Technician Assignment Interface

Abstract

An example method includes receiving a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window. The method further includes receiving technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs. The method additionally includes determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians. The method also includes determining, based on the scoring metrics, suggested technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs. The method further includes providing, for presentation on a display, a technician assignment interface that shows the suggested technician assignments.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device from a plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices configured to communicate electronically with vehicles during vehicle service job performance, technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of pace of performance in progressing through steps of vehicle service jobs using one or more of the plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices during past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs;   receiving, by the computing device, a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window;   determining, by the computing device based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians;   determining, by the computing device based on the plurality of scoring metrics, technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs; and   providing, by the computing device to each vehicle diagnostic device currently associated with a corresponding technician of the plurality of technicians, data representative of one or more vehicle service jobs assigned to the corresponding technician according to the technician assignments.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing, by the computing device to each vehicle diagnostic device currently associated with a corresponding technician of the plurality of technicians, data representative of one or more vehicle service jobs assigned to the corresponding technician according to the technician assignments comprises providing instructions to configure the vehicle diagnostic device for performance of the one or more vehicle service jobs. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians comprises determining an average completion time of a plurality of past performances of a particular vehicle service job by a particular technician. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians comprises determining a rate of return of vehicles within a threshold amount of time following past performances of a particular vehicle service job on the vehicles by a particular technician. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians comprises determining a frequency of performance of a particular vehicle service job by a particular technician. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians comprises:
 identifying past performances of a particular vehicle service job by a particular technician on vehicles sharing one or more cohort attributes with a vehicle to be serviced with the particular vehicle service job in the given time window; and   determining the scoring metric corresponding to the particular vehicle service job for the particular technician based on the identified past performances.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the computing device from each vehicle diagnostic device currently associated with a corresponding technician, job status updates indicative of a current pace of performance of in-progress vehicle service jobs of the plurality of vehicle service jobs; and   adjusting one or more of the technician assignments based on the job status updates.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining corresponding time slots within the given time window for the plurality of vehicle service jobs.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the computing device, equipment availability updates indicative of service equipment availability within the given time window; and   adjusting one or more of the technician assignments based on the equipment availability updates.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the computing device, equipment availability updates indicative of service equipment availability within the given time window; and   determining corresponding time slots for at least some of the plurality of vehicle service jobs based on the equipment availability updates.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining an expected profitability metric indicative of an expected profitability of the plurality of vehicle service jobs based on the technician assignments;   determining that the expected profitability metric is below a target profitability level; and   determining a rescheduling of one or more vehicle service jobs of the plurality of vehicle service jobs to one or more time slots outside of the given time window in order to increase the expected profitability metric above the target profitability level.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a training reassignment of a particular vehicle service job from a first technician to a second technician, wherein the second technician has a lower scoring metric for the particular vehicle service job than the first technician;   determining that the plurality of vehicle service jobs are predicted to be completed within the given time window after the training reassignment; and   adjusting one or more of the technician assignments to include the training reassignment.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining an expected profitability metric indicative of an expected profitability of the plurality of vehicle service jobs based on the technician assignments;   identifying a training reassignment of a particular vehicle service job from a first technician to a second technician, wherein the second technician has a lower scoring metric for the particular vehicle service job than the first technician;   determining that the expected profitability metric is above a target profitability level after the training reassignment; and   adjusting the one or more of the technician assignments to include the training reassignment.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of job difficulty levels corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed; and   determining the technician assignments to balance the plurality of job difficulty levels across the plurality of technicians.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of expected job completion times corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians; and   determining the technician assignments based on the expected job completion times in order to maximize technician utilization time while completing the plurality of vehicle service jobs within the given time window.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices comprise one or more wearable computing devices. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the technician performance data is determined by mining repair orders associated with individual technicians. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating at least one transferrable electronic technician performance profile based on the technician performance data. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the technician assignments is further based on a taxonomy system that groups vehicle service jobs into different service job categories. 
     
     
         20 . A computing device comprising:
 one or more processors;   a non-transitory computer readable medium; and   program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the one or more processors to perform functions comprising:   receiving, from a plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices configured to communicate electronically with vehicles during vehicle service job performance, technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of pace of performance in progressing through steps of vehicle service jobs using one or more of the plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices during past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs;   receiving a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window;   determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians;   determining, based on the plurality of scoring metrics, technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs; and   providing, to each vehicle diagnostic device currently associated with a corresponding technician of the plurality of technicians, data representative of one or more vehicle service jobs assigned to the corresponding technician according to the technician assignments.   
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a computing system to perform functions comprising:
 receiving, from a plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices configured to communicate electronically with vehicles during vehicle service job performance, technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of pace of performance in progressing through steps of vehicle service jobs using one or more of the plurality of vehicle diagnostic devices during past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs;   receiving a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window;   determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians;   determining, based on the plurality of scoring metrics, technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs; and   providing, to each vehicle diagnostic device currently associated with a corresponding technician of the plurality of technicians, data representative of one or more vehicle service jobs assigned to the corresponding technician according to the technician assignments.