Intra-Day Time Segment Calls

Having understood call volumes received throughout all periods from day to full year, it is then necessary to interrogate each intra-day time segment of each day. ACDs collect data in time segments and this is usually in 15 or 30 minute segments and is readily available from the reporting database.  We will focus on a 30 minute time segment here.

As a contact centre’s working window is usually larger than an individual’s working day, it is necessary to understand the workload per hour (or erlang) to schedule resources throughout the window.

The line-graph, below, charts the average calls received for Mondays, by 30 minute interval, for a 6-week period. A 6-week average is a good average for trends.

It is important to understand the ‘make-up’ of the average - the line-graph, below, charts daily call-flow by 30-minute time segment.  It covers the current Monday and the previous five together with a 6-week average. This then creates the intra-day call pattern for the day and we are step closer to understanding resource requirements throughout the day.

As with all volumes it will be necessary to take account of the reasons for the high and low range and ensure there are no extenuating circumstances delivering the lower or higher volume.  If there is, then the volume can be excluded from the average, otherwise this will give a false average for resourcing.  The deviation from the average is also a starting point to analysing service level performance.

Having established the average intra-day call-flow for a day, it is then possible to display the average calls answered and abandoned by 30-minute interval.  The chart, below, covers an average Monday call-flow over a 6-week period.  This the starts to provide an accurate pattern for a Monday for resourcing purposes.

Call Forecasting 4 - Daily Profile

Call Forecasting 6 - Call Profiles as Percentages