Customer information management infrastructure and methods

A customer information management infrastructure, comprising

• an integrated customer information store having a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one customer of a multiplicity of customers;
• a plurality of legacy systems;
• a plurality of interface channels;
• and
• a business-workflow service, configured to
• receive a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each service request made using one of the plurality of interface channels and each service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers, and
• create a distinct workflow instance responsive to each of the multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each distinct workflow instance based on the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer and comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence of interactions comprising a call to execute a function on one of the plurality of legacy systems.

A customer information management infrastructure comprising a plurality of components comprising:

• an integrated customer information store configured as one of a plurality of legacy systems of the infrastructure and comprising a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers;
• an authentication-and-authorization-entitlement service;
• a services index;
• a business-workflow service;
• a system-management service;
• and
• an interaction-monitor service;
• wherein, responsive to each of a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous sessions, each session pertaining to one of the multiplicity of customers,
• the authentication-and-authorization-entitlement service specifies, for a user of the infrastructure, a set of service requests pertaining to the one customer;
• the business workflow service determines, in combination with each of the set of service requests pertaining to the one customer and the customer information set corresponding to the one customer,
• a set of user-device interactions between the user and the infrastructure, and
• a set of infrastructure-component interactions, including at least one legacy-system function call, among a plurality of components of the infrastructure required to execute the service request;
• the business-workflow service orchestrates execution of each legacy-system function call;
• the services index stores information required to execute each legacy-system function call;
• the system-management service directs execution of at least one infrastructure-component interaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions;
• and
• the interaction-monitor service monitors execution of each infrastructure-component interaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions and, responsive to the presence of a transaction in the set of infrastructure-component interactions and a failure of one of the infrastructure-component interactions of the set of infrastructure-component interactions, directs a reversal of each transaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions executed prior to the failure.

In a customer information management infrastructure comprising a plurality of logical-legacy-system-layer services and an integrated customer information store comprising a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers, a method for processing one of a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a user-identifier from a user;
• generating, based on the user-identifier, a set of available service requests;
• displaying the set of available service requests to the user;
• accepting from the user a selected service request selected from the set of available service requests, the selected service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers and comprising the one of the multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests;
• determining, based on the selected service request and the customer information corresponding to the selected customer, a distinctive workflow instance comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one of the sequence of interactions in the sequence comprising a call to one of the plurality of logical-legacy-system-layer services to execute a function;
• and
• executing each interaction in the sequence of interactions.

A customer information management infrastructure, comprising:

• means for storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers;
• and
• means, for each of a plurality of channels of the infrastructure and, responsive to each of a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers, for determining, based on the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer,
• a set of user-device interactions between a user and the infrastructure, and
• a set of infrastructure-component interactions among a plurality of components of the infrastructure.

A customer information management infrastructure, comprising

• means for storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one customer of a multiplicity of customers;
• a plurality of legacy systems;
• a plurality of interface means for interfacing with the infrastructure;
• and
• means for determining a workflow instance, configured to
• receive a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each service request made using one of the plurality of interface means and each pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers, and
• create a distinct workflow instance responsive to each of the multiplicity of service requests, each distinct workflow instance based on the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer and comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence of interactions comprising a call to execute a function on one of the plurality of legacy systems.

A customer information management infrastructure comprising a plurality of components comprising:

• means, configured as one of a plurality of legacy systems of the infrastructure, for storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers;
• means for authenticating users and authorizing service requests;
• means for indexing services;
• means for determining a workflow instance;
• means for managing interactions;
• and
• means for monitoring the execution of interactions;
• wherein, responsive to each of a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous sessions, each session initiated by a user and pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers,
• the means for authenticating users and authorizing service requests specifies, for the user, a set of service requests pertaining to the selected customer;
• the means for determining a workflow instance determines, in combination with each of the set of service requests and the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer,
• a set of user-device interactions between the user and the infrastructure, and
• a set of infrastructure-component interactions among the plurality of components of the infrastructure required to execute each of the set of service requests;
• the means for determining a workflow instance orchestrates each legacy-system function call included in the set of infrastructure-component interactions;
• the means for indexing services stores information required to execute each legacy-system function call included in the set of infrastructure-component interactions;
• the means for managing interactions directs execution of at least one infrastructure-component interaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions;
• and
• the means for monitoring interactions monitors execution of each infrastructure-component interaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions and, responsive to the presence of a transaction in the set of infrastructure component interactions and a failure of one infrastructure-component interactions of the set of infrastructure-component interactions, directs a reversal of each transaction of the set of infrastructure-component interactions executed prior to the failure.

In a customer information management infrastructure comprising a plurality of logical-legacy-system-layer services and an integrated customer information store comprising a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers, a system for processing a service request, comprising:

• means for receiving a user-identifier from a user;
• means for generating, based on the user-identifier, a set of available service requests for the user;
• means for displaying the set of available service requests to the user;
• means for accepting from the user a selected service request from the set of available service requests, the selected service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers;
• means for determining, based on the selected service request and the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer, a distinctive workflow instance comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence of interactions comprising a call to one of the plurality of logical-legacy-system-layer services to execute a function;
• and
• means for executing each interaction in the sequence of interactions.

An article of manufacture comprising an information storage medium encoded with machine-readable information adapted to display a set of service requests pertaining to a selected customer and available to a user of a customer information management infrastructure, the customer information management infrastructure comprising:

• a customer information store storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers;
• a plurality of legacy systems;
• an authentication and authorization entitlement service configured to determine, based on the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer, the set of service requests available to the user;
• and
• a business-workflow service configured to determine, based on each service request of the set of service requests and the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer, a distinct workflow instance comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one of the interactions in the sequence comprising a call to execute a function on one of the plurality of legacy systems.

A propagated signal adapted for communication between one of a plurality of user-devices and a customer information management infrastructure, the customer information management infrastructure comprising:

• an integrated customer information store comprising a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one customer of a multiplicity of customers;
• wherein, responsive to each of a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers, the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer determines, for each of the plurality user-devices,
• a set of user-device interactions between a user and the infrastructure, and
• a set of infrastructure-component interactions among a plurality of components of the infrastructure.

An article of manufacture comprising a propagated signal adapted for communication between a user-device and a customer information management infrastructure, wherein the customer information management infrastructure:

• receives a user-identifier from the user-device;
• retrieves from an integrated customer information store storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one of a multiplicity of customers, the customer information set corresponding to a selected customer;
• generates, based on the user-identifier and the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer, a set of available service requests;
• transmits to the user-device the set of available service requests;
• receives the signal from the user-device, wherein the signal is encoded with machine-readable information identifying a selected service request selected from the set of available service requests;
• determines, based on the signal and the customer information set corresponding to the selected customer, a distinctive workflow instance comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence comprising a call to execute a function on one of a plurality of legacy systems;
• and
• executes each interaction in the sequence.

A customer information management system, comprising:

• a plurality of on-line customer information processing systems, including an integrated customer information store storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one customer of a multiplicity of customers;
• a plurality of device-servers configured to receive, substantially simultaneously, a multiplicity of service requests from a plurality of user-devices coupled to the customer information management system, each service request pertaining to one or more selected customers of the multiplicity of customers;
• and
• an application-server configured to determine, based on the stored customer information set corresponding to each of the one or more selected customers, a distinct workflow instance for each of the multiplicity of service requests, each distinct work flow instance comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence of interactions comprising a call to execute a function on one of the plurality of on-line customer information processing systems.

A customer information management system, comprising:

• a message bus coupling each of a plurality of device-servers with
• each of a plurality of on-line customer information processing systems, including an integrated customer information store storing a multiplicity of customer information sets, each customer information set corresponding to one customer of a multiplicity of customers, and
• a business-workflow processor configured to
• receive, via the message bus, a multiplicity of substantially simultaneous service requests, each service request transmitted using one of the device-servers and each service request pertaining to a selected customer of the multiplicity of customers, and
• determine a distinct workflow instance for each of the multiplicity of service requests, each distinct workflow instance based on the stored customer information set corresponding to the selected customer and comprising a sequence of interactions, at least one interaction in the sequence of interactions comprising a call to execute a function on one of the plurality of on-line customer information processing systems.