MAINTAINING A WORK SCHEDULE

• US 20080075268A1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: West Technology Group LLC (West Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Cox, Joseph S., Marr, Kenneth A., Medina, Steven J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/12 Counting circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

A system, method, and computer readable medium for maintaining a work schedule that comprises accepting a forecasted manpower requirement for zero or more agents, setting a recurring schedule for zero or more agents, summing the number of agents currently scheduled for an interval of time, determining a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules, calculating a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability, offering an uptime adjustment to an agent not currently scheduled if the calculated manpower delta shows additional manpower is required, and offering a downtime adjustment to an agent currently scheduled if the calculated manpower delta shows less manpower is required.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a work schedule comprising:

accepting a forecasted manpower requirement for zero or more agents setting a recurring schedule for zero or more agents;

summing the number of agents currently scheduled for an interval of time;

determining a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules;

calculating a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability;

offering an uptime adjustment to an agent not currently scheduled if the calculated manpower delta shows additional manpower is required; and

offering a downtime adjustment to an agent currently scheduled if the calculated manpower delta shows less manpower is required.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the forecasting of the manpower requirement is for at least one of one skill;

and two or more skills.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising assessing a scheduled skill and a trained skill of zero or more agents.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the setting of recurring schedules of each agent is based upon current scheduled skills.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the determination of manpower availability is based upon the scheduled skills.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the calculation of manpower delta is based upon the scheduled skills.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the offer of an uptime adjustment is based upon the trained skills.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the offer of a downtime adjustment is based upon the scheduled skills.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising:

accepting the offered uptime adjustment by at least one agent.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising:

modifying the work schedule based upon the accepted uptime adjustment.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising:

accepting the downtime adjustment by at least one agent.

12. The method of claim 11 comprising:

adjusting the work schedule based upon the accepted downtime adjustment.

13. The method of claim 1 comprising:

recalculating at a pre-determined interval, or on demand, the manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising:

summing the current schedules of agents who are scheduled to work multiple skills concurrently by a combination of skills to which they are scheduled;

allocating a scheduled skill combination count to a component skill;

determining a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules based upon an allocated skill.

15. A computer readable medium comprising instructions comprising:

assessing a trained skill and a scheduled skill of zero or more agents;

setting a recurring schedule of zero or more agents based upon the trained skills;

summing a current schedule of all agents for an interval of time based upon the scheduled skills;

determining a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules based upon the scheduled skills;

calculating a manpower delta between a forecasted manpower requirement by skill and the determined manpower availability based upon the scheduled skills;

establishing a fill target for the calculated manpower delta below which additional manpower is required based upon the scheduled skills; and

establishing a dump target for the calculated manpower delta above which less manpower is required based upon the scheduled skills.

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

offering an uptime adjustment of a work schedule to an agent who is currently not scheduled if the calculated manpower delta is below an affixed fill target based upon the trained skills; and

offering a downtime adjustment of the work schedule to an agent who is currently scheduled if the calculated manpower delta is above the established dump target based upon the scheduled skills.

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

accepting the offered uptime adjustment by at least one agent; and

modifying the work schedule based upon the accepted uptime adjustment.

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

accepting the offered downtime adjustment by at least one agent;

adjusting the work schedule based upon the accepted downtime adjustment.

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

summing the current schedules of agents who are scheduled to work multiple skills concurrently by a combination of skills to which they are scheduled;

allocating a scheduled skill combination count to a component skill; and

determining a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules based upon allocated skills.

20. A system for maintaining a work schedule, comprising:

a memory that receives at least one manpower forecast requirement, a skill assessment for zero or more agents, and zero or more work schedules for an interval of time; and

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

sets a recurring schedule of zero or more agents;

sums a current schedule of the zero or more agents for the interval of time;

determines a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules; and

calculates a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement and the determined manpower availability.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor assesses a trained skill and a scheduled skill of the at least one agent.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the processor:

sums the current schedules by a skill combination;

allocates a skill combination count across the skills; and

determines a manpower availability based upon the allocated skills.