Since 1987, AT&T's, and now Avaya's,
Services organization has used artificial intelligence technology in the
form of expert system tools, in conjunction with its human technicians,
to provide its customers with first-rate maintenance support. INTUITY AUDIX
LX is supported by the INTUITY AUDIX Expert System, which is a computer
system that facilitates solving problems in a given field or application
by drawing inference from a knowledge base developed from real-life experiences.
The Expert System works in the background by collecting data from a remote
location. It is not an interactive tool.
How Does the Expert System Work?
The INTUITY Audix Expert System performs remote diagnostics in response
to alarms reported by the customer's products to the Technical Service
Center's alarm-receiving system. In addition, the tool collects data from
the product to assess many internal conditions that could be indicative
of a potential problem to the customer. For example, the tool can assess
these types of potential problems:
- System reboots, to check on resource utilization
- Available ports and disk space
- Identify failure signatures that might not have yet created alarms
Trouble tickets are annotated with results from the expert sessions,
which can include ticket closure for the alarm problem, referral to a
human technician for further analysis, referral to customers as a facility
(non-AVAYA product) problem, and/or a technician dispatch recommendation
with needed parts identified.
In addition to standard maintenance documentation, expert system diagnostics
are based on the most recent field and development knowledge and the product's
internal data records. Extensive databases provide details that explain
why a particular recommendation was made. These recommendations, called
Product Performance Recommendations (PPRs), can be accessed by a field
technician for on-site repairs or by a TSC technician when a call to the
customer is required. Regular reviews of the data by Services and Avaya
Labs provide improved diagnostic effectiveness of the expert system tests
and recommendations. Technicians also have online access to PPR descriptions
so that any changes in diagnostics in the expert systems are immediately
available to technicians.
For example, if an INTUITY AUDIX system starts showing signs of a limited
amount of hard drive space, an alarm is reported to the alarm-receiving
system. A trouble ticket is created and assigned to the Expert System,
which then connects to the product and analyzes this alarm and can execute
the appropriate commands to clear the condition. Trouble tickets are annotated
with results from the expert sessions, and the ticket then can be closed.
If the condition requires human intervention, the Expert System's monitoring
staff then notifies the customer recommending that the customer increases
the hard drive storage.
