PROPOSING DOWNTIME ADJUSTMENTS TO A WORK SCHEDULE

• US 20080059277A1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: West Corporation
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Cox, Joseph S., Marr, Kenneth A., Medina, Steven J.
• Application Number:
  US11/565,676
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059277A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group

Abstract

A system, method, and computer readable medium for proposing downtime adjustments to a work schedule for at least one currently scheduled agent, that comprises, accepting at lease one forecasted manpower requirement of zero or more agents for an interval of time for a skill, requesting a downtime display for a schedule time period for the at least one currently scheduled agent, determining a manpower availability for the an interval of time based upon all agents currently scheduled for each skill type, calculating a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement for the an interval of time and the determined manpower availability for each scheduled skill type, and proposing a downtime adjustment if the calculated manpower delta shows a manpower overage for all scheduled skill types of the at least one currently scheduled agent.

Claims

1. A method for proposing downtime adjustments to a work schedule for at least one currently scheduled agent, comprising:

accepting at lease one forecasted manpower requirement of zero or more agents for an interval of time for a skill;

requesting a downtime display for a schedule time period for the at least one currently scheduled agent;

determining a manpower availability for the an interval of time based upon all agents currently scheduled for each skill type;

calculating a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement for the an interval of time and the determined manpower availability for each scheduled skill type; and

proposing a downtime adjustment if the calculated manpower delta shows a manpower overage for all scheduled skill types of the at least one currently scheduled agent.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

tabulating proposed downtime adjustment.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising:

approving the proposed downtime adjustment by the at least one currently scheduled agent.

4. The method of claim 3 comprising:

modifying the work schedule of the at lease one currently scheduled agent based upon the approved downtime adjustment.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising:

displaying modified work schedule.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising:

assessing the type and number of scheduled skills by the at least one currently scheduled agent.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising:

sorting the proposed downtime adjustment based upon the calculated manpower delta.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising:

determining which skill type has the calculated manpower delta.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the downtime display is requested by the at least one currently scheduled agent.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduled time period is one work shift.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the skills are assessed separately by type based on the calculated manpower delta.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the proposed downtime adjustment is prioritized based on the calculated manpower delta.

13. A computer readable medium comprising instructions comprising:

requesting a downtime display for a schedule time period for at least one agent;

assessing the type and number of skills of the at least one agent;

determining a manpower availability based upon assessed skills for each skill type;

calculating a manpower delta between a forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability based upon assessed skills for each skill type;

proposing a downtime adjustment if the calculated manpower delta shows a manpower overage for all skills assessed to the at least one agent; and

tabulating proposed downtime adjustment.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 comprising instructions for:

approving the proposed downtime adjustment by the at least one agent.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 comprising instructions for:

modifying a work schedule based upon the approved downtime adjustment.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 comprising instructions for:

subtracting approved downtime adjustment to a dynamic allocation queue.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 comprising instructions for:

displaying modified work schedule.

18. A system for proposing downtime adjustments to a work schedule wherein a manpower requirement is forecasted for at least one agent possessing at least one skill type, comprising:

a memory that receives at least one of;

a manpower forecast and a skill assessment for an agent; and

a processor communicably coupled to the memory, wherein the processor;

requests a downtime display for a schedule time period for at least one agent;

assesses the type and number of skills of at least one agent;

determines a manpower availability based upon assessed skills for each skill type;

calculates a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability based upon assessed skills for each skill type; and

proposes a downtime adjustment if the calculated manpower delta shows a manpower overage for all skills assessed to the agent.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor:

approves the proposed downtime adjustment; and

tabulates proposed downtime adjustment proposals.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the processor:

modifies the work schedule based upon the approved downtime adjustment.