Working with Scheduling Units

When you select a scheduling unit, you can configure agent schedule preference versus coverage focus. This setting determines, when scheduling, how strongly agent preferences are taken into account versus best schedule coverage. This is the default configuration setting for agent preferences at the scheduling unit level. When a new agent group is created, this setting is used, unless the same setting is changed at the agent group level.

Note: Agents set their schedule preferences in Interaction Client. For more information, see Working with Interaction Optimizer in the Interaction Desktop online help.

The scheduling engine generates all possible schedules as it does normally with the following additional steps:

1. Score each schedule per agent in terms of preferences

2. Rank schedules per each agent in order of meeting agent preferences

If the Agent Schedule Preference Versus Coverage Focus setting  is "100", then all generated schedules are kept. If the setting is less than "100", then Interaction Optimizer uses that value, treats it as a percentile ranking, and keeps the corresponding amount of schedules. For example, with a value of "75", Interaction Optimizer eliminates the bottom 25% of schedules that were ranked (or ordered) earlier. When the scheduling engine reaches the agents/schedules/coverage evaluation phase to determine the best schedules, it now only considers schedules that meet or exceed a minimum threshold in terms of honoring agent preferences.

If the Agent Schedule Preference Versus Coverage Focus setting  is "1", then Interaction Optimizer attempts to eliminate all but the top ranked schedule, e.g., 99th percentile. Interaction Optimizer may keep a different ‘top’ schedule depending on constraints.

Note: Before you configure settings, select the appropriate scheduling unit from the Interaction Optimizer Home page Scheduling unit drop-down list.

To set the Agent Schedule Preference Versus Coverage Focus setting:

1. From the Interaction Optimizer Home page, in the Configuration area click Scheduling Unit. The Scheduling Unit tab opens.

2. In the Agent schedule preference versus coverage focus area, do one of the following:

• Click and drag the pointer on the slider bar to change the setting.
  

• Use the up or down arrows to adjust the setting.
  

• A setting of "1" mainly ignores coverage and focuses on agent preference. A setting of "100" mainly ignores agent preference and focuses on coverage. The default setting of "50" focuses equally on agent preference and coverage; a value closer to "100" focuses more on coverage, and a value closer to "1" focuses more on preferences when scheduling agents.

3. Click the Save button to save your changes.