Patent Publication Number: US-2012042318-A1

Title: Automatic planning of service requests

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular, to a computer implemented method for managing service requests in a helpdesk environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for automatic planning of service requests in a helpdesk environment. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Helpdesks are systems that receive requests for services. For example, a helpdesk application may allow users to enter requests for product upgrade, report bugs in software application products, or request a service. Examples of services that may be requested may include services of an information technology (IT) professional, scheduling a maintenance operation, and reconfiguration of a data processing system. 
     Service requests are entered into a helpdesk application as a ticket. Generally, a ticket contains some description of the problem and/or the service being requested. A ticket also includes information sufficient to identify the requestor of the service, such as a client identifier of a client of the provider of the helpdesk application. 
     Presently, a person, such as a helpdesk associate, has to determine what to do with a ticket. The person has to then plan the handling of the ticket. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The illustrative embodiments provide a method, system, and computer usable program product for automatic planning of service requests. An embodiment locates, at an application executing in a computer, information in a ticket corresponding to the service request, the information being usable for categorizing the ticket. The embodiment selects using the information, from a ticket history repository, a set of records, the set of records including data representing a set of tickets processed before the ticket, a second ticket in the set of tickets including second information corresponding to the information. The embodiment selects a category of the second ticket as a suggested category for the ticket. The embodiment identifies a priority associated with the suggested category. The embodiment recommends the suggested category and the priority for the ticket. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself; however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  depicts a block diagram of a data processing system in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented; 
         FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of a service planning application in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  depicts a block diagram of example components of a service planning application in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  depicts a flowchart of an example process of automatic planning of service requests in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; and 
         FIG. 6  depicts a flowchart of an example process of translating words or phrases from a ticket for automatic planning of service requests in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The invention recognizes that manual component in the handling of service requests is expensive, inefficient, and error prone. For example, different persons may handle the same ticket differently, causing different actions to be taken with respect to the ticket, if not causing different results. Furthermore, one person may determine that the ticket belongs to one category of service requests whereas another person may categorize the ticket into a different category. Different persons may also prioritize a ticket differently. 
     A category of service request is a classification of the service request. Categorization of a ticket is the process of assigning a category to the ticket. The categories for the categorization may be created in any manner within the scope of the invention. For example, one method of categorizing service requests may have to do with an assessment of the severity of the problem being reported. Accordingly, for this example, service requests and their corresponding tickets may be categorized according to the problem&#39;s degree of impact, such as into example high impact, medium impact, or low categories. Other categories may be according to different levels of support being offered. Another categorization model may utilize categories formed on the basis of directness or indirectness of the relationship of the problem and the product being supported. 
     A priority of a service request and the corresponding ticket is an indication of urgency associated with the service request. Prioritization of a ticket is a process of assigning a priority to the ticket. Priority of a service request may be determined by any method or selection process within the scope of the invention. For example, a service request for a problem that causes a computer to become inoperative may be prioritized higher than another service request for a problem that causes degradation in the performance of a computer. As another example, a service request from a client who has purchased a premium level of support services may be prioritized higher than a service request from another client who has purchased a basic level of support services. As another example, service requests for problems causing financial losses may be prioritized higher than problems causing inconvenience. 
     The illustrative embodiments used to describe the invention generally address and solve the above-described problems and other problems related to currently used methods of handling service requests. The illustrative embodiments of the invention provide a method, computer usable program product, and data processing system for automatically planning actions related to service requests, including categorization and prioritization of the tickets. 
     An embodiment of the invention also enables routing of the tickets to appropriate personnel or systems. An embodiment may automatically configure a workflow with actions to resolve a ticket. For example, an embodiment may automatically schedule time on a service personnel&#39;s calendar, reserve the resources necessary for resolving the ticket, or alter a ticket queue to accommodate the ticket. 
     An embodiment may also facilitate taking follow-up actions on the tickets. For example, despite assigning suitable category and priority to a ticket, if the ticket cannot be scheduled for resolution within the requirements of a service level agreement (SLA), the embodiment may escalate the ticket such that the ticket can preempt another ticket, or a supervisor is notified to coordinate communication with the affected client. 
     The illustrative embodiments are described with respect to data, data structures, and identifiers only as examples. Such descriptions are not intended to be limiting on the invention. For example, an illustrative embodiment described with respect to a ticket data structure may be implemented using a combination of several pieces of information from different sources, in a similar manner within the scope of the invention. 
     Furthermore, the illustrative embodiments may be implemented with respect to any type of data processing system. For example, an illustrative embodiment may be implemented with respect to any type of client system, server system, platform, or a combination thereof. 
     The illustrative embodiments are further described with respect to certain parameters, attributes, and configurations only as examples. Such descriptions are not intended to be limiting on the invention. For example, an illustrative embodiment described with respect to numeric attribute may be implemented using an alphanumeric attribute, a symbolic attribute, or a combination thereof, in a similar manner within the scope of the invention. 
     An application implementing an embodiment may take the form of data objects, code objects, encapsulated instructions, application fragments, drivers, routines, services, systems—including basic I/O system (BIOS), and other types of software implementations available in a data processing environment. For example, Java® Virtual Machine (JVM®), Java® object, an Enterprise Java Bean (EJB®), a servlet, or an applet may be manifestations of an application with respect to which, within which, or using which, the invention may be implemented. (Java, JVM, EJB, and other Java related terminologies are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.) 
     An illustrative embodiment may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The examples in this disclosure are used only for the clarity of the description and are not limiting on the illustrative embodiments. Additional or different information, data, operations, actions, tasks, activities, and manipulations will be conceivable from this disclosure for similar purpose and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments. 
     The illustrative embodiments are described using specific code, file systems, designs, architectures, layouts, schematics, and tools only as examples and are not limiting on the illustrative embodiments. Furthermore, the illustrative embodiments are described in some instances using particular data processing environments, such as a helpdesk environment, only as an example for the clarity of the description. The illustrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with other comparable or similarly purposed structures, systems, applications, or architectures. 
     Any advantages listed herein are only examples and are not intended to be limiting on the illustrative embodiments. Additional or different advantages may be realized by specific illustrative embodiments. Furthermore, a particular illustrative embodiment may have some, all, or none of the advantages listed above. 
     With reference to the figures and in particular with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , these figures are example diagrams of data processing environments in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented.  FIGS. 1 and 2  are only examples and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. A particular implementation may make many modifications to the depicted environments based on the following description. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. Data processing environment  100  is a network of computers in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented. Data processing environment  100  includes network  102 . Network  102  is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within data processing environment  100 . Network  102  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables. Server  104  and server  106  couple to network  102  along with storage unit  108 . Software applications may execute on any computer in data processing environment  100 . 
     In addition, clients  110 ,  112 , and  114  couple to network  102 . A data processing system, such as server  104  or  106 , or client  110 ,  112 , or  114  may contain data and may have software applications or software tools executing thereon. 
     Server  104  may include service planning application  105 . Service planning application  105  may be an application for automatic planning of service requests according to an embodiment described herein. 
     Server  106  may include keyword lexicon  107 . Keyword lexicon  107  may provide alternative phrases for a concept, a listing of words or keywords, translation of words from one language to another, or a combination thereof. 
     Storage  108  may include ticket history  109 . Ticket history  109  may be a historic record of tickets entered into a helpdesk system, and resolved or otherwise disposed off in the past. Client  112  may include ticket entry application  113 . Ticket entry application  113  may be a helpdesk application for submitting requests for service. 
     Servers  104  and  106 , storage unit  108 , and clients  110 ,  112 , and  114  may couple to network  102  using wired connections, wireless communication protocols, or other suitable data connectivity. Clients  110 ,  112 , and  114  may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. 
     In the depicted example, server  104  may provide data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients  110 ,  112 , and  114 . Clients  110 ,  112 , and  114  may be clients to server  104  in this example. Clients  110 ,  112 ,  114 , or some combination thereof, may include their own data, boot files, operating system images, and applications. Data processing environment  100  may include additional servers, clients, and other devices that are not shown. 
     In the depicted example, data processing environment  100  may be the Internet. Network  102  may represent a collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and other protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of data communication links between major nodes or host computers, including thousands of commercial, governmental, educational, and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, data processing environment  100  also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).  FIG. 1  is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the different illustrative embodiments. 
     Among other uses, data processing environment  100  may be used for implementing a client server environment in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented. A client server environment enables software applications and data to be distributed across a network such that an application functions by using the interactivity between a client data processing system and a server data processing system. Data processing environment  100  may also employ a service oriented architecture where interoperable software components distributed across a network may be packaged together as coherent business applications. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , this figure depicts a block diagram of a data processing system in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. Data processing system  200  is an example of a computer, such as server  104  or client  110  in  FIG. 1 , in which computer usable program code or instructions implementing the processes may be located for the illustrative embodiments. 
     In the depicted example, data processing system  200  employs a hub architecture including North Bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH)  202  and south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (SB/ICH)  204 . Processing unit  206 , main memory  208 , and graphics processor  210  are coupled to north bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH)  202 . Processing unit  206  may contain one or more processors and may be implemented using one or more heterogeneous processor systems. Graphics processor  210  may be coupled to the NB/MCH through an accelerated graphics port (AGP) in certain implementations. In some configurations, processing unit  206  may include NB/MCH  202  or parts thereof. 
     In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  212  is coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub (SB/ICH)  204 . Audio adapter  216 , keyboard and mouse adapter  220 , modem  222 , read only memory (ROM)  224 , universal serial bus (USB) and other ports  232 , and PCI/PCIe devices  234  are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub  204  through bus  238 . Hard disk drive (HDD)  226  and CD-ROM  230  are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub  204  through bus  240 . PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, and PC cards for notebook computers. PCI uses a card bus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM  224  may be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS). In some configurations, ROM  224  may be an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) or any other similarly usable device. Hard disk drive  226  and CD-ROM  230  may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. A super I/O (SIO) device  236  may be coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub (SB/ICH)  204 . 
     An operating system runs on processing unit  206 . The operating system coordinates and provides control of various components within data processing system  200  in  FIG. 2 . The operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as AIX® (AIX is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries), Microsoft® Windows® (Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries), or Linux® (Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries). An object oriented programming system, such as the Java™ programming system, may run in conjunction with the operating system and provides calls to the operating system from Java™ programs or applications executing on data processing system  200  (Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., in the United States and other countries). 
     Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  226 , and may be loaded into main memory  208  for execution by processing unit  206 . The processes of the illustrative embodiments may be performed by processing unit  206  using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory, such as, for example, main memory  208 , read only memory  224 , or in one or more peripheral devices. 
     The hardware in  FIGS. 1-2  may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory, equivalent non-volatile memory, or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in  FIGS. 1-2 . In addition, the processes of the illustrative embodiments may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system. 
     In some illustrative examples, data processing system  200  may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is generally configured with flash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data. A bus system may comprise one or more buses, such as a system bus, an I/O bus, and a PCI bus. Of course, the bus system may be implemented using any type of communications fabric or architecture that provides for a transfer of data between different components or devices attached to the fabric or architecture. 
     A communications unit may include one or more devices used to transmit and receive data, such as a modem or a network adapter. A memory may be, for example, main memory  208  or a cache, such as the cache found in north bridge and memory controller hub  202 . A processing unit may include one or more processors or CPUs. 
     The depicted examples in  FIGS. 1-2  and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  200  also may be a tablet computer, laptop computer, or telephone device in addition to taking the form of a PDA. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3 , this figure depicts a block diagram of a service planning application in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Service planning application  302  may be implemented as service planning application  105  in  FIG. 1 . 
     Service planning application  302  accepts ticket  304  as input. Ticket  304  may be information of a service request in any form without limitation. 
     Ticket history  306  may be similar to ticket history  109  in  FIG. 1 . Ticket history  306  provides records of past tickets, such as upon query from service planning application  302 . A record of a past ticket includes not just the information about the corresponding service request, such as the text of the summary or detail of the request, but also information about the resolution of the ticket. The information about the resolution of the ticket may include the category and priority that was assigned to the ticket. 
     The resolution information may also optionally include the time intervals between various actions taken with respect to ticket since the ticket was received until the ticket was closed. The resolution information may also optionally include information about actions taken, dependent actions, and actions on which these actions were dependent. 
     Similarly, the resolution information may also optionally include information about actors—persons or systems who acted upon the ticket, dependent actors, and actors on which these actors were dependent. For example, one person working on one part of the ticket may be dependent on another person working on another part of the ticket, or a person working on the ticket may have required approval from a supervisor before the person could proceed with an action. As another example, an application that restarted during an action as a part of the work on a ticket may have been dependent upon another application restarting or providing data for that action to complete. 
     Keyword lexicon  308  may be similar to keyword lexicon  107  in  FIG. 1 . Keyword lexicon  308  may provide information usable for determining one or more categories that may be assigned to ticket  304 . For example, in one embodiment, keyword lexicon  308  may provide a list of words or phrases that may be searched for by parsing the text of the service requested in ticket  304 . Using any matching words or phrases found in ticket  304 , the records provided by ticket history  306  may be searched for those matching words or phrases. Past tickets containing some or all of those matching words or phrases may be further analyzed to determine the category and priority assigned to those past tickets. 
     In another example embodiment, keyword lexicon  308  may provide alternative words or phrases for words or phrases found in ticket  304 . A search of records from ticket history  306  can proceed using the words or phrases from ticket  304 , alternative words or phrases provided by keyword lexicon  308 , or a combination thereof, to find matching words or phrases. Past tickets containing some or all of those words or phrases may be further analyzed to determine the category and priority assigned to those past tickets. 
     In another embodiment, keyword lexicon  308  may provide words or phrases in another language for words or phrases found in ticket  304 . A search of records from ticket history  306  can proceed using the words or phrases from ticket  304 , words or phrases in the other language provided by keyword lexicon  308 , or a combination thereof, to find matching words or phrases. Past tickets containing some or all of those words or phrases may be further analyzed to determine the category and priority assigned to those past tickets. Note that more than one ticket history  306  may participate to provide records of past tickets. For example, one instance of ticket history  306  may provide records in a first language, and another instance in another language. 
     Service planning application  302  may also accept SLA  310  as input. Service planning application  302  may derive the conditions, restrictions, or rules of SLA  310 , or receive them in a form usable within application  302  from a source of SLA  310 . For example, an instance of SLA  310  may require that a ticket of the highest configured priority must be closed within twenty four hours, and a ticket must be closed within seven days of opening regardless of the priority assigned to the ticket. Accordingly, service planning application  302  may derive the twenty-four hours and seven days as the restricting parameters from SLA  310  for prioritizing and routing ticket  304 . Many other types of information in SLA  310  usable in this manner will be conceivable from this disclosure to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the same are contemplated within the scope of the invention. 
     Service planning application  302  may also accept information about ticket queues  312 . For example, an organization may maintain different queues for sequencing or scheduling tickets. A ticket may be queued to a particular queue based on any criterion, including but not limited to the category or priority of the ticket. For example, one queue may hold the tickets for one supported application, and another for another application. As another example, one queue may be for one service personnel and another for another personnel. As another example, one queue may be for one client and another for another client. Many other ways of queuing tickets for resolution will be conceivable from this disclosure to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the same are contemplated within the scope of the invention. 
     Based on the category and priority assigned to ticket  304 , service planning application  302  may attempt to route ticket  304  to a ticket queue such that the relevant restrictions from SLA  310  are satisfied. Accordingly, service planning application  302  outputs suggested categorization  314  and suggested priority  316  for ticket  304 . 
     Service planning application  302  may also output suggested routing  318 . In one embodiment, suggested routing  318  may indicate a queue from ticket queues  312  where ticket  304  should be queued. In another embodiment, suggested routing  318  may indicate one or more actors to whom ticket  304  should be assigned. In another embodiment, suggested routing  318  may indicate a workflow where processing of ticket  304  should be inserted. Service planning application  302  may additionally insert all or part of the processing of ticket  304  into one or more workflows. 
     Should processing of ticket  304  not meet the conditions or restrictions of SLA  310 , service planning application  302  may perform escalation or notification  320 . For example, service planning application  302  may notify a client account manager that ticket  304  will likely not be closed according to SLA  310 . As another example, service planning application  302  may override the assigned priority of ticket  304  and place or escalate ticket  304  ahead of certain other tickets. 
     With reference to  FIG. 4 , this figure depicts a block diagram of example components of a service planning application in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Service planning application  402  may be implemented as service planning application  302  in  FIG. 3 . 
     Parser  404  may be a component that parses or searches a ticket&#39;s data, such as to identify words or phrases that can be used for categorizing and prioritizing the ticket as described above. Lookup and analysis component  406  may perform the lookup of a keyword lexicon to identify a set of words or phrases that are related to the words or phrases identified by the parser. Component  406  may analyze the records from a ticket history. The analysis may be to determine whether one or more ticket having similar words or phrases, as resulting from the lookup, have been closed or worked on in the past. Lookup and analysis component  406  may be implemented as separate components within the scope of the invention. 
     Delay and restrictions component  408  may compute a delay in processing the ticket, such as by considering the existing workload in the various ticket queues where the ticket would be scheduled. Component  408  may also identify, receive, or determine restrictions and/or conditions of one or more relevant SLAs. Component  408  may consider the restrictions and/or conditions of the SLAs in making the delay determination as described above. Delay and restrictions component  408  may be implemented as separate components within the scope of the invention. 
     Workflow coordination component  410  may coordinate the processing actions of a ticket into one or more workflows. For example, component  410  may communicate with a scheduler or calendaring application to schedule a processing action for a ticket. 
     Notification and reporting component  412  may perform reporting activities. For example, component  412  may edit a log file as an event of an action completion is received from a workflow. As another example, component  412  may email a reminder to an actor of an upcoming action on a ticket. As another example, component  412  may notify a supervisor when an action is not completed within a planned timeframe. 
     Component  412  may also escalate a ticket. For example, component  412  may increase the priority of a ticket to close the ticket within SLA parameters. As another example, component  412  may escalate a ticket resolution issue to a supervisor, for example, to request more resources for the ticket resolution. Escalation may be implemented as a separate component within the scope of the invention. Generally, the invention does not limit how the various functions of an embodiment are implemented in any given implementation. 
     With reference to  FIG. 5 , this figure depicts a flowchart of an example process of automatic planning of service requests in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Process  500  may be implemented in service planning application  402  in  FIG. 4 . 
     Process  500  begins by receiving the information of a ticket (step  502 ). Process  500  locates information in the ticket that is usable for categorization and prioritization of the ticket (step  504 ). Process  500  looks up ticket history records using the information of step  504  (step  506 ). 
     Process  500  determines whether a category has been found from one or more past tickets having information corresponding to information of step  504  (step  508 ). If a category is not identified from the ticket history records (“No” path of step  508 ), process  500  analyzes the ticket for information to translate, such as to different words in the same or different language, (step  510 ). 
     Process  500  translates the information using a keyword lexicon (step  512 ). Process  500  selects appropriate history records to search for the translated information (step  514 ). Process  500  returns to step  506 . In an alternate embodiment, steps  510 ,  512 , and  514  may be performed in combination with step  504  and the lookup of step  506  may be performed with the combined information. 
     If process  500  determines that a category has been found (“Yes” path of step  508 ), process  500  determines whether a priority of the ticket can be established in a manner similar to the matching past tickets (step  516 ). If a priority of the ticket cannot be established (“No” path of step  516 ), process  500  may further analyze the ticket history records to determine possible priorities that can be assigned to the ticket (step  518 ). If further analysis is to be performed (“Yes” path of step  518 ), process  500  may return to step  510 . If further analysis is not to be performed (“No” path of step  518 ), process  500  assigns the ticket a default priority (step  520 ). 
     Following step  520 , or if a priority has been established for the ticket (“Yes” Path of step  516 ), process  500  computes any SLA restrictions that may affect the processing of the ticket (step  522 ). Process  500  determines delays in one or more ticket queues where the ticket is to be routed (step  524 ). Process  500  may further attempt to insert the ticket or an action there for into one or more workflows to meet the SLA restrictions or restrictions received from another source (step  526 ). 
     Process  500  determines whether the workflows with the ticket or actions inserted therein will satisfy the restrictions (step  528 ). If the restrictions will be satisfied (“Yes” path of step  528 ), process  500  inserts the ticket or an action there for into a workflow (step  530 ) and ends thereafter. If a restriction will not be satisfied (“No” path of step  528 ), process  500  may escalate the ticket or notify someone (step  532 ) and end thereafter. 
     With reference to  FIG. 6 , this figure depicts a flowchart of an example process of translating words or phrases from a ticket for automatic planning of service requests in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Process  600  may be implemented in service planning application  402  in  FIG. 4 . Process  600  may be used in place of, or in conjunction with steps  504 ,  510 ,  512 , and  514  of process  500  in  FIG. 5 . 
     Process  600  begins by translating information from a ticket into a second language (step  602 ). For example, process  600  may translate certain words or phrases parsed from the ticket as describing the problem, the service, or a combination thereof, identified in the ticket. Process  600  may translate in step  602  by using a keyword lexicon that provides the translations of the parsed words or phrases into the second language. 
     Process  600  selects records of tickets in the second language from a ticket history (step  604 ). For example, an instance of a ticket history repository may provide records of tickets in a particular language. Process  600  may request those records that may include the same or similar translated words or phrases. 
     Process  600  looks up the selected record to determine the category and/or the priority of the past tickets in those records (step  606 ). Process  600  then makes the suggestions using the lookup of those records (step  608 ), such as by using process  500  in  FIG. 5 . Process  600  ends thereafter. 
     The components in the block diagrams and the steps in the flowcharts described above are described only as examples. The components and the steps have been selected for the clarity of the description and are not limiting on the illustrative embodiments of the invention. For example, a particular implementation may combine, omit, further subdivide, modify, augment, reduce, or implement alternatively, any of the components or steps without departing from the scope of the illustrative embodiments. Furthermore, the steps of the processes described above may be performed in a different order within the scope of the invention. 
     Thus, a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided in the illustrative embodiments for automatic planning of service requests. Using an embodiment of the invention, a service request can be categorized, prioritized, and even routed automatically for processing. An embodiment may further assist in ensuring compliance with an SLA in processing a ticket for a service request. An embodiment may also provide automatic service request ticket processing in multiple languages. 
     The invention can take the form of an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software or program code, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, and microcode. 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Further, a computer storage medium may contain or store a computer-readable program code such that when the computer-readable program code is executed on a computer, the execution of this computer-readable program code causes the computer to transmit another computer-readable program code over a communications link. This communications link may use a medium that is, for example without limitation, physical or wireless. 
     A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage media, and cache memories, which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage media during execution. 
     A data processing system may act as a server data processing system or a client data processing system. Server and client data processing systems may include data storage media that are computer usable, such as being computer readable. A data storage medium associated with a server data processing system may contain computer usable code. A client data processing system may download that computer usable code, such as for storing on a data storage medium associated with the client data processing system, or for using in the client data processing system. The server data processing system may similarly upload computer usable code from the client data processing system. The computer usable code resulting from a computer usable program product embodiment of the illustrative embodiments may be uploaded or downloaded using server and client data processing systems in this manner. 
     Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. 
     Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. 
     The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.