Customer service systems and portals

Abstract

A deployable customer self-service (CSS) system is described. The deployable CSS includes a user interface, a web portal configured to load and display the user interface, a service configured to provide data to the user interface based on a system of record or third party service, and an integration connector for connecting the service to the system of record or third party service such that the service is agnostic to the format of the system of record or third party service.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A deployable customer self-service (CSS) system, comprising:
 a plurality of user interfaces;   a web portal configured to selectively load and display the plurality of user interfaces;   a plurality of services each being configured to provide data to the user interfaces from a system of record or third party service, the services using a standard data format; and   an integration connector comprising one or more drivers selectable based on the system of record or third party service to convert data to the standard data format used by the plurality of services from a protocol or format of the system of record or third party service.   
     
     
         2 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more drivers comprises at least one driver configured to obtain data from a third party data center comprising a proprietary utility management data center run by a third party, the data being stored according to a proprietary format of the third party, and the at least one driver being configured to convert the data obtained from the proprietary utility management data center from the proprietary format of the third party into the standard data format used by the plurality of services of the deployable CSS system. 
     
     
         3 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one driver comprises a customer care and billing driver configured to send requests to the proprietary utility management data center and to obtain data from a customer care and billing system hosted by the proprietary utility management data center via a customer care and billing API running on the proprietary utility management data center, and/or
 wherein the at least one driver comprises a meter data and management service driver configured to send requests to the proprietary utility management data center and to obtain data from a meter data and management system hosted by the proprietary utility management data center via a meter data and management system API running on the proprietary utility management data center.   
     
     
         4 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 3 , wherein the requests sent by the customer case and billing driver and/or the meter data and management service driver are directed to a hypertext transfer protocol server at the proprietary utility management data center. 
     
     
         5 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of services comprises one or more from among:
 an account management service;   a bill payment service;   a stop or transfer service;   a billing and consumption service; and   a faults and enquiries service.   
     
     
         6 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprises one or more from among:
 an account management user interface;   a bill payment user interface;   a stop or transfer user interface;   a billing and consumption user interface; and   a faults and enquiries user interface.   
     
     
         7 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , comprising a plurality of services, wherein the services are selectively loaded to provide data to a selected user interface based on the system of record or third party service. 
     
     
         8 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , wherein the integration connectors communicate with the services via the standard format. 
     
     
         9 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , wherein the portal is an end user portal to be accessed by an end user or an administration portal to be accessed by a company. 
     
     
         10 . The deployable CSS system of any of  claim 1 , wherein the web portal, the service, and the integration connector are closed modules that are not editable upon deployment. 
     
     
         11 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , further comprising a caching service that controls retrieval of data from the system of record or third party service, wherein the caching service stores the retrieved data in a database. 
     
     
         12 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 11 , wherein the caching service includes configuration rules defining caching priorities for two or more categories of data, wherein the two or more categories of data include at least two from among: a first category of data that is required in real time, a second category of data that is required as soon as possible, and a third category of data that is cached periodically. 
     
     
         13 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 12 , wherein the caching service is configured to retrieve data in the first category of data for the user interface or service from the system of record or third party service. 
     
     
         14 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 13 , wherein the caching service is configured to periodically retrieve data in the second category of data from the system of record or third party service and to cache the retrieved data to the database in the standard format. 
     
     
         15 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 11 , wherein the caching service invalidates one or more categories of data. 
     
     
         16 . The deployable CSS system of  claim 15 , wherein the caching service is configured to retrieve data in an invalidated category of data for the user interface or service from the system of record or third party service. 
     
     
         17 . A system comprising the deployable CSS system of  claim 1 , and further comprising a CSS base comprising one or more base web portals, base user interfaces and/or base services, wherein:
 the web portal of the deployable CSS system extends the base web portal for the deployment,   the user interfaces of the deployable CSS system extend the base user interfaces for deployment, and   the plurality of services deployable CSS system extend the base services for deployment.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the web portal, the user interfaces, and the plurality of services of the deployable CSS system are closed modules. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the base services include an account management core. 
     
     
         20 . A computer-implemented method for deploying a deployable CSS system, the deployable CSS system comprising:
 a plurality of user interfaces;   a web portal configured to selectively load and display the plurality of user interfaces;   a plurality of services each being configured to provide data to the user interfaces from a system of record or third party service, the services using a standard data format; and   an integration connector comprising one or more drivers selectable based on the system of record or third party service to convert data to the standard data format used by the plurality of services from a protocol or format of the system of record or third party service;   
       the method comprising:
 receiving, from a computing device, specifications of the system of record or third party service; 
 selecting the one or more drivers specific to the system of record or third party service to convert data to the standard data format used by the plurality of services from a protocol or format of the system of record or third party service; and 
 deploying the deployable CSS system to a data centre.