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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 future call volumes.
Like all crystal balls, its only an estimate and events can transpire to cause call volumes to be very different from prior volumes. It does however give you a reasonable base line to work from.
Start by making certain that you have select the correct team for the roster and the correct Date Range.
- Selecting the correct team.
2. Set the date range that you want to forecast
3. Now click the 'Forecast Requirements' button.
. 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 periods like xmas it might be better to select xmas week 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.
Be careful here. If you make the time too short the forecast will 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 the Scale by factor.
The scale factor allows you to make an adjustment if you think you will be busier or quiter in the forecast period than you were in the 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.
Once the forecasting is complete you should see a bar chart. Each bar represents a 15 min block of time. The height of each bar represents the no. of staff you need for that period.
