Manage dynamic scheduling

Dynamic Scheduling is an add-on app. This is a new feature that is not yet generally available. If you would like early access to this feature, contact your Provider Account Manager.

Agents can use dynamic scheduling to select their availability. Dynamic scheduling uses a point system to encourage agents to choose shift times that are not popular, for example, early or late hours. An administrator creates an availability template. A scheduler uses the availability template to create an availability form. An agent uses the form to enter their availability.

In the Schedules tool in the WFM client, you must select the Dynamic schedule availability check box in the Scheduling session options window when scheduling and when optimizing schedules for agents. If you select several check boxes in the Scheduling session options window, this might cause conflicts in how the schedules are set up. For further information, view the Run automatic scheduling and Optimize schedule articles.

IMPORTANT   If an error message appears after you click Save in the Dynamic Scheduling app, your settings failed to save. Therefore, ensure you fix all errors and click Save again before you navigate to another part of the app.

Prerequisites

  • Your organization’s Workforce Optimization administrator has coordinated with Provider Professional Services, or a supported Provider partner has implemented Dynamic Scheduling for your organization.
  • You have a Workforce Optimization user account with a DynamicSchedulingAdmin, DynamicSchedulingScheduler, or DynamicSchedulingAgent role assigned in WFM.

IMPORTANT   You must create these roles with these exact names in WFM.

  • You have Schedules permissions.
  • If you are an administrator, you have API access > Write schedule and API access > Read schedule permissions.

Page location

Add-Ons > Dynamic Scheduling > Open

Procedures

Log in to the Dynamic Scheduling app

  1. Click Dynamic Scheduling.

  2. Click Open.

  3. If you belong to more than one business unit, select a business unit.

  4. Click Save.

Administrators

Enter a WFM API token for uploading data to WFM

You must generate a WFM API token, which is used to make the API calls to WFM to upload an agent’s availability. For further information, see Generate access tokens for API access to WFM.

  1. On the WFM API tab, in the WFM API token field, enter a token.

  2. Click Save.

Configure colors for point ranges

You can configure the color of cell backgrounds that appear in the availability forms.

  1. On the Points tab, in the Start Number and End Number fields, enter the points ranges.

  2. Select a color for each points range.

  3. Click the plus or minus icons to add or remove ranges.

  4. Click Save.

Configure settings

  1. On the Settings tab, in the Name field, enter a name for the availability template.

  2. In the Description field, enter a description for the template.

  3. From the Type drop-down list, select AdHoc or Recurring. For example, you can use a Recurring template for the whole year and you can use an AdHoc template for a holiday week. If you select Recurring, select the frequency of the recurrence from the Recurrence drop-down list.

  4. Select a day from the Week start day drop-down list.

  5. Select a Time zone. This time zone is used to determine when data is sent to WFM.

  6. Select a number of weeks from the Submit at least this number of weeks in advance drop-down list and the Submit a maximum of this number of weeks in advance drop-down list.

    • Submit at least this number of weeks in advance determines when an agent is required to submit their availability.

    • Submit a maximum of this number of weeks in advance determines how far in advance an agent can submit their availability. If it is an AdHoc availability, the agent can only submit their availability for the weeks between the start and end weeks.

  7. Enter Tag(s) to attach keywords to the template. You can use these tags to search for the template after it is saved to the template list.

  8. In the Hours of operation section, select check boxes for any days that you want to include in the template. Then, select a time range for each day. The Hours of operation settings must fall within the open hours of the skills that you have in WFM.

  9. Enter a WFM publish day, a WFM publish time, and then select a number of weeks for WFM publish in advance to configure when the data is sent to WFM.

  10. Toggle the Enabled slider on to activate a process, where the system will automatically submit availability forms for agents who meet the required points. The scheduler must manually publish the availability form for agents who do not submit the required points. If you toggle the Enabled slider off, you must manually submit all availability through Agent Monitoring.

  11. Click Save.

Configure validation

You can configure the amount of hours that an agent must make themselves available for.

  1. On the Validation tab, select if you want to Allow day(s) without availability. This setting allows agents to enter no availability on some days. If the minimum hours is set to zero, this grants the agents a day off.

  2. Select if you want Min hours or Max hours from the Validate on drop-down list. These options determine if the Required points calculation on the Points tab is based on the minimum or maximum hours. If you select Min hours, you can enter a number in the Additional hours field.

    EXAMPLE   If you want to allow agents to take a day off on any given day, ensure that the minimum hours is zero for all days and enter the maximum working hours. Then, you can define the minimum hours required for agents to work per week in the Additional hours field.

  3. (Optional) Expand Day/hour requirements and select a Type to configure granular validation requirements per day, hour, and so on.

  4. Select check boxes for any days that you want to include in the template and then select a time range for each day.

  5. Click Save.

Configure points

You can use a point system to encourage agents to choose shift times that are not popular, for example, early or late hours. There are 96 intervals per day, each worth 5 points. Intervals must always be in 15 minute increments, and points must always be whole numbers.

  1. On the Points tab, enter the number of points that you want to assign to each interval. The Required points field shows how many points you must configure and is calculated from the minimum or maximum hours that you entered on the Validation tab.

    NOTE   You can only enable intervals that fall within the hours of operation.

  2. (Optional) If you want to import points from a CSV file, click Import. If you want to export points to a CSV file, click Export. See this example file for details: Dynamic scheduling example file.

  3. Click Save.

Configure messages

You can write a message for the agents and add it to the availability form.

  1. On the Messages tab, toggle the Enabled slider on to activate the message option in the template.

  2. In the Subject field, enter a subject.

  3. In the Message field, enter a message that you want to appear for agents.

  4. Click Save.

View the audit log

You can view an audit log of all the changes that occur in the system.

  1. Select a Time period.

  2. Click an audit entry to view further details about a change. You can also use the search box to find an audit entry.

Schedulers

Configure settings

  1. On the Settings tab, in the Name field, enter a name for the availability form.

  2. In the Description field, enter a description for the form.

  3. Toggle the Active slider on if you want to automatically publish only the active availabilities. Agents can view inactive availabilities but they cannot submit them.

  4. From the Type drop-down list, select AdHoc or Recurring. For example, you can use a Recurring template for the whole year, and you can use an AdHoc template for a holiday week. If you select Recurring, select the frequency of the recurrence from the Recurrence drop-down list.

  5. Select a day from the Week start day drop-down list.

    NOTE   This day must match the work week start in the WFM client.

  6. Select a Time zone. This time zone is used to determine when data is sent to WFM.

  7. Select a number of weeks from the Submit at least this number of weeks in advance drop-down list and the Submit a maximum of this number of weeks in advance drop-down list.

    • Submit at least this number of weeks in advance determines when an agent is required to submit their availability.

    • Submit a maximum of this number of weeks in advance determines how far in advance an agent can submit their availability. If it is an AdHoc availability, the agent can only submit their availability for the weeks between the start and end weeks.

  8. Enter Tag(s) to attach keywords to the form. You can use these tags to search for the form after it is saved to the form list.

  9. In the Hours of operation section, select check boxes for any days that you want to include in the form. Then, select a time range for each day. The Hours of operation settings must fall within the open hours of the skills that you have in WFM.

  10. Enter a WFM publish day, a WFM publish time, and then select a number of weeks for WFM publish in advance to configure when the data is sent to WFM.

  11. Toggle the Enabled slider on to activate a process, where the system will automatically submit availability forms for agents who meet the required points. The scheduler must manually publish the availability form for agents who do not submit the required points. If you toggle the Enabled slider off, you must manually submit all availability through Agent Monitoring.

  12. Click Save.

Configure validation

You can configure the amount of hours that an agent must make themselves available for.

  1. On the Validation tab, select if you want to Allow day(s) without availability. This setting allows agents to enter no availability on some days. If the minimum hours is set to zero, this grants the agents a day off.

  2. Select if you want Min hours or Max hours from the Validate on drop-down list. These options determine if the Required points calculation on the Points tab is based on the minimum or maximum hours. If you select Min hours, you can enter a number in the Additional hours field.

    EXAMPLE   If you want to allow agents to take a day off on any given day, ensure that the minimum hours is zero for all days and enter the maximum working hours. Then, you can define the minimum hours required for agents to work per week in the Additional hours field.

  3. (Optional) Expand Day/hour requirements and select a Type to configure granular validation requirements per day, hour, and so on.

  4. Select check boxes for any days that you want to include in the form and then select a time range for each day.

  5. Click Save.

Configure points

You can use a point system to encourage agents to choose shift times that are not popular, for example, early or late hours. There are 96 intervals per day, each worth 5 points. Intervals must always be in 15 minute increments, and points must always be whole numbers.

  1. On the Points tab, enter the number of points that you want to assign to each interval. The Required points field shows how many points you must configure and is calculated from the minimum or maximum hours that you entered on the Validation tab.

    NOTE   You can only enable intervals that fall within the hours of operation.

  2. (Optional) If you want to import points from a CSV file, click Import. If you want to export points to a CSV file, click Export. See this example file for details: Dynamic scheduling example file.

  3. Click Save.

Configure messages

You can write a message for the agents and add it to the availability form.

  1. On the Messages tab, toggle the Enabled slider on to activate the message option in the template.

  2. In the Subject field, enter a subject.

  3. In the Message field, enter a message that you want to appear for agents.

  4. Click Save.

Add or remove agents

  1. On the Agents tab, To add an agent to the availability form, click Add agents, select a team, and then click Fetch agents.

  2. Select one or more agents, select a Start week and an End week, click Add selected, and then click Save.

  3. To remove an agent from the availability form, select an agent, click Remove selected agents, and then click Save.

Publish an availability form

  1. Click an availability form and then click an agent. You can also use the search box to find an availability form.

  2. To submit an agent's availability to WFM, ensure that no rules are broken, select a date for publishing, and then click Publish to schedule the publishing process for that date.

  3. To view any broken rules in the availability form, click the agent's name. Then, adjust the points until no rules are broken.

  4. Select a Start date and Recurring or AdHoc for Recurrence.

  5. Click Save.

Configure general settings

  1. On the General tab, enter a Report name and a Report description.

  2. Select a Start week and an End week.

  3. Select or clear the filter check boxes.

  4. Click Save.

Apply filters

  1. On the Details tab, select or clear the filter check boxes.

  2. Click Save.

Add or remove agents

  1. To add an agent to a report, click Add agents.

  2. Select a team and then click Fetch agents.

  3. Select one or more agents and then click Add selected.

  4. Click Save.

  5. To remove an agent from a report, select an agent, click Remove selected agents, and then click Save.

Add or remove availabilities

  1. To add availability forms to the report, click Add availabilities, select an availability form, and click Add selected.

  2. To remove an availability form from the report, select an availability form and click Remove selected availabilities.

  3. Click Save.

Preview the report

  1. On the Preview tab, select a date, and then click Preview.

  2. In the search box, search for a report.

  3. To export a report as a CSV file, click Export.

Agents

Submit your availability

  1. On the Availabilities tab, click an availability form. In the search box, search for a report.

    NOTE   On the Availabilities tab, the Next publish date is the deadline for submission.

  2. Select a Start date.

  3. From the Recurrence drop-down list, select AdHoc or Recurring. For example, there might be a Recurring template that you use for the whole year and an AdHoc template that you use for a holiday week.

  4. Ensure that you fix any broken rules that are highlighted in the Requirements section.

  5. Click Save.