System and method for controlling and determining accuracy of activity duration keys

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with determining a configuration accuracy for activity duration keys are described. In one embodiment, a method includes comparing a duration time of an activity duration key to each reported time duration for completing selected activities from activity records and determining a difference associated to each activity record. An accuracy value is assigned to each activity record based on the difference, wherein the accuracy value indicates either a good (accurate) value or a bad (inaccurate) value. The configuration accuracy of the activity duration key is calculated based at least on a number of the activity records that were assigned the good (accurate) value relative to a number of the activity records assigned the bad (inaccurate) value.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by at least a processor of a computer cause the computer to:
 generate, on a display screen, a graphical user interface and display one or more activity duration keys;   wherein each activity duration key includes a configuration with (i) configuration properties for grouping activity types as being similar activities, and (ii) an estimated duration time for each of the activity types that is an estimated time to complete a respective activity type;   for a given activity duration key from the one or more activity duration keys, retrieve, from a database, a set of activity records associated with a plurality of activity types that are grouped as being similar by the configuration properties of the given activity duration key, wherein each activity record identifies a reported time duration for completing a corresponding activity in a past event;   compare the estimated duration time of the given activity duration key to each reported time duration for completing the corresponding activity from the activity records and determining a time difference associated to each activity record;   assign an accuracy value to a selected activity record based on the time difference as:
 (i) an accurate value when the time difference meets a first threshold value; and 
 (ii) an inaccurate value when the time difference does not meet the first threshold value; 
   determine a configuration accuracy of the configuration of the given activity duration key based at least on a number of the activity records that were assigned the accurate value relative to a number of the activity records assigned the inaccurate value; and   generate and display on the graphical user interface a visual indication of the configuration accuracy of the one or more activity duration keys.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions to generate the visual indication of the configuration accuracy further includes instructions to cause the process to:
 based on the configuration accuracy for the one or more activity duration keys, select a candidate duration key; and   display a recommendation on the display screen to recommend the candidate duration key for use in estimating a time duration for completing a selected activity type in future calculations.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions that when executed by at least the processor cause the processor to:
 based on the configuration accuracy from the one or more activity duration keys, select an inaccurate candidate duration key that is identified as an inaccurate key; and   generate and display a recommendation on the display to identify and recommend that the inaccurate candidate duration key be reconfigured.   
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for assigning the accuracy value to a selected activity record further includes instructions to cause the processor to:
 use a second threshold value for the time difference that is greater that the first threshold value;   wherein the accuracy value for the selected activity record is assigned as:   (i) the accurate value when the time difference between the estimated duration time of the activity duration key and the reported time duration for completing the selected activity from the selected activity record is between zero and the first threshold value;   (ii) a satisfactory value when the time difference is between the first threshold value and the second threshold value; and   (iii) the inaccurate value when the time difference is greater than second threshold value.   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions that when executed by at least the processor cause the processor to control subsequent estimations for the selected activity type by applying a selected candidate duration key to estimate a future time duration for the selected activity type. 
     
     
         6 . A computing system, comprising:
 at least one processor connected to at least one memory;   a non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed by at least the processor cause the processor to:
 determine a configuration accuracy of a configuration of an activity duration key, wherein the activity duration key includes an estimated duration time for each of a plurality of activity types, the determining comprising:
 retrieving, from a database, a set of activity records associated with the plurality of activity types, wherein each activity record identifies a reported time duration for completing a corresponding activity in a past event; 
 compare the duration time of the activity duration key to each reported time duration for completing a corresponding activity from each of the activity records and determining a time difference associated to each activity record; 
 assign an accuracy value to each activity record based on the time difference; 
 wherein the accuracy value for a selected activity record is assigned as:
 (i) an accurate value when the time difference less than a first threshold value; and 
 (ii) an inaccurate value when the time difference is greater than the first threshold value; 
 
 determine the configuration accuracy of the configuration of the given activity duration key based at least on a number of the activity records that were assigned the accurate value relative to a number of the activity records assigned the inaccurate value; and 
 generate and display on the graphical user interface a visual indication of the configuration accuracy of the activity duration key. 
 
   
     
     
         7 . The computing system of  claim 6 , wherein the instructions to generate the visual indication of the configuration accuracy further includes instructions to cause the process to:
 display the configuration accuracy determined for a plurality of activity duration keys;   based on the configuration accuracy of the plurality of activity duration keys, select a candidate duration key; and   display a recommendation on the display screen to recommend the candidate duration key for use in estimating a time duration for completing a selected activity type in future calculations.   
     
     
         8 . The computing system of  claim 6 , further comprising instructions that when executed by at least the processor cause the processor to:
 display the configuration accuracy determined for a plurality of activity duration keys;   based on the configuration accuracy of the plurality of activity duration keys, select an inaccurate candidate duration key that is identified as an inaccurate key; and   generate and display a recommendation on the display to identify and recommend that the inaccurate candidate duration key be reconfigured.   
     
     
         9 . The computing system of  claim 6 , wherein the instructions for combining the number of activity records includes calculating the quality of the activity duration key based at least on a number of the activity records that were assigned the good value relative to a number of the activity records assigned the bad value. 
     
     
         10 . The computing system of  claim 6 , wherein the configuration of the activity duration key further includes configuration properties that define grouping conditions for grouping activity types as being similar activities. 
     
     
         11 . The computing system of  claim 6 , further comprising instructions that when executed by at least the processor cause the processor to control subsequent estimations for the selected activity type by applying the candidate duration key to estimate a future time duration for the selected activity type. 
     
     
         12 . The computing system of  claim 6 , further comprising at least one network interface configured to connect to a network, wherein the computing system is implemented in a cloud-based system. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:
 selecting, by at least a processor accessing one or more memories, an activity duration key from a plurality of activity duration keys;   wherein each activity duration key includes a configuration with (i) configuration properties for grouping activity types as being similar activities, and (ii) an estimated duration time for each of the activity types that is an estimated time to complete a respective activity type;   for a given activity duration key from the one or more activity duration keys, retrieving, from a database, a set of activity records associated with a plurality of activity types that are grouped as being similar by the configuration properties of the given activity duration key, wherein each activity record identifies a reported time duration for completing a corresponding activity in a past event;   comparing the estimated duration time of the given activity duration key to each reported time duration for completing the corresponding activity from the activity records and determining a time difference associated to each activity record;   assigning an accuracy value to a selected activity record based on the time difference as:
 (i) an accurate value when the time difference meets a first threshold value; and 
 (ii) an inaccurate value when the time difference does not meet the first threshold value; 
   determining a configuration accuracy of the configuration of the given activity duration key based at least on a number of the activity records that were assigned the accurate value relative to a number of the activity records assigned the inaccurate value; and   generate and display on the graphical user interface a visual indication of the configuration accuracy of the one or more activity duration keys.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein generating the visual indication of the configuration accuracy further includes:
 selecting, based on the configuration accuracy for the one or more activity duration keys, a candidate duration key; and   displaying a recommendation on the display screen to recommend the candidate duration key for use in estimating a time duration for completing a selected activity type in future calculations.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 selecting, based on the configuration accuracy from the one or more activity duration keys, an inaccurate candidate duration key that is identified as an inaccurate key; and   generating and displaying a recommendation on the display to identify and recommend that the inaccurate candidate duration key be reconfigured.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein determining the configuration accuracy of the configuration of the given activity duration key includes:
 combining the number of the activity records that were assigned accurate value relative to the number of the activity records assigned the inaccurate value to determine the configuration accuracy of a respective duration key.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein assigning the accuracy value to a selected activity record further includes:
 setting a second threshold value for the time difference that is greater that the first threshold value;   wherein the accuracy value for the selected activity record is assigned as:   (i) the accurate value when the time difference between the estimated duration time of the activity duration key and the reported time duration for completing the selected activity from the selected activity record is between zero and the first threshold value;   (ii) a satisfactory value when the time difference is between the first threshold value and the second threshold value; and   (iii) the inaccurate value when the time difference is greater than second threshold value.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising controlling subsequent estimations for the selected activity type by applying a candidate duration key to estimate a future time duration for the selected activity type. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein the configuration properties for grouping activity types as being similar activities define grouping conditions for grouping activity types as being similar activities. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising
 based on the quality for each of the duration keys, selecting an inaccurate candidate duration key that is identified as an inaccurate key; and   generating and displaying a second recommendation on the display to identify and recommend that the inaccurate candidate duration key be reconfigured.