View forecasts in the web

You can use forecasts in Cisco WFM to review forecasted contact volumes and workload data across skills, allowing you to understand projected demand and support operational awareness. You cannot currently edit the data on this page.

You can view forecasts for all skill types in the web, except for Project, Retail, and Time skills. Use the Forecasts module in the client to manage forecasts for these skill types. For further information, refer to Finalize the staffing forecast in the WFM client.

Prerequisites

You have the Web > Forecasts permission.
A forecast is generated for the skill.

Page location

WFM > Forecasts

Procedures

View a forecast

In the Actions column, click the Open forecast (new) icon for a skill.
Select a Skill that you want to load the forecast for.
Select a Workload that you want to load the forecast for.
Select a Scenario that you want to load the forecast for.
Select a Period start and end date to define the period that you want to open the forecast for. The maximum date range is 6 months.
Click Load forecast.
(Optional) Select or clear the Chart, Workload, or Skill check boxes, depending on whether you want to see a graph or table.
(Optional) Click the Month, Week, Day, or Intraday tabs. If you select the Intraday tab and want to view data for a different day, select a day from the date picker above the tab menu.

Interpret the workload table

The values in the workload table are divided into forecasted values and actual values. The actual values are presented once the queue statistics for that day are available.

The total values in the Forecasted part of the table are the original forecasted values including any campaign percentage that is added.
The calculated volume in the Actual part of the table is calculated using the formula defined when creating the workload. Scroll down to see this part of the table. See Calculate workload volume for more information. The same formula is used for calculating the forecasted volume.

Workload table term	Description
Calls/chats/emails/tasks	Forecasted volume for the month, week, or day interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
Campaign calls/chats/emails/tasks %	Enter a positive or negative percentage to adjust the forecasted volume up or down for the entire month, week, day, or specific interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
Talk time/chat time/handling time	The average talk time/chat time/handling time, in seconds, for the month, week, day, or interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
Campaign talk time/chat time/handling time %	Enter a positive or negative percentage to adjust the forecasted talk time/chat time/handling time up or down for the entire month, week, day, or specific interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
ACW/AEW/ATW	The average after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up), in seconds, for the month, week, or day interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
Campaign ACW/AEW/ATW %	Enter a positive or negative percentage to adjust the forecasted after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up) up or down for the entire month, week, day, or specific interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu.
Total calls/chats/emails/tasks	Calls/chats/emails/tasks + (Calls/chats/emails/tasks*campaign calls/chats/emails/tasks %)
Total talk time/chat time/handling time	Talk time + (talktime*campaign talk time %)
Total ACW/AEW/ATW	After call/chat/email/task work (wrap up) + (After call/chat/email/task work (wrap up)*campaign after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up)%)
Template	Apply the appropriate template for the intraday volume arrival pattern. <LONGTERM> = an intraday arrival pattern is not applied. The total volume is distributed equally among all intervals within the open hours. <MON>, <TUES>, and so on = Standard weekday templates. When you generate a forecast, these templates are automatically created and applied to the corresponding days for each week. For example, the <MON> template describes the typical intraday pattern for all Mondays in the historical data period. Currently, only forecasts generated on the client create and apply standard templates. <WEB> = Applied by default to every day for forecasts generated from the web. Similar to <LONGTERM>. <DELETED> = The template that was applied to this day has been deleted. The intraday pattern in unaffected by this operation.
Calculated calls/chats/emails/tasks	The actual calls/chats/emails/tasks volume received for the month, week, or day interval depending on the view selected on the tab menu. The value is reflective of the calculations configured in the workload properties. For further information, see Calculate workload volume. The data is only available after the actual date has occurred.
Abandoned calls	View the actual number of abandoned calls.
Answered calls	View the actual number of answered calls.
Talk time/chat time/handling time	View the actual average talk time/chat time/handling time in seconds.
ACW/AEW/ATW	View the actual average after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up) in seconds.

Interpret the skill table

The total values in the skill table are the sums of the total values for all the workloads of the skill.

When you view the skill table on intraday level you can see the skill targets for the day or for selected intervals and adjust them if needed. For more information, refer to Adjust skill targets

The calculated Minimum occupancy and Maximum occupancy shown on the intraday level for telephony and chat skills are indications of how busy the agents will be.

Hours inc stands for hours incoming and is used for email and back office skills to describe the forecasted hours of work required to handle the tasks or emails that arrive on a day. On intraday level, Agents inc is used instead.

See How the Skill table parameters work for more information.

Skill table term	Description
Total calls/chats/emails/tasks	Calls/chats/emails/tasks + (calls/chats/emails/tasks*campaign call/chats/emails/tasks %)
Total talk time/chat time/handling time	Talk time + (talk time*campaign talk time %)
Total ACW/AEW/ATW	After call/chat/email/task work (wrap up) + (after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up)*campaign after call/chat/email/task work (wrap up)%)
Template	A template is defined at the day level to dictate the intraday pattern for service level, occupancy, and other skill metrics.
Service level (%) - only available on intraday view	The service level percentage for the interval.
Service level(s) - only available on intraday view	The service level seconds for the interval.
Minimum occupancy - only available on intraday view	The occupancy is the percentage of the scheduled time on the skill activity that the agent is actively handling contacts. The resource calculation might result in a too high resource need for skills with low volume. Use the minimum occupancy setting to define an acceptable occupancy level and keep the forecasted need lower. This might affect the service level, since it reduces the staffing margins.
Maximum occupancy - only available on intraday view	In some cases, the resource calculation results in an extremely high occupancy level for skills with a high volume. Use the maximum occupancy setting to define a manageable occupancy level for the agents and increase the forecasted need.
Minimum agents - only available on intraday view	Use this setting to highlight the need for more resources than what the volume on the skill indicates. You must only use this setting when necessary.
Maximum agents - only available on intraday view	Use this setting to highlight the need for less resources than what the volume on the skill indicates. You must only use this setting when necessary.
Agents (manual override) - only available on intraday view	Use this setting to override the forecasted agents and use your defined target instead.
Shrinkage - only available on intraday view	Shrinkage is the loss of resources because of unplanned absences, such as sick leave. You can use shrinkage to calculate the total number of agents to schedule, including the number of agents required to cover for unplanned absences. To automatically adjust the shrinkage values for the near future, use dynamic shrinkage. For more information, see Dynamic shrinkage.
Efficiency - only available on intraday view	The efficiency is the percentage of the scheduled skill time that the agents are available to handle contacts. This setting adjusts for the fact that the agents might need to leave their desk, for example, to ask a question. You must define a realistic efficiency level.
Calculated occupancy % - only available on Intraday view	The estimated occupancy for the interval.
Agents - only available on intraday view	The number of agents required for the interval (excluding shrinkage) with the skill table parameters taken into consideration.
Agents with shrinkage - only available on intraday view	The number of agents required for the interval including shrinkage with the skill table parameters taken into consideration