| This is one of the mechanisms
that has the potential for saving companies and agencies much time and
therefore cost. It's also an example of business software at its best - the
software anticipates a waste of resource, notifies the user, but leaves the
final decision up to him or her. When faults occur in public
places, or common areas in office buildings, many calls which refer to
the same fault may be taken. Leaks, broken windows,
damaged floor tiles, etc. are examples. If a leak occurs in a toilet,
for instance, many people may call the help desk before the situation is
contained. The mechanism keys on building, work type and the date and time
that calls are logged. When recent calls have been
logged for the same work type in the same building within the last 24
hours, the software prompts
the user to check for duplicates. At this point, the operator can decide
to cancel the current call, or continue to log it if it not a duplicate.
The lead time for the warnings can be varied
- certain users would want to see a whole week's worth of possible
duplicates, while others perhaps the last 48 hours. |
