Finalize the staffing forecast

The forecast must be finalized before you can start scheduling for this period.

Apply the previously created standard workload day templates to add the intraday arrival pattern for each day of the week. The intraday arrival pattern defines the distribution within the day and the volume is defined by the long-term forecast.

If you work with preferences, you must apply the workload day templates before opening the preference period. This is important to verify the open hours for each day.

Handle any deviations from the standard volume or intraday arrival pattern.

EXAMPLE   
  • The workload is closed on a bank holiday—Create and apply a special workload day template that is set as closed.
  • The workload has reduced open hours on a bank holiday—Create and apply a special workload day template with reduced open hours and an adjusted intraday pattern.
  • A television commercial is planned and will likely cause higher call volumes—Add a campaign percentage for calls for the affected period.
  • An up-sell campaign is planned and will likely cause a longer average talk time—Add a campaign percentage for talk time for the affected period.
  • You want to use a higher shrinkage percentage for January when the level of sick leave is higher—Create a special skill template and apply it for January.

Continue to revise the forecast as new information is available. This can be done also when the period is scheduled, and the schedule published.

NOTE   To automatically adjust the shrinkage values for the near future, use dynamic shrinkage. See Manage dynamic shrinkage for more information

Prerequisites

  • You have the Forecasts permission.
  • The skill and workloads are created.
  • Standard workload day templates for the workloads are created.

NOTE   If there are seasonal variations, create long-term forecasts for the workloads for the period and scenario you want to work with. Although, they are not required. Volumes can be defined by the workload day templates.

Page location

Client > Forecasts > Open forecast

Procedures

  1. Right-click the skill to finalize the forecast for and select Open forecast.
  2. Select a start and end date to define the period to open the forecast for.
  3. Select for which Scenario you want to create a forecast.
  4. Click OK.

The values in the workload table are divided in forecasted values and actual values. The actual values are presented once the queue statistics for that day are available.

NOTE   If the skill has more than one workload, the tables for each workload are available as tabs above the table.

  • The total values in the Forecasted part of the table are the original forecasted values including any campaign percentage that is added.
  • The calculated volume in the Actual part of the table is calculated using the formula defined when creating the workload. See Calculate workload volume for more information. The same formula is used for calculating the forecasted volume.

The skill table is the lower of the two tables. The total values in the skill table are the sums of the total values for all the workloads of the skill.

When you view the skill table on intraday level you can see the skill targets for the day or for selected intervals and adjust them if needed. See Adjust skill targets for more information on how to do that.

The calculated Minimum occupancy and Maximum occupancy shown on intraday level for telephony and chat skills are indications of how busy the agents will be.

Hours inc stands for hours incoming and is used for email and back office skills to describe the forecasted hours of work required to handle the tasks or emails that arrive on a day. On intraday level, Agents inc is used instead.

See How the Skill table parameters work for more information.

Apply the standard workload day templates to all days to define the intraday arrival pattern. The long-term forecast volumes are not changed when you apply a standard template, unless the template says that the workload is closed. If there are no volumes, they are defined by the templates.

  1. Ensure that the workload table is set to Day level. If not, click on the Home tab and select Day in the Workload section.
  2. Click to select the whole Template row in the workload table.

  3. Select the Workload tab and click Apply standard.

    The standard workload day templates are applied to the selected days. Each day of the week has its own standard template, for example the Monday template is applied to all Mondays.

  4. Click Save.

Create special workload day templates to use for days that have different open hours or intraday arrival patterns than this day of the week normally has.

  1. Ensure that the workload table is set to Day level. If not, click on the Home tab and select Day in the Workload section.
  2. Select the Workload tab and click New.
  3. Enter a Name that clearly states what this template is used for.
  4. Click the ellipses in the top right corner to define the Open hours to use in this special workload day template. If this template is for closed days, select the Closed check box.

  5. If you need to define an intraday arrival pattern, see Define intraday arrival patterns for more information on how to select historical data, exclude non-typical days and smooth the pattern.

    EXAMPLE   When creating a special workload day template to be used on New Year's Day, the intraday arrival pattern can be based on historical data from New Year's Days or other similar days in the past.

  6. Click OK and then click Save.

NOTE   Special workload day templates can be adjusted if needed. Right-click the special workload day template in the menu below the standard workload day templates and select Edit.

Apply special workload day templates on days that have different open hours or intraday arrival patterns than this day of the week normally has.

  1. Ensure that the workload table is set to Day level. If not, click on the Home tab and select Day in the Workload section.
  2. Click to select the day to apply the template to in the workload table.
  3. Select the Workload tab.
  4. Click the arrow in the section that lists all workload day templates to show the special workload day templates.
  5. Click the special workload day template that you want to apply.
  6. Click Save.
NOTE   

The colors of the workload day templates have different meanings.

  • Green—A current standard workload day template.
  • Blue—A standard workload day template is applied, but it is not the latest version. It shows the date and time that it was created.
  • Black—A special workload day template. If it is named <WEB> a new forecast period is created in the Forecasts tool on the web.
  • Red—A manual change of the pattern has been made. It no longer matches any template.

Enter a campaign percentage to adjust the forecast for a specific period because of for example larger volumes or longer handling times.

  1. Decide on which level to apply the campaign; Month, Week, Day or Intraday level.
  2. Ensure that the workload table is set to that level. If not, click on the Home tab and select the appropriate level in the Workload section.

  3. Enter a Campaign percentage for the period that is affected.

    Depending on if it is the volume, the handling time or the wrap-up time that is affected, enter the campaign percentage in the appropriate row. Copy and paste to enter the same value to many cells.

    It is possible to set negative values to decrease the forecast.

  4. Click Save.

NOTE   To use external data, you can copy data from a local source and paste it to the Campaign % row. If you are using Windows Virtual Desktop to access Forecasts, you must use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste. You must also select Ctrl+V before you start copying content from your local source.

The standard skill templates are applied by default. Create special skill templates for days with different skill settings than this day of the week normally has. You can for example use this to apply a template with a lower shrinkage percentage for the next few days.

  1. Ensure that the skill table is set to Day level. If not, click on the Home tab and select Day in the Skill section.
  2. Select the Skill tab and click New.
  3. Enter a Name that clearly states what this template is used for.
  4. See Adjust skill targets for more information on how to adjust the values in the skill template.
  5. Click OK.

Apply special skill templates on days with different skill settings than this day of the week normally has.

  1. Ensure that the skill table is set to Day level. If not, click on the Home tab and select Day in the Skill section.
  2. Click to select the day to apply the template to in the skill table.
  3. Select the Skill tab.
  4. Click the arrow in the section that lists all skill templates to show the special skill templates.
  5. Click the special skill template that you want to apply.
  6. Click Save.

Review the result of the detailed forecast. The total forecasted hours per day, with and without shrinkage, is shown in the skill table on day level.

  1. Drill down to intraday level to review the forecasted number of agents per interval, with and without shrinkage.
  2. Click Save to save the forecast.

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