WFM: 6 Steps of Scheduling

A schedule staffs your contact center with the number of agents you need to adequately serve your customers. Follow these steps for each group of agents you are scheduling.

Video: 6 Steps of Scheduling (length 15:47)

Step 1: Confirm the forecast

In this step, you verify the information in the forecast and make adjustments as needed. Do this for each group of agents you are scheduling.

  1. In the Schedules module, right-click on the site, group, or team and select Open.
  2. Select the date range and scenario for the schedule.
  3. Select Forecasts, Shrinkage (optional), Calculations, and Validations.
  4. Click OK. The schedule window opens.
  5. Verify the information in the upper table (forecasted hours, scheduled hours, etc.).

Step 2: Manually add activities

In this step, you add anything that would prevent agents from handling contacts. These can include activities, meetings, pre-approved absences, etc. If you know about it now, it’s better to add it before the schedule is run than after.

  1. Select the date(s) on the calendar.
  2. Right-click and select Add [activity type].
  3. Enter the information for the activity and click OK. The activity appears on the calendar.

Step 3: Run the schedule

In this step, you create the schedule.

  1. Select the agent(s) and date(s) to schedule and click Schedule. The Scheduling Session Options window opens.
  2. Under all three tabs, select any restrictions or other options you want to use. These are all optional. Always select Include troubleshooting information.
  3. Click OK. After some processing time, shift categories appear on agents’ schedules. Any broken rules or problems with the schedule appear in the Scheduling result window.

Step 4: Verify the schedule

In this step, you resolve potential scheduling problems and look for time periods with uneven staffing.

  1. Address any error messages that appeared in the Scheduling result window.
  2. Look at the Relative difference row. A colored background indicates significant over- or understaffing. For more detail, right-click on a cell and select Intraday. Select Day to go back to the day view.

Step 5: Optimize the schedule

In this step, you smooth out time periods with uneven staffing by moving days off, shifts, and activities within the shifts. After each optimization, review the results. You can run each optimization more than once, but if your contact center doesn’t have enough staff, repeated optimizations will just push the problem around rather than solving it.

Optimize days off

This step moves agents’ days off. If your contact center’s days off are fixed (for example, you are always closed on weekends), skip this section.

  1. Select the agent(s) and date(s) to optimize.
  2. Click the small arrow next to Schedule and select Optimize.
  3. On the General tab, select Days Off. Clear all the other Optimization steps.
  4. On the Days Off tab, clear the Keep existing days off box.
  5. Select or clear the remaining boxes on the remaining tabs as desired.
  6. Click OK.

Optimize time between days

This step might change agents’ shift categories and lengths.

  1. Select the agent(s) and date(s) to optimize.
  2. Click the small arrow next to Schedule and select Optimize.
  3. On the General tab, select Time between days. Clear all the other Optimization steps.
  4. Select or clear the remaining boxes on the remaining tabs as desired.
  5. Click OK.

Optimize shifts within day

This step moves agents’ activities within their shifts.

  1. Select the agent(s) and date(s) to optimize.
  2. Click the small arrow next to Schedule and select Optimize.
  3. On the General tab, select Shifts within day. Clear all the other Optimization steps.
  4. Select or clear the remaining boxes on the remaining tabs as desired.
  5. On the Shifts tab, move any activity whose time should not be changed (for example, meetings) to Do not move.
  6. Click OK.

Step 6: Finalize the schedule

With this step, agents see their new schedules for dates on or before the Publish schedules to date. Agents will not see these new schedules for dates after the Publish schedules to date. You can change this date in File > Options > Scheduling > Workflow Control Set.

  • Click Save.