System and method of scheduling work within a workflow with defined process goals

1. A method of workforce management, utilizing a computing system with a processor and a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

initializing the graphical user interface having a toolbar, a properties tab, and a canvas;

defining a plurality of work queues comprising work items in the graphical user interface, said work queues being represented in the toolbar, wherein each of the plurality of work queues graphically represents a specific step in a workflow;

moving at least two of the plurality of work queues from the toolbar to the canvas;

creating a directional graphical link connecting at least two of the plurality of work queues on the canvas to form the workflow, wherein the workflow has a work process, wherein the work process has a parent work queue and a child work queue such that the parent work queue and the child work queue are connected by a directional graphical link, wherein each work queue graphically depicts each of the work processes to which it belongs;

using the graphical user interface to define a work process goal for each work process, said work process goals being represented in the properties tab;

associating each work process defined in the canvas with at least one of the work process goals from the properties tab;

generating a schedule, using the processor, for the workflow of a plurality of employee work queue assignments to achieve the work process goals, wherein an employee of a plurality of employees is assigned to each work queue;

simulating the performance of the generated schedule;

calculating a performance metric from the simulation, wherein the performance metric is at least one of a first service level score that comprises a product of a total proportion of workflow volume generated at a child work queue by each parent work queue with an unhandled work load penalty for each queue, a second service level score that comprises a single penalty based upon a percentage of work not handled within the at least one work process goal, the single penalty being adjusted to subtract a previous iteratively calculated penalty, or a third service level score that comprises a first penalty based upon when an item of work arrives at a work queue and comprises a second penalty for an iteration of a schedule that leaves unassigned workers;

comparing the performance metrics to an acceptance criterion;

wherein if the performance metric meets the acceptance criteria, the schedule of the employee work queue assignments is accepted; and

wherein if the performance metrics do not meet the acceptance criteria, a new schedule of the employee work queue assignments is generated.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

calculating an average queue wait time for a plurality of simulated schedules of the employee work queue assignments; and

using the calculated average queue wait time as a parameter in simulating the performance of the generated schedule.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating a schedule of employee work queue assignments further comprises:

unbinding a plurality of work activities for a predetermined number of work processes;

randomly selecting an unbound work activity and iteratively assigning an employee to the work activity and simulating the performance of the work activity to optimize the employee assignment to the work activity until employees are assigned to each of the plurality of unbound work activities.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising updating the acceptance criteria to reflect the performance metrics of the accepted schedule of employee work queue assignments and generating a new schedule of employee work queue assignments.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance metric is the first service level score.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein simulating the performance of the generated schedule further comprises:

moving forward each work queue in the workflow in parallel on an interval by interval basis; and

updating a work load at each work queue in the workflow upon the completion of each interval.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance metric is the second service level score.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance metric is the third service level score.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein simulating the performance of the generated schedule further comprises:

receiving historical workflow data;

identifying at least one parent work queue and at least one child work queue from the historical data for which to determine at least one distribution proportion;

minimizing a minimization equation with a linear constraint solver and the historical data; and

determining a distribution proportion of the minimized minimization equation.