Maintaining a work schedule

• US 9,137,366 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: West Technology Group LLC (West Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Medina, Steven J., Cox, Joseph S., Marr, Kenneth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Laekemariam, Yosef K
• Application Number:
  US11/565,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20080075268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,210 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 379/265.06, 379/265.04, 379/265.05, 379/265.1, 379/265.12, 705/1, 705/9, 705/7.12, 705/7.13, 705/7.16, 705/7.22, 705/7.14, 705/7.15
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 at a memory;

setting, via a processor, a recurring schedule for zero or more agents;

summing the number of agents currently scheduled for an interval of time based on assigned skills of each agent and current schedules of agents who are scheduled to work multiple skills concurrently by a combination of skills to which they are scheduled;

determining a manpower availability based on scheduled skills of each agent and based on an allocated skill of each agent;

calculating a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement by skill and the determined manpower availability, the calculated manpower delta based on the scheduled skills of each agent;

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

offering an uptime adjustment to an agent not currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows additional manpower is required, wherein the uptime adjustment offer is based on trained skills of the agent and when the uptime adjustment offer is desired by the agent; and

offering a downtime adjustment to an agent currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows less manpower is required, wherein the downtime adjustment offer is based on assigned skills of the agent and when the downtime adjustment offer is desired by the agent.

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, further 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, further comprising:

accepting the offered uptime adjustment by at least one agent.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

modifying the work schedule based upon the accepted uptime adjustment.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting the downtime adjustment by at least one agent.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

adjusting the work schedule based upon the accepted downtime adjustment.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating a scheduled skill combination count to a component skill.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to:

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

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

sum a current schedule of all agents for an interval of time based on assigned skills of each agent;

determine a manpower availability based scheduled skill of each agent;

calculate a manpower delta between a forecasted manpower requirement by skill and the determined manpower availability, wherein the calculated manpower delta is based on the scheduled skills of each agent;

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

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

establish a dump target for the calculated manpower delta above which less manpower is required based upon the scheduled skills; and

offer an uptime adjustment to an agent not currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows additional manpower is required, wherein the uptime adjustment offer is based on trained skills of the agent and when the uptime adjustment offer is desired by the agent; and

offer a downtime adjustment to an agent currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows less manpower is required, wherein the downtime adjustment offer is based on assigned skills of the agent and when the downtime adjustment offer is desired by the agent.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

offer 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

offer 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

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

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

modify the work schedule based upon the accepted uptime adjustment.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

accept the offered downtime adjustment by at least one agent;

adjust the work schedule based upon the accepted downtime adjustment.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:

allocate a scheduled skill combination count to a component skill.

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

a memory configured to receive 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 is configured to;

set a recurring schedule of zero or more agents;

sum a current schedule of the zero or more agents for the interval of time based on assigned skills of each agent and current schedules of agents who are scheduled to work multiple skills concurrently by a combination of skills to which they are scheduled;

determine a manpower availability based upon the summed current schedules;

determine a manpower availability based on scheduled skill of each agent;

calculate a manpower delta between the forecasted manpower requirement by skill and the determined manpower availability, wherein the calculated manpower delta is based on the scheduled skills of each agent;

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

offer an uptime adjustment to an agent not currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows additional manpower is required, wherein the uptime adjustment offer is based on trained skills of the agent and when the uptime adjustment offer is desired by the agent; and

offer a downtime adjustment to an agent currently scheduled when the calculated manpower delta shows less manpower is required, wherein the downtime adjustment offer is based on assigned skills of the agent and when the downtime adjustment offer is desired by the agent.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to assess a trained skill and a scheduled skill of the at least one agent.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the processor is further configured to:

allocate a skill combination count across the skills.