Forecasting Profiles

Generally, when you forecast a schedule, all of the skills you forecast for will have the same KPIs.

So what do you do if you need to configure different KPIs for different skills?

For example, for calls that need technical assistance, you want the Average Speed of Answer to be faster than calls that are related to accounting. In this case, you'd want to configure a different ASA for the technical assistance skill than for the accounting skill.

Forecasting profiles enable you to create profiles for different skills along with their configured KPIs. When you forecast a schedule, you can then select the relevant forecasting profile quickly and easily.

You can still create a profile for all forecasted skills if that's what you need, and it will still save you time when generating a forecast.

Once you've created your profiles, you can view them in the Forecasting Profiles page, and they'll be available to select when you're generating a forecast.

Creating a forecast profile:

  1. Click the app selector and select CXone WFM.

  2. Go to Forecasting > Forecasting Profiles.

  3. Click New Profile.

  4. Enter a Name and Description for the profile.

  5. Define the Forecast time increment (min). The forecast will retrieve historical data in these increments from the period you selected.

  6. There are two options for applying KPIs to skills. Select one of the following:

    • Apply specific KPIs to specific skills—Use this option if you only want to define KPIs for some skills.
    • Apply KPIs globally to all forecasted skills—Use this option to apply the KPIs you define to all of the skills in the organization.

  7. In the Staffing Parameters area, if you chose to apply specific KPIs to specific skills, from the Skills drop down list, select a skill.

  8. Define the rest of the Staffing Parameters:

    • Shrinkage level: Adjust the staffing plan for the anticipated level of absences in your workforce. You can define one level for All day or different levels By time.

      Let's say you're expecting that 10% of your staff will call in sick. You can define the shrinkage as 10%, and you'll compensate for the absences when generating a staffing plan.

      You define the shrinkage level for the different days of the week. The shrinkage level will be 0 for the days you don't select.

      To apply shrinkage, select the day and define one level for All day or different levels By time:

      • All day: Define the same level for the whole day.

        For example, you know that usually there's a high level of staff shrinkage on Monday and Friday. You can define a shrinkage level for only those two days.

      • By time: Define shrinkage levels for different times of the selected day. Click the Add button to define another time. After that, you can define one level for the Rest of the day.

        For example, you know that the morning shifts have a high level of staff shrinkage, and a low level for the evening. You can define:

        • 15% level between 08:00 AM and 2:00 PM

        • 5% between 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM

        • 10% for the Rest of the day.

    • Service Tags: Define the targets that the staffing plan should meet.

      Each target has its own section in the Staffing Parameters. The sections will be displayed only if you have skills associated with them.

      Let's say the skills your forecasting are all Real Time Interactions. In this case, you won't see sections for Deferrable Work or Dialer.

      • Real Time Interactions: Contacts that must be handled immediately. If they are delayed, the customer may leave. This can cause customer unhappiness and missed chances.

        • Service level: Define the percentage of interactions you want answered within a defined number of seconds.

          A common SLA is 80% of interactions answered in 30 seconds.

          Let's say you want your agents to answer calls within 30 seconds. If your agents answered 60 out of 100 calls within 30 seconds, the SLA is 60.

          Keep in mind, the generated SLA gets updated once the forecasting process is complete. Intraday displayed the final SLA and not what's displayed in step 4.

        • Wait time (ASA): Define the average amount of time it takes for an agent to answer a call. The generated ASA gets updated once the forecasting process is complete. Intraday displayed the final ASA and not what's displayed in step 4.

        • Maximum occupancy: Define the percentage of time the agent will be occupied handling interactions out of their shift.

          A common value is 80%.

          Let's say a shift is ten hours and you set the occupancy for 50%. This means that the agents will handle the interactions for 5 out of their ten hours.

        • Simultaneous handling: Define how many of the same interactions you can schedule an agent to handle simultaneously.

          For example, you can schedule an agent to handle five chats at the same time.

          The value for voice and face-to-face interactions is always 1 because agents cannot handle more than one at the same time.

      • Deferrable Work: Contacts that can be handled later on.

        Define how many business hours it should take to handle all deferred contacts, and whether or not they must be resolved within the same workday.

        Keep in mind that deferrable work has no abandons. This means these interactions generally span over multiple intervals or even multiple days. There is often a backlog of items outstanding.

        Under Simultaneous handling, define how many of the same interactions you can schedule an agent to handle simultaneously.

        For example, you can schedule an agent to handle nine emails at the same time.

      • Dialer: A service that automatically calls a list of customers. The answered calls are then transferred to agents.

        This section is no longer available. With the support for outbound skills, forecasting and staffing can now be generated for any dialer skills.

        • List source: Select the source of the list for the dialer: Requested Call, Existing Relationship, or Cold Call.

          • Connected: Define what percentage of the calls on the list should connect.

          • Right party: Define what percentage of the calls on the list should connect to the right party. This number must be lower than the Connected calls.

        • List size: Enter the number of contacts on the list.

        • Handle time for wrong party: Define how many seconds it should take to handle calls that connected to the wrong party.

        • Handle time for right party: Define the amount of time (in seconds or minutes) it should take to handle calls that connected to the right party.

        • Contact period: Define the duration of time in which all of the calls on the list must be contacted.

        • Call time: Define the hours of the day during which these calls can be made.

  9. Click +Add Skill to add additional skills, and define the Staffing Parameters for each skill until you are done.

  10. You can delete a skill from the profile by clicking the Delete icon in the top right corner of the Skill area.

  11. Once you've finished defining the skills and applying KPIs, click Save.

    The profile will be added to the grid in the Forecasting Profiles page, and you will be able to select it the next time you generate a forecast.