• AppointmentMaking

Use Case Title: Making an Appointment

/Discussion

Purpose/Goals (Summarize what the use case is to accomplish)

Schedule an interaction with a provider of a business service (e.g., doctor, lawyer, etc.), taking into account geographic proximity, schedule constraints of consumer(s), schedule constraints of provider, other (?) constraints.

Issues and Relevance to Uncertainty (Summarize how relevant to uncertainty reasoning and representation?)

• Uncertainty about availability of consumer(s) – their schedules may not be fully firmed up. (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Aleatory; UncertaintyType: Empirical)

• Uncertainty about availability of provider(s) – slots may open up at times consumer prefers over currently available times. (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Aleatory; UncertaintyType: Empirical)

• Uncertainty about whether provider can meet consumer’s constraints (e.g., physician specialty, does provider accept patient’s insurance). (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Epistemic and/or Aleatory (depends on type of constraint); UncertaintyType: Empirical)

• Uncertainty about time it will take consumer to get to provider’s location (or vice versa if service is provided at consumer’s locale). (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Aleatory; UncertaintyType: Empirical)

Assumptions/Preconditions (List the preconditions necessary for this use case to occur, including description of necessary context)

• Consumer(s) need capability provided by provider(s)
• Provider(s) can provide service requested by consumer(s).
• A means exists to represent constraints and preferences
  • Times available
  • Travel distance
  • Information about whether provider is an acceptable match with consumer
• Example in the medical domain is consumer’s insurance carrier and list of carriers accepted from provider;
• In general, there may be an approved and/or recommended list of providers from which consumer wishes to choose.

Required resources (List resources, such as data sources, ontologies, needed for scenario)

• List of providers of service consumer wishes to access
  • Includes characteristics such as whether provider is on one or more lists of preferred provider
  • Includes geographic information
  • Includes office hours
  • Includes other constraints on accessibility
• Calendar of consumer
• Schedule of provider and openings
• Uncertainty Ontology

Successful End (Describe what happens if this use case is successful)

Consumer is sent one or more recommended times when provider is available for scheduling. Consumer selects among these. Agreed-upon time is entered into consumer’s calendar and scheduled with provider.

Failed End (Describe what happens if this use case fails)

No provider is found who meets consumer’s constraints and is available at times consumer can make.

Main Scenario (List the sequence of events for the basic course (numbered))

1. Consumer enters system and requests to make an appointment
2. System asks which type of appointment is desired (if multiple types are supported) and requests specifics on request:
   • Consumer’s geographic location (home and work)
   • Preferred list of providers (if any – this can be a reference such as “providers accepted by xxx insurance company” or “providers recommended by publication yyy”
3. Consumer enters requested information.
4. System requests information on consumer’s goals and preferences (preferred times; preferred travel time)
5. Consumer enters requested information

   • Example - consumer requests less than 10% chance that drive from work location to provider location will take more than 30 minutes. (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Aleatory; UncertaintyType: Empirical]; UncertaintyModel: Probability)

6. System matches consumer’s information against provider’s list

   • Example - For each provider under consideration, system calls a service that estimates probability distribution on travel times from consumer's workplace to provider's location at time of appointment. System rejects all provider/appointment time combinations for which there is greater than 10% probability that driving time is greater than 30 minutes. (UncAnn - UncertaintyNature: Aleatory; UncertaintyType: Empirical]; UncertaintyModel: Probability)

7. System presents consumer with a list of providers and appointment times
   • Example - Result includes graphic of a timeline, with a bar indicating 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles on driving time from consumer's workplace to provider's location at time of appointment.
8. Consumer selects one of the options

Additional background information or references (Summarize/provide references to information to further describe or characterize use case)

Variations (List the alternatives that will not be further decomposed at this time)

• Make an appointment that involves scheduling multiple people (family therapy, marriage counseling, program review)
• Make an appointment for a virtual meeting

Open Issues