SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING AGENTS STAFFING LEVELS OF A SUCCESSIVE WORK-SHIFT OF A PREASSIGNED ONGOING WORK-SHIFT, DURING THE PREASSIGNED ONGOING WORK-SHIFT, IN A CONTACT CENTER

1 . A computer-implemented method for adjusting agents staffing levels of a successive work-shift of a preassigned ongoing work-shift, during the preassigned ongoing work-shift, in a contact center, said computer-implemented method comprising:

(i) during the preassigned ongoing work-shift, determining a number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills for the successive work-shift;

(ii) comparing the number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills to a threshold;

(iii) when the number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills is above the threshold, calculating a number of extra-agents; and

(iv) operating a shift-extension module to: (i) select the number of extra-agents from agents having the one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned ongoing work-shift; and (ii) update corresponding schedules of the selected number of extra-agents, in a database of a Workforce Management (WFM) system.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills is operated by a forecasting module.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is a sum of a number of agents having the one or more skills which are assigned to the successive work-shift and a preconfigured buffer.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating of the number of extra-agents comprising reducing from the number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills a number of agents that are currently assigned to the successive work-shift.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the shift-extension module comprising:

(i) calculating Agent Shift Extension Score (ASES) for each agent having one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned ongoing work-shift;

(i) sorting the agents having one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned work-shift based on the calculated ASES in a descending order and storing the agents having one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned work-shift and calculated ASES in a shift-tracking data-store;

(iii) retrieving from the shift-tracking data-store one or more agents having a calculated ASES that is above a preconfigured ASES-threshold;

(iv) when the retrieved one or more agents having a calculated ASES that is above a preconfigured ASES-threshold is not below the determined number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills, selecting the number of extra-agents from the retrieved one or more agents having highest ASES; and

(v) when the retrieved one or more agents having a calculated ASES that is above a preconfigured ASES-threshold is below the determined number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills, updating the preconfigured ASES-threshold by a preconfigured percentage and repeating operations (iii) thru (v) with the updated preconfigured ASES-threshold as the preconfigured ASES-threshold.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the calculating of ASES for each agent in the agents having one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned work-shift is according to formula I:

ASES

⁢

Agent

⁢

i

=

∑

Criterion

⁢

k

=

0

m

(

score

⁢

of

⁢

criterion

⁢

k

*

Weight

⁢

of

⁢

criterion

⁢

k

)

(

I

)

whereby:

m is the number of criteria, and the ASES score for Agent i is computed by summing up the products of the score of each criterion k and the preconfigured weight of that criterion k.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the selecting of the number of extra-agents from the retrieved one or more agents having a calculated ASES comprising selecting the number of extra-agents from the retrieved one or more agents having highest calculated ASES.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein after the selecting of the number of extra-agents from the retrieved one or more agents having a calculated ASES marking agents from the retrieved one or more agents that were not selected as backup.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the calculating of ASES is operated after a selection of agents from a list of agents marked as volunteered-for-extension and reducing the selected number of agents from the list of agents marked as volunteered-for-extension from the number of extra-agents.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the operating of the shift-extension module further comprising: checking a duration of extension of time for each agent against maximum-allowable duration and rotating each agent that the duration of time has exceeded the maximum-allowable duration to balance the workload and scheduling.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein when the determined number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills for the successive work-shift number is higher than the number of agents that were assigned to the successive work-shift and below the threshold, the computer-implemented method further comprising sending a notification as to an overstaffing scenario to a computerized device to be displayed thereon.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein when the determined number of agents to handle inbound-interactions that require one or more skills for the successive work-shift number is lower than the number of agents that were assigned to the successive work-shift calculating Agent Shift Extension Score (ASES) for each agent having one or more skills which are assigned to the preassigned ongoing work-shift and sending Voluntary Time Off (VTO) and Paid Time Off (PTO) suggestions to a computerized-device of an excess-number of agents having lowest calculated ASES.