(19) United States (43) Pub. Date: Jan. 14, 2010l tocator 26 : I222 I o. QC approver routes ticket...

US 20100010882A1

(19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2010/0010882 A1

Nielsen et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jan. 14, 2010

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METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF A FIELD SERVICE OPERATION BASED ON DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT PARAMETERS

Steven E. Nielsen, North Palm Beach, FL (US); Curtis Chambers, Palm Beach Gardens, FL (US); David Pennington, Juno Beach, FL (US); Jeffrey Farr, Jupiter, FL

Inventors:

?led on Oct. 2, 2008, provisional application No. 61/102,169, ?led on Oct. 2, 2008, provisional applica tion No. 61/102,186, ?led on Oct. 2, 2008, provisional application No. 61/102,205, ?led on Oct. 2, 2008, pro visional application No. 61/151,574, ?led on Feb. 11, 2009, provisional application No. 61/151,578, ?led on Feb. 11, 2009, provisional application No. 61/1 84,092, ?led on Jun. 4, 2009, provisional application No. 61/220,491, ?led on Jun. 25, 2009.

(Us) Publication Classi?cation

Correspondence Address: (51) Int. Cl. WOLF GREENFIELD & SACKS, P.C. G06Q 10/00 (2006.01) 600 ATLANTIC AVENUE G06Q 50/00 (2006.01) BOSTON, MA 02210-2206 (US) G06N 5/02 (2006.01)

Assignee; CertusView Technologies, LLC, (52) U.S. Cl. ................................ .. 705/11; 705/7; 706/52 Palm Beach Gardens, FL (US)

(57) ABSTRACT Appl. No.: 12/537,894

Methods, apparatus and systems for computer-aided determi Filed: Aug. 7, 2009 nation of quality assessment for locate and marking opera

Related US. Application Data

Continuation of application No. 12/493,109, ?led on Jun. 26, 2009, Which is a continuation-in-part of appli cation No. 12/204,454, ?led on Sep. 4, 2008.

Provisional application No. 61/076,253, ?led on Jun. 27, 2008, provisional application No. 61/ 102,151,

Method 200

tions. In one example, information related to a locate and marking operation is electronically analyzed such that a qual ity assessment is made using assessment parameters that are dynamically selected based at least in part on ?rst information describing at least some aspects of the locate and marking operation as performed by a ?eld-service technician and sec ond information relating to a description of the locate opera tion to be performed.

Locate technician completes ticket and

provides dig arealimage

APPROVED

Ticket approval process J is completed

@ 234 If

QC approver routes ticket back to originating

approver

Approver views inbox and selects certain

locate technician and ticket for quality control

review

210 j

Approver reviews dig

area/image data of selected

ticket

oc REFERRAL

212

Ticket is routed to QC approver for review

Accept QC referral? in

224 E l [220 l Approver performs I coaching activity with l tocator

26 : I222 I

o.

QC approver routes ticket to QC technician

for execution

QC technician completes ticket and provides

updated iocate?mage data

i f 21 8

Coaching referral routed to approver inbox

_ Locator and approver

sign off coaching activities

l,

J

50 /‘232 Originating approver

r———> views inbox and reviews —

updated ticket

Patent Application Publication Jan. 14, 2010 Sheet 1 0f 19 US 2010/0010882 A1

Ticket approval system 100

/ Managers 114

Locate service provider l

Work management server m

Database 1353 Ticket 1

_ approval Tickets lg

application Dig Area ' E 1 image

- data

Processing 136 Unit __

‘ -

( COMM INT 152 150 a \154

Netwc rk 3.28.

QC technicians 120 160

Locate Technicians 122 ,’

I

Image capture mechanisms

1.2.5.

Patent Application Publication

Method 200

Jan. 14, 2010 Sheet 2 0f 19

Locate technician completes ticket and

provides dig area/image

21 ./

data i

APPROVED

Ticket approval process is compieteci

@ [234 QC approver routes

ticket back to originating approver

Apprcver views inbcx and selects certain

21 2

US 2010/001 0882 A1

locate technician and ticket for quality control

review

It

Approve r reviews dig

areaiimage data of eeiected

ticket

214

L

COACH ; 218 T / Coaching referral routed

to approver inbox i l

QC REFERRAL i 220

I224 : ‘ Ff . . : App-rover pe orms

Ticket '3 méjted tqeQC l coaching activity with approver or raw w .k Locator

|

‘ 222 226 i if I Accept QC _ P; Locator and approver referral? sign off coaching

activities

QC approver routes is (3) ticket to QC technician

for execution

i 530 K232 QC technician com letes . i .

ticket and providiies Ongmatmg appmver u dated locate/ma e = views inbox and reviews p data 9 updated ticket

FIG. 2

c


6R

328% “EVE: 833 $80 .583 ll E25 .E?b? UEPZEQZIUH H59

O #2300 .zmmwhmmm 888% "Q6:

80%,.“ *35 K285 @8250 225 6%: 2.10m; E63

magma? #50:

80%.“ $20 $253 5952. .mwmtoz 8602592105 E53 n 332 855 m 159 Eva: mobwb, "E45 nmmwmwv bus- .ztEm Hmn.w_>w_mnzJw AOEZOO b.1339


Reiect QC Popup Window 300

CROSS STREET: Harford ' - I‘

WORK PERFORMED l! Reject Quality Control Re uest El

MEMBER 0005s; lg _ ‘’ BGEBC_M Reason to Repot Quality Control Request: BGEBCG-NC '‘

VBT-N 810 \812 \ v

‘1193? Olnternet %i00% ‘

Additional information: This is a placeholder for additional information that was provided by the supervisor.

FIG. 8

Coaching Popup Window 90

CROSS STREET: Harford V‘ v H, .7 so

WORK PERFORMED 6 Send for CO0 Lrm MEMBER CODES: BGEBC-M BGEBCG-NC VET-N

@ Coaching Reason:

910\912\ __

\(D Olnternet QUDOZ '

Reasans(s) for Quality Control: Member utility not seen as noted on manifest. VBT on manifest but has not been marked.

FIG. 9


Manager Summary GUI

Random Samples to Approve Pending Approvais

Pennington, David (Crew #23400) (p 9 ‘a 142

Farr, Jeff (*5?) 0 (Crew #2340004?9 12 [ij 168 Q 5 .

Smith, John ;;. 6'?) (Crew #23402) 0Q 10 El 51 ‘ 1 . O

Doe. Mary (Q (a) 2 (Crew #23403) (P 9/@ 154 1

.312 J14 516

FIG. 71


1216' 1807

/ / Data Indication

Sources of Qu ulity

1801 I

1800 Comm.

Interface /

Automated Quality

Assesment P Application 5, rocessor

1200 /

/” \ 1805 / \ 1803

FIG. 12


1900 \ (E

/1901 Receive Electronic information Associated

with o Held Servlce Operation

1903

l

Analyze Information to Automatically Generate a Quality Assesment of the Field Service Operation

/1905 Output an indication of the Quality

of the Field Service Operation

End

FIG. 1.3


Data sources 1 16

Tickets 1220

Textual ticket information 1222

VWL application 13g

VWL images £32 Automated quality assessment application

Ticket assessment / 1200 application 1240

Ticket assessment outcomes 1242 F

. . = information

Locating equipment processing data 121-5Q : component 1210

Marking device |—-—> ‘ data 1252 ‘ Quality

- ' assessment

Locate receiver --_r outcomes 1212 data 1254

Feedback EM application 1260 __ component 1214

EM images 1262 1

Facilities maps 1 80

Historical tickets 1290

Other electronic information andlor

records 132g; 14


Method 1300

@ Receive compieted ticket and collect 1

associated information. which may include, 13 0 originating ticket information, VWL images, J

originating ticket assessment, locating equipment data, and/or EM images.

Electronicaily analyze received information 312 and automatically assess quality of locate

operation

V

Categorize quality of locate

operation

Quality assessment Coaching referral process is completed routed to coachlng

personnei

@ m 4 rm“ 7 Coaching personnel

Ticket is routed i0 performs coaching _ _ 132B Persmne' for review J activity with locate

Real-time prompt IS and a course of action technician routed to originating H’. is determined locate technician

+ I!’

Originating locate QC personnel routes 1324 technician processes 1330 ticket to QC technician

_ prompt, completes _/ for execution ticket, and provides

updated ticket ' information QC technician 1326 F

completes ticket and __.J - provides updated 1 5 ticket info rmaticn


2000 C 3

Receive First, Second, and Third Data

2003

Second Geographic Location within Threshold Distance

of First Geographic Location

2005

Third Geographic Location within Threshold Distance

of First Geographic Location

Second Geographic Location within Threshold Distance

of Third Geographic Location ?

No

/ 2009 Automaticaiiy

Categorize Operation as Unsatisfactory

Automatically Approve Operation

\ .2011

End

FIG. 16


Ticket Details. 8 Virtual Manifest Ticket #: 05179-068-014 Completed By: 31279 Completed On: 6/18/2009 9:31 AM G Plucestclrnpi 53.34120, —B4.Ci3482

a2; 2.2?

N0 Utilities in ADC is correct. 1 certify that this information

2109

This image was obtained from the ticket: Lot/Long. The sketch was completed 1.8 miles from the location shown. 'The sketch was compieted 1.8 miles from the ticketuificution.

FIG. 17

2705


i 1410 Read ticket information into scoring ,1 Method 1490

criteria / $ 1412

Read other information into scoring _/ criteria

1' 1414 Generate ticket-speci?c content of /

assessment criteria

4' ‘i416 Generate input devices-specific J content of assessment criteria

1 Compiie EXPECT DATA vs. 1413

ACTUAL DATA table to be used / for generating a locate operations

i

EXPECT DATA vs. ACTUAL 320 DATA comparison is performed for

current locate operation

1422

Y __ 1424 99' Generate failing tocate operations _/

' '2 Absolute fan‘ quality assessment score

‘t

Generate objective locate 326 operations quaiity assessment

score


Automated ticket approvai system 1500

Work management server _1_§1_Q

Workforce management Automated quality ap plication 1514 assessment application

Completed gill

I tickets 1534 Q Li M

Tlckets 1220 EM images ‘ 1262

images Ticket assessment Locating application 1540 equipment data 1_2_5_Q

One-caii centers ?g

Tickets 1220 Image server VWL Q5

images —= . 194,9 input Images

1§§0 Network :

Appiicaiion ‘ 1559

Server l52§ Locating equipment

VWL w /—-——-—1'5L—\ application Marking

‘i230 device 1520 L t Onsite computers ‘1516 ragga;

Excavators Tickets“ 1220 Completed 1 53 - "W tickets 1234

-images EM images -_ 1262

Locate EM

tecqg'fans application Locating 1250 equipment

data 1250

FIG. 19


- Method 1700

( Start ) 1 1710

Excavators may generate VWL images __/ and submit locate request tickets

" 1712 Tickets are transmitted to locate __,/

companies and processed

7

Locate technicians in the fieid receive 1714 tickets and perform locate operations -’

accordingly

' 1716

During locate operations, information about _/ the locate operations is collected onsite

1 Completed tickets that include a collection 1713 of information about the locate operations _/

are transmitted to automated ticket approval application for processing

"' 1720 Automatically performing quality control _/

process on completed tickets

‘if

Store completed tickets, ticket approval 1722 outcomes, and any other associated J

information

@ FIG. 20

(19) United States (43) Pub. Date: Jan. 14, 2010l tocator 26 : I222 I o. QC approver routes ticket...

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Transcript of (19) United States (43) Pub. Date: Jan. 14, 2010l tocator 26 : I222 I o. QC approver routes ticket...