[Go To The Side Bar: Treasure In, Treasure Out]
In the call center, a key
challenge is workforce management, that is, matching agents with appropriate services and
coordinating agent schedules. Accomplishing these tasks is no mean feat, particularly
since many agents are temporary workers, have staggered schedules, and change jobs
frequently. Furthermore, service requirements can change on-the-fly. Indeed, a call center
may need to dramatically revise its operations at a moment’s notice.
Naturally, the challenge of
workforce management falls on the shoulders of the call center manager, the person charged
not only with running a smooth operation, but with minimizing costs. In meeting their
responsibilities, many call center managers spend untold hours shuffling papers, punching
calculator keys, and scribbling notes, all in an effort to anticipate workforce demands
and to arrange for adequate resources to meet these demands. However, the inherent
complexities of workforce management, together with the potential for human error, often
unravel the best-laid plans.
To help them meet their
workforce management challenges, call center managers have had recourse to work-force
management computer programs. However, when called upon to select a program, call center
managers often face an uncomfortable tradeoff. Some programs are reasonably priced, but do
little more than replace pen and paper with a computer terminal. Often, they contribute
little or nothing to forecasting and resource allocation. On the other hand, some programs
really do bring intelligence to forecasting and scheduling, but these programs are usually
expensive. Furthermore, they are typically geared toward large call centers.
Help is on the way,
however. A new workforce management program, PrimeTime, is capable of demand forecasting
and workforce scheduling, and it is suitable for both large and small call centers.
PrimeTime is easy to
install, use, and administer. It is designed specifically for workforce management, as
demonstrated by its deployment of proprietary scheduling algorithms. Given its advanced
technology and sophisticated GUI interface, we would recommend PrimeTime to any call
center manager who needs to cut substantial time from forecasting and scheduling, but who
also needs to continuously monitor workforce demand and adjust resources accordingly.
INSTALLATION
Our test platform was a Pentium 90- MHz PC with 32 Megs of RAM running Windows 95.
PrimeTime is a 32- bit program and can be installed on 32- bit Windows platforms such as
Windows 95 and Windows NT.
We received PrimeTime on a CD-ROM and ran the installation program. It quickly
installed the program. After we invoked the program, we were prompted to enter a very long
license ID, and then we were given a chance to enter a starting call center group. We
chose the default group name, opened PrimeTime’s main screen, and entered the
tutorial mode by choosing the Example Node item from the Help menu.
We were delighted that we could give the program a full test run before actually using
it. This is an important advantage of PrimeTime. The user can become familiar with all
aspects of the program before going into production mode.
From the main window’s menu, we chose the week and the group that we wanted to
work with. Incidentally, PrimeTime is a week-oriented program; that is, the scheduling,
forecasting, and monitoring parameters revolve around a weekly schedule. This makes sense,
since many call centers set up their operations on weekly schedules, and many forecasting
functions use week-to-week data to extrapolate scheduling and timing needs for upcoming
weeks.
But to return to the main window: From here, we could make program customizations such
as color coding assignments, ruler formats for the charts, and the layout options.
Throughout these manipulations, we found PrimeTime’s main window to be very
user-friendly and intuitive.
Depending on user preference, the modules, which were represented by icons, could be
organized under categories or be viewed and accessed all at once. From here, the call
center manager can set up all the weekly operation parameters such as number of agents,
shifts, agent data and work hours, and call volume history, among other things.
Each screen has a link to the next screen. As the links succeed each other, the user
configuring the program is taken on a smooth ride as the program is set up and populated
with data.
Clicking on the operations icon, we entered the Operations Parameters screen, where we
were able to set the hours of operation and the number of seats. Next , we were brought
into the Shifts screen , where we could define different types of shifts, which included
full time, part time, and contract. Then, for each shift type , we could create
several schedules by specifying workdays, length of workdays, and start times.
Another Operations Parameter window, the Break Editor, allowed us to define and label
break schedules. Later on, the shifts and the breaks would be assigned to the agents as
they entered the system or changed their shifts.
The next screen gave us the opportunity to enter agent data into PrimeTime. From here,
we were able to quickly add new personnel, define their work shifts, and customize their
availability based on 15-minute increments. A chart was provided, and it allowed us to
quickly inspect the employee (agent) schedule and make modifications. At this point, we
had completed the configuration of the system, and we were ready to address the call
center’s call volume.
DOCUMENTATION
PrimeTime comes with a complete and easy-to-follow user’s guide. Introductory and
installation chapters are followed by a full tutorial, which the user can follow
concurrently with the program. We really liked this approach, and we found it a great way
to break in a new user and level out the learning curve.
Subsequent chapters include material on program usage and frequently asked questions.
While all this was fine, we did notice the documentation lacked material on some of the
product’s accompanying modules, such as the ACD interface program and the archive
manager. Also, the user’s guide did not have an index, which we feel is a must for
any manual.
Another source of information, PrimeTime’s online help, was very well organized
and easy to understand. In addition, context-sensitive help is provided for most modules.
FEATURES
Support for up to 500 agents per group.
Quick installation and easy-to-navigate modules.
Supports many popular ACDs.
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) compliance.
Proprietary scheduling algorithm producing efficient and instantaneous scheduling.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
Collecting Data
In a call center, the data collection device is the ACD. It keeps track of the
number, the time, and the length of incoming calls. Now, to get the most out of the data
collected by the ACD, it makes sense to somehow enter this data into your workforce
management program. ACD data can reach PrimeTime in three ways: via a direct connection to
the ACD, through a serial link or network; via file import from the ACD; or via manual
data entry. For direct connection, PrimeTime comes with an ACD setup utility that serves
as an interface between PrimeTime and the ACD (Figure 23). PrimeTime supports several
ACDs, including those from Aspect, NEC, Nortel, Lucent, and Siemens. The data collected by
or imported into PrimeTime can then be accessed from the History icon, which brings up a
screen displaying call volume information and a graph of the volume data from individual
days within a given week. As we clicked on each day’s results, a graph would show us
that day’s hourly call activity. A toggle key beneath the graph brought us into a
data grid for the day, allowing us to make modifications to the call volume. This is a
very important feature, since it gives the call center manager a chance to work with
hypothetical call volume situations.
Creating Profiles
At the Profile viewer screen, we were able to combine the volume data for a few weeks and
arrive at an average weekly call volume. We labeled this as a profile. Since the call
volume during a given week could fluctuate, it is always a good idea to create a profile
for a number of the weeks, to better represent call volume. Profiles can be used to
represent normal, busy, and slow weeks, as well as monthly or seasonal averages. The data
is used by the forecasting module of PrimeTime to predict call volumes for coming weeks
more accurately. The Profile screen even allowed us to specify a percentage to stand as
our estimate of how a pick up or slow down would affect call volume.
Forecasting Call Volumes
Before PrimeTime could formulate its forecasts, we had to do a little more preparation. We
clicked on the Forecast icon, entered the Call Volume Forecast screen, and viewed a call
volume forecast, for a given week, generated by PrimeTime. From this screen, we could look
at all the daily forecasts for the week in a graph or table and revise the call volume
using two methods. We could change the call volume by a percentage, or we could modify the
daily call volume to a desired level to gauge the effects on other items such as
schedules. After we had made the desired changes, revising the forecast was as simple as
clicking on a button. Click: we now had a new forecast based on the newly modified data.
Defining Goals
At the Service Parameters screen, the call center manager can specify service goals and
other service parameters. These include answering calls, average call lengths, maximum
abandons, average wrap-up time, and absenteeism rate. PrimeTime uses these parameters
together with the call volume information to arrive at its forecast.
Scheduling
It was now time for PrimeTime to step into the spotlight and offer its predictions. The
Agent Requirement screen gave us a prediction (graphically and tabularly depending on our
choice) for the number of agents required to answer calls at different times during the
day. From this screen, we could also get an estimate for the required headcount for the
day and the associated costs.
Our next step was to match our agent pool to the agent requirement for the week and
produce the best possible schedule to have just the right number of agents in the call
center without being grossly over or understaffed. We went to the next screen, the
Workforce Scheduler, where we could schedule the agents for the week according to the
forecast.
To create a schedule, we clicked on the Re/schedule button. Then, from the setup window
that followed, we chose to schedule the entire week. Here, we could also specify
thresholds for over and understaffing, as well as other rescheduling options. After
dismissing the window, PrimeTime produced the weekly schedule for the call center complete
with the personnel hours, including time spent on the phone, breaks, and overtime.
One of the impressive features of this module was the ability to change agent schedules
by, for example, making them unavailable or changing their break times or shift hours.
Basically, PrimeTime lets you reschedule your workforce on-the-fly. We could just imagine
how much work such modifications would entail were we to resort to manual scheduling. With
PrimeTime, editing schedules was as easy as clicking on the mouse, and selecting a menu
item.
Reporting
We had seen how PrimeTime had created agent schedules based on the forecast, but how close
had it come to the required staffing levels for the call center? This question was
answered by the Reports module, which produced a screen with the graphical representations
of the required and actual staffing levels overlaid on the same chart. The graphs showed
PrimeTime did a fine job, closely matching the staffing requirements. Moreover, PrimeTime
produced a much smoother graph, one which required fewer shift changes and interruptions.
Even more impressive was PrimeTime’s ability to adjust after we changed a few
agent schedules. PrimeTime adjusted the entire work-force schedule. It produced a graph
that closely followed the required service levels. We had the same good results when we
changed some values in the service value and call volume areas. Indeed, the scheduling
algorithm passed our test with flying colors.
We should mention that the new PrimeTime release, version 1.3, provides support for
multi-user network access with group-level security. The new feature, PrimeTime pulse, can
be used for real- time reporting of service levels such as staffing, call abandonment, and
call volume levels, and more optimized functions.
Archiving
PrimeTime’s separate backup and archive program, PrimeTime Archive. Manager,
features an easy-to-use GUI. From here, we could make one-time or scheduled backups of
PrimeTime’s database. A "tree view" list was provided that let us easily
pinpoint the appropriate archive for view or restore operations.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
A few improvements would make PrimeTime an even more impressive program:
- We would like PrimeTime, which is now a strongly inbound-centric program, to extend its
capabilities to cover outbound and blended operations as well.
- We would like PrimeTime to include skills-based scheduling. Actually, this is another
area which PrimeTime lacked but we are happy to report that, according to Blue Pumpkin,
this feature is currently being added and will be available shortly.
- We would like PrimeTime to deploy more optimized modules. We noticed a bit of
sluggishness in some of the interfaces. To be fair, however, we should note that we tested
the program using a low-end Pentium system.
CONCLUSION
Our compliments to Blue Pumpkin for creating a superb workforce management product for the
call center. PrimeTime is flexible, powerful, and sophisticated, yet stable and
user-friendly. More to the point, it can rescue call center managers from hours of
drudgery by capably assisting them with their forecasting and scheduling duties.
If you are a call center manager, we strongly recommend that you give PrimeTime
a test run. We think you will find this product an indispensable tool for managing your
call center’s workforce.
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