Patent Application
20160358114
The disclosure relates generally to presenting performance metrics of a user and, in particular, to generating and presenting business activity performance metrics of the user in association with personal activity metrics of the user.
Business activity performance metrics relate to the measurement of activities performed by an organization. In particular, an organization establishes a business objective, identifies specific and quantifiable outputs of work necessary to achieve the business objective, and quantifies the outputs of work to, for example, assess progress towards meeting the business objective and/or improve processes for meeting future business objectives. Business activity performance metrics may measure performance at the organization level and/or at the individual level.
Advances in computing and sensing technology have made it possible for individuals to track metrics related to, for example, fitness and health activities. In particular, an individual may wear a device like, for example, a bracelet, that measures fitness and health metrics such as, for example, heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. Analysis of these measurements may help the individual assess and/or improve his or her fitness and/or health.
The embodiments relate to the presentation of business and personal performance quantifiers of a user in association with each other. In a non-limiting embodiment, the business and personal performance quantifiers of the user are presented relative to a particular period of time. Among other advantages, the embodiments allow the user to assess if a cause-effect relationship exists between the business and personal performance quantifiers. As a result, the user may modify a personal activity and/or a business activity in order to improve a personal performance and/or a business performance.
In that regard, in one embodiment, a method for providing information to a user is provided. The method includes receiving, over a first period of time by a personal computing device, a first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers that quantify at least one business activity performance metric of the user over the first period of time, and receiving, over the first period of time by the personal computing device, a first plurality of personal activity quantifiers of the user that quantify at least one personal activity metric of the user over the first period of time. The method further includes generating, by the computing device, a dashboard view comprising a visual representation of the first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers and the first plurality of personal activity quantifiers relative to the first period of time, and presenting, by the personal computing device, the dashboard view on a display device. This allows the user to track business activity performance metrics and personal activity metrics, relative to the first period of time, determine if a cause-effect relationship exists, and/or observe if a correlation exists.
In another embodiment, a computer device is provided. The computer device includes a communication interface configured to communicate with a network, and a processor, coupled to the communication interface. The processor is configured to receive, over a first period of time, a first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers that quantify at least one business activity performance metric of the user over the first period of time, and receive, over the first period of time, a first plurality of personal activity quantifiers of the user that quantify at least one personal activity metric of the user over the first period of time. The processor is further configured to generate a dashboard view comprising a visual representation of the first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers and the first plurality of personal activity quantifiers relative to the first period of time, and present the dashboard view on a display device.
In another embodiment, a computer program product for providing information to a user is provided. The computer program product is stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and includes instructions configured to cause a processor to carry out a plurality of steps. The computer program product causes the processor to receive, over a first period of time, a first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers that quantify at least one business activity performance metric of the user over the first period of time, and receive, over the first period of time, a first plurality of personal activity quantifiers of the user that quantify at least one personal activity metric of the user over the first period of time. The computer program product further causes the processor to generate a dashboard view comprising a visual representation of the first plurality of business activity performance quantifiers and the first plurality of personal activity quantifiers relative to the first period of time, and present the dashboard view on a display device.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the disclosure and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
The embodiments set forth below represent the information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.
Any flowcharts discussed herein are necessarily discussed in some sequence for purposes of illustration, but unless otherwise explicitly indicated, the embodiments are not limited to any particular sequence of steps. The use herein of ordinals in conjunction with an element is solely for distinguishing what might otherwise be similar or identical labels, such as “first period of time” and “second period of time,” and does not imply a priority, a type, an importance, or other attribute, unless otherwise stated herein.
The embodiments relate to the presentation of business and personal performance quantifiers of a user in association with each other. In a non-limiting embodiment, the business and personal performance quantifiers of the user are presented relative to a particular period of time. Among other advantages, the embodiments allow the user to assess if a cause-effect relationship exists between the business and personal performance quantifiers. As a result, the user may modify a personal activity and/or a business activity in order to improve a personal performance and/or a business performance.
The phrase “business activity performance quantifiers” as used herein is data representative of performance of a user with respect to business-related activities. The data may be captured during a particular period of time and may be provided relative to the period of time. As a non-limiting example, in a contact center scenario, a business activity performance quantifier may represent how many calls the user has received, how many calls the user has attended to successfully, how many calls the user has failed to attend to successfully, or how much time the user is spending per call. These or similar quantifiers may be provided relative to the period of time without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
The phrase “personal activity quantifiers” as used herein is data representative of physical, personal, and/or health activities of the user. The data may be captured during a particular period of time and may be provided relative to the period of time. As a non-limiting example, personal activity quantifiers may represent a heart rate, a blood pressure, a body temperature, an amount of sleep within an earlier period of time, an amount of alcohol consumed over another earlier period of time, and a type and potential duration of physical activity (e.g., walking, running, being stationary, etc.). These or similar quantifiers may be provided relative to the period of time, or may be provided relative to a separate period of time, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
The phrase “business activity performance metric” as used herein is a type of business activity quantified by business activity performance quantifiers. As a non-limiting example, in a contact center environment, a business activity performance metric may include a number of calls a user has received during a period of time (e.g. calls received per hour), whereas a business activity performance quantifier corresponding to the business activity performance metric would be a value that identifies a number of calls that the corresponding user has received during the particular period of time. In a contact center environment, business activity performance metrics may also include calls completed per hour, and average time per completed call.
The phrase “personal activity metric” as used herein is a type of personal activity quantified by personal activity quantifiers. As a non-limiting example, a “heart rate” metric is a personal activity metric, whereas a personal activity quantifier corresponding to the heart rate metric would be a value that identifies the heart rate of a particular user. Personal activity metrics may also include, by way of non-limiting example, blood pressure and body temperature.
The phrase “lag time” as used herein is a value of time representative of a lag between the end of a personal activity and when such personal activity may still cause an effect. As a non-limiting example, consumption of alcohol may decrease a business activity performance for 3 hours after the alcohol is consumed, and thus, a personal activity metric type regarding alcohol consumption may have an associated lag time of 3 hours.
The term “correlation” as used herein relates to the strength of a relationship between two continuous variables. The phrase “correlation coefficient” as used herein relates to a value representing the strength of a relationship between two continuous variables. Methods to determine a correlation between two continuous variables are further described in the article “Correlation and Simple Linear Regression,” by Zou, et al., Radiology 2003; 227:617-622, published online as http://dx.doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2273011499 (“Zou” hereinafter), which is incorporated herein in its entirety. Those skilled in the art will understand that the methods and concepts described in Zou are non-limiting, and that a correlation between two or more variables may be determined in other ways.
The embodiments implement a computing device that receives business activity performance quantifiers associated with a business activity performance metric of a user and personal activity quantifiers associated with a personal activity metric of the user. The quantifiers are measurements obtained relative to a period of time. The computing device generates a dashboard view that includes a visual representation of the received quantifiers in association with the period of time and presents the dashboard view to the user on a display device. The dashboard view may also include a visual representation of a correlation between the received quantifiers in association with the period of time. Thus, the embodiments provide to the user a visual representation of his or her performance and, specifically, how personal activities may be having an effect on the business activities of the user.
The embodiments have applicability in many different contexts, including, by way of non-limiting example, a contact center (e.g., customer service or sales). In this context, a contact center employee may own or otherwise exclusively control a personal computing device and a personal wearable device. The personal computing device may include, as non-limiting examples, a personal smartphone or a computer tablet. The personal wearable device may include, as a non-limiting example, a wearable device configured to provide health and/or fitness information, such as heart rate information and body temperature information of a corresponding user. In one embodiment, the employee may receive at the personal computing device business activity performance quantifiers from, for example, a business server computing device, and personal activity quantifiers from the personal wearable device. The personal computing device may generate and present a visual representation of the quantifiers relative to a time period, which may provide the user insight as to the relationship between his or her business performance and personal activities.
In this regard,
The personal computing devices 16 may be communicatively coupled to the LAN/WAN/Internet network 20 and may be used by a corresponding user 12 to access information from a networked device of the employer, such as from a business server computing device 22, through the LAN/WAN/Internet network 20. In some embodiments, each personal computing device 16 may also be used by the corresponding user 12 to perform business-related tasks.
Contrary to the configuration of the business computing devices 14, each of the personal computing devices 16 is configured to be exclusively accessed by the corresponding user 12. In some embodiments, this access may be controlled through a login name/password validation or biometric data validation (e.g., fingerprint, retina scan, etc.). Accordingly, information in each of the personal computing devices 16 is exclusively accessed and controlled by the corresponding user 12. As will be explained in further detail below, each of the personal computing devices 16 may also be communicatively coupled to a corresponding personal area network (PAN) to communicate with a corresponding personal wearable device 18.
A personal wearable device 18 is worn by a corresponding user 12 to measure one or more personal activity metrics of the user 12. In some embodiments, the personal wearable device 18 may measure the heart rate, the blood pressure, and/or the body temperature of the corresponding user 12. As will be explained in further detail below, these measurements, sometimes referred to herein as personal activity quantifiers, may be provided to corresponding personal computing devices 16 intermittently, periodically, or upon request, through a corresponding PAN 24.
Continuing with
An example will now be described with regard to the user 12(i). The personal computing device 16(i) is communicatively coupled to the LAN/WAN/Internet network 20 and may only be accessed by the user 12(i) through, as non-limiting examples, a login name/password validation, biometric data validation (e.g., fingerprint, retina scan, etc.), or simply through physical possession. In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may be configured such that no authorization is necessary. As a non-limiting example, the user 12(i) may configure the personal computing device 16(i) to not verify the identity of the user 12(i) when the personal computing device 16(i) is kept in a controlled or otherwise secure area, such as the home of the user 12(i).
The personal computing device 16(i) includes an authorization module 26 configured to verify that the corresponding user 12(i) is authorized to access the personal computing device 16(i), business activity performance information, and/or personal activity information.
The personal computing device 16(i) further includes a business server computing device interface 28 for facilitating communications with the business server computing device 22. In one embodiment, the business server computing device interface 28 comprises an application programming interface (API). In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may receive authorization information for access to business activity performance quantifiers from the business server computing device 22. Such authorization information may be provided, for example, by the user 12(i). The personal computing device 16(i) transmits an access request message to the business server computing device 22 to request access to the business activity performance quantifiers. The access request message comprises the authorization information received from the user 12(i). The personal computing device 16(i) may receive a response message, in response to the access request message, from the business server computing device 22. The response message may indicate that the personal computing device 16(i) is authorized to receive access to the business activity performance quantifiers associated with the user 12(i).
In some embodiments, the authorization information may comprise a password or a biometric marker such as fingerprint information and/or retina information.
The personal computing device 16(i) further includes a wearable device interface 30 for facilitating communications with the personal wearable device 18(i). In one embodiment, the wearable device interface 30 may comprise an API. In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may receive authorization information from the user 12(i) for access to personal activity quantifiers generated by the wearable device interface 30. The personal computing device 16(i) determines that the authorization information authorizes access to the personal activity quantifiers. In some embodiments, the authorization information may comprise a password or a biometric marker such as fingerprint information and/or retina information.
The personal computing device 16(i) further includes a dashboard generation module 32 that uses received business activity performance quantifiers and personal activity quantifiers to generate a dashboard view including a visual representation of the received business activity performance quantifiers and personal activity quantifiers associated with a period of time.
The personal computing device 16(i) further includes a display device 34 for providing the dashboard view to the user 12(i). As non-limiting examples, the display device 34 may include a smartphone display if the personal computing device 16(i) comprises a smartphone or a computer tablet screen if the personal computing device 16(i) comprises a computer tablet.
The PAN 24 is a communication network for data transmission among devices such as, for example, personal computers, smartphones, computer tablets, and wearable devices. The PAN 24 may be a wired or wireless network. Non-limiting examples of PAN technology standards include Bluetooth™, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), etc. The personal computing device 16(i) communicates with the corresponding personal wearable device 18(i) through a corresponding PAN. For example, the personal computing device 16(i) may receive personal activity quantifiers from the personal wearable device 18(i) through the PAN 24.
The personal wearable device 18(i) is communicatively coupled to the personal computing device 16(i) through the PAN 24. The personal wearable device 18(i) includes an authorization module 36 that is configured to verify that a user attempting to receive personal activity quantifiers from the personal wearable device 18(i) is authorized to do so. As noted above with respect to the personal computing device 16(i), authorization may be based on, as non-limiting examples, a login name/password validation or biometric data validation (e.g., fingerprint, retina scan, etc.). An authorization request may be provided directly to the personal wearable device 18(i) through a user interface (not shown) or via the personal computing device 16(i) and the PAN 24.
The personal wearable device 18(i) further includes a personal computing device interface 38 that provides an API for communicating with the personal computing device 16(i). The personal computing device interface 38 may receive personal activity quantifiers received from a personal activity module 40 and provide the personal activity quantifiers to the personal computing device 16(i) in response to a corresponding request for such personal activity quantifiers.
The personal wearable device 18(i) includes the personal activity module 40 in order to measure fitness and/or health metrics of the user 12(i) such as, for example, a heart rate, a blood pressure, and a body temperature. The personal activity module 40 includes at least one sensing device such as, for example, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, a thermometer, etc. to sense a related fitness and/or health metric of the user 12(i). The personal activity module 40 provides a value corresponding to the fitness, personal activity, and/or health metrics to the personal computing device interface 38 for transmission to the personal computing device 16(i).
The personal computing device 16(i) may receive business activity performance quantifiers of the user 12(i) from the business server computing device 22 and personal performance quantifiers of the user 12(i) from the corresponding personal wearable device 18(i), and present the same on the display device 34 relative to a particular period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may also determine a correlation coefficient between the business activity performance quantifiers of the user 12(i) and the personal performance quantifiers of the user 12(i), and present the same on the display device 34 relative to a particular period of time. The embodiments allow the user 12(i) to, for example, assess if a relationship exists between the received business and personal performance quantifiers. As a result, the user 12(i) may modify a personal and/or a business activity in order to improve a corresponding personal and/or business activity performance.
In this regard,
In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may determine a correlation coefficient between the business activity performance quantifiers and the personal activity quantifiers based on a particular period of time and depict the correlation coefficient during the particular period of time.
In some embodiments, the business activity performance quantifiers and the personal activity quantifiers may be associated with different periods of time. For example, a personal activity metric type corresponding to a personal activity that has a lasting effect on the user may affect a business activity performance metric of the user long after the time the personal activity quantifier corresponding to the personal activity metric type is measured. Accordingly, a personal activity metric type may have an associated “lag time” for which the personal computing device 16(i) may compensate when generating the dashboard view.
In that regard, in some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may determine that some business activity performance quantifiers correspond to a particular period of time within a first period of time, determine a lag time for a personal activity metric corresponding to the personal activity quantifiers, subtract the lag time from the particular period of time to generate a lag-compensated period of time, and determine the personal activity quantifiers corresponding to the lag-compensated period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may then generate a visual representation of the business activity performance quantifiers corresponding to the particular period of time, and of the personal activity quantifiers corresponding to the lag-compensated period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may also determine a correlation coefficient between the business activity performance quantifiers corresponding to the particular period of time and the personal activity quantifiers corresponding to the lag-compensated period of time, and depict the correlation coefficient during the particular period of time. This would allow the user 12(i) to associate a business activity performance of a particular period of time with a personal activity that occurred during an earlier period of time.
In some embodiments, the process is iterative, such that the personal computing device 16(i) may associate activities that occur over multiple periods of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may receive, over a second period of time, second business activity performance quantifiers that quantify a business activity performance metric of the user 12(i) over the second period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may also receive, over the second period of time, second personal activity quantifiers of the user 12(i) that quantify a personal activity metric of the user 12(i) over the second period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may then update the dashboard view to include a visual representation of the second plurality of business activity performance quantifiers and the second plurality of personal activity quantifiers relative to the second period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may then present the dashboard view on the display device 34.
In this regard, the personal computing device 16(i) sends message BUSINESS_ACT_PERF_QUANT_REQ, including authorization information, to the business server computing device 22 to request authorization to receive business activity performance quantifiers from the business server computing device 22 (step 50). In response, the business server computing device 22 sends message BUSINESS_ACT_PERF_QUANT_RSP, including an indication that the request has been granted (step 52). Furthermore, the business server computing device 22 sends message BUSINESS_ACT_PERF_QUANTIFIERS to the personal computing device 16(i) including the requested performance quantifiers (step 54).
The personal computing device 16(i) also sends message PERSONAL_ACT_QUANT_REQ, including authorization information, to the personal wearable device 18(i) (step 56). The authorization information may be the same authorization information sent by the personal computing device 16(i) to the business server computing device 22 in step 50, or may be different authorization information. In response, the personal wearable device 18(i) sends message PERSONAL_ACT_QUANT_RSP, including an indication that the request has been granted (step 58). Furthermore, the personal wearable device 18(i) sends message PERSONAL_ACT_QUANTIFIERS to the personal computing device 16(i) including the requested quantifiers (step 60).
The personal computing device 16(i) uses the business activity performance quantifiers received at step 54 and the personal activity quantifiers received at step 60 to generate a dashboard view (block 62) and presents the dashboard view to the user 12(i) via the display device 34 (block 64).
It is noted that the flow diagram of
The business server computing device 22 and/or the personal wearable device 18(i) may provide their respective activity quantifiers intermittently or periodically, instead of in response to a request.
The message 90 further includes a plurality of times 96 corresponding to the plurality of personal activity quantifiers 92.
In
As noted above,
In that regard,
The personal computing device 16(i) that has received a business activity performance quantifier from the business server computing device 22 compares the business activity performance quantifier to a business activity performance quantifier range corresponding to the business activity performance metric type of the business activity performance quantifier (block 104). The personal computing device 16(i) determines that the business activity performance quantifier is outside the business activity performance quantifier range (block 106) and transmits an alert message including an indication that the business activity performance quantifier is outside of the business activity performance quantifier range (block 108). In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) transmits the alert message to the personal wearable device 18(i).
As a non-limiting example, for a business activity performance metric type of “calls completed per hour,” the user 12(i) may set a business activity performance range of more than ten (10), indicating that completing less than 10 calls per hour is below an acceptable level of performance. If the personal computing device 16(i) receives a business activity performance quantifier of 8 for the “calls completed per hour” business activity performance metric type, the personal computing device 16(i) will determine that the business activity performance quantifier is outside of the acceptable range. The personal computing device 16(i) will then send an alert to the personal wearable device 18(i) to alert the user 12(i) of the performance deviation.
In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may also determine a correlation coefficient between received business activity performance quantifiers corresponding to a particular period of time and received personal activity quantifiers corresponding to the particular period of time. The personal computing device 16(i) may compare the correlation coefficient to a correlation coefficient range of the user 12(i) corresponding to a business activity performance metric of the business activity performance metric type, and determine that the correlation coefficient is inside the correlation coefficient range. The personal computing device 16(i) will then send an alert to the personal wearable device 18(i) to alert the user 12(i) that the correlation coefficient is inside the correlation coefficient range.
In some embodiments, the personal computing device 16(i) may also store the indication that the correlation coefficient is inside the correlation coefficient range in association with the business activity performance metric and at least some personal activity quantifiers. The personal computing device 16(i) may also determine that a number of stored indications in association with the business activity performance metric and the at least some personal activity quantifiers is greater than a correlation indication threshold. The personal computing device 16(i) may then transmit a correlation message comprising an indication that the number of stored indications in association with the business activity performance metric and the at least some personal activity quantifiers is greater than the correlation indication threshold. The correlation message may be transmitted to, for example, the business server computer device 22, such that the employer/business entity may gain insight into personal activities that may positively correlate with business activity performance.
The system bus 116 may be any of several types of bus structures that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and/or a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The system memory 114 may include non-volatile memory 118 (e.g., read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), etc.) and/or volatile memory 120 (e.g., random access memory (RAM)). A basic input/output system (BIOS) 122 may be stored in the non-volatile memory 118, and can include the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computing device 110. The volatile memory 120 may also include a high-speed RAM, such as static RAM, for caching data.
The computing device 110 may further include a storage device 124, which may comprise, for example, an internal hard disk drive (HDD) (e.g., enhanced integrated drive electronics (EIDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)) for storage, flash memory, or the like. The storage device 124 and associated computer-readable and computer-usable media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth, such as the personal computing device 16(i) illustrated in
A number of program modules can be stored in the storage device 124 and in the volatile memory 120, including an operating system 126 and one or more program modules 128, which may implement the functionality described herein in whole or in part, including, for example, functionality associated with the personal computing device 16(i) illustrated in
All or a portion of the embodiments may be implemented as a computer program product, such as a non-transitory computer-usable or computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein. The computer-readable program code can include complex software instructions for implementing the functionality of the embodiments described herein when executed on the processor 112. The processor 112, in conjunction with the program modules 128 in the volatile memory 120, may serve as a controller, or control system, for the computing device 110 that is configured to, or adapted to, implement the functionality described herein.
An administrator may be able to enter commands and information into the computing device 110 through one or more input devices, such as, for example, a touch-sensitive display (not illustrated), a keyboard (not illustrated), or a pointing device, such as a mouse (not illustrated). Other input devices (not illustrated) may include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processor 112 through an input device interface 130 that is coupled to the system bus 116, but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, an IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an IR interface, etc.
The computing device 110 may drive a separate or integral display device (not shown), which may also be connected to the system bus 116 via an interface, such as a video port 132. The computing device 110 preferably includes a communication interface 134 that is configured to communicate with a network, such as the LAN/WAN/Internet network 20 and the PAN 24 illustrated in
Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the preferred embodiments of the disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.
