Automated Quality Management System

Abstract

Various embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for automated quality management and/or monitoring of organization operations, including for example data processing operations. In one aspect of the invention, a quality management system uses an error rate measurement module to automatically monitor the quality of an organizational operation. Information is processed by the organizational operation. The error rate measurement module samples the processed information. It also automatically determines, without human intervention, an error rate based on the sampled information. The error rate accounts for both a frequency of errors and an operational impact of errors.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A quality management system for automatically monitoring the quality of an organizational operation, the system comprising:
 an error rate measurement module for sampling information processed by the organizational operation;   the error rate measurement module further for determining, without human intervention, an error rate based on the sampled information, the error rate accounting for both a frequency of errors and an operational impact of errors.   
     
     
         2 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the sampled information comprises multiple versions of information generated by a process performed multiple times, the error rate measurement module automatically determining the error rate based on discrepancies between the multiple versions of information. 
     
     
         3 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module includes a rules-based system to determine the error rate. 
     
     
         4 . The quality management system of  claim 3  wherein the information is processed in fields, and the rules-based system includes field-specific rules. 
     
     
         5 . The quality management system of  claim 3  wherein the information is processed by operators, and the rules-based system includes operator-specific rules. 
     
     
         6 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module includes a learning algorithm to determine the error rate. 
     
     
         7 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module includes an AI algorithm to correlate attributes to patterns of error, the error rates determined based on applying the AI algorithm to observed attributes. 
     
     
         8 . The quality management system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 an error reduction module for reducing the error rate. 
 
     
     
         9 . The quality management system of  claim 8  wherein the error reduction module identifies patterns of errors and their corresponding root causes. 
     
     
         10 . The quality management system of  claim 8  wherein the error reduction module is updated based on changes in the error rate. 
     
     
         11 . The quality management system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 an error occurrence prediction module for predicting the occurrence of errors. 
 
     
     
         12 . The quality management system of  claim 11  wherein the error occurrence prediction module identifies attributes that are predictors of errors, and predicts errors based on the identified attributes. 
     
     
         13 . The quality management system of  claim 11  wherein the error occurrence prediction module is updated based on changes in the error rate. 
     
     
         14 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module determines an error rate by automatically comparing the sampled information to a known correct transcription of the information. 
     
     
         15 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module determines an error rate based on a plurality vote of the sampled information. 
     
     
         16 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module determines an error rate based on corrected answers for the sampled information, the correct answers determined by an AI algorithm. 
     
     
         17 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module determines an error rate based on corrected answers for the sampled information, the correct answers determined based on error patterns. 
     
     
         18 . The quality management system of  claim 1  wherein the error rate measurement module determines that a discrepancy in the sampled information is more likely to be an error if the discrepancy is consistent with past observed error patterns. 
     
     
         19 . A quality management system for automatically monitoring the quality of an organizational operation, the system comprising:
 error rate measurement means for sampling information processed by the organizational operation;   the error rate measurement means further for determining, without human intervention, an error rate based on the sampled information, the error rate accounting for both a frequency of errors and an operational impact of errors.   
     
     
         20 . A computer program product for a quality management system, the computer program product stored on a tangible computer-readable medium and including instructions that, when loaded into memory, cause a processor to carry out the steps of:
 sampling information processed by the organizational operation; and   determining, without human intervention, an error rate based on the sampled information, the error rate accounting for both a frequency of errors and an operational impact of errors.