Workforce Calculator
Note: The calculator is a Java program. If it does not appear below after a minute or so, you may not have a Java-enabled browser or Java may not be enabled on your browser. Check to make sure it is enabled. Instructions for using the calculator are displayed below.
Press your browser's refresh or re-load button to clear the fields.
Number of Calls Expected- This value represents the number of calls you expect to receive within the specified interval. You can obtain this figure by averaging the number of calls received in the past few weeks during the same day of week during the same interval period. For example, by taking the average of the calls received between 10:00 to 10:30 AM on the last 5 Mondays, you can have a rough idea of how many calls to expect on the next Monday during the same time period. Of course, some event or events may cause the figure you are trying to forecast to inflate or deflate, so understanding what changes that will occur that will impact the incoming call volume will help you to determine whether to add or subtract calls to that value.
Average Talk Time- Average talk time is the average time your agents spent talking on the phone in seconds during the specified interval. You can obtain this value the same way you obtained the number of calls expected, however, be careful not to average values that are already averaged. In other words, you want to obtain the total talk time for the last X number of weeks during the time period you are calculating, then divide that bottom line figure by the total number of calls received during the same period to come up with an overall average. For example, suppose you received 1432 calls total during the last four Mondays from 10:00 to 10:30 AM. Let's also suppose that your total talk time for those periods came out to be 335,088 seconds. By taking 335,088 and dividing it by 1432, we come up with an average talk time of 234 seconds.
Post-Processing Time (After-Call Work)- This value represents the average time your agents spent performing follow-up work to the previous ACD call. You can obtain this value in the same manner as you obtained the average talk time. Be sure this value is also entered in seconds (i.e. 318 seconds as opposed to 5:18).
Service Level Percentage- Service Level Percentage is your service goal. For example, if you would like your agents to answer 80% of the calls within 20 seconds, you would enter 80 here.
Number of Seconds- Number of Seconds is the second piece of the pie for service level percentage. For example, if you wanted your agents to answer 80% of the calls within 20 seconds, you would enter 20 here.
Number of Minutes in the Interval Being Measured- This value specifies the length of the interval being measured. For example, if you are calculating your staffing needs for 10:00 to 10:30, you would specify a 30 minute interval and as a result enter 30 here. If you were calculating your staffing needs for 11:00 to 12:00, you would enter 60. Pay special attention to the interval level in which your call accounting system reports. Most likley you will need to follow the same interval here.
Enter # of agents available to see what the service level will be-->- This button allows you to see what the service level and average speed of answer will be if the number of agents you have available differs from the value specified by the calculator. For example, suppose the calculator says you need 51 agents in order to answer 80% of the calls within 30 seconds with the call handle time and call volume you have provided. Let's assume you only have 49 agents available and you want to see what the service level will be with 49 agents and all else being equal. Simply enter 49 in the text box to the right of this button, then press the button. The calculator will return the service level and average speed of answer for 49 agents. In general, press this button when you want to see what the results will be if you have a specific number of agents in mind, and press the other button when you want to see how many agents you will need. This button ignores the Service Level Percentage provided, because that is what is calculated here. However, it does not ignore the Number of Seconds value provided, because it needs it along with all of the other fields to determine the results.
Values Returned
Agents Needed: The number of agents needed to staff the queue in order to meet the specified service level.
Service Level: The probable service level percentage based on the specified information.
ASA: The probable average speed of answer based on the specified information.
Occ: The probable occupancy based on the specified information. The occupancy is the percentage of time your agents will be handling calls.
How This Program Works
This program contains an algorithm known as Erlang C, which calculates the staffing requirements of a call center's ACD group by using random distribution patterns based on random bursts of call arrivals. Erlang C is quite accurate when working with the traditional call center ACD environment. However, it will not work correctly when dealing with a skill-based routing environment. To perform staffing calculations based on Lucent Technologies' Expert Agent Selection, for example, you will need to obtain a professional forecasting/scheduling package that has algorithms for determining staffing needs in a skill-based routing environment.
The Workforce Calculator has been extensively tested in conjunction with professionally available forecasting/scheduling packages and has found to be accurate in its results. However, PREFERRED SOLUTIONS MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE WORKFORCE CALCULATOR, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. PREFERRED SOLUTIONS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED BY LICENSEE AS A RESULT OF USING THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS DERIVATIVES.
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