Set agent schedule impact, deferred work threshold, unstaffed shrinkage, and activity bidding preferences

In the Scheduling area of the Scheduling unit page, select the level to which agent schedule preferences impact schedules, set agent deferred work threshold to prevent occupancy from becoming too high, manage unplanned staff shrinkage, and select or disable activity bidding.

The scheduling engine generates all possible schedules with the following 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 "1", the system does its best to honor agent's preferences even when the forecast shows more need at different times of the day.

If the Agent schedule preference versus coverage focus setting is "100", the system does its best to meet the forecast need even when the times might be different from what the agent prefers.

Set the Agent schedule preference versus coverage setting

1. 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 between Preference and Coverage.

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

     Note:

     A setting or value closer to "1" mainly ignores coverage and focuses on agent preference. A setting or value closer to "100" mainly ignores agent preference and focuses on coverage. The default setting of "50" focuses equally on agent preference and coverage.

2. In the Maximum occupancy for deferred work area, use the up and down arrows to select the maximum amount of time that can be filled for agents if they are able to handle both calls and deferred work.

   Note:

   For example, if the service level is set so that agents will likely handle calls for 85% of their time and the maximum occupancy is set to 95%, then the scheduling engine adds enough deferred work to require up to 10% of the agents' time. If agents only take calls, this setting is ignored.This feature allows agents configured to receive multiple interactions the ability to receive supplemental work while waiting for calls to arrive.

3. Click the Manage shrinkage button to set the shrinkage per interval for the entire week.

4. To allow agents to bid on schedules that include the exact times for all the activities of the day, select the Enable activity bidding check box.

   Note:

   Because this option removes the flexibility for the scheduling engine to optimize activities such as breaks and lunches for future schedules, best practice recommends only selecting it to increase agent satisfaction.

5. To prevent the system from adjusting schedule forecast and scheduled requirements by looking at past service performance compared with predicted performance, un-check the Use calibration check box.

6. Click Save on the Interaction Optimizer toolbar to save your changes.

Related topics

Configure unplanned shrinkage

Configure weeks of data to use in forecast

Create schedule and forecast names

Scheduling Overview

Working with Scheduling Units