The Employees Module
Note 2: The employee filter controls the attendee list For
example, if the employee filter is set to display part-time employees, only part-time employees are listed in the attendee field.
—End—
Adding Vacation Days Vacation days are treated as a special kind of event if they are selected from the right-click menu.
• The start and end times for vacation day are automatically set to the organization’s start and end hours for the vacation day.
• The Rule for counting toward min/max hours is automatically set to Use underlying shift.
Where should vacations be added?
You can add or change vacation days from any calendar in the Employee or
Calendar modules in Organization and Campaign modes. In general: • Add vacation days in the Organization mode’s Employees module for
vacations during time periods that have not been scheduled.
• Add vacation days in the Campaign mode’s Calendar module for vacations during time periods that have already been scheduled. This gives you a view of the overall schedule for the period of the vacation and lets you assess its impact. Remember to refresh the service levels after the vacation has been added. You might also want to reschedule at this time.
To create a vacation day: Step Action
1 Select the employee’s name.
2 In the lower calendar tab, right-click the day or shift and select Make
Vacation Day. The entire day is marked as a vacation day.
3 To create multiple vacation days, right-click the vacation day you just created, select Edit Time Off, and then click Add Recurrence to create a recurring time-off event with Vacation as the acitivity, and set the recurrence time, period, and pattern.
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To remove a vacation day, click anywhere in the vacation day, and then click the Delete button on the toolbar.
You can also add vacations by right-clicking the calendar and selecting
New > Create Time Off. See"Creating and Modifying Time Off Events" (page 143).
Creating Floating Events You can create a Calendar Event and make the event “float,” that is, make its start time a range to accommodate employee schedules. In the Calendar, right-click and choose Create Floating Event.
Note: You must reschedule events to have the Forecasting and
Scheduling scheduler distribute the floating events after they have been entered. When you initially create a floating event, it is placed at the earliest start time of the event.
• Event Attributes—Specify all attributes of the Calendar Event. • Possible Days—Click the days the event can take place, the earliest
time it can start, and the latest time it can start (or select a number and use the arrows) on each day.
• Time Zone—The time zone of the organization. This field cannot be
changed.
When a floating event is scheduled, it is scheduled around the schedules of those participants.
Creating Recurring Floating Events In Campaign mode, you can create a calendar event and make the event simultaneously "float" and "recurring," that is, make its start time a range to accommodate employee schedules, with this range potentially recurring over a period of time.
To create a recurring floating event: Step Action
1 In the Calendar, right-click and choose Create Recurring Floating
Event.
Note: You must reschedule events to have the Forecasting and
Scheduling scheduler distribute the recurring floating events after they have been entered. When you initially create a recurring floating event, it is placed at the earliest start time of the event in each recurring period.
128 Organization Mode Modules and Tasks
• Event Attributes—Specify all attributes of the calendar event. • Possible Days—Click the days the event can take place, the
earliest time it can start, and the latest time it can start (or select a number and use the arrows) on each day.
• Recurrence Properties—Select the start and end dates of the
recurring period and specify how often the event is to recur.
• Time Zone—The time zone of the organization. This field can’t
be changed.
When a recurring floating event is scheduled, it is scheduled around the schedules of those participants.
—End—
Creating an Unavailability An unavailability is a general category that simply indicates that an employee is unavailable for scheduling. An employee can be unavailable for a short period (8:00 - 10:00 a.m., for example), for an entire day, or for the same period across several days. Unavailabilities are typically used to prevent Forecasting and Scheduling from scheduling a shift when the employee cannot be at work.
To make a period unavailable:
• Drag across the period you want to make unavailable. The period is marked unavailable.
To create a day-long unavailability for a single day:
• Right-click anywhere next to the employee, and then select Make
Unavailable. The entire day is marked as unavailable.
Note: If an employee will always be unavailable on a particular
day, create the unavailability as a recurring calendar event. See "Recurring Unavailability Events" (page 148).
To make the same period unavailable over more than one day:
• If the employee is unavailable during the same time period over several days, drag across the period and the days.
Note: Multiple-day dragging works in the employee personal calendar
in either Organization or Campaign mode. Click the Calendar tab in the Employees module or double-click the employee’s name in the
The Employees Module 129
You can create a Calendar Event, Time Off, or Unavailability that
automatically recurs at regular intervals, such as a meeting that takes place every Monday and Friday. In the Calendar, right click, and then choose New
> Create Recurring Event. The Recurrence Attributes window opens,
which has the following sections:
• General—Specify the type of event and when it can occur.
• Event time for each recurrence day—Specify the start time, end time,
and length of the event.
• Recurrence period—Select the start and end dates of the recurring
event.
• Recurrence pattern—Type the frequency in Recur every…weeks.
Select the days of the week when the event will take place. (For an event recurring multiple days in the same week, the frequency of weeks should be one, with multiple days selected.)
• Attendees—Use the Add >> and << Remove buttons to select the
employees affected by the event.
Note: In Organization mode, when you add an unavailability, it is set as a
recurring event ending in the year 2038. When you add an unavailability in Campaign mode, it applies only to the current scheduling period.
Recurring Multiple-Day Unavailabilities
Forecasting and Scheduling treats multiple-day unavailabilities as a single unavailability that recurs each selected day.
• If the multiple-day unavailability is created in the Organization mode, it is automatically set to recur each week. For example, the unavailability shown above is set to recur each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday each week until 1/1/2038. To limit it to one week, you must remove the recurrence.
• If the multiple-day unavailability is created in the Campaign mode, it is only set for the dates and times selected. The last day the event will recur is the last date selected during the drag.
To delete an unavailability: Step Action
1 Click the unavailable period to highlight it.
2 Press the Delete key on your keyboard. Do this for each unavailable period.
130 Organization Mode Modules and Tasks
Locking and Unlocking Shifts, Shift Activities, and Calendar Events Forecasting and Scheduling does not adjust or reschedule locked shifts, shift activities, and calendar events. Locked periods are crosshatched.
To lock a shift, shift activity, or calendar event: Step Action
1 Right-click the shift, shift activity, or calendar event, and then select
Lock Shift or Lock Shift Activity from the menu.
Or
Drag the shift, shift activity, or calendar event to a new time. Or
Change the time of the shift in the dialog box or the calendar event in the Edit Calendar Event dialog box. Set the time of a shift activity in the Edit Shift Activity dialog box.
—End—
To unlock a shift, shift activity, or calendar event: Step Action
1 Right-click the shift, shift activity, or calendar event.
2 Select Unlock Shift or Unlock Shift Activity from the menu.
Note: You cannot use the Lock/Unlock Multiple... command in
Organization mode. See"Locking and Unlocking Multiple Shifts" (page 196)for information on using this command in campaign mode.
—End—
Adding Employee Preferences
Use the Preferences tab to set employee preferences for days off and shift start times. Preferences are indicated by a number between 1 (highest) and 99 (lowest). You can set preferences for blocks of starting times (Start Early, Start Late) on the Employee grid. The block preferences are used when individual user-defined preferences cannot be met.
The Employees Module 131
Note: Employee preferences are used in combination with other
preferences and with seniority and ranking settings. See"Preferences and Priorities" (page 442).
Preferences are independent of time, and do not change from scheduling period to scheduling period.
To add start-time preferences:
Step Action
1 Click the employee’s name to highlight it, and then click the
Preferences tab in the lower pane. (You can set preferences for only
one employee at a time.)
2 Click a single time cell, or drag across a block of cells, and then type a number. Preferences are indicated by a number between 1 (highest) and 99 (lowest). This number is used as the preference in all highlighted cells.
• Click the border around the cell, move the cursor till it turns to a +, and drag to select adjacent cells.
• Highlight an area and drag it to move it to a new location.
If a group of cells with different preferences is highlighted and a new number is entered, all highlighted cells are changed to the new preference.
—End—
To add days-off preferences:
• In the Days Off column, type a preference for each day off.
Note: The days-off preference is a part of the start-time preferences.
For example, a Monday with a preference of 5 is more important than a start time with a preference of 10, but less important than a start-time preference of 4.
To delete preferences:
• Select a cell or group of cells, and then press the Delete key to clear preferences from the highlighted cells.
132 Organization Mode Modules and Tasks
WARNING
Do NOT use the Delete button on the toolbar—this deletes the selected employee.
Start Early/Start Late
You set preferences for blocks of starting times (Start Early, Start Late) on the Employee grid. Forecasting and Scheduling uses block preferences when individual user-defined preferences cannot be met.
Assigning Work Patterns to Employees
Use the Work Patterns tab to assign the patterns created in the Work
Rules module (see"The Work Patterns Tab" (page 103)) to each employee.
Note: Although it is possible to assign agents a work pattern for which
they do not have appropriate skills, the agents are never scheduled for that work pattern.
To assign a work pattern to an employee:
Step Action
1 Click the Work Patterns tab in the lower pane. Since each work pattern is assigned to an employee type (full-time, part-time, and so forth), only patterns appropriate to the selected employee’s type are displayed.
2 In the OK column, click a pattern with a Delete button. A green OK button is displayed showing that the pattern can be assigned.
3 Add the employee’s preference for that shift—a number between 1 (highest) and 99 (lowest). This preference is used when scheduling. See"Preferences and Priorities" (page 442).
Note: Remember that Forecasting and Scheduling selects only
one pattern per week for each employee. In the preceding illustration, the employee will be assigned either the SF - Full Time 1, SF - Full Time 2, SF Full Time 1 with no weekends, or SF Full Time 2 with no weekends, not a mixture of the four.
The work pattern is selected/deselected, and its preference value set for the period displayed in the Start Date and End Date columns of the work pattern display.
The Employees Module 133
To select a different period:
Step Action
1 Click the Effective Dates button (resembles a calendar) on the employee row for which you want to change the period.
A dialog box appears, allowing you to set the effective dates. See "Effective Dates" (page 118)for more details.
—End—
Assigning Rotations to Employees
Note: If a rotation is assigned to an employee, the Work Patterns tab
is not available.
Use the Rotations tab to assign shift rotation patterns to employees. Rotations are created in the Work Rules module (see"Rotations" (page 96)).
To assign a rotation to an employee:
Step Action
1 Click the Rotations tab in the lower pane.
2 In the OK column, click a pattern with a red X. A green check is displayed showing that the rotation has been assigned. Only one rotation can be assigned.
3 Select the Work Pattern on which the rotation will start. Only the work patterns assigned to this rotation are available.
Note: If you change the work pattern, the rotation positioning
changes for all the weeks in the pattern.
—End—
Assigning Assignment Rules to Employees
Use the Assignment Rules tab to assign assignment rules to employees. You create assignment rules and rotations in the Work Rules module (see "Using Assignment Rules" (page 94).
Each assignment rule can be applied on a scheduling period-to-scheduling period recurring basis independently from the other rules.
134 Organization Mode Modules and Tasks
To assign an assignment rule to an employee:
Step Action
1 Click the Assignment Rules tab in the lower pane.
2 In the OK column, click a pattern with a red X. A green check mark is displayed showing that the rule has been assigned.
—End—
To have the rule recur according to a weekly pattern:
Step Action
1 Type the frequency at which the pattern recurs in the Weeks column. You can enter 1 to 26 weeks.
2 Select whether the pattern is active or not active during each weekly cycle.
3 Set the week of the cycle you are now in.
Note: If you change the week of the cycle, the rotation
positioning changes for all the weeks in the cycle.
—End—
Assigning Skills to Employees
Use the Skills tab to assign skills to employees. You create skills in Settings. For complete information about skill-based scheduling, see"Multi-Contact and Skill-Based Scheduling" (page 213).
To assign a skill to an employee:
Step Action
1 Click the Skills tab in the lower pane.
2 In the OK column, click a pattern with a red X. A green check mark is displayed showing that the skill has been assigned.
3 Assign a proficiency level for the skill. If you use proficiencies to schedule, the level entered in the employee grid (see"Employee Grid Fields" (page 120)) is ignored and the skill-related proficiencies are used.
The Employees Module 135
4 Assign a priority to each skill. Lower numbers mean that the skill has a higher priority for that agent. The queue listed as 1 is considered to be the agent’s primary queue. Priority 2 is the secondary queue, and so forth.
5 Assign a classification for the agent’s skill. Possible choices are
Primary Skill, Reserve 1, Reserve 2. These classifications allow
you to specify when an agent is a reserve agent (sometimes referred to as an overflow agent) for a queue.
—End—
The skill will be selected/deselected and its related entries set for the period displayed in the Start Date and End Date columns of the work pattern display.
To select a different period:
Step Action
1 Select the Calendar icon on the employee row desired.
A dialog box pops up, allowing you to set it for the dates specified. See"Effective Dates" (page 118)for more details.
—End—
Skill Priorities
Priorities are used in skill-based scheduling to simulate contact routing when the schedule is created. They determine how contacts will be routed to your agents:
• If all priorities are equal, a contact is normally routed to the next available agent assigned to (scheduled for) the contact’s queue.
• If two or more agents are available, the contact is assigned to the agent with the highest priority.
• If an agent with two or more skills is the only person available to take a contact and contacts from more than one queue are waiting, the contact from the agent’s highest priority queue determines which contact is routed to the agent.
Note: Priorities are one of several factors used to route a contact. Other
factors, such as the length of time a contact has been holding and the time since an agent last received a contact, are also taken into account.
136 Organization Mode Modules and Tasks
Skill Classifications
An increasing number of contact centers use various sorts of reserve and overflow agents. The Primary Skill, Reserve 1, and Reserve 2 classifications enable you to designate such reserve agents.
The primary difference between normal skill assignment and reserve skill assignment is that reserve skills are only active when a certain condition is met. Otherwise, an agent is not considered eligible to answer a call needing this skill. The condition that triggers the reserve status is an expected wait time threshold that is specified in the Service Goal window. See"Reserve Thresholds" (page 180)for more information.
Exporting Employee Data
You can export employee data to a tabbed text (*.txt) file, an Excel 5 or higher (*.xls) file, or an HTML (*.htm) file.
To export employee data:
Step Action
1 From the File menu, select Export. The Employee Export dialog box appears.
2 Type a file to which you want to export the employee data, or click
Browse, and then select a file. 3 Click OK to export the information.
—End—