Methods and apparatus for improving a ticket assessment system

Abstract

Locate and/or marking operations involve detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. A record of a completed locate and/or marking operation is analyzed, and one or more information assets used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets is updated. The information asset(s) include one or more business rules to be applied to ticket information to obtain one or more ticket assessment outcomes.

1 . An apparatus for managing information assets used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, each locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one communication interface;   at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and   at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one communication interface, wherein, upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the at least one processor:
 A) analyzes a record of a completed locate and/or marking operation; and 
 B) updates, based at least in part on A), at least one information asset used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, wherein the at least one information asset comprises at least one business rule to be applied to ticket information to obtain one or more ticket assessment outcomes. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation comprises excavation information regarding at least one excavation activity that took place subsequent to the completed locate and/or marking operation, and wherein, in B), the at least one processor updates the at least one information asset based at least in part on an outcome of the excavation activity. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein in B), the at least one processor:
 B1) modifies the at least one business rule.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein, in B1), the at least one processor modifies at least one parameter referenced in the at least one business rule. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one information asset comprises a collection of business rules to be applied to ticket information to obtain ticket assessment outcomes, and wherein, in B), the at least one processor adds at least one new business rule to the collection of business rules. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one information asset further comprises at least one facilities map, and wherein, in B), the at least one processor:
 B1) improves a quality of the at least one facilities map.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein, in B1), the at least one processor augments the at least one facilities map with information obtained based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein, in B1), the at least one processor:
 identifies at least one inconsistency between information contained in the at least one facilities map and information obtained based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation;   determines whether the at least one inconsistency reflects at least one error in the at least one facilities map; and   if it is determined that the at least one inconsistency reflects at least one error in the at least one facilities map, corrects the at least one facilities map based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one information asset further comprises historical information relating to completed locate and/or marking operations, and wherein, in B), the at least one processor:
 B1) updates the historical information.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein, in B1), the at least one processor updates an average duration for completing at least one task associated with a locate and/or marking operation. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one task is selected from a group consisting of: traveling between work sites, reviewing work order, setting up equipment, locating one or more facilities, marking one or more facilities, and preparing documentation. 
     
     
         12 . In a system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, a method for managing information assets used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, each locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
 A) analyzing, via the at least one processor, a record, stored in the at least one memory, of a completed locate and/or marking operation; and   B) updating, based at least in part on A), at least one information asset stored in the at least one memory and used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, wherein the at least one information asset comprises at least one business rule to be applied to ticket information to obtain one or more ticket assessment outcomes.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation comprises excavation information regarding at least one excavation activity that took place subsequent to the completed locate and/or marking operation, and wherein B) comprises updating the at least one information asset based at least in part on an outcome of the excavation activity. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein B) comprises:
 B1) modifying the at least one business rule.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein B1) comprises modifying at least one parameter referenced in the at least one business rule. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one information asset comprises a collection of business rules to be applied to ticket information to obtain ticket assessment outcomes, and wherein B) comprises adding at least one new business rule to the collection of business rules. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one information asset further comprises at least one facilities map, and wherein B) comprises:
 B1) improving a quality of the at least one facilities map.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein B1) comprises augmenting the at least one facilities map with information obtained based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein B1) comprises:
 identifying at least one inconsistency between information contained in the at least one facilities map and information obtained based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation;   determining whether the at least one inconsistency reflects at least one error in the at least one facilities map; and   if it is determined that the at least one inconsistency reflects at least one error in the at least one facilities map, correcting the at least one facilities map based at least in part on the record of the completed locate and/or marking operation.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one information asset further comprises historical information relating to completed locate and/or marking operations, and wherein B) comprises:
 B1) updating the historical information.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein B1) comprises updating an average duration for completing at least one task of a locate and/or marking operation. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one task is selected from a group consisting of: traveling between work sites, reviewing work order, setting up equipment, locating one or more facilities, marking one or more facilities, and preparing documentation. 
     
     
         23 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with at least one program including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method for managing information assets used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, each locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
 A) analyzing a record of a completed locate and/or marking operation; and   B) updating, based at least in part on A), at least one information asset used for assessing locate and/or marking operations requested in locate request tickets, wherein the at least one information asset comprises at least one business rule to be applied to ticket information to obtain one or more ticket assessment outcomes.