Patent ID: 8688684

Claim:
A method, comprising: a processor executing a service matcher and a work assignment mechanism; the service matcher receiving a work item having one or more attributes that enable a routing decision to be made with respect to routing the work item among a plurality of resources in a contact center; the service matcher defining a qualifier set for the work item, wherein defining a qualifier set comprises: generating an initial bitmap for the work item; searching a dictionary database for a qualifier set definition similar to the initial bitmap; if a similar qualifier set definition is found, providing, as the qualifier set, the similar qualifier set definition with the work item in the work pool; if a similar qualifier set definition is not found, defining, as the qualifier set, a new qualifier set definition for the work item; the work assignment mechanism including the work item in a work pool that includes work items associated with customers; the work assignment mechanism comparing the one or more attributes of the work item, in the qualifier set, with attributes of the plurality of resources; the work assignment mechanism selecting, based on the comparing step, a first resource from the plurality of resources to receive the work item; and a routing engine routing the work item to the first resource.