Ticket approval system for and method of performing quality control in field service applications

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for facilitating a quality assessment of a locate and marking operation. Ticket information and a locate manifest are received regarding the operation as performed by a technician. One or more electronic indications of the quality assessment are processed based on the locate manifest, the ticket information, and at least one of: a time required to complete the locate and marking operation; a time at which the locate and marking operation was performed; a cost of the locate and marking operation; one or more conditions associated with a dig area in which the operation was performed; a number of facilities to be located as indicated in the ticket information; a discrepancy between the facilities to be located as indicated in the ticket information, but not indicated as marked in the locate manifest; and an efficiency with which the technician performed the locate and marking operation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, as a continuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12 / 204,454, filed on Sep. 4, 2008, entitled “Ticket Approval System for and Method of Performing Quality Control in Field Service Applications.” Ser. No. 12 / 204,454 in turn claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 076,253, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jun. 27, 2008, having the same title.[0002]Ser. No. 12 / 204,454 also claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12 / 029,732, filed on Feb. 12, 2008, entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground Facility Locate Marks.”[0003]Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND[0004]1. Technical Field[0005]The present disclosure generally relates to quality control in field servi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present patent text describes a method and system for performing quality control in a field service application. The method involves obtaining a ticket, performing at least one task associated with the ticket, collecting data associated with the task, and transmitting the data to a work management server. The work management server includes a database and an approval application for reviewing and approving the data. The system also includes a locate technician to determine the presence or absence of underground facilities, an image capture mechanism to obtain data associated with the ticket, and a network to transmit the data to the work management server. The technical effects of the patent text include improved quality control in field service applications, efficient data collection and review, and improved safety for locate technicians."

Problems solved by technology

Since there may be numerous field technicians, each of whom are assigned numerous tickets, implementing and performing meaningful oversight and quality control activities in a timely fashion may be difficult.

As a result of the limited quality control activities in certain field service applications, customer satisfaction may be adversely affected.

Additionally, the time, effort, and cost that is associated with re-performing work in the field or with correcting and / or improving poorly performed field calls may be unacceptable.

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