Workforce Management Software Suite
by Phi Division Ltd, Hungary
Number of agents in half
an hour
The challenge
Call curve
Workforce cost is 40-60% of total
operational costs of a call center.
20-30% average fluctuation should be
calculated which influences availability
of call center.
10
8
6
4
2
interval (min)
Underseating – reduced free
time
Overseating – growing free
time
Workforce planning which fits for call curve
or optimization of existing workforce for call curve?
Underseating – negative
customer experience
Overseating - no
significant added value
29
27
25
23
21
19
17
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
0
1
Strategic service expectations (service
levels, call control theories, open
hours, composition of workforce,
division of labour) creates the
framework of workforce planning.
12
Number of calls
Distribution of incoming calls is not
constant. Not controlled, external
factors affect call quantity.
call queues above the line,
free agents under the line
Management Summary
Contact center outsourcers, financial services, travel,
hospitality, telecommunication providers, retailers and ecommerce companies are some of the most frequent users
of contact center WFM software.
Enterprises using WFM solutions to report the following
achivements:
MarketScope: Workforce
Management Software
for the Contact Center
Wendy S. Close, Tom
Berg
Document
Type: Strategic Analysis
Report
Note Number: R-21-0614
•Reduced time to create agent schedules by 45 percent to
90 percent
•Increased service levels by 10 percent to 13 percent
•Decreased payroll costs by 10 percent to 13 percent
•Decreased call abandon rates to 3 percent. (Overall call
abandonment rates consistently average around 7
percent; however, the best-performing 25 percent of desks
average only 3 percent abandonment, according to
Gartner Measurement.)
Case study: workforce mgmt automation for
a leading telecom service provider
Manual roster making,
based on historical data
Chaotic seating, decreasing
workforce satisfaction
Varying quality parameters
Human resources out of
proportion to service level
achieved
Requirement analysis,
determined by
planning inputs
Preparing system
specification
• Flexible roster that
easily follows
unpredictable events
• Supporting
infrastructure, time of
preparing roster reduced
radically
• Steady service level
System implementation
and support
Architecture of main modules
Phinesse
overtime
Phinesse
outbound
Csiribiri
Csiribiri
client
Csiribiri
client
client
Csiribiri
admin
Phinesse DB
roster builder
Application &
communication
server
Imitátor
Imitátor
client
Imitátor
client
client
ACD
Phinesse DB
planner
Phinesse
DB
Event/
message
server
CMS
loader
CTI
CMS
XML
loader
XML files
Phinesse
XML
planner
Phinesse
XML roster
builder
Integration to AIC
Break/ACW/consulting
transfer permission
PhiNesse
Break/ACW/con
sulting transfer
request
On line
traffic
Agent
data by
state
skill
actual
data
AIC
Making roster
without WFMS
 A roster can be
made this way as
well…

WFMS is most
useful at 35 agents or
above

Depends on
complexity of roster
(number of skills,
cross-login etc.)
With PhiNesse

This way:
Input data
processing
Output data
Input data
Time
period
Planned
traffic by skill (historical data +
trends)
Labour
regulations
Service-Level
expectations
Requirements
of agents
(ad hoc / regular)
Quantity
of back office activities,
outbound campaignes, breaks
Planning
Number
of outsourced workforce
of seats (by skill)
Agent-Skill,
cross-login
Parameters of shifts (length, start time, etc…)
The ideal output

Should fit annual Service Level requirements.

No accumulation in Back Office activities.

Efficiency of outbound campaigns should be
satisfactory for the procurer as well
No
violation of labour laws, local regulations and
collective agreements
 Agents
work in a friendly atmosphere, where their
personal requests are considered in the roster. Shifts
should be swapped simply and without managerial
involvment between agents with the same skills.
The process of automated roster
 Initial, static parameters

Erlang table for workforce requirement
based on expected service level
Prediction
of traffic curves based on
historical data and trends
Workforce
requirement calculation based
on Erlang values by skill
Defining
forecastable personal
requirements, assigning skills
Defining
shift plan
Defining
dynamic parameters
Building
the roster automatically
 Initial static parameters
 Erlang table for workforce requirement calculation
 Prediction of traffic curves based on historical data and trends
 Workforce requirement calculation based on Erlang values by skill
Defining
forecastable personal requirements, assigning skills
Defining
shift plan: parameters of shifts for each skill can be
defined (start time, length of shift, required number of people)
 Defining dynamic
parameters and
building the roster
Different views of the complete roster
 Global coverage
Different views of the complete roster
 View by agent
Different views of the complete roster
 What the agent receives
Different views of the complete roster
 What the agent receives (Excel
export)
Shift
exchanger
module
Swapping of ready rosters


No need of management control
Popular (25% of shifts is swapped)
Windows for
shift swapping
 Client side windows of
shift exchanger
Bidder
 Agents can choose shifts within the given possibilities
 Client side of the
bidder application:
bidding for the shifts
of virtual roster
 Supervisor can review the actual state of bid
Agent state managing module
 Scheduling of breaks is a critical factor in call centers
 Planning of breaks: overseating
 Break and back-office activity schedule by agent
 Break planning and control: static vs. dynamic