintained in a column 674. The attachment of the data records 600, 610 and 620 shown in FIG. 8, is depicted in a row 680 of the table 660. The activity number of the parent record in row 680 is "126" and the corresponding child activity numbers are 215 and 225. In operation, the control rules can execute routines which query or update the table 660 in operating with attached data records. If a global data record table is used, the network and subscriber trouble ticket data objects need not contain the attribute information for "attached child data records" or "related network trouble tickets", respectively, as this information is provided in the global data record attaching table. An efficiency is achieved by attaching data records corresponding to related activities. More specifically, in the example above, a technician who sees one of the child subscriber trouble ticket data records 610 or 620 would know that the actual trouble is being tracked by the parent network trouble ticket data record 600. Thus, the technician would know not to spend time testing or diagnosing the trouble reported by the child subscriber trouble ticket data record because this work would be done in the processing of the parent trouble ticket data record 600. Control rules can be written to account for parent/child relationships. For example, the portion of the control rules of the network trouble ticket data object 106 for diagnosing a trouble may contain rules that provide that if the trouble ticket is a parent, the diagnosis is "passed down" to its children data records. This allows each related subscriber and network trouble ticket data record to contain all the necessary information without requiring the technician to enter the information for each child data record individually. In the above example, attaching of data records permits managers to make a distinction between the number of trouble reports and the actual number of troubles. As a result, managers will be better able to make staffing decisions when there is an unusually large number of reported troubles because they will be able to recognize the instances when the actual number of troubles is less than the number of reported subscriber troubles. Alternatively, the parent data record may depend on its child data records for updating attribute information. For instance, an order to install a particular type of service may be dependent on material being shipped to the service location and other work being done on a piece of equipment within the network. In such a case, there are rules associated with the child shipping and work order data records that cause them to pass certain information, such as changes in due dates or work completion information, up to their parent install equipment work order data record. In some cases, there may also be rules associated with the parent data record that are triggered by an update of attribute information of the parent data record caused by an attached child data record. For example, when a child shipping order data record notifies its parent service order data record that some material has reached a particular destination, the parent data record's control rules may create a new child install equipment work order data record which is used to cause someone to install the received equipment. The use of first hierarchical level data objects and attaching permits true association and integration of dissimilar, but related work activities. Thus, the present invention eliminates the need of maintaining two workflow management systems, one system for each dissimilar activity, as well as the need to enter redundant information in two systems or the use of often unnecessarily complex interfacing routines. FIG. 10 depicts one method 700 which may be used by the IAMS 20 to create the linking of proper data object to form data records for respective activities in the database 70. Referring to FIG. 10, the method 700 first identifies the type of activity to be tracked in a step 710. The IAMS 20 may identify the type of activity by requiring the operator to enter the activity type at one of the computer workstations 50-59. The IAMS 20 then creates the corresponding activity level data object in the database 70 in a step 720. Then, in a step 730, the corresponding control rules for the activity level data object are retrieved. The control rules for the newly created data object may be located within the database 70 as shown in the area 360 of FIG. 5. The method 700 then identifies and creates the data object of the next hierarchical level for the data record in the database 70 in a step 740. The identity of the next hierarchical level data object may be contained in the control rules corresponding to the previously created data object. The newly created data object is then linked to the previously created data object in step 750. Then in step 760, the control rules for the newly created and linked data object are then retrieved. The IAMS 20 then determines, in step 770, whether the last created data object is in the first hierarchical level, such as level 170 of FIG. 3. If the IAMS 20 determines that the last created data object is not in the first hierarchical level, the IAMS 20 proceeds to the steps 740-760 so that the next respective hierarchical level data object is identified, created and linked to the previously created data object. However, if the IAMS 20 determines that the last created data object is in the first hierarchical level, the IAMS 20 would then proceed to step 780. By reaching the step 780, the IAMS 20 has created and linked all the required data objects including a first hierarchical level data object to form a data record which is capable of tracking an activity. In the step 780, the required attribute information would be entered according to the set of retrieved control rules. Certain attribute information may be entered by an operator and other attribute information may be generated by the IAMS 20. The entered and generated attribute information, is then stored within the respective created data objects in the database 70 in a step 790. After storing the attribute information, the IAMS 20 would initiate the required information routing and processing routines according to the associated control rules in a step 800. As a result, the required information regarding an activity would be entered in the IAMS 20 according to an information organized system of the present invention. The IAMS 20 may then manage the execution of the operations of that activity. In managing and tracking an activity, the IAMS 20 may route the corresponding data record or a portion of its attribute information to specific telephone company departments associated with the telephone network support system 10 for processing or performance of a task. A data record or a portion of its attribute information may be routed based on the value of one or more attributes. For instance, a data record for a subscriber trouble ticket may be routed based on the value of its work item data object 101 status attribute which may include: "created" when the subscriber trouble ticket data record has been created in response to a reported trouble; "diagnosed" after a technician has analyzed the trouble and identified its cause; "repaired" after a repair person has repaired the cause of the reported trouble; and "restored" after a supervisor has reviewed the repair and confirmed that the subscriber's service is operating normally. There are various types of information routing methods which may be utilized by the IAMS 20 to route the created data record information to the technician group 84, the data record having a "diagnosed" status to the repairperson group 86, and the data record having a "repaired" status to the supervisor. One type of routing method utilizes particular network routing software programs which are executed by the corresponding control rules associated with a subscriber trouble ticket data record. Various network routing programs and techniques well known in the art are suitable for use in the IAMS 20, and the selection of an appropriate network routing program may be routinely made based upon the discussion herein once the desired overall system parameters are known. The specific network routing software program that is executed is based on the status information the corresponding work item data object 101 of the data record. For example, if the status attribute information of a data record is "created", the associated control rules would execute the network routing software program which transmits the data record or a portion of its attribute information over the communications network 40 to the computer workstation 56 of the technician group 84. Another type of routing method requires that each group execute database queries of the database 70 over the communication network 40 to identify those data records upon which the group must operate. For example, a person in the repairperson group 86 may periodically execute a query from his computer workstation 57 to identify those subscriber or network trouble ticket data records in the database 70 whose status is "diagnosed" to identify the subscribers' service troubles which have been diagnosed and are in need of repair. Yet another type of routing method utilizes the control rules to execute a software routine to format the attribute information of a data record into a format suitable for facsimile transmission and to transmit such formatted information to the required group by facsimile. For example, if the status of a data record for a subscriber trouble ticket is "created", the associated control rules would format the required information into a suitable facsimile format and transmit the formatted information to the technician group 84 to alert the group of a subscriber trouble which needs to be diagnosed. In the alternative, the software routine may create a data packet containing the necessary attribute information in a predetermined format. The routine would then transmit the data packet on the communications network 40 to a computer system in the group or department which needs to perform a task corresponding to that data record. The list of routing techniques described above is not exhaustive, and it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many other network routing techniques may be employed with the IAMS 20 of the present invention. Although one embodiment of the integrated activities management system has been described in detail above with respect to a telephone network support system, it would be readily understood by those having ordinary skill in the art that many modifications are possible in the described embodiment without departing from the teachings of the present invention. All such modifications are intended to be encompassed by the claimed invention. For instance, other activities which may be managed by the integrated activities management system include management of analogous activities to those discussed above in the operations of public service utilities such as gas, electric, water and sewage utilities, as well as operations of cable television providers. The integrated activity management system may also be used to manage routine maintenance and quality assurance activities associated with a variety of transportation businesses, such as those businesses overseeing airplanes, trains or buses.
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