Create a workload

The workload is a volume of tasks, for example calls, chats or emails, to be handled by agents. It is often connected to one or more queues in a ACD platform. The procedures below guide you through the steps of creating a workload.

Each skill has one or more workloads. The forecast can be handled separately for each workload. They can for example have different open hours and different patterns to describe how the volume is distributed within the day. In most views in the system where forecasted values are shown, the summarized forecast for the skill is presented.

Prerequisites

  • You have the Forecasts permission.
  • A skill is created.
  • There is queue data. Either access to queues through an integration or a file with queue data to import.
  • If you are using Azure Virtual Desktop to access the WFM client and need to import queue data, see Manage export of files on AVD for details on how to do that. Note that it is also possible to import queue data in the web Forecasts tool. See Import queue data for more information.

Page location

Client > Forecasts

Procedures

Define the general settings for the workload

In most cases, the workload is created in connection to creating a skill. To add an additional workload, right-click the skill and select New workload.

  1. Enter a Name for the workload.
  2. Enter a Description for the workload if needed.
  3. The Skill is automatically defined.
  4. Click Next to connect queue data to the workload.

Connect queue data to the workload

All available queues are displayed in a list. Select the ones to connect to this workload. If you need to import the queue data, see Import historical queue data below.

  1. Select the check boxes for the Queues to connect to this workload.

    Use the filter to more easily find the appropriate queues. Click on any header to sort the queues according to the values in that column.

  2. Click Next to define the open hours of the workload.

Import historical queue data

Import historical queue data to base a forecast on if the installation is new.

  1. Click Import queue from file.

  2. Browse to the folder containing your queue data import file and select the file to import.

    The import file must follow the requirements. See Queue data file format for more information.

  3. Click Open.
  4. Select the Encoding used in the file.
  5. Select the Time zone which the queue data is registered in.
  6. Select the Delimiter used in the file.
  7. Click Next. If there are any lines where the format requirements are not fulfilled, a message is shown to highlight that. If there is, you must first edit the import file to fix this and then reselect the file.
  8. Review the data and confirm it's correct.
  9. Click Next. The data in the file is now imported to a queue with the name defined in the file.
  10. Select the check boxes for the imported Queues to connect to this workload.
  11. Click Next to define the open hours of the workload.

Define open hours for the workload

Define the workload open hours for each day of the week. The workloads' open hours are set according to the skill time zone.

NOTE   The open hours cannot extend past the midnight break defined for the skill.

  1. Click the button with the three dots for a day of the week.
  2. Enter the Open hours. Select the time with +1 if the open hours close at or after midnight.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other days of the week or copy from one day and paste to another if the same open hours are used for several days.
  4. Click Next to define how to calculate the volume.

Define how to calculate the volume to base the forecast on

Define how to calculate the volume to use as a basis for forecasting. Adjust the volume by defining how to handle abandoned calls and the overflow to and from other queues. For a more detailed description of how to make these adjustments and best practice, see Calculate workload volume.

NOTE   The concept of abandoning a contact or having overflow in to and out from the queue is only relevant for telephony and chat skills, that are highly time sensitive. For all other types of skills, use the default settings as the adjustments don't have any impact.

  1. Define the percentage of the Offered volume to include.

    This is the total volume on the selected queues for this workload. Overflow in and callback can be included in the offered volume depending on the ACD platform.

  2. Define the percentage of the Overflow in volume to include.

    This is the volume that is transferred from other queues to the selected queues for this workload.

  3. Define the percentage of the Overflow out volume to deduct, entered as for example -100%.

    This is the volume that is transferred from the selected queues for this workload to other queues.

  4. Define the percentage of the total Abandoned volume to deduct. This is entered as for example -100%.

    This is the total abandoned volume. If you only want to include for example the volume that was abandoned after service level, enter -100% for the total Abandoned volume and 100% for the Abandoned after service level. If you want to include all abandoned calls, regardless of when they were abandoned, set Abandoned to 0% and the other three abandoned parameters to -100%.

  5. Define the percentage of the Abandoned short volume to include.

    This is the volume of calls or chats that were abandoned when they had been in queue for a very short time. These are often irrelevant calls that you don't want to staff for. To exclude this volume, enter 0%.

  6. Define the percentage of the Abandoned within service level volume to include.

    This is the volume of calls or chats that were abandoned while they were still within the defined service level.

  7. Define the percentage of the Abandoned after service level volume to include.

    This is the volume of calls or chats that were abandoned when the time in the queue had exceeded the defined service level.

  8. Click Finish to create the workload.

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