Example of maintaining service levels

Last Updated : Apr 30, 2013 |

Contact centers must maintain service levels for various reasons, such as contractual obligations or critical requirements from business units within the company.

Adjusting the threshold levels for each skill is a method of maintaining service levels and managing call volumes.

This example describes how the following features meet the needs of contact centers:

  • Dynamic Threshold Adjustment

  • Greatest Need as the call selection method

  • Predicted Wait Time (PWT)

  • Service Level Supervisor (SLS)

  • Uniform Call Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (UCD-LOA) as the agent selection method

Background

A Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company has three customers with contracts that require different service levels. The company must maintain the service levels to prevent penalties or loss of business.

The service level requirement for each customer is as follows:

  • Customer X: 90% within 15 seconds

  • Customer Y: 80% within 20 seconds

  • Customer Z: 75% within 45 seconds

The company creates a skill for each customer and trains agents in all skills.

Skill assignment

The administrator adds three skills, A, B, and C for customers X, Y, and Z respectively. The administrator assigns skills to agents as follows:

  • Top agents: Skill A and Skill B as primary skills.

  • Average agents: Skill B as the primary skill and Skills A and C as reserve skills with the Level 1 threshold.

  • New agents: Skill C as the primary skill and Skill B as the reserve skill with the Level 1 and Level 2 thresholds.

    The administrator assigns threshold levels based on the performance of new agents. For example, new agents who consistently meet service-level targets are Level 1 agents for Skill B.

    New agents do not receive calls to Skill A.

The following table shows the agent skill assignment.

Level of expertise

Skill A

Skill B

Skill C

Top agents

Primary

Primary

—

Average agents

Reserve level 1 (R1)

Primary

Reserve level 1 (R1)

New agents

  • Consistent performers

  • Average performers

—

  • Reserve level 1 (R1)

  • Reserve level 2 (R2)

Primary

Overload thresholds

The administrator sets two reserve levels for new agents. Therefore, the administrator must set two overload threshold levels for Skill B.

The following table lists the reserve agent activation time for each skill.

Skill

Overload threshold in seconds

Service level target

A

Level 1: 10

90% in 15 seconds

B

Level 1: 12

Level 2: 17

80% in 20 seconds

C

Level 1: 35

75% in 45 seconds

Agent selection

The administrator selects UCD-LOA as the agent selection method. Communication Manager routes calls to the agent with the lowest percentage of time on ACD calls since login.

Before selecting an agent for the call, Communication Manager includes After Call Work (ACW) in the agent occupancy calculations.

Call selection

The administrator uses PWT as the call selection measurement to determine how long must a call wait in the queue if the currently available agent does not receive the call.

The administrator uses Greatest Need as the call selection method to ensure that an agent receives the highest priority call with the longest PWT.

Automated staffing

The administrator uses SLS to activate reserve agents when the threshold levels for a skill exceed the administered limit.

The administrator does not use Call Selection Override so that Communication Manager delivers calls in the queue for the primary skills of agents.

The administrator uses Dynamic Threshold Adjustment to automatically change service-level targets.

Summary

SLS activates reserve agents when the threshold levels for a skill exceed the administered limit.

Dynamic Threshold Adjustment ensures that the company does not miss service-level targets.