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Overview

Forecasting creates estimates of staffing levels so you can be sure you have the right no. staff rostered on.

• The Forecasting system uses prior call volumes handled by a Team, to estimate

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• staffing levels volumes.
• Like all crystal balls, its only an estimate

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Start by making certain that you have select the correct team for the roster and the correct Date Range.

1. Selecting the correct team.

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• The forecasting system will work best if you choose a 'Forecast source Period' (a prior week) that is likely to match the period you are forecasting.

Select a Team

Select the team you want to create a roster for.

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Set the date range that you want to forecast

3. Now click Click the 'Forecast Requirements' button.

The forecast dialog will appear.

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Set the forecast source period.

The forecasting system needs a prior week to use as a 'model week' to base the forecast off.

Select a week that reasonably represents the volume of calls you expect for the week you are forecasting.This might normally be just last week, but for the model week that is likely have had similar call volumes to what you are expecting during your new roster period.

You can often just select the prior week.

For periods like xmas it might be better to select xmas week from last year.

Remember if this is a brand new system and you haven't taken any queued calls as yet then the forecasting system won't work!  Wait a week and then you should have sufficient data to start forecasting.

5. Select the Desired answer wait time.

The desired wait time should normally reflect your SLA or a shorter period of time. The desired wait time helps the forecasting system to tune the no. of staff to put on.staffing levels.

Be careful here. ! If you make the time too short the forecast will need to roster a lot more staff on.

Its important that you enter a realistic value here. This value will directly affect your labor costs and customer satisfaction. The lower the wait time the higher your labour costs but the greater the customer satisfaction.

6. set Set the Scale by factor.

The scale factor allows you to make an adjustment if you think you will be busier or quiter quieter in the forecast period than you were in the forecast source period.

e.g.

You set the forecast source period to last xmas.

You have grown you business by 10% since last year so you should set the 'Scale by' factor to +10%.

7. Run the forecast and the system will estimate your staff requirements.

Forecasting can take a number of minutes to run, so now might be a good time to get that cup of coffee.

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