Contact Center Schedule Adjustment Module for Workforce Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
In contact centers, manual adjustments to agent schedules due to unavailability-intervals result in resource wastage, revenue loss, and high operational costs, as well as affecting agent performance and leading to attrition, due to the lack of proactive alerts and efficient scheduling adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A computerized system that includes a schedule-adjustment module operating within an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system and Employee Engagement Manager (EEM) application, which uses a rule engine to monitor agent states and schedules, identifies unavailability-intervals, calculates optimal staffing gaps, and sends notifications to agents to adjust their schedules proactively, synchronizing with Workforce Management (WFM) systems to balance workforce.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual adjustment process is implemented for schedule adherence, then agent schedule flexibility is improved, but operational cost and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively notifying agents about upcoming unavailability intervals before they occur. This allows agents to prepare and adjust their schedules in advance, reducing the need for reactive manual adjustments and associated operational costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring agent states, comparing them against scheduled activities, and providing real-time notifications. This closed-loop feedback enables automatic schedule adjustments without requiring manual intervention, thereby reducing operational costs while maintaining flexibility.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual exceptions approval process is implemented, then schedule adherence accuracy is improved, but time consumption and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically monitoring agent adherence status and generating notifications without requiring supervisor intervention. Agents receive proactive alerts and can self-correct their schedules, eliminating the time-consuming manual approval process while maintaining high adherence accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual approval process with an automated electronic monitoring and notification system. This substitution eliminates human intervention in the approval workflow, significantly reducing time consumption while preserving or even improving adherence accuracy through continuous automated monitoring.
3Reliability
If agents extend ACW time to avoid unavailability-interval conflicts, then schedule adherence is improved, but available time for calls decreases and revenue is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides preliminary notification to agents about potential unavailability-interval conflicts before they occur. This allows agents to proactively manage their transitions and maintain proper adherence without unnecessarily extending ACW time, thereby preserving call handling capacity and revenue-generating opportunities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts and optimizes agent schedules by providing real-time notifications and enabling flexible adjustments. This dynamic approach allows agents to maintain adherence requirements while minimizing unnecessary extensions of non-revenue generating activities like ACW, thus optimizing overall productivity and call handling capacity.
4Productivity
If proactive alerts and automatic schedule adjustment system is implemented, then operational efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves multi-functionality by combining monitoring, notification, analysis, and adjustment capabilities into a single integrated platform. This universal system handles multiple tasks that would otherwise require separate tools and processes, improving operational efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges previously separate functions (manual monitoring, exception handling, schedule adjustment) into an integrated automated system. This consolidation improves operational efficiency by streamlining workflows while managing complexity through unified architecture rather than multiple disparate systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A computerized-method for monitoring an unavailability-interval type to adjust agent-schedule to be in adherence and to balance workforce, in a contact-center, is provided herein. The computerized-method includes operating a schedule-adjustment module. The schedule-adjustment module includes operating a rule-engine to carry out a rule, based on an unavailability-interval type for monitoring and a time-threshold; for each agent: (i) checking if the agent is in adherence by retrieving agent-state and comparing it with agent currently scheduled-activity. (ii) when the agent is in adherence, retrieving a scheduled-activity after the time-threshold from current-time to calculate an interval-range when the retrieved scheduled-activity is the same as the unavailability-interval type for monitoring operating an intervals-staffing-evaluation module to find an optimum interval, during the calculated interval-range; (iii) when an optimum interval has been found, sending the agent a notification a suggestion to postpone the next-interval-scheduled activity to the optimum interval and upon approval, adjusting the agent-schedule accordingly.