Set up shifts

You can use Shifts to build a rule set and create shifts. These rules allow you to define the start and end times of the shifts, the duration of the shifts, as well as the base activity of the shifts and the shift category they belong to.

Create the shifts based on the agents' time zone because that is the time zone the automatic scheduling will use.

First time creating shifts in WFM? Read Advice for creating shifts in the web to learn more about what you should consider before, during, and after creating shifts.

Prerequisites

  • You have the Scheduling settings and Shifts permissions.
  • The activities to use in the shifts are created in Scheduling settings > Activity.
  • The shift categories to use are created in Scheduling settings > Shift category.
  • To add activities to shifts, you need to create basic shifts.
  • To add shift bags, you need to create least one rule set.

Page location

WFM > WFM settings > Scheduling settings > Shifts

Procedures

Create shifts

Define shift settings

  1. Click the Rule sets tab.
  2. Click Add rule set to create a new rule set, enter a rule set name, and click Add. Alternatively, click an existing rule set.
  3. Select a Base activity for the shift. The base activity will be the base layer of the shift and can be the only activity, but in most cases additional activities are added.
  4. Select a Category. All shift categories created in a rule set belong to the same shift category. For separate shift categories, you need to set up more than one rule set.

  5. Select if the shifts should be Available by default or not. If you select Yes, the shifts can always be used, except for defined dates and weekdays. If you select No, the shifts can only be used on defined dates and weekdays.

    NOTE   In the Availability tab, select the dates and weekdays when these shifts should be available or not available in the Availability date section and the Availability day of week section. You can use the Availability date option to define specific dates where the shift is available. For example, you could create a special shift that is only available on company holidays. You can use the Availability day of week option to define specific days of the week where the shift is available. For further information, go to Configure if shifts should be available by default. After you complete these steps, continue to step 6.

  6. Go back to the Rule sets tab and define the Start period for the shifts by setting three parameters.

    • Early—the earliest possible start time.
    • Late—the latest possible start time.
    • Segment—the increments of the start time between the early and late start.

    EXAMPLE   If Early is set to 09:00, Late to 10:00 and Segment to 0:30, the possible start times are 9:00, 9:30 and 10:00.

    BEST PRACTICE   Avoid setting up long start or end periods with short segments, as that generates many shifts. It's often better to create more specific rule sets and not try to cover too much in one rule set.

  7. Define the End period for the shifts by setting three parameters. If the end time is after midnight, type +1 after the end time, for example 02:00+1.

    • Early—the earliest possible end time.
    • Late—the latest possible end time.
    • Segment—the increments of the end time between the early and late end.

  8. Define the Length (duration) of the shifts, measured by contract hours.

    NOTE   The shift length only considers activities which are defined as contract time. Activities that are not defined as contract time, for example lunch, are not included when calculating the shift length.

    • Min—the shortest possible shift length.
    • Max—the longest possible shift length.
    • Segment—the increments of the shift length between the min and max shift length.
  9. Select the Only for restriction check box if the shifts should only be used in connection with restrictions like agent preferences, availability, or rotations. If you enable this setting, the shifts will still only be used if there are no other shifts that fulfill the rules of the restriction. The rule sets which are only for restrictions are highlighted with a little black dot before their names in the list of rule sets.
  10. Click Save to save your rule set.

NOTE   To learn how to add activities to shifts, go to Add activities to shifts.

Copy a rule set

To create a rule set which is similar to an existing one, use the copy function.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab to ensure it is selected.
  2. Click on the rule set that you want to copy.
  3. Click Copy. A rule set with the same settings as the one you copied is added at the end of the list of rule sets.
  4. Rename the rule set.
  5. Adjust the settings that differ from the original rule set.
  6. Click Save.

Rename a rule set

Rename copied rule sets and rule sets that need a more descriptive name.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab to ensure it is selected.
  2. Select the rule set that you want to rename.
  3. Click the pencil icon beside the rule set name.
  4. Enter the new name.
  5. Click Save.

Delete a rule set

Delete rule sets that are no longer needed.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab to ensure it is selected.
  2. Select the rule set that you want to delete.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. Click Delete again to confirm.

Add a rule set to a shift bag

Add the rule set you created to one or more shift bags or remove it from shift bags it should no longer be connected to.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab to ensure it is selected.
  2. Select the rule set.
  3. Click the shift bags link beside the rule set name in the rule set list.
  4. Select the check boxes for the shift bags that you want to add the rule set to or clear the check boxes for the shift bags that you want to remove the rule set from.
  5. Click Save.

Add activities to shifts

Add activities on top of the base activity to create more complex shifts with different skill activities and non-skill activities like lunches, breaks, and administrative tasks.

The activities can be positioned within the shift in different ways. One way is to use the auto-positioning functionality. It will position one or more activities trying to divide the contract time as evenly as possible. The other ways are to position activities at a specific time, or relative to the start or end of the shift.

If the shift you create has a lunch, start by adding the lunch activity. This is useful as it often affects where other activities are placed. Adding the lunch activity is also important to show all possible shifts based on the rule, as it is often a non-contract time activity.

Do not add activities with a lot of possibilities for when they can be placed within the shift and how long they are. That will result in a big and complex rule set. Instead, try to keep the rule sets small and with a clear purpose.

NOTE   When adding activities, the activities at the bottom always take priority. Therefore, if one activity covers the other, but you want it to be the other way around, move the row down in the table. To reorder the activities, drag and drop an activity by clicking on the dots to the left of the row.

Add activities to shifts

  1. Click the Rule sets tab.

  2. Click on a rule set and then click the Activities tab.

  3. Click the plus icon.

  4. There are four different ways in which an activity can be placed within a shift.

    • Auto position—The auto position feature centralizes activities within the shift. Additionally, it aligns activities relative to others that are positioned higher in the table, ensuring a balanced spacing within the shift. You can use this feature to automatically position short breaks on either side of lunch breaks. If you use Auto position, the Type drop-down will be grayed out along with the Activity position inputs. You can use a combination of both auto positioning and type positioning within a single rule set by adding a new activity row.

      • Count—If you use the auto position feature, in the Count field, specify the number of activities that you want to schedule. For example, if you enter a count of 2, two breaks will be scheduled.

    • Type - The Type feature dictates how the activity is scheduled based on the Activity position column. If you use the Type feature, the Count field will be grayed out. This feature allows you to control at what time an activity is scheduled by placing it in relation to the start time or end time of the shift. This can be useful for example to schedule login time at the start of each shift, or to schedule the lunch break to start within 3 to 4.5 hours into the shift, regardless of when the shift starts. Select one of the following options:

      • Absolute start—This option establishes precise times in the Activity position columns. It is particularly beneficial for rule sets that include only one shift start time. For example, you might schedule lunch to occur between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

      • Relative start—This option allows the activity's early and late start times to be aligned with the shift's start time. For example, lunch can be scheduled to occur between 4 to 6 hours after the shift begins.

      • Relative end—This option allows the activity's early and late start times to be aligned with the shift's end time. For example, the second break can be scheduled to occur between 1 to 2 hours prior to the end of the shift.

  5. Select the Activity you want to add to the shift.

  6. Define the Activity length:

    • Min—the shortest possible length of the activity.
    • Max—the longest possible length of the activity.
    • Segment—the increments of the activity length between the min and max length. The activity length is determined by the variance between the minimum and maximum durations. For example, if you have a time block for back office tasks that ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours, setting a segment of 30 minutes allows the activity to be scheduled for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, or even the full 2 hours. Conversely, if the segment is set to 15 minutes, the activity can then be scheduled for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, and so on.

    EXAMPLE   If Min is set to 1:00, Max to 2:00 and Segment to 0:30, the possible activity lengths are 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00.

  7. Define the Activity position at the time of day in the agent's time zone. The position of the activity always refers to the start time of the activity, regardless of if you are placing the activity in relation to the start or the end of the shift.

    NOTE   If you select the Auto position check box, Activity position is not available.

    • Early start— the earliest time an activity can commence is determined by the selected Type option, which can be absolute start, relative start, or relative end.

      • If you use an absolute start, the early start refers to a specific time, for example, 11:00 AM

      • If you use a relative start or relative end, the early start is the number of hours that indicates when the activity can commence in relation to the start or end time.

    • Late start—the latest time an activity can start.
    • Segment—the scheduling of the activity start time is determined by the specified interval. For example, if you enter a segment of 0:15 and the early and late start times fall between 5:00 and 6:00, the activity will be scheduled at 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, and so on.

  8. Click Save to save the changes. Any automatically positioned activities are evenly distributed within the contract time of the shift. If there are non-contract time activities with a lower priority, this will affect the automatic positioning of activities. They will always be positioned to keep the consecutive contract time as short as possible. If you want to delete an activity, click the trash can icon in the Actions column.

NOTE   To learn how to use limitations to remove shifts, go to Remove shifts with unwanted combinations of activities.

Remove shifts with unwanted combinations of activities

Use limitations to remove shifts with unwanted combinations of activities.

EXAMPLE   There is only 15 minutes of phone time between a short break and the lunch in some shifts. Add a limitation to avoid these shifts. Set the limitation to only keep shifts where the phone activity is greater than or equal to the desired length of time, such as 45 minutes.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab.

  2. Click on a rule set and then click the Limitations tab.

  3. Select an Activity.

  4. Click the plus icon.

  5. Select a Limit to control the minimum or maximum time of activities.

    • Less than—the activity must be shorter than the time limit.
    • Greater than—the activity must be longer than the time limit.
    • Equal—the activity time must be equal to the time limit.
    • Less than or equal—the activity must be equal to or shorter than the time limit.
    • Greater than or equal—the activity must be equal to or longer than the time limit.
  6. Enter the Time of the limit. This is the maximum or minimum time, depending on the limit you selected.

  7. Click Save to save the changes. If you want to delete a limitation, click the trash can icon in the Actions column.

Configure if shifts should be available by default

You can specify which days of the week a shift is available or unavailable by default.

  1. Click the Rule sets tab.

  2. In the General section, select if the shifts should be Available by default or not. If you select Yes, the shifts can always be used, except for defined dates and weekdays. If you select No, the shifts can only be used on defined dates and weekdays.

  3. In the Availability tab, select the dates and weekdays when these shifts should be available or not available in the Availability date section and the Availability day of week section. You can use the Availability date option to define specific dates where the shift is available. For example, you could create a special shift that is only available on company holidays. You can use the Availability day of week option to define specific days of the week where the shift is available.

Visualize a rule set

  1. Click the Rule sets tab.

  2. Click on a rule set.

  3. To visualize a rule set in a graph, click Visualize rule set.

Manage shift bags

Create a shift bag and connect one or more rule sets to it. The shift bag then consists of the shifts from all the connected rule sets. Agents who are assigned to this shift bag can be scheduled with any of those shifts.

Select a shift bag tab to visualize all the shifts it contains and to list all the rule sets it is connected to. The rule sets can be reused in more than one shift bag.

Create a shift bag

Create a new shift bag and connect rule sets to it.

  1. Click the Bags tab.
  2. Click Add shift bag.
  3. Enter a name for the shift bag and click Add.
  4. Click the rule sets link beside the shift bag name in the shift bag list.
  5. Select the check boxes for all rule sets that you want to connect to the shift bag.
  6. Click Save.

Add or remove rule sets

Connect more rule sets to the shift bag or remove already connected rule sets.

  1. Click the Bags tab.
  2. Click the rule sets link beside the shift bag name in the shift bag list.
  3. Select the check boxes for all rule sets that you want to connect to the shift bag and clear the check boxes for the rule sets that you want to remove.
  4. Click Save.

Copy a shift bag

Use the copy function to create a shift bag which is similar to an existing shift bag.

  1. Click the Bags tab.
  2. Select the shift bag that you want to copy.
  3. Click Copy.

Rename a shift bag

Rename copied shift bags and shift bags that need a more descriptive name.

  1. Click the Bags tab.
  2. Select the shift bag that you want to rename.
  3. Click the pencil icon beside the shift bag name.
  4. Enter the new name.
  5. Click Save.

Delete a shift bag

Delete shift bags that are no longer needed.

  1. Select the shift bag that you want to delete.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. Click Delete again to confirm.

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