WO2002019227A1

WO2002019227A1 - Employee attendance event transaction system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2002019227A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/027254
Authority: WO
Inventors: Larry A. Pond
Original assignee: Convergys CMG Utah Inc
Current assignee: Concentrix CVG Customer Management Delaware LLC
Priority date: 2000-08-31
Filing date: 2001-08-31
Publication date: 2002-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2003-02-28
Also published as: AU2001290602A1

Abstract

An automated system and method (FIG. 1) for recording events related to an employee's attendance is disclosed. An employee who will be absent or tardy reports information about the absence or tardiness to an employee attendance server (106). An employee may report the information using a telephone (100) or a browser interface to the employee attendance server. Following entry of the information regarding the absence or tardiness, an attendance event transaction record is stored by the employee attendance server in a database (108) accessible to the employee's manager. Reporting capabilities allows the manager to review the recorded data.

Description

EMPLOYEE ATTENDANCE EVENT TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for tracking employee data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automated system and method for reporting and recording events such as events related to an employee's attendance for tracking and scheduling purposes. In order to ensure continuous and effective operation of any business such as a manufacturing facility, a service organization, a retail establishment, etc., it is necessary to have an adequate number of employees available at any given time to handle the work that must be completed. To meet the work requirements, employers typically schedule their employees to work on certain days and during certain hours. If an employee is unable to report for work as scheduled, typically, he or she places a telephone call to the manager. If the manager is unavailable, the employee leaves a voice mail message for the manager or the employee asks to speak to another individual who can reach the manager. In either case, there may be significant delay between the time the employee leaves the message and when the manager receives the message. In addition, there is a possibility that the manager will never receive the message due to human error.

When employees do not report for work as scheduled, a business may experience work interruptions or possibly even work stoppages. The employer may then be required to remedy the disruption by calling unscheduled employees to report for work, rescheduling employees who have reported for work, or reassigning tasks and activities among employees to accommodate the change in the schedule. Employee absence and tardiness, therefore, can have a significant impact on the workflow of a business operation.

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention addresses the problems associated with employee absences and tardiness by providing an automated system and method for reporting and recording events related to an employee's attendance. An employee who will be absent or tardy reports information about the absence or tardiness to an employee attendance server. In an example embodiment of the present invention, an employee may report the information using a telephone or a browser interface to the employee attendance server. An employee who will not be reporting to work as scheduled provides information about the absence including an explanation for the absence. An employee who will be reporting late to work provides information about the tardiness and provides an estimated arrival time. Following entry of the information regarding the attendance event (e.g., absence or tardiness), the information is stored by the employee attendance server in a database accessible to the employee's manager or supervisor. The information is stored in the database within seconds or minutes of entry so that the manager can electronically access it and make immediate scheduling decisions to minimize the impact of the employee's absence or tardiness on the business operation. For example, if the manager is notified through a record from the employee attendance database that the employee is planning to arrive at work at 11 :00 AM, the manager may make arrangements to have another employee cover the late employee's duties from 8:00 AM until 11 :00 AM. In the event more than one employee will be late or absent on a given day, the manager may review all of the recorded events so that rescheduling and^' reassignment decisions can be made. In another aspect of the invention, the manager may review data that has been aggregated over time for a group of employees to determine the primary reasons for the absences and tardiness. The manager may identify attendance trends of employees and take prospective measures for future work schedules. In yet another aspect of the invention, the manager may review recorded events for individual employees and add comments to the database record. A manager may also be given the ability to electronically excuse absences or tardiness for an individual employee. The invention saves managers a lot of time they would otherwise have to spend on generating reports and tracking data. The invention provides automatic, fast reporting of attendance data that used to be done manually. The invention makes it easier for employees to call in and report an absence (less personal pressure than talking to your boss). The invention does not discriminate. Data is entered mainly by employees, not employer. The invention offers a call record of each call made to the system, thereby making it possible to verify the data later. The invention may be set to operate around the clock. In cases where an employer has hundreds or thousands of employees, the present invention provides a much faster, easier, less expensive, and more thorough attendance tracking system and method.

In addition to the novel features and advantages mentioned above, other objects and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the following descriptions of the drawings and preferred embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the primary components for an example embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the primary software modules that comprise an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the primary steps for recording attendance information in an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the primary steps for accessing attendance information in an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is an example login screen for an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is an example individual employee report screen for an example embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7 is an example graph screen for an example embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is an example exceptions report screen for an example embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 9 is a diagram of a physical data model for an example embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS) Referring to Fig. 1 , a block diagram of the primary components for an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. The present invention comprises an employee attendance server 106 and associated employee attendance database 108 for reporting and recording events related to an employee's attendance. The employee attendance server 106 may be a UNIX server or any other server that may be adapted for operation with a commercially available database system (e.g., Oracle, Informix, and SQL Server). In an example embodiment of the present invention, information regarding attendance events may be reported to the employee attendance server 106 using a telephone interface 100 or a web client or browser 112. A caller using the telephone interface 100 may be connected through the public telephone switched network 102 to an interactive voice response (IVR) system 104 that prompts the caller for information regarding the attendance event. Examples of attendance events include absences and tardiness. For example, if the employee is calling to report an absence, the employee may be prompted for an explanation code to identify the reason for the absence. If the employee is calling to report tardiness, the employee may be prompted for an estimated arrival time. The requested information related to the attendance event may be. provided through the telephone keypad in response to numeric prompts. In an example embodiment of the present invention, the IVR system 104 is accessible via an 800 number so that an employee may call from anywhere in the country to report an absence or tardiness.

An employee using the web client or browser interface 112 may connect to the employee attendance server 106 through a web server 110. In an example embodiment, the web server 110 may be equipped to provide secure and controlled access to the employee attendance server 106 and employee attendance database 108. The web server 110 may be equipped with Microsoft's NT Server operating system software and Microsoft's Internet Information Server to provide the features and functions of the present invention. The web client 112 and web server 110 may be part of a local area or wide area network.

Communications between the employee attendance server 106 and the telephone interface 100 and web client 112 may be two-way so that the employee may access schedule and other information that may be relevant to the reported absence or tardiness. In the event the employee has a planned absence or tardiness, the employee can report the information well in advance of the relevant date and/or time so that the employee's manager can make arrangements to accommodate the employee's absence or tardiness.

In addition to using a web client or browser 112 for interacting with the employee attendance server 106 to report attendance events, a web client 112 may also be used by a manager or supervisor to access records in the employee attendance database 108. A web client 112 may be designed and implemented so that the manager can view reports of data for an individual employee as well as reports of data that has been aggregated for a group of employees. Whether employee attendance information is reported via the telephone or web client interface, it is saved to the employee attendance database immediately so that current information is always available to the employer. Referring to Fig. 2, a block diagram of the primary software modules that comprise an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. Each module provides features and functions that in combination create and support the employee attendance system and method of the present invention. Although a plurality of software modules are shown, it is understood that the features and functions for each module may be implemented in fewer or in more modules as design and other considerations may dictate. As shown in Fig. 2, information may be exchanged between the employee attendance module 132 and each of the other modules in order to provide the features and functions of the present invention. In an example embodiment of the present invention, the IVR module 120 supports multiple callers concurrently. In addition, it comprises voice scripts for prompting callers to provide information about attendance events. When a caller places a call, the IVR module 120 accesses the employee attendance database 108 via the employee attendance module 132 to validate the employee information and to construct an employee attendance event transaction record in the employee attendance database 108. The IVR module 120 may accept a call from an employee any time prior to the end of an employee's shift or within a specific time period prior to the start of the employee's shift. In addition, the IVR module 120 may support error logging for audio and event transaction logs and supports company attendance policy by providing audio messages for policy violations. Other features of the IVR module 120 may include the ability for employees to call into the employee attendance server and listen to a work schedule, listen to unpaid time-off availability, and sign up for overtime. The employee may also ask to have the call forwarded to his or her manager.

The web client module 126 may provide similar validation, record creation, and information entry features and functions for employees who access the employee attendance module using a web client or browser interface. Text scripts as well as other interactive controls may be used to prompt the user for information related to the attendance event.

The database module 122 provides and supports a centralized database, the employee attendance database 108. The database module may further support the definition of a process and steps for initial setup and configuration of the system. In an example embodiment of the present invention, organizational levels may be initialized and customized by an employer to reflect the way in which the employer conducts its business. Finally, requirements for exporting information to external systems may be defined through the database module 122. For example, the employee attendance system may be electronically connected to a human resources system so that communications regarding employee absences are facilitated. If the absences for an employee exceed a particular threshold value, the employee attendance system may send a message to the human resources system so that a warned letter is generated and sent to the employee. The ability to connect the employee attendance system to other systems may eliminate the need for a manager's intervention in many situations.

In the management module 124, managers may define teams (i.e., employees organized by group or team) and administer the definitions of employee relationships as well as changes to employment. In addition, the management module 124 supports the definition of explanation codes for attendance events as well as report parameters. A manager using the management module 124 may view and adjust employee attendance event transaction records as well as add comments to employee attendance event transaction records. The manager may also create employee attendance event transaction records for subordinates for a single day or consecutive days. Using this feature, the- manager can complete an employee attendance event transaction record for an employee who reports an absence or tardiness directly to the manager. The reporting module 128 provides features and functions related to the reporting capabilities of the present invention. Reports that are generated include the most current and up-to-date information available from the employee attendance database 108. As indicated previously, attendance information is saved to the employee attendance database 108 immediately following entry of the information so current information is available. Reports may be generated based on aggregated data for specified organizational levels or team definitions. Reports may also be generated for any time period of a 365-day rolling window. Core reports may further include an employee absent report by explanation or reason code (e.g., sick, tardy, both), employee history detail by time interval and date range, and hierarchical occurrence report based on frequency and trending. In addition, the reporting module may provide a call history report that include IVR and web client event transactions. In an example embodiment of the present invention, in addition to defining and generating reports, a manager may establish criteria that is used in monitoring the employee attendance database for particular events. For example, if an employee has a certain number of absences within a specified time period, the manager may request a notification when the threshold number of absences has been met. The manager may also request a daily report indicating the total number of absences for the day. Other methods of statistical analysis may be performed on the attendance data as well.

The administration module 130 provides support for setup of all valid codes for a project, setup of organizational levels or teams for an employer, setup of new employee records or inactivation of existing employee records, setup for the IVR system, configuration of security levels, and application of them to roles and permissions for the various users of the system. Projects may be defined based on employee identifiers or numbers or based on team identifiers. In addition, access permissions may be defined for managers and employees.

Referring to Fig. 3, a flowchart of the primary steps for recording information related to an attendance event in an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. In step 140, an employee, whether a caller to the IVR system or a user of the web client interface, is prompted for a social security number or other identifier. Next 142, the employee's record is located in the employee attendance database. The employee record may comprise an employee identifier or number, last name, first name, hire date, team identifier, and password. If the employee record is located, an attendance event transaction record is created in the next step 144. A reference number is associated with the attendance event transaction record so that the record may be retrieved and modified. The reference number may be reported to the employee so that the employee can later prove he or she reported the absence or tardiness. The record is also timestamped so it is known when the employee placed the call or accessed the system through the web server.

The attendance event transaction record may comprise a source that indicates whether the employee called or used the web client to report the event, an employee identifier or number, an entry date, an explanation code for attendance event, a telephone contact number, a team identifier, a status identifier (e.g., to indicate whether the employee is active, transferred, terminated, etc.), and a comment section. In the next step 146, the employee is prompted for an explanation for the attendance event. If the employee is (or will be) tardy, in the next step 148, the employee is prompted for an arrival hour. Then, in step 150, the employee is prompted for the minute of arrival. The employee may be asked to further designate with the arrival time is in the morning (AM) or evening (PM). The arrival hour, arrival minute, and morning/evening information comprise the estimated time of arrival that the manager may use for scheduling or other purposes. If the employee is (or will be) absent rather than tardy as in step 152, the employee is then prompted for an explanation code in step 154. Explanation codes may relate to team meetings, training classes, offsite work, jury duty, personal appointments, illness, bereavement, maternity leave, disability, military duty, etc.

In the next step 156, the employee is prompted for a telephone number where the employee can be reached. Next 158, a confirmation number is assigned to the attendance event transaction record. The attendance event transaction record is saved in the employee attendance database in step 160 and forwarded to a scheduling system or other relevant systems in step 162.

In the event an employee attempts to access the system more than once during the day, the employee is informed that an attendance event transaction record has already been created. The employee is then asked whether the record should be modified. In the event the employee asks to change the record, a new record is actually created with the new information provided by the employee. Although it is possible to modify the existing record, there are benefits to creating a new record. Referring to Fig. 4, a flowchart of the primary steps for accessing attendance information in an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. A manager may wish to access the attendance information in order analyze it and to review and change work schedules as they are impacted by employee attendance events. The manager may further wish to analyze the attendance data to view trends in absences and tardiness. In step 170, a manager who would like to access the records of the employee attendance database is prompted for a login and password. Upon authentication and verification of the manager's identity, the manager is prompted for information regarding the action to be taken in step 172. If the requested action is setup 174, the manager proceeds to complete activities related to system setup. In step 176, the manager may define employee relationships and assign employees to teams. In step 178, the manager may change employee relationships and team assignments as necessary. In step 180, the manager may define explanation codes that relate various reasons an employee may be late or absent. For example, explanation codes may be defined for team meetings, training classes, offsite work, jury duty, personal appointments, illness, bereavement, maternity leave, disability, military duty, etc. In step 182, the manager may define various reporting levels and other parameters for reports. In step 184, if the requested action is to create an employee attendance event transaction record, in step 186, the manager may complete tasks to create an employee transaction record. An employee attendance event transaction record may be completed when the employee calls the manager directly to discuss an absence or tardiness. In step 188, if the requested action is to adjust an employee transaction record, the manager in step 190 completes tasks to adjust the record. For example, the manager may inactivate a record, change a field (e.g., explanation code) in the record, or add comments to the record. Finally, if the request action is to generate reports, in step 192, the manager completes tasks related to generation of reports. Referring to Fig. 5, an example login screen for an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. As explained above, a manager who would like to review information regarding employee attendance events may use a web client or browser to access and review information from the employee attendance database. Upon logging into the web server, the manager may view a list of specific items of interest 200. The items in the list may relate criteria defined by the manager for which notifications or reports are sent to the manager when the criteria are met. Records in the database are analyzed or polled periodically to determine if the notification criteria has been met. When the criteria are met, information regarding the records that meet the criteria is displayed to the manager. For example, the manager may request a notification when an employee has reported a certain number of absences within a specific time period. The manager may also request a notification when a certain employee has reported a tardiness. Notification criteria may also relate to aggregation of attendance event data.

For example, the manager may ask for information regarding the total number of absences and/or tardiness for a particular group. This information may be helpful to the manager in deciding whether work schedule modifications are required. Finally, notifications may based on criteria relating to employment policies in effect by the company. The policies or rules may be stored in the employee attendance database, a human resources database, or any other location accessible to the employee attendance server. The manager may be notified when certain employees are affected by a particular policy. For example, if the company has a policy that requires employees to take a leave of absence if they miss a threshold number of consecutive days, the manager may be notified when an employee has missed work for the threshold number of days and may further be notified of the company policy that requires the employee to take a leave of absence.

Referring to Fig. 6, an example individual employee report screen for an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. The screen may comprise a menu 210 with selections related to details of a selected employee's record. The manager may specify a range of dates for which employee transaction records are accessed for review. The manager may specify a beginning date 212 and an ending date 214. For any given attendance event transaction record, the manager may supply an explanation code and comments 216.

Referring to Fig. 7, an example graph screen for an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. As shown in Fig. 7, information regarding attendance events for a project may be displayed graphically 222.

Referring to Fig. 8, an example exceptions report screen for an example embodiment of the present invention is shown. The manager may specify various criteria for selecting attendance event transaction records from the employee attendance database. The manager may select one or more projects from a menu 230. A title for the report 232 indicates what criteria have been selected. A list of the attendance event transaction records meeting the selected criteria is then displayed. The information displayed may comprise the date of the event, the name of employee who reported the event, and the reason for the event. The reason may be determined from an explanation code entered by the employee at the time the event was recorded. The information displayed may further comprise a date and time period during which the events were recorded. Finally, the information may comprise a project name that identifies a project with which the employee is associated. When a manager would like to view information for a specific project, the project identifier may be specified and only events related to employees associated with the specified project are displayed. In an example embodiment of the present invention, the information is displayed in rows as shown in Fig. 8.

Referring to Fig. 9, a diagram of a physical data model for an example embodiment of the present invention. The diagram shows the relationships between the various records that are stored in the employee attendance database. As shown in Fig. 9, each attendance event transaction record may comprise an identifier for the employee, the date the event was reported, an explanation code that identifies a reason for the event, a team or project identifier that identifies the team or project with which the employee is associated, a contact number for the employee, comments which may be entered by the employee or the employee's manager, and a transaction identifier or reference number.

The present invention provides a convenient and cost-effective system and method for an employee to inform an employer that he or she will not be reporting to work as scheduled. It is capable of tracking all absences and tardiness for an employee and maintains an ongoing record that may be reviewed and analyzed. In addition, it allows managers to comment on the employee's absences on a record- by-record basis. For example, certain absences may be excused while others are not. In addition to viewing records for individual employees, the absence and tardiness data is easily aggregated and analyzed to make the manager's job of planning and scheduling easier.

The example embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. The example embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention so that others skilled in the art may practice the invention. Having shown and described example embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An attendance transaction event system comprising: an interface for entering information related to an attendance event; a database for storing records comprising said information related to said attendance event; and a client for reviewing said records in said database.

2 The system of claim 1 wherein said interface is a telephone interface.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said interface is a web client.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said attendance event is an absence.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said information related to said attendance event comprises an explanation code for said absence.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said explanation code is selected from the group of explanation codes for identifying a team meeting, a training class, offsite work, jury duty, a personal appointment, an illness, a bereavement, a maternity leave, disability, and military duty.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said attendance event is tardiness.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said information related to said tardiness is an estimated arrival time.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said client is adapted to display a single attendance event record from said database.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said client is adapted to display an aggregation of attendance event records from said database.

11. A method for recording attendance event transactions comprising the steps of: prompting an employee for an identifier; creating an attendance event transaction record; prompting said employee for information related to said attendance event; and storing said information in said attendance transaction record.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of prompting said employee for an identifier comprises the step of prompting said employee for a social security number.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of prompting said employee for information related to said attendance event comprises the step of prompting said employee for information related to an absence.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of prompting said employee for an explanation code.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of prompting said employee for an explanation code comprises the step of prompting said employee for a code selected from the group consisting of a team meeting code, a training class code, offsite work code, jury duty code, a personal appointment code, an illness code, a bereavement code, a maternity leave code, a disability code, and a military duty code.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of prompting said employee for information related to said attendance event comprises the step of prompting said employee for information related to tardiness.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of prompting said employee for an estimated arrival time.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of prompting said employee for an identifier comprises the step of playing a voice prompt to said employee.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of prompting said employee for an identifier comprises the step of displaying a text prompt to said employee.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of analyzing a plurality of attendance event records.

21. A method for viewing attendance event data comprising: storing a plurality of attendance event transaction records in a database; defining criteria for receiving a notification; analyzing said attendance event transactions records to determine which records meet said criteria; and displaying at a computer information regarding at least one attendance event transaction record meeting said criteria for said notification.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said attendance event transaction records comprise information regarding employee absences.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein said attendance event transaction records comprise information regarding employee tardiness.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of defining criteria for said notification comprises the step of requesting a notification when a particular employee has reported a threshold number of absences within a specific time period.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of defining criteria for said notification comprises the step of requesting a notification when a particular employee has reported tardiness.

26. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of modifying said at least one attendance event transaction record meeting said criteria for said notification.

27. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of inactivating said at least one attendance event transaction record meeting said criteria for said notification.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of displaying at a computer information regarding at least one attendance event transaction record comprises the step of displaying an employee name and information about an attendance event.

29. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of displaying at a computer information regarding at least one attendance event transaction record comprises the step of displaying an employee name, displaying information about an attendance event, and displaying information about a company policy related to said attendance event.

30. A method for displaying on a computer attendance event transaction records comprising the steps of: displaying a date associated with each attendance event; displaying an employee name associated with each attendance event; and displaying a reason associated with each attendance event.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of displaying a reason comprises the step of displaying a reason related to an absence.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of displaying a reason related to an absence comprises the step of displaying a reason selected from the group consisting of a team meeting, a training class, offsite work, jury duty, a personal appointment, an illness, a bereavement, a maternity leave, a disability, and a military duty.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of displaying a reason comprises the step of displaying a reason related to tardiness.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of displaying an estimated arrival time.

35. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of displaying a project identifier for each attendance event.