Call management method and system for skill-based routing

A call-management method of distributing calls to automatic call distribution (ACD) agents comprising steps of:

• forming a resume database in which each of said ACD agents is rated with respect to a plurality of skills associated with efficient handling of calls, said ratings being indicative of skill levels;
• for each call, determining which of said skills is relevant to efficient handling of said call, including associating a skill expression with said call such that said skill expression has capacity for identifying a plurality of relevant skills and skill levels;
• for occasions upon which an available call is to be routed to one of a plurality of available ACD agents, utilizing said associated skill expression of identified relevant skills to select a particular available ACD agent and then routing said available call to said particular available ACD agent, said utilization of said skill expression including collectively applying more than one relevant skill to selecting said particular available ACD agent when said associated skill expression identifies a plurality of relevant skills;
• and
• for occasions upon which a single ACD agent is available for a plurality of queued calls, utilizing said associated skill expressions of said plurality of queued calls in a selection of which one of said queued calls is to be routed to said single ACD agent and then routing said selected queued call to said single ACD agent, said utilization of said skill expression including comparing said identified relevant skills of said skill expressions with said ratings stored within said resume database.

An automatic call distribution (ACD) system for distributing transactions among a plurality of ACD agents comprising:

• call switching circuitry for routing said transactions;
• a transaction queue for storing said transactions in common for distribution among said ACD agents, with each transaction being associated with an expression indicative of (1) a skill level of a transaction-handling skill relevant to efficient handling of said transaction and (2) a preference level of a preference in selection of an ACD agent having said transaction-handling skill to handle said transaction;
• a server electronically connected to said call switching circuitry for transmission of data between said server and said call switching circuitry, said server having a stored resume database of transaction-handling skills of each of said ACD agents, said server further having a stored preference database of transaction-management preferences in selection of ACD agents in accordance with information related to types of transactions, said resume database including identifications of at least three levels of skill for said transaction-handling skills for each ACD agent and said preference database including identifications of at least three levels of preference for said transaction-management preferences with respect to each of said ACD agents, both of said indications of levels of skill and levels of preference being specific to individual ACD agents;
• and
• a transaction dispatcher means for selecting a particular one of said ACD agents to handle a particular one of said transactions stored in said transaction queue in response to a comparison between said expression associated with said particular one of said transactions and database information of said server.