SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SCHEDULING DEFERRED QUEUES
A system for scheduling deferred communications is provided. A workload requirement for a deferred queue for each interval of a set of intervals is determined. Each workload may indicate the amount of work predicted for the associated interval. A staffing requirement for an immediate queue is received and may indicate the number of agents needed to handle the immediate communications for the same intervals. The system, for each interval, may consider the number of agents needed for the interval in the immediate queue. Because the deferred communications do not have to be handled at any particular interval, the system may, based on the workloads, schedule agents for the deferred queue where the immediate queue is less busy (a smaller number of agents are scheduled). The goal of the system being to smooth the intervals such that the total number of agents scheduled for each interval across the immediate queue and the deferred queue remains fairly constant.
1 . A method comprising:
receiving a first combined set of staffing requirements for a first queue and a second queue by a computing device, wherein the first combined set of staffing requirements includes a staffing requirement for each interval of a plurality of intervals, and the intervals of the plurality of intervals are ordered;
receiving a workload for each interval of the plurality of intervals for a third queue by the computing device;
generating a second combined set of staffing requirements by, for each interval of the plurality of intervals, generating a combined staffing requirement by adding the staffing requirement from the interval to the workload for the interval; and
for each interval of the plurality of intervals, when the combined staffing requirement is above an optimal level, distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second queue and the third queues are deferred queues and the first queue is an immediate queue.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
scheduling one or more agents to the third queue based on the second set of combined staffing requirements.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the workload values are associated with a goal time and each interval of the plurality of intervals is associated with a duration of time, and distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval comprises:
distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval that is within the goal time measured from the interval to the subsequent interval based on the duration of time associated with each interval.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the goal time is based on a type of a deferred communication associated with the third queue.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the type comprises one or more of e-mail, SMS, or twitter.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first, second, and third queues are associated with a contact center.
8 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
receive a first combined set of staffing requirements for a first queue and a second queue, wherein the first combined set of staffing requirements includes a staffing requirement for each interval of a plurality of intervals, and the intervals of the plurality of intervals are ordered;
receive a workload for each interval of the plurality of intervals for a third queue;
generate a second combined set of staffing requirements by, for each interval of the plurality of intervals, generating a combined staffing requirement by adding the staffing requirement from the interval to the workload for the interval; and
for each interval of the plurality of intervals, when the combined staffing requirement is above an optimal level, distribute at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the second queue and the third queues are deferred queues and the first queue is an immediate queue.
10 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
Schedule one or more agents to the third queue based on the second set of combined staffing requirements.
11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the workload values are associated with a goal time and each interval of the plurality of intervals is associated with a duration of time, and distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval comprises:
distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval that is within the goal time measured from the interval to the subsequent interval based on the duration of time associated with each interval.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the goal time is based on a type of a deferred communication associated with the third queue.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the type comprises one or more of e-mail, SMS, or twitter.
14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the first, second, and third queues are associated with a contact center.
15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to:
receive a first combined set of staffing requirements for a first queue and a second queue, wherein the first combined set of staffing requirements includes a staffing requirement for each interval of a plurality of intervals, and the intervals of the plurality of intervals are ordered;
receive a workload for each interval of the plurality of intervals for a third queue;
generate a second combined set of staffing requirements by, for each interval of the plurality of intervals, generating a combined staffing requirement by adding the staffing requirement from the interval to the workload for the interval; and
for each interval of the plurality of intervals, when the combined staffing requirement is above an optimal level, distribute at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval.
16 . The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the second queue and the third queues are deferred queues and the first queue is an immediate queue.
17 . The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
Schedule one or more agents to the third queue based on the second set of combined staffing requirements.
18 . The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the workload values are associated with a goal time and each interval of the plurality of intervals is associated with a duration of time, and distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval comprises:
distributing at least a portion of the combined staffing requirement attributable to the workload from the interval to the combined staffing requirement of a subsequent interval that is within the goal time measured from the interval to the subsequent interval based on the duration of time associated with each interval.
19 . The computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the goal time is based on a type of a deferred communication associated with the third queue.
20 . The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first, second, and third queues are associated with a contact center.