Arrangement for equalizing levels of service among skills
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of selecting a call handler to handle a call, comprising the steps of:
- in response to the call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling, determining one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and
assigning the determined call handler to handle the call.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a skills-based ACD, an agent is selected to handle a call based on which available agent'"'"'s handling of the call will produce the least deviation from the agent'"'"'s target performance criteria, and a call is selected for handling by an agent based on which available call'"'"'s handling will produce the least deviation from the agent'"'"'s target performance criteria. Illustrative target performance criteria include target per-agent per-skill skill work time to staff time ratios. Moreover, the selected call is left waiting and the selected agent is left idle if handling of the call by the agent would increase deviation from the agent'"'"'s target performance criteria. This serves to equalize the levels of service given to small skills (those staffed with few agents) and large skills (those staffed with many agents).
272 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of selecting a call handler to handle a call, comprising the steps of:
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in response to the call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling, determining one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and assigning the determined call handler to handle the call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 17, 18)
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6. A method of selecting a call for handling by a call handler, comprising the steps of:
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in response to the call handler having a plurality of skills for handling calls, determining one of a plurality of available calls that need different ones of the call handler'"'"'s skills whose handling by the call handler would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill of the call handler (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and assigning the call handler to handle the determined call. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of matching calls that are available for handling with call handlers that are available to handle calls, comprising the steps of:
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in response to a call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling becoming available, selecting one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would produce a least deviation from target performance criteria; in response to a call handler having a plurality of skills for handling calls becoming available, selecting one of a plurality of available calls that need different ones of the available call handler'"'"'s skills whose handling by the call handler would produce a least deviation from target performance criteria; in response to either selection, determining whether an assignment of the agent to handle the call would increase deviation from the target performance criteria; in response to a determination that the assignment would not increase the deviation, making the assignment; and in response to a determination that the assignment would increase the deviation, forbearing from making the assignment. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method of matching calls that are available for handling with call handlers who are available to handle calls, comprising the steps of:
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in response to a call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling becoming available, determining one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; assigning the determined call handler to handle the call needing the one skill; in response to a call handler having a plurality of skills for handling calls becoming available, determining one of a plurality of available calls that need different ones of the available call handler'"'"'s skills whose handling by the available call handler would result in a smallest total deviation of per skill ratios of a corresponding skill work time and a corresponding staff time from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and assigning the available call handler to handle the determined call. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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19. An apparatus for selecting a call handler to handle a call, comprising:
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an effector, responsive to the call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling, of determining one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and an effector of assigning the determined call handler to handle the call. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. An apparatus for selecting a call for handling by a call handler, comprising:
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an effector, responsive to the call handler having a plurality of skills for handling calls, of determining one of a plurality of available calls that need different ones of the call handler'"'"'s skills whose handling by the call handler would result in a smallest total deviation of per-skill ratios of an amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls needing a skill of the call handler (skill work time) and a total amount of time spent by the call handler in handling calls (staff time) from target per-skill ratios of skill work time and staff time; and an effector of assigning the call handler to handle the determined call. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. An apparatus for matching calls that are available for handling with call handlers that are available to handle calls, comprising:
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an effector, responsive to a call needing one of a plurality of skills for its handling becoming available, of selecting one of a plurality of available call handlers having the needed skill whose handling of the call would produce a least deviation from target performance criteria, and further responsive to a call handler having a plurality of skills for handling calls becoming available, of selecting one of a plurality of available calls that need different ones of the available call handler'"'"'s skills whose handling by the call handler would produce a least deviation from target performance criteria; an effector, responsive to either selection by the selecting effector, of determining whether an assignment of the agent to handle the call would increase deviation from the target performance criteria; and an effector, responsive to a determination by the determining effector that the assignment would not increase the deviation, of making the assignment, and further responsive to a determination by the determining effector that the assignment would increase the deviation, of forbearing from making the assignment. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification