Systems and methods for scheduling contact center agents

• US 7,660,407 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Prabhu, Vinod, Nies, James Gordon, Peleg, Uri, Fama, Jason, Shvarts, Simon, Bourke, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US11/768,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20080043985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501-26514, 37926601-2661
• US Class Current: 379/265.05
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

Systems and methods for scheduling contact center agents are provided. In this regard, a representative method includes: receiving information corresponding to work schedules and skills of agents of a remote contact center that shares contacts with a local contact center; correlating the skills with skills that are to be used for scheduling agents of the local contact center; and generating work schedules for the agents of the local contact center based, at least in part, on a correlation between the skills of the agents of the remote contact center and the local contact center, and an evaluation of the work schedules of the agents of the remote contact center.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling contact center agents, comprising:

generating a forecast requirement related to a volume of contacts to be handled by a remote contact center;

transferring the forecast requirement from a local contact center to the remote contact center, wherein the remote contact center generates work schedules for agents of the remote contact center based on the forecast requirement and skills of the agents of the remote contact center;

receiving information corresponding to the work schedules and the skills of the agents of the remote contact center that shares contacts with the local contact center, the information being contained in an export file, wherein the work schedules comprise activities;

importing the information into a database, the database being accessible to a workforce manager application associated with the local contact center that is operative to retrieve information stored in the database;

correlating the skills contained in the export file with skills that are to be used for scheduling agents of the local contact center;

correlating the activities contained in the export file with activities that are to be used for scheduling the agents of the local contact center; and

generating work schedules for the agents of the local contact center using the information from the database, the work schedules being based, at least in part, on a correlation between the skills of the agents of the remote contact center and the local contact center, a correlation between the activities of the agents of the remote contact center and the local contact center, and an evaluation of the work schedules of the agents of the remote contact center.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the contacts shared between the remote contact center and the local contact center are communicated via Internet protocol (IP) packets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the work schedules of the agents of the remote contact center are locked such that the work schedules of the agents of the remote contact center are not changed responsive to generating the work schedules for the agents of the local contact center.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the work schedules for the agents of the local contact center comprises evaluating potential schedules for the agents of the local contact center based on service level goals computed using contributions of the agents of the remote contact center.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, in receiving information, the information is received from a workforce manager application, associated with the remote contact center, of a disparate type with respect to the workforce manager application associated with the local contact center.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information contained in the export file is configured as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlating steps are performed in order to improve integration of the agents of the remote contact center with the agents of the local contact center.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the skills contained in the export file comprise a skill priority and a skill proficiency for each skill of each agent of the remote contact center.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the activities contained in the export file comprise a meeting activity and a personal day activity.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a contact volume and average interaction time forecast of events for a specified time frame during which the remote contact center generates the work schedules for the agents of the remote contact center.

11. A system for scheduling contact center agents comprising:

a processing device configured to execute a forecasting system operative to generate a forecast requirement related to a volume of contacts to be handled by a remote contact center and transfer the forecast requirement from a local contact center to the remote contact center, wherein the remote contact center generates work schedules for agents of the remote contact center based on the forecast requirement and skills of the agents of the remote contact center;

the processing device configured to execute an integration system operative to receive information corresponding to the work schedules and the skills of the agents of the remote contact center that shares contacts with the local contact center, the information being contained in an export file, wherein the work schedules comprise activities;

a database operative to store the information, the database being accessible to a workforce manager application associated with the local contact center that is operative to retrieve information stored in the database;

the processing device configured to execute the integration system operative to correlate the skills contained in the export file with skills that are to be used for scheduling agents of the local contact center, and correlate the activities contained in the export file with activities that are to be used for scheduling the agents of the local contact center; and

the processing device configured to execute a scheduling system operative to generate work schedules for the agents of the local contact center using the information from the database, the work schedules being based, at least in part, on a correlation between the skills of the agents of the remote contact center and the local contact center, a correlation between the activities of the agents of the remote contact center and the local contact center, and an evaluation of the work schedules for the agents of the remote contact center.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising the forecasting system operative to create a contact volume and average interaction time forecast of events for a specified time frame during which the remote contact center generates the work schedules for the agents of the remote contact center.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein at least some of the contacts shared between the remote contact center and the local contact center are communicated via Internet Protocol (IP) packets.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the integration system receives the information from a workforce manager application associated with the remote contact center, of a disparate type with respect to the workforce manager application associated with the local contact center.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the information contained in the export file is configured as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the integration system correlates the skills and the activities contained in the export file with the skills and the activities that are to be used for scheduling the agents of the local contact center in order to improve integration of the agents of the remote contact center with the agents of the local contact center.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein, to generate the work schedules for the agents of the local contact center, the scheduling system is operative to evaluate potential schedules for the agents of the local contact center based on service level goals computed using contributions of the agents of the remote contact center.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein, to generate the work schedules for the agents of the local contact center, the scheduling system does not alter the work schedules of the agents of the remote contact center.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the skills contained in the export file comprise a skill priority and a skill proficiency for each skill of each agent of the remote contact center.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the activities contained in the export file comprise a meeting activity and a personal day activity.