Hierarchical service level remediation for competing classes based upon achievement of service level goals

A method for generating a composite preference value for at least one work item of a plurality of work items with respect to a server in a work processing facility, the method comprising:

• determining the server's preference value for the at least one work item, at least two of the work items having differing server preference values;
• determining the preference value for a service class incorporated within the at least one work item, the at least one work item and corresponding service class being related to a respective client;
• providing a user-selectable composite preference value function that is useable to generate a composite preference value;
• and
• providing the determined server's preference value for the at least one work item and the determined preference value for the service class incorporated within the at least one work item to the user-selectable composite preference value function to generate the composite preference value for the at least one work item.

A system for assigning a server to a work item of a plurality of work items in a work processing facility, comprising:

• a work examiner that selects each work item of the plurality of work items and generates a composite preference value for the work item;
• a preference value comparator that receives the generated composite preference values from the work examiner and determines which work item of the plurality of work items has the highest composite preference value;
• a work assignor that assigns the server to the work item determined by the preference value comparator to have the highest composite preference value;
• and
• a composite preference calculator used by the work examiner to generate the composite
• preference value for the work item, the composite preference calculator comprising:
• a server preference examiner that examines the server's preference value for the work item, at least two of the work items having differing server preference values;
• a service class examiner that examines a preference value for a service class incorporated within the work item, the work item and corresponding service class being related to a respective client;
• a function provider that provides a user-selectable composite preference value function that is useable to generate a composite preference value;
• and
• a processor that receives the server's preference value for the work item from the server preference examiner and receives the examined preference value for the service class incorporated within the work item from the service class examiner, and applies the examined server's preference value for the work item and the examined preference value for the service class incorporated within the work item as inputs to the provided user-selectable composite preference value function to generate the composite preference value for the work item.

A system for generating a composite preference value for at least one work item of a plurality of work items with respect to a server in a work processing facility, the system comprising:

• a server preference examiner that examines the server's preference value for the at least one work item;
• a service class examiner that examines the preference value for a service class incorporated within the at least one work item, the at least one work item and corresponding service class being associated with a client and at least two of the work items having differing server preference values;
• a function provider that provides a user-selectable composite preference value function that is useable to determine a composite preference value;
• and
• a processor that receives the examined server preference value for the at least one work item from the service class examiner and receives the examined preference value for the service class incorporated within the at least one work item from the service class examiner and applies the examined server preference value for the at least one work item and the examined preference value for a service class incorporated within the at least one work item as inputs to the provided user-selectable composite preference value function to generate the composite preference value for the at least one work item.

A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to assign a server to a work item of a plurality of work items in a server queue by performing the steps of:

• assigning a server preference value to each work item of the plurality of work items;
• when a work item does not have a corresponding server preference value or when the server preference value corresponding to a work item is deemed to be unimportant, removing the work item from the server queue;
• selecting each remaining work item of the plurality of work items and generating a composite preference value for the remaining work item, the composite preference value for each of the remaining work items being a function of the server preference value assigned to each respective work item;
• determining which remaining work item of the plurality of remaining work items has the highest composite preference value;
• and
• assigning the server to the remaining work item determined to have the highest composite preference value.

A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to generate a composite preference value for each work item of a plurality of work items with respect to a server in a work processing facility by performing the steps of:

• determining the server's preference value for each work item, at least two of the work items having differing server preference values;
• determining the preference value for a service class incorporated within each work item, the
• work item and the associated service class corresponding to a client;
• locating a user-selectable composite preference value function;
• and
• providing the determined server preference value for the at least one work item and the determined preference value for a service class incorporated within the at least one work item to the user-selectable composite preference value function to generate the composite preference value for the at least one work item.