Home

to manual

1. 45 After entering an Adjustment factor of 2096 the figure below shows the changes resulting to your Forecast Sheet NOTE There are 3 color codes used for the Ser Level and ASA secs is as follows 1 If the value is above Best Case e g 80 the cell goes Green 2 Ifthe value falls below Worst case e g 70 then the cell goes Red 3 If it is between Best and Worse 71 79 then the cell stays White percent Summary Table 1 Calls expected for this day column has increased Calls Resource Resource Total Trunk 2 The TOTALS in the expected For hours Hours Cast Level AA secs Abands total Calls amp nz d Summary Table thiz da required Scheduled 3 A bad 183 5 show a 2096 increase 3 Red shading appears in the Ser Level and ATTE ASA for Monday lz 16 439 0 1 000 7 Wak Frob Imm E SerLevel Time Talk Time Work Time Feseurce Cost Lost Trunk Cost Trunks Shots LInPrad Tolerance Abandanz eece secs secs Cost per hr Call per hr Factor Main T able Main Table Lia cdi detail Actual resources 100 1 The number of Resources Reg has increased m o AddiDel Resources 2 The Diff column is now negative a for all periods 3 The results shown in the Performance Details column are very poor not shown oeoa 39 of aol dao rl D s i4 The Summary Table Ser Level SL and Average Speed of Answer ASA results are no where near the Benchmark objectives o
2. Main Tz Forecast detail Resources Overflow to Actual Calls Pesources Reg live agents Expected Esq Dic 31 2007 Mon 0 00 DTA 10 8 05 30 348 1 6 348 3 2 15x 157 20 9 09 00 521 24x 521 4 3 45 zid 29 9 ga zn 2ra 2768 4 5 155 260 32 5 114 When you change the nput Parameter values associated with Agent resources i e the values in blue text with a white background the Forecast Details relevant to Agent resources are automatically recalculated Similarly when you change nput Parameter values associated with IVR resources i e the values in blue text with a yellow background the Forecast Details relevant to IVR resources are automatically recalculated While in your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet gt Click the 15 cell for Agent Unproductivity Unprod enter 10 then Click Enter gt Click the 0 cell for IVR Prob Imm Abandons enter 10 then Click Enter The IVR Prob Imm Abandons factor is changed to 10 The Agent UnProd factor is changed to 1096 Input parameters Prab Imm Trunks lotz UnFrod w ait P SerLevel Time Talk Time work Time Resource ost Lost Factor secs secs secs Cost per hr Call The number of Agent Resources Required with a 10 UnProd The number of IVR Resources Factor Main Tabla Required with a 0 Prob Imm Abandons Factor Actual Calls Dat T T calls X ofd Forecast details Eezourcez Oyen Flow ta Actual Calls Resources Fieg live
3. ES 31 2001 Mon Jan 02 2002 wed Jan 03 2002 Thu Jan 04 2002 Fri a o o o a2 Totals 21 475 0 21 475 0 Set Input Parameters Input Parameters Walk i 3 aunt alot LinPrad Prob Imm Patries Tian er Level Time Talk Time Work Time Eezource Cast Lost Trunk Cast Abandons secs secs secs Cost per hr Call per hr Factar Review the 12 input value cells located in the Input Parameters section of your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet It is through these values that the Hills B Formula is able to calculate results within 1 396 of actual performance It is imperative that you assign values carefully Just CLICK in any cell to receive an explanation for each field or you can review the Glossary of Terms located at the end of this manual If you find that the cell tips or input prompts are a nuisance follow the instructions in the section titled Hide or display Input Commands and or Cell Tips on p 23 of this User s Guide 35 Types of values There are two types of values used by the program that are referred to as Fixed Average Values and Variable Values An explanation of each value type follows FIXED AVERAGE VALUES The input values currently displayed in your Input Parameters section are Fixed Average Values This means that whatever value is in the input s cell it will be calculated into the results for each period of each day of your forecast However Fixed Average Values may not always make sense becaus
4. End date Sunday 13 January 2002 m Step z Days Step 3 Times When you click on Next from Step 1 and the Step 2 of 3 screen appears perform the following Ensure Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday are selected in the DOW list No Holidays for the USA fall within your selected one week forecast Click Next or click on the Step 3 Times box Create new forecast Step 2 of 3 Click box to select Select Ehe days of the week and or select holidays Step 1 Dates Step z Days Step 3 Times Check En include DOW Check to include holiday s Saturday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Default File in use Change USA dat N BI lt Back nex J Finish Cancel C 57 When you click on Next from Step 2 and the Step 3 of 3 screen appears perform the following Using the drop down box provided select the Start time as 08 00 Using the drop down box provided select 18 00 for your End time Retain 30 mins as the Period Click Finish Create new forecast Step 3 of 3 Click box to select Select shartiend times and period Starbfend times Step 1 Dates End Step 2 Days Step 3 Times 15 mins 1 hour z hours f z Back Finish Cancel When Finish is clicked in Step 3 as shown above and the Enter new forecast name window appears perform the following Enter new forecast name Tx You can retain the default
5. Performance details Average Ser Leve Speed of amp nzwer Forecast detail Actual rezourcez 1005 Resources Dyerflow to Actual Calls Resources Eezeurcez Add del Req live agents Expected Req Sched agal 10x ce 3 3 1 0 j Increased Agent shortage Decreased Ser Level Increased Increase to Resources Req Abandons 10 and a 20 Overflow factor Increased ASA User defined entries therefore no calculated adjustments made Actual Resources based on user defined entries hence no calculated adjustments made Increase in Actual Calls Expected 129 Hills B Formula Review Hills B Formula Overview Our Hills B products rely on the Hills B Formula to accurately predict the performance of an ACD queuing system These products are Hills B Optimizer Pro Hills B for Excel and Hills B Calculator The Hills B Formula takes into account an array of real life aspects factors of a queuing system which are ignored by other formulae of its kind including traditional Erlang C In this chapter we will explain how Erlang C works and where it is lacking Then we will walk you through what the Hills B Formula has and takes into account which makes our forecasting tool superior To begin we need to know that the performance of an ACD system is measured by several inter related factors v Service Level The percentage of calls answered within a sp
6. There were some anomalies in the early morning during periods of low calls but the average over the working day was reasonably uniform 131 The Analysis Service Level We performed an analysis of the historical data and determined that a Wait Tolerance Time of 800 seconds provided the best description of the user behavior With this factor the recorded and predicted Service Levels were 100 Service Level 90 80 ACTUAL 70 Predicted 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 00 00 02 00 04 00 06 00 08 00 10 00 12 00 14 00 16 00 18 00 20 00 22 00 This chart shows that the Service Level performance during the day was poor The average over the day was 15 4 The predicted performance follows the actual closely The average service level predicted was 18 8 Percentage Abandonments The actual and predicted abandonments were Abandonment ACTUAL Predicted 0 00 00 02 00 04 00 06 00 08 00 10 00 12 00 14 00 16 00 18 00 20 00 22 00 There was an anomaly at the 7 30 reporting period This was the same period that there was an anomaly in the reported ACW The average of reported abandons for the day was 11 2 The predicted value was 10 2 Average Speed of Answer The reported and predicted Average Speed of Answer was 132 ASA ACTUAL Predicted 0 00 00 02 00 04 00 06 00 08 00 10 00 12 00 14 00 16 00 18 00 20 00 22 00 There
7. Acteal resources ck Resources Resources Addi del 2 9 Resources Reg Talk Time Overflow ta zess live agents 130 10 c co ug ou c Ch oco T2 D npn mp m m mp mp m D oc Roc ch Do wo At this point your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 looks very good in terms of your Performance Details results in the Main Table You will continue with a few more exercises so you can learn more about Hills B Optimizer Pro Modifying Hours of Operation Tuesday is a holiday New Year s Day Because of this you want to shorten your hours of operation on Monday so your staff can enjoy a longer holiday Click the Customize forecast sheet icon from the Hills B toolbar When the Customize forecast window appears perform the following 121 Customize forecast EJ Click the Times tab L Forecast Period Input sources Result columns J LI Dec 31 2001 Jan O2 2002 Jan 03 2002 Jan L4 2002 From the Customize forecast menu select Monday December 31 2001 Using the drop box provided click on 11 00 for your new End Time Click Close once the status bar reaches 10096 to save your changes and exit this window When you click Close from the window above you are back in the Forecast Sheet Note that the Calls based on a typical day column in your Summary Table shows a considerable decrease from 7 694 to 2 658 for Monday Since Hills B only extracts data specified by the Forecas
8. Calls Period Agents TalkTime WorkTime Optional AgentUnProd ErICOCC Calls Period Agents TalkTime WorkTime Optional AgentUnProd NAgentsErlCSL SLObj SLObjTime Calls Period TalkTime WorkTime Optional AgentUnProd NAgentsErIlCASA ASAObj Calls Period TalkTime Function Description WorkTime Optional AgentUnProd NAgentsHBSL SLObj SLObjTime Calls Period TalkTime WorkTime Trunks WTT Optional AgentUnProd Optional Pimm Optional PRetry fe NAgentsHBASA ASAObj Calls Period TalkTime WorkTime Trunks WTT Optional AgentUnProd Optional Pimm Optional PRetry NAgentsHBMinCost Calls Period TalkTime WorkTime Trunks WTT CostCall CostAgent CostTrunk Optional AgentUnProd Optional Pimm Optional PRetry Result Specifications SLADJ PQ Probability of entering queue Agent occupancy PIOS ONU BPO is C Probability of immediate abandonment Probability of abandonment excluding immediate abandonment s PLOSS Probability of Loss Average Time to Abandonment HOLDHOURS Queue hours in period PRETRIES Increase in calls due to retries COSTAGENTTOT Total cost for agents in period Average Speed of Answer secs COSTTRUNKTOT Total cost for trunks in period TALKHOURS Talk hours in period COSTTOT QSLOTSREQ WORKHOURS Agent work hours in period COSTCALLTOT Total cost for lost c
9. Create New Study Study Types and Associated User Manual Volume When you click on Create New Study the New Study window appears with a selection choice of two Study types The Study types and associated User Manual Volumes are 1 Forecast Agent Resources Reference Volume A of this User Manual 2 Forecast Agent and IVR Resources Reference Volume B of this User Manual Volume A instructs you on how to use the Forecast Agent Resources module of Hills B This module will forecast a call center s required number of Agent Resources quality of performance and service levels in addition to costs associated with running a center Volume B will include instructions on forecasting IVRs as well 17 Volume A Using Hills B OptimizerPro to Forecast Agent Resources Utilizing the Forecast Agent Resources Template When MS Excel is opened you are presented with a blank worksheet as shown in the image below EX Microsoft Excel Booki File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Windo D ce Ee X Rs s en Hills B Pro is included as a selection item in the MS Excel toolbar Hils B Pro Dhielp AE r5 i daa 1 Arial m ote GPF LL Forecasts usb e new study 1 Click on Hills B Pro from the La Open existing study Excel Menu T Insert Hote tet F EN Partim Tee 2 Point to Forecasts then Create New Studv Options Help About
10. Dee 31 2001 117 Changing Variable Values Next you will need to change the Variable Talk Time and Overflow to live agents default values Make the following assumptions for Monday only of your 1 week Study gt Due to staffing difficulties you will configure your IVR to allow customers to use the automated attendant features for all inquiries during the hours of 08 00 to 11 30 and that on average it will take callers 180 seconds to complete their inquiries Further assume that the Overflow to live agents estimate will be 1096 of the expected calls Staffing problems are alleviated for the afternoon hours between 12 00 to 16 30 and the IVR Talk Time or IVR Connect Time during that time frame will be 60 seconds The Overflow to live agents percentage will be 1096 for the time increments 08 00 to 11 30 and will increase to the default value of 4596 between 12 00 and 16 30 Follow the directions below Input parameterz wait Prob Imm a Ser Level Time Talk Time Work Time Resource Cost Lost Trunk Cost GShoks LinPrad Btriez Tolerance b andonz ES secs secs secs Cost per hr Call per hr Change the Overflow to live agents value to 10 for the hours of 08 00 In your Main Table go to the new Talk Time secs column and click on the 08 00 cell for Monday Overwrite the previous value of 10 with 780 ecask details 20 8 40 5 35 5 7 55 0 52 7 8 Do the same for the remaining cell
11. Hills B Optimer Pro Innovative Decision Support Tools Forecaster and Call Management Software 2008 2009 i2Gemini Inc 1996 2007 HTL Telemanagement Ltd User Manual How to Register Once you have installed your copy of Hills B Optimizer Pro there is one final step required to register your product Each of these products is licensed as a single installation product contact i2Gemini for more information on our Enterprise or Corporate License This registration procedure is intended to prevent unauthorized installations of the product Follow the steps below to register your product after completing the basic installation 1 2 d 4 pop 10 11 Close Excel and reopen Excel to ensure the Turbo Tables product is being loaded You will be asked if you want to register Click on the Register button Click on the button that says I have not been given a registration number and click on the Next button You will be given a PC ID and a keycode carefully copy down this information or click on the support i2Gemini com link to access your email account and set up an email that will contain this information Click the Back button Either call i2Gemini s technical support line at 866 936 4436 or email us at support Di2Gemini com with your PC ID keycode and serial number i2Gemini will supply you with a registration number Once you have received the registration number Click on the I have bee
12. However if at 9 00 there were 5 calls in queue the number of calls that actually arrived between 8 30 and 9 00 was 105 The management report error understates the actual calls by 5 0 134 Between 9 00 and 9 30 the management report indicates that 180 calls arrived However if at 9 30 there were 18 calls in queue the number of calls that actually arrived between 9 00 and 9 30 was 180 less the 5 that should have been reported in the previous half hour plus the 18 still in queue at 9 30 that should be included The actual number of calls arriving is therefore 193 so the management report understates the actual calls by 4 0 Unfortunately most management reports do not include the number of calls in queue as part of their standard reports These have to be obtained from the real time reports that are frequently not captured Number of Agents This one seems easy all reports give you the average staffed positions However this number can be prone to error First it is essential that agents log their status correctly as far as after call work time as opposed to time off system Also it is important to know how your management system deals with outgoing calls There are two types of outgoing call and you must ensure that you know how the management system deals with each Independent Outgoing Call If an otherwise free agent makes an outgoing call the time the agent spends on that call must be subtracted from the average staff numbe
13. Summary T able Callz expected Far Dec 31 2007 Mon Jan 02 2002 wed Jan 03 2002 Thu Jan Od 2002 Fri Totals 21 475 0 2z1 475 0 34 Review Reviewing your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet you will note that you have successfully worked through 3 of the 5 main sections of the Forecast Sheet In summary you have 1 Set Optimization Type and Goals 2 Set Best Worst Benchmarks for SL and ASA 3 Populated your Calls based on typical day column Take a look at the figure below This figure should mirror your screen at this point Do not be alarmed by the red shading in the Service Level column The program is alerting you that based on the details you have entered thus far your SL for all days are at some point falling below your worst case scenario Keep in mind that Hills B automatically re calculates with each adjustment you make to your forecast Consequently as you are building a forecast e g entering your input details the program registers those adjustments and calculates accordingly Not until you have completed entering your details will the results all columns with values in red fonts make sense and be accurate Optimization Goals Set Optimization Goals for Resources Enter Service Level Beackhmark SL and ASA Benchmarks Set At heast of all calls answered in lege than Typical Calls Imported E Table A Calls Fiszource Resoures Calls Total Trunk ypi thiz da required ODE
14. 50 40 B ASA Exact n 0 ASA ERL C 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Agents Does an error rate at a low percent point level in the number of agents or calling volume really matter The answer is far more than might be first obvious 137 Technical Information Technical Information for Hills B Optimizer Pro The 10 Functions of Hills B Optimizer Pro Type Function Description HillsB Master function returns from 1 to 20 results Master function ErlC Erlang C blocking ErlCSLO Erlang C Service level es le MOS ErlICASAQ Erlang C Average Speed of Answer ErlcOCCQ Erlang C Service Occupancy using Erlang C assumptions Speed of Answer using Erlang C assumptions Speed of Answer using Hills B Speed of Answer using Hills B Hills B Function Specifications If you need to enter one of the formulas yourself we recommend that you use the function wizard HillsB Calls Period Agents AgentUnProd TalkTime Returns one or more results as an array formula The result WorkTime SLTime Trunks Qslots required is specified by an Output name Output names are WTT Pimm PRetry CostCall specified in next table CostAgent CostTrunk RESULTS Optional GoalsParam ErICSL Calls Period Agents TalkTime WorkTime SL Time Optional AgentUnProd ErICASA Calls PERiod Agents TalkTime WorkTime Optional AgentUnProd ErlC
15. Change Optimization Goals Or Click the Change Optimization Goals icon located on the Hills B Cap Import Typical Calls toolbar de U XM Epa What if d 106 The Change Goals Optimization window appears presenting you with two options The first option allows you to change the IVR Optimization Goals The second option allows you to change the Agent Resource Optimization Goals gt Click on the Optimization Goals for IVRs Change Goals Optimization Select which Goals you wish to change Click here to change IVR Optimization Goals Optimization Goals For Agents When you click OK the Set optimization goals screen appears The default settings can be retained or you can set the goals that have been established for your environment For this exercise the default will be changed for the IVRs Set optimization goals ki Ed Click on Service Level Adj Optimization method C Service Level All 50 of all calls answered in less than 10 cers Service Lave Click on the field containing 95 Overwrite with 90 ae Average Speed of Answer less than 1o Secs Click on the field containing 12 C Minimum cost i C Limited resources 75 of calls accepted answered in less than 20 miris Additional conditions Click Finish to save your change and exit the Set Optimization Goals Busies less than lo Yo ues Occupancy less than o So
16. E gt nj My Computer gis 3 Floppy Ai Open Cancel E iC Program Files Advanced Htlt Hills B Optimizer Pro 4 Click Open diMadiFv FTP Locations um P Find Files Text or property Find Mow Last modified any time Mew Search 3 Once in the Calls folder Highlight Sample Calls xls 1 File s Found Select Typical Calls worksheet From the list of templates provided by Hills B highlight Sample Sample calls xls 30 mins template 15 mins template 60 mins template 120 mins template Import Typical Calls Click Yes to overwrite your current Typical Calls table data Overwrite curent Typical Callz data Import Typical Calls i Typical Calls imported When Typical Calls imported appears Click OK 33 Warning LI Topical Calls Times 0 00 0 30 1 00 1 30 2 00 2 30 3 00 3 30 4 00 4 30 5 00 5 30 6 00 5 30 7 00 7 30 SU 8 30 9 00 9 30 10 00 10 30 11 00 11 30 12 00 12 30 13 00 13 30 14 00 14 30 15 00 15 30 16 00 gt HN Typical Calls Week of Dec 312001 Typical Calls data appears for only the hours of operation specified eleking or renaming thiz mn gt omn gt D amp W 5 d e d d amp d amp A A d amp mo au A la M uou d a e m ca um Dh y Dh A um am mnm umo de m e e A A Gm A d un un u nu 262 366 ear
17. Main T able Call details ead Dec 31 2001 T8833 Jan D2 2002 Jan 02 start time is 10 00 Jan 02 end time of 16 30 indicates the last half hour interval prior to 17 00 61 Change the Forecast Periods Display on the Main Table While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize forecast sheet icon on the Hills B toolbar From the Customize forecast window perform the following ustomize forecast Times Forecast Periad Input sources Result columns Click the Forecast Period tab Change the Period value of the Forecast In the Select Period section Select Period Highlight 7 hour 15 ming aD mins 2 hours When the status bar reaches 100 adjustment has been made click Close to exit menu and save your changes When you clicked on Close to exit menu and save your changes as shown above you are returned to the Forecast Sheet Take a moment to review the resulting changes to the Main Table section Call detail Forecast details Acteal resources Note in your Main Table that Call fom HA e Details are now displayed in 1 hour salle Expected increments Disc 2 soni na 503 611 03 00 1 033 1313 10 00 1 050 T260 j2 2002 wed Note When you change the Period from a shorter interval to a longer interval e g 30 mins changed to 60 mins you cannot revert back to the shorter interval within the same Forecast and obt
18. With the Winter Holiday Season Forecast Sheet open E Click on the Open a saved study l AM aya Es E Jin um P a icon located on the Hills B toolbar tf Thanksgiving Week 2001 xls Open winter Holiday Season 2001 xls Cancel Advanced Highlight the Thanksgiving Week 2001 When Open is clicked on the screen shown above you will find yourself in your Week of Nov 19 2001 Forecast Sheet To move between the two studies use the Windows function from the Excel toolbar as shown below Window Hills B Pra Help P New Window Use the Windows selection from the Arrange Excel toolbar to move between i Hide open studies UTE split Freeze Panes m 1 Thanksgiving Week 2001 xls 2 Winker Holiday Season 2001 xls While in your Week of Nov 19 2007 Forecast Sheet 1 Click File from your Excel toolbar 2 Click Close 3 When prompted click Yes to save your changes 55 You will find yourself back in your Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study Forecast Sheet name is Week of Dec 31 2001 and ready to work through the next Tool Bar icon Add a new forecast sheet Using Add a New Forecast Sheet Icon With the Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study its Week of Dec 2001 Forecast Sheet open Click on the Add a new forecast sheet icon located on the Hills B toolbar IN OB 62 dp Co ES 7 A Study can contain as many Forecast Sheets as necessary For example you have created the
19. these steps a Use the drop down box and select 08 00 as the Start time if it isn t already selected b Use the drop down box and select 17 00 as the End time c Select 30 mins for the Period d Click Finish Create new forecast Step 3 of 3 Click box to select Select startend times and period Step 3 a Using the drop down box for Start select 08 00 Step 1 Dates Step 3 b Using the drop down box for End select 17 00 Step 3 c Select 30 minutes for your Period to select how the Performance Results will be displayed Startlend times Start 06 00 End Feriod 3t mins Step 3 d Click Finish Back mE Finish Cancel Name your Forecast Sheet When you have completed the Create New Forecast wizard you are prompted to Enter New Forecast Sheet Name The system provides a default name that you can either retain or overwrite For this exercise we will overwrite the default name by performing the following steps 1 Highlight the default entry and type in Week of Dec 31 2001 2 Click OK Step 1 For this exercise change the Enter new forecast name ki Forecast sheet name to read Week of Dec 31 2001 Mew forecast worksheet has been created Enter a name Far the Forecast max 31 characters Cancel Step 2 Click OK week of Dec 31 2001 Save your new Study Once you have named the Forecast Sheet the Save New Study window will auto
20. 09 00 you are short 1 Agent Resource and that for the remaining hours of operation you are short 2 Agent Resources To improve the Performance details you have two choices 1 You can optimize by SL which will require more agents but will maintain your SL objective and also keep you within your ASA objective or 2 You can optimize by ASA which will result in fewer agents being required but could result in a missed SL objective Optimize by Service Level SL To improve the Service Level SL one of your options is to increase your Hesources Scheduled for each half hour increment as reflected in the Diff column displayed on the previous page screen image To increase the scheduled resources to the exact number showing in the Resources Reg column simply enter the numbers indicated in the Diff column for each half hour increment into the Add del column for same half hour increments Or you may click on the What if Agents icon located on the Hills B Toolbar select Dec 37 2001 and enter 100 in the Enter new value space See Schedule Resources Agents at p 40 of this manual for detailed instructions gt Enter the values 1 1 2 2 2 and 2 in the Aad del column Best Ak east 0 SA E OF all calls answered in less khan 35 Secs Average Ser Level Speed of Abands total 5 Anz FTE Required enzwer NIS The values you entered in the Add del column resulted in the Resources equaling the Resources Requi
21. 355 326 1034 344 G6 345 2 30 361 350 209 1010 3235 56 II 300 382 185 3rd 114 382 33 Jis 3 30 383 35 348 1066 355 23 355 4 00 342 345 240 1027 352 33 J42 AU 21 43 226 BD 225 bb js 6 Manually insert these numbers into our 24x7 Typical Calls grid or use the cut and paste function of Excel 149 psg 1 6 ppm go psg p pec p9 e p This is how the numbers look SE Eepital alic r r 4 Times Nona Tat weed Thu Eri 231 EET in the default Typical Calls s s Worksheet 5 0zn J a a ri 1d E 1234 o th o 200 D n n n n n 220 a n D 0 n ii 0 LU any o a E 4x E ul i a Ti 5 D n n n n n o t5 5x n n n i n ih e IE zu n it E ih iz Bd ii 4 4 t o 4 4 14 z ETE 7o Q 25 12 T 12 13 en TZ T1 Tt hi 55 ao a z1 2400 157 iTE ist Ts EI Z2 22 icu o 2hx 214 201 zu 45 Iz 25 430 BES SOK ara 256 Bae T 2x 24 PERITO 5I i 3 1 Pare 31 si i 25 1030 425 3p 349 2r4 301 4d 20 26 10 4 ak aS aX i 235 2 ce zz itd 55 eS es oe au 5 E as Tish 450 261 HES 12 TEP ES 2 2 aii 411 2E 353 abd ada sr iz 20 122 0 374 aTE ITE JEF 214 6 iz zd Wd 3 262 i i aia ai Ad i4 22 He 445 aie on 271 EFI u i1 Er 400 245 aab anb ne reo PT z 34 14250 far OE ERI 26 TS Td 5 25 00 JEZ mun a5 Pur SL 21 27 E 35 152 155 ed PES Pe it 215 EI i 1 J7 16 00 Tee EL zE m Pas Pd zB Tn iz EE 1620 27 aie o
22. Dee 31 20007 Mon 08 00 DTA 0 50 ado 1 6 ado Set Input Parameters Still in your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet review the values located in the cells of the nput Parameters section It is through these values that the Hills B Formula is able to calculate results within 1 396 of actual performance It is imperative that you assign values carefully and that everyone within your organization understands the definition of each To review the Hills B definition of each Input Parameter you may click on any of the cells for an automatic prompt or review the Glossary of Terms located at the end of this manual To learn how to deactivate either the prompts or tips see the section titled Hide of Display Input Comments and or Cell Tips on p 23 of this manual 113 Default IVR Input Parameters yellow background with blue text N wait Prab Imm 3 Ser Level Time Talk Time de zounce Gost Lost Trunk Cost gt BEetrisz Tolerance Nee Factor secs secs PA euet per hr Call per hr _ MRE O O Default Agent Input Parameters white background with blue text Input parameters Types of values The nput Parameters section of the Forecast Sheet currently contains Fixed Average Values for both the Agent and IVR resources It is these values that the Hills B formula considers when calculating results throughout the length of the forecast In order for Hills B to produce results within 1
23. Erlangs 144 Explanation of Actual Resources Fields Add del 42 Diff 42 Resources 42 Resources Sched 42 Scale Factor 42 Find and Open a Saved Study 26 151 FIXED AVERAGE VALUES 36 Forecast Agent and IVR Resources 99 Forecast Agent Resources Template 18 Forecast Sheet Sections Detailed Description 14 Forecast Sheet Sections Overview 14 Forecast Study Period 100 FTE 146 Full Time Equivalent FTE 146 Glossary of Terms 144 Hide or display Input Comments and or Cell Tips 25 Hills B Formula 130 Hills B Formula Review 130 Hills B Toolbar 51 How is the Data Entered into my Forecast Sheet 32 110 Importing a Typical Calls Table 32 110 INPUT PARAMETERS 15 Installation Procedures 10 Launching Hills B Pro 17 Launching Hills B Pro From MS Excel 17 Launching Hills B Pro From the Start Menu 17 Limited Resources 29 31 106 lower Resources Req 127 MAIN TABLE 15 Mathematical Model Requirements 134 Modifying Hours of Operation 44 121 Name your Forecast Sheet 22 103 Name Your Study 54 Number of Agents 135 Number of Calls 134 Occupancy 144 Open a Saved Study 55 Optimization Choices 46 124 OPTIMIZATION GOALS FOR RESOURCES 14 Optimization Method 30 Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA 126 Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA 47 Optimize by Service Level SL 46 125 Percentage Abandonments 132 Perform What if Exerc
24. File in use is LISA dat Martin Luther King Day Groundhog Da 01 15200 an neli2zl2U01 Lincoln s Birthday 02 14 2001 Valentine s Day Oo2 19 2001 President s Dav Select entry from list to edit Mm Edit Holiday File 2 Delete 2 12 01 Lincoln s Birthday Click Yes when prompted if you want to delete this holiday Note in the screen shot below that the holiday Lincoln s Birthday has been removed from the current USA Holidays File 87 I i i X PIU Edit Holiday File x Birthday has Country File in use is USA dat been removed on 2 12 01 a2razr2001 Groundhog Da DH a4 rzDUO Valentine s Day O02 1179 2001 President s Day Os 1 7 2001 St Patrick s Day 4 15 2001 Easter Remember to Mew record remove from MM future years as well Click Close to exit window and save changes Add a Holiday to the current Holiday file in use To add a new listing to a Holidays Table follow the instructions below Remember that there are more years contained in each list e g 2001 2002 2003 so you will need to add for each individual year Options From the Holidays Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew forecast menu select Edit rent File Program HTILT Hills BE Optimizer ProUseriHolidays 1054A dat The Options menu is activated by clicking on the Change Options icon Browse Mew located on the Hills B toolbar a
25. Help Zia BM Slo m SI d Arial glo B BIUE Enter Service Level Benchmark Optimization Saved Study file name Optimization t At least af all calls an Calls scale EE Summary Table Calls Calls ee Resource Resource Total FT based on Adjustment D thiz hours Hours Trunk Bedi Forecast Sheet name that typical day required Scheduled Cost q is contained in Study Dee 31 2001 Mon Ni Jan 02 2002 wed Jan 03 2002 Thu Jan 04 2002 Fri Totals Input Parameters wait Ser Level Agent Trunk Prob Imm a zd ps Talk Time work Time cae Gost Uns Trunks Glos UnF rod Aband Tolerance Time Gost Last Call Cost per andons CEN sees secs secs per hr ost Ca hr aE eee E ES EE EET ain Table zon Call details Forecast details Actual resources Ferformanace Actual Time boss Calls as urs AddiDel Ser Level ae Expected 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 i 0 0 n n 0 0 0 0 0 0 T 0 0 I amp I ppl Week of Dec 31 2001 A of Dec 31 2001 Typical Calls ae n a co oc 8 Oo 8 8 8 A a co coc 8 Oo 8 8 Oo E a co oc 8 8 8 8 8 co oc 8 Oo 8G 8 8 G a co oc 8 ma 8 8 oO E a Required Forecast Details Hills B requires specific user inputs in order to calculate the Performance Details There are five data categories that need to be entered Optimization Type and Goals Set Service Level and ASA Benchmarks Import Typical Calls Set Input Parameter Set Resources Scheduled AE
26. Hills B Optimizer Pro 18 When the New Study menu appears perform the following Hew Study Select Forecast Agent Resources Select template Forecast 4gent Resources Forecast Agent and IVR Resources Cancel Set Forecast Study Period Day of Week amp Time of Day Parameters Once you have selected the Study type the Create New Forecast wizard will appear This wizard will guide you through three basic steps each requiring you to set specific parameters for your new forecast Study Specifically Step 1 Select Study duration including start and end dates Step 2 Specify the days of the week to include exclude Step 3 Select start and end times representing your hours of operation and select the time increments e g 15 30 60 or 120 minutes increments Also you will select how you would like your Performance Details displayed in the Main Table Step 1 Set Dates for the Forecast Sheet Follow these steps to set the dates for your Forecast Sheet a Using the drop down box provided select 7 week for the Number of days b Click on the calendar and select the Start date of Monday 31 December 2001 or use the drop arrows to make the selection c The End Date automatically adjusts according to the Number of days amp Start date selections except when Custom is selected When Custom is selected a otart and an End date must be specified d Click Next or click on the Step 2 Days box 19 Crea
27. Optimization Method Optimization method section Service Level All jaa is oF all calls answered in less than 35 cers Service Level Adj Click on the value 30 in the Seconds secs field and enter the new value of 35 t ASA Average Speed of Answer less than 1o Secs C Minimum cast C Limited resources 75 of calls accepted answered in less than 20 mins Additional conditions Busies less than 0 1 fo Click Finish to save your change p and exit the Set Optimization Goals Occupancy less than o0 o iu Use ERL C Help Cancel 29 When you click Finish you will be back in your Forecast Sheet Note in the Optimization Goals for Resources section that your new value has been adjusted to 35 seconds Optimization Goals For Resources Optimization type Service Level AE east OF all calls answered in less than Speed of Answer Optimization Goal is now 35 seconds NOTES 1 The Service Level Time value located in your Input Parameters section of Forecast Sheet will be automatically adjusted when you change your Optimization Goals However the Best Service Level and Best Average Speed of Answer ASA values located in the Benchmark Section of the Forecast Sheet are not automatically adjusted If you want to change any of these values simply follow the steps below a Place your cursor in the applicable cell to override the current value b Click Enter 2 Est
28. Parameters section is now shaded gray This is a visual reminder to you that the program will no longer look towards this Fixed value for its calculation rather it will factor in the Variable values you enter in the Main Table 116 Note new option for Talk Time Whenever you want a column removed from the Main Table you would select this option click Apply then Close to exit menu od Input sources Result columns Times Select Results Select Input Cost Lost Call Prob Imm 4bandans Rietries Ser Level Time secs Talk Time secs Trunk Cast per hri ROLE CI um Show me Click Apply to move the reference of Ehe input source Fram column in Main Table to 1519 e ET Forecast Detai Forecast Details Performance Details Twant to move fram a column back to a fixed value nant ta meert a new calmi iant ea ise an existing mon Tin Click Close to exit menu and save changes m Gray shading with blue text indicates that this Fixed Average Value will not be used for program calculations Frob Imm i i i Resource Cost Lost Trunk Cost Abandons secs secs secs ost per hr Trunks GSlaks UnProd These are now IVR Talk Time Variable Values associated with each time of day increment and will now be used for calculations Forecast details Talk Time Eezourcez Overflow ta A ckual Calls BEezourcez Req live agents Expected Req
29. Study Winter Holiday Season 2001 and this Study contains your Week of Dec 31 2001 and the Typical Calls Table In this exercise you are going to add another Forecast Sheet to your Study For those not familiar with Excel you are going to simply add another page to your Study binder NOTE Keep in mind that each Study can only contain ONE Typical Calls Table This table is the starting point relative to historical call volume and distribution for EACH Forecast Sheet contained in a Study As you have learned you have the ability to adjust call volume right in your Forecast Sheets When you click on the Aad a new forecast sheet icon located on the Hills B toolbar and the New Study screen appears as shown below perform the following Add a new forecast Select the Forecast Agent Resources template Select template Forecast 4gent Resources Forecast Agent and IVR Resources Cancel When you click OK as shown on the screen image above you will now be in the Create New Forecast menu and ready to perform Step 1 of 3 as follows 56 Use the down arrow to Select 1 Week for Number of days Click on the Start date calendar and select January 7 2002 Click Next or click on the Step 2 Days box Create new forecast Step 1 of 3 Click box to select Select Humber of days and startfend dates Humber of days 1 week Step 1 Dates Select stark and end dates Start date Dav Month Year Monday 7 January 2002 ut a
30. T Set Optimization Type and Goals You will need to determine the type of optimization you want to use then set goals There are 4 optimization types available to you You have the ability to toggle between the various types and or change the values anytime during a forecast This is accomplished by either using the Change Optimization Goal icon located on the Hills B 28 toolbar or by accessing Change Optimization Goals through the Hills B Pro menu item Listed below is a list of the various types of optimization types available to you 1 Service Level 2 Average Speed of Answer 3 Minimum Cost 4 Limited Resources The default setting for Hills B is Service Level All with the goal of 80 of all calls answered within 30 seconds secs or less For now retain these default settings While still in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet you will go through the steps of changing the optimization goal 7 Hills B Optimizer Pro Winter Holiday Season 2001 xls 587 File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Hills B Pra Help Click the Change Optimization Goals icon located on the Hills B toolbar cH SAY AREAS c Forecasts Change Optimization Goals Import Typical Calls a go gm 2 What if 12 31 2001 Holidays Or select Change Optimization Options Goals menu item from the MS Excel Toolbar Make sure Service Level All is Set optimization goals E selected in the
31. Traffic Tables cc eee rece eee eee eee eee e e eee eee eoe 134 Traffic Engineering ExpIanallOn i eoeceee vete auae eco cae o aee aeo eee eva ee vaa senes eue eee a eeu vv eeu aane rus 134 Mathematical Model Requirements ce ee eee e eee eee e e eee ee ee eee ettet eese esee esses s etae eeeeee 134 What Information Do You Get From Your Management Reports 134 Number OP Calls itis tec ut ce Coq t tution duse th ecd utebatur a uf Td 134 INUIT OE ADEPIS aca e aret t utr ten aped as d DEP tuuc A 135 The Avera e Hoin S DHT e ios eo RES pe tete Oo oo Eae E 135 IS Erlang all that bad 3i ie teer nio dete neces hohe esi 136 TECHNICAL INFORMATION sino ia GouxkxuE Cau B uER FYSEnk Eu Yu Han Ex nV can vu ca RR a 139 Technical Information for Hills B Optimizer Pro eee ecce eee eee eee eee eene eeu 139 The TO Functions or Hills B Optimizer PE ette eta Ne eade ce a pues 139 Eunctionos Det ICAU ONS ide de tried enna ber dide aer tutus tbe ded bu aetna a ian 139 User Manual Result SCC IC All ONS Paattu sito ruunt Ea abnecdticntap SUE Ub utes basi t uaeduspe nodu dro doude 140 Friput Ee Ire b S aoaaa oe tacto eb Uta dvute ded NO Ravuca M Edit bua tete o d o tomum ERU seus 141 Isesults Pere DS nasira suce Ro OUR DEN o ev dae Uv D Novit asas dot oen locos Ea edU Lo eeu at deo blu dote 142 GLOSSARY OF TERMS 1 eer
32. agents Expected Reg 1 3 453 TZ Dec 31 2001 Mon 0 00 161 Ors 161 We 05 30 ada 1 6 348 3 0 45z 157 13 7 09 00 521 ad 521 4 0 45z es e a gau 2768 ex 278 4 3 45x 260 31 0 Leave the change 10 Unproductivity Your next exercise will cover converting a Fixed Average to a Variable Value Converting from Fixed Average Values To Variable Values While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize forecast sheet icon located on the Hills B toolbar B xw4Agsmu The Customize forecast window appears from which you will make the following selections 115 Customize forecast From the Customize forecast menu click the Input sources tab Forecast Debails 1VR 4 Cost Lost Call orecast Details Prob Imm 4bandans erFarmance Details Rekries Ser Level Time secs Talk Time secs SES Trunk Cast per hr In the Select Results Range list highlight Forecast Details IVR Ren bo mare tan ay collninn back aa Aen vade Scroll the Select Input list to find and highlight Talk Time secs E Deb bon se an existing Hs Umm Select want to insert a new column C MM sew ome m When prompted select Yes to create a new column in the Main Table for the Input Parameter Talk Time li Lr Customize forecast Click Yes to insert a new column for Talk Time secs pote se Cem Note that in the screen image below your Talk Time secs cell in the Input
33. and hence the overall performance results that are reported on the Summary Table 127 At least of all calle angwered in less than SL and ASA are within the Benchmark goals for Monday December 31 Average Ser Level Speed of FTE Required amp nzwer Tea 0 0 amp b 5x 0 0 Gi 0 0 65 33x 0 0 de A 10 second reduction to the agents Work Time secs decreased the Resources Reg values Trunk Cost per hr The forecast is now at optimum performance levels for Monday Dec Sew ES 31 2001 again Agents scale factor Forecast details Actual resources Performance detail Resources Qverflowbo Actual Calls Resources Resources DUE Addi del Ser Level Speed of Abands total Esq live agents Expected Sched are 3 4 5 T 3 3 1 3 1 T 8 128 Adjust IVR Parameters The Overflow to live agents is the only parameter that if adjusted will result in an increase or decrease in Resources Reg the field that is a major contributor to the SL and ASA results Specifically an increase to the Overflow to live agents will cause a corresponding increase to Actual Calls Expected which will increase the Resources Reg results The screen images below show the effects of making adjustments to the Overflow to live agents values The first row reflects the results with a 1096 factor used in the Overflow to live agents The second row shaded yellow shows the results using a 2096 overflow factor
34. and the Typical Calls Table to adjust the call volumes To determine the averages for your Typical Calls Table review Appendix A Determining Average Call Volume and Distribution NOTE A Study can contain as many Forecast Sheets you required However there is only ONE Typical Calls Table for each Study Therefore any Typical Calls Table within a Study will be the starting point for each Forecast Sheet contained within that Study This may seem odd especially in a situation whereas a Study contains more than one Forecast Sheet with each Forecast Sheet not being similar types weeks But again as mentioned in the paragraph above you will have direct access to adjusting call volumes within the individual Forecast Sheet s through the Adjustment column and or the Calls scale factor Importing a Typical Calls Table To populate this column we will use a sample Typical Calls Table provided by the program which contains hypothetical call values While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet perform the following steps Hills E Pro Help 1 Click on Hills B Pro from the Forecasts enu Import Typical Calls what if 2 Select mport Typical Calls j Holidays Options Help About Hills B Optimizer Pra Change Optimization Goals When the Open Typical Calls menu appears navigate to the folder entitled Calls 32 Open Typical Calls workbook ki ES kn cee E 74 Desktop Sample
35. name of an input In this exercise you will change the value of Cost of Lost Call The new input value for Cost Lost Call will become your new default value until it is adjusted again Click on the Change Options icon located on the Hills B Toolbar Options From the Options menu Inputs Results Formats Holiday s Typical Calls Mew Forecast Cost Lost Call ie ree i T CURE Period mins Prob Imm amp bandons Crsloks Retries Ser Level Time secs Talk Time secs Using the drop down box provided select Cost Lost Call Enter the value of 100 in the Agents field provided The value af a call a n 81 You will be asked if you want to Update this forecast with the new default value of 100 You may not want to adjust the current forecast just the default setting Remember adjusting values using the Options feature changes your Hills B default for future forecasts until further adjustments are made and saved Cost Lost Call Agent Resource default value 2 Update this Forecast with the new default value of 1007 Options Inputs Results Formats Holiday s Typical Calls Mew Forecast Select From list Cost Lost Call and edit below Edit Input Name Click Close to exit the Options Cost Lost Call menu and save the changes Edit Input values Agents 100 IVR al The value of a call Remember the value of 100 for Cost Lost Call will become the Hills B de
36. number of QSlots is the difference between the number of trunks and the effective number of agents When there is After Call Work time there will be some agents who are working but not occupying a trunk This increases the number of Q slots beyond the difference Queue Slots Q between Trunks and Agents Slots For instance if there are 100 trunks and 80 agents the number of Q Slots will be 20 if there is no After Call Work time If the average talk time is 240 seconds and the After Call Work time is 60 seconds agents are only occupying a trunk for 240 240 60 or 80 of the time When all 80 agents are occupied they will only be occupying 80 0 8096 64 trunks In this case the number of Q slots is 100 64 36 Resource Cost per hr The hourly cost to add an Agent Resource The Probability of Retries or percentage of callers who retry after they receive a busy signal because all trunks are busy or queue slots QSlots are not available Retry probability of calls that retry in same hour of calls that receive busy 100 This is another one of those difficult parameters to obtain as it is not observable from the ACD The number depends upon the type of business In a highly competitive environment it may be near zero If the caller has nowhere else to go for service the retry probability may be 100 However a reasonable average of a retry probability is 70 Note Entering a retry percentage may increase the computation time
37. of the Hills B Calculator It is unlikely to have a significant effect on your results if the busy probability is less than 4 Ser Level Time Service Level Time The number of seconds or minutes for which service level is secs to be computed Talk Time The average time in seconds spent by an agent talking to an incoming caller The total number of trunks available for incoming calls including those occupied by Talk Time secs Trunks agents talking to incoming callers If you specify zero for trunks the formula assumes you are defining QSlots rather than trunks 141 i Peal per The average usage cost per hour e g for incoming 800 lines or trunks The Unproductivity factor or percentage of time that an agent who is logged in is unavailable for taking calls This factor takes into account breaks and time spent on outgoing calls This is possibly the most difficult figure to obtain It is the average time in seconds that a caller is prepared to wait after hearing the recorded message before he or she clears down The Wait Tolerance Time is NOT the average waiting time of calls that abandon This figure can never be known by the ACD unless you make all the agents busy and see how long the callers are prepared to wait Luckily there is an approximate formula that can be used Wait Tolerance Time z Average time to abandonment of delayed calls 96 of abandoned calls Wait Tolerance Typical values are in
38. secs In the Select Results Range list de Abands after SL Time Abands total highlight Performance Details ATA secs OOOO Busy Imm Shands Total Trunk Cast Prob of Retry Click on the Add Remove slots required columns tab Ser Level adj Add p 4 Remove From the Add list highlight Imm Abands Click the Add button e Jm m HINT You may highlight as many columns as you want displayed by holding down the Ctrl key when making your selections then click Add To deselect prior to clicking Add simply click on the selection again while holding the Ctrl key Note that the column now appears on your Forecast Sheet as shown below Performance details In the Performance Details section of your Main Table the mmediate Abandonments Imm Abands column pneus NN is now displayed 2x 218 5 S0 i 0x 5 TT UX 16 7 5x Dis 481 46 ex 33 3X 0 9 Od 00s 427 19 0 3 Remove a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize Forecast icon on the Hills B toolbar Em E SD e 4 OP RERO Z 67 Customize forecast Click the Result columns tab e anpa Result columns elect Results Range Add Remove columns Change column order Forecast Details Permanent column Performance Details Abands Ser Level Abands b SL Time ASA secs Abands afte
39. secs Talk Time secs Change Talk Time secs input source Click Yes so the formula will also Do you want to change the input source for Talk Time secs include this information in the used by the formula in Performance Details ta the new location performance detail When you click Yes to the window prompt above you are returned to the Customize forecast menu Click Close as shown on the screen image below to save your change and exit the menu 38 Customize forecast Times Forecast Period Input sources Result columns Select Results Range Select Input Resource Cost per hr Cost Lost Call Prob Imm amp bandans CrSloks Retries Ser Level Time secs LE um Show me Click Apply to move the reference of Ehe input source Fram E619 to a column in Main Table Performance Details Minani bo move tron a column back bo a heed value C want to insert a new column Click the Close button to save your changes and return to your Forecast Sheet Twant bo use an existing mount Carpal Close Cancel Note that in the screen image below that your Talk Time secs cell in the Input Parameters section is now shaded gray This is a visual reminder to you that the program will no longer look toward this Fixed value for its calculation rather it will factor in the Variable values you enter in the Main Table Input Parameters wait Prob Imm pria NU Ser Level Time
40. section Note the Forecast details Actual resources column has also been removed from the Main Table pical calls Ackyal Calls Talk Time Resources Resources Addi Del Expected secs Reg Sched n s12001 Mon osoo so en o e 340 L 2 c al Add a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table All of the results displayed in the Performance Details section of your Main Table contain values in red colored fonts You should not modify these columns in any way or you Will cause computation problems All of these results are based on calculations generated by the Hills B Formula using the Forecast Details values While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize Forecast icon on the Hills B toolbar 4 EO The Hills B Optimizer Pro calculates 25 detailed results however only 5 results are currently displayed in your Main Table These 5 are permanent displays marked but you have the ability to add and remove additional result columns based on your need You will accomplish this by activating the Customize Forecast icon and selecting the Result Columns tab 66 Customize forecast Times Forecast Period Input source Result columns Click the Result columns tab Select Results Range Add Remove columns Change column order Permanent column Forecast Details Performance Details Abands re Ser Level bands b SL Time ASA
41. takes into account finite queue size and abandonment before answer For our previous example if we use Erlang C to predict the number of agents required for a service level of 90 in 21 seconds the answer is 64 agents for a service level of 92 The exact equation says that in fact 63 would have been enough at 92 Percentage of calls answered in 21 seconds 100 90 80 70 s 73 Service level Exact 60 pci i A Service level ERL C y Abandonment Exact 50 a 40 30 20 10 Z w _ 4 4 a potas 54 55 56 57 58 59 Aaents 60 61 62 63 64 65 For an 80 service level Erlang C predicts 62 agents for 85 whereas the exact formula says 60 would be sufficient for 82 At service levels below 80 Erlang C becomes progressively worse As you may see from the chart with 58 agents Erlang C service level predictions is 49 compared to an actual figure of 72 Figure 3 shows the ASA projection Erlang C is off the chart at 54 seconds compared to an actual number of 11 seconds The conclusion is that you may expect reasonable predictions for service levels that are better than 80 or 90 Since this is what most managers aspire to Erlang C is a good tool for planning However for poor service levels Erlang C totally overestimates how bad it really is Reality will be nowhere as bad as Erlang C predicts 136 Figure 3 ASA comparison
42. the up arrow click until Total Trunk Cost is moved to the top of the list LInda kJ Click Undo to put your selection back to its original location Click Apply then Close to exit menu and save your change Change Optimization Goals to Adjust Service Levels amp Costs You have the option to change your Optimization type and goals at any point during a forecast exercise by activating the Change Optimization Goals icon Below you will change your Optimization goal from 35 to 30 seconds While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Change Optimization Goals in oe a3 icon on the Hills B toolbar AC Je da 9 3 E ZF 69 Set optimization goals ki ES Optimization method Service Level All o So of all calls answered in less than 30 cers Highlight the 35 seconds in the Service Level All section and enter 30 vice Level Nortel ASA Average Speed of Answer less than 1o Secs C Minimum cost C Limited resources 75 0 oF calls accepted answered in less than 20 miris oe al conditions Click Finish to exit and save your change Busies less than lo l To Occupancy less than on 7e Help Cancel The Change Optimization Goals menu will automatically close and you will be brought back into your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet to begin the next exercise Note that the value 30 has been replaced with the 35 seconds in your Forecast Sheet Optimization
43. to levels well within the 70 Worst to 80 Best SL and 35 seconds ASA Benchmark objective Specifically this means that 79 6 of the offered calls will be answered within 14 9 seconds Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA Go to your Forecast Sheet and delete the values you entered in the Add Del column above Once again the Summary Table SL and ASA results are colored red to show they are not meeting the Benchmark objectives 47 AE cast OF all calls answered in less than The SL and ASA Summary Table results are colored red to indicate they are not meeting Benchmark objectives percent 5535 10 When Aad Del entries are deleted the Diff column reflects the difference between Resources Reg and Resources Sched Scale factor Forecast details Acteal resource x Ferformanace details hale eco CES Ser Level AA secs amp bandz total secs Reg Optimizing by ASA allows you to determine the number of Agent Resources required to meet the specified ASA objective To obtain an answer you must enter values in the Add Del column that are less than what is indicated in the Diff column 1 Enter the values 2 4 10 10 10 and 4 for each half hour increment in the Add Del column 2 Note the result explanations in the screen image below 48 SL is now 63 396 and is colored red to highlight it is below the 7096 Benchmark objective Optimization typ Serrice Level at leas of all calls answered in less tha
44. to obtain this number from conventional management reports v Unproductivity Percentage The percentage of time that an agent is not talking performing after call work or available to take a call Typically this is the percentage of time recorded as Time Out of Service to Average number of Positions Staffed A Practical Comparison In a practical evaluation of the Hills B Formula we took data from an AT amp T Call Management System and compared the performance data recorded by the ACD system to that predicted by the Hills B Formula The day chosen was one that had significant overload so as to demonstrate the model s effectiveness Some modifications were required to the report management system to remove customer requested adjustments to take account of outgoing calls To be able to accurately predict performance we need an accurate measure of the number of agents available the Average Hold i e talk Time AHT and the average After Call Work ACW time The calling pattern for the day chosen was Calls per 30 mins aban acd agents The solid line represents the calls answered by the agents and the dotted line represents the total calls received by the system The difference is the abandoned calls The AHT ACW recorded by the call management system was 300 AHT ACW Seconds 250 200 150 100 50 0 00 00 02 00 04 00 06 00 08 00 10 00 12 00 14 00 16 00 18 00 20 00 22 00
45. total Calls Ans d FTE Required Cos Answer NIS ja n OI 0 10 35 0 OI ee Resource Cost Lost Trunk Cozt secs Cost per hr Call per hr Final step before what if exercises is to schedule Agent resources y cast Nails Actmal resources J ZON Review Forecast details Resources CVerFlowho Actual Calls Ae sources Resources Add del requirements before Req qe agents Expected Req Sched scheduling j 16 dx 10 10 10 10 10 10 1 200 O O O O O AJDA Co Ch C0 Keeping your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet open move on to the next exercise Set Resources Scheduled Up to this point you have entered all of the Forecast Details required The final step will be for you to review the Agent and IVR Resources Required calculated by Hills B then schedule the Agent Resources you have available Ideally you will want to schedule what Hills B has identified as Required The screen image below shows four columns allocated to the Actual Resources section of the Main Table Refer to the section Explanation of Actual Resource Fields on p 40 of this User s Guide to better understand the purpose of these four columns Schedule Resources Agents In this exercise you will schedule resources Agents very quickly by utilizing the What if Agents feature provided by Hills B This feature allows you to instantly populate the Resources Sched column based on a user entered percentage of
46. your C drive This will be the same path name that you specified during the installation of Hills B Pro If you recall we followed the recommendations made in the Installation Instructions provided and maintained the default path settings Open study 57 C Look in Oper Cancel 316 Floppy A ES 2 Use the Look in area of the uere __ Advanced Open Study window to Helt navigate to the Study Hills B Optimizer Pro folder User study This is the default path name for the Study folder 9 _ Add Modify FTP Locations where the system will save Ese SES FICE the Studies you create Text or property Find Now les of Evpe workbooks xls Last modified any time New Search 1 fFile s Found To open the saved Study simply double click on the Winter Holiday Season 2001 file The Forecast Sheet titled Week of Dec 31 2001 is contained within that Study Open study Look in Study y winter Holiday Season 2001 xls Open Cancel Advanced Double click on the file titled Winter Holiday Season 2001 to open it 27 After you have opened the Study the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet immediately appears along with a Typical Calls table worksheet which will be described later in this manual w Hills B Optimizer Pro Winter Holiday Tal me m 997 File Edit View Inse Formak Tools Data Window Hills B Pro w amp H Toolkit
47. 145 Types of values 36 114 Unproductivity Factor 145 Using Hills B Pro to Forecast Agent Resources 18 VARIABLE VALUES 36 Wait Tolerance Time 146 147 What if Agents Mcon 77 What if Daily Calls Icon 72 What if Typical Calls Icon 74 What is Typical Calls data 32 109 What you need to Know 13 153
48. 2 of 3 Click box to select Step 1 Dates Step z Days Step 3 Times Select Ehe days of the week and or select holidays to include holiday s Check 12 on Tm Tew Year s Eve i i z d2 Tue New Years Day Check to include DOW Saturday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Default File in use LS A dat lt Back Mest gt Finish Cancel The Hills B program includes several countries from which to choose The default country on a new installation is USA Changing the default country is a simple process discussed later in this section Note that only one country s holiday files can be active at any given time however switching between countries can be accomplished during a forecast exercise simply 85 Options To access the Holidays menu click on the Holidays file options icon on the Hills B toolbar or click on the Holidays tab of the Options menu Holidays Typical Calls Mew forecast Current File From the Holidays menu you have the ability CProgram Files HTLT Hills 6 Optimizer Pro seryHolidays to 154 dat 1 Edit your current file 2 Create a new file or 3 Change current country file Browse 2 I Below is a review of the Options menu with the Holidays tab selected Current Holiday Table and the file Options location Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast Browse to locate a
49. 396 of actual performance it is vital that your required Forecast Details are as accurate as possible The Input Parameter section is of part of the required Forecast Details Hills B also understands that it will not always make sense to assign a FIXED value to an Input Parameter throughout the length of a forecast Many peaks and valleys could occur causing less than accurate results To insure that your values for the Input Parameters section remain accurate throughout the length of a forecast you will have the option to convert these FIXED values to VARIABLE values The program provides a quick and seamless method to deactivate the Input Parameter fixed value s create a column for the value s in the Main Table and allow you access to vary the value s throughout each period of each day of your forecast Changing an existing Fixed Average Value In the two figures below you will note the before and after results when Input Parameters associated with IVRs and Agents are changed Hills B automatically re calculated results based on the new value The Agent UnProd factor is 1596 The IVR Prob Imm Abandons factor is 0 Input parameterz W all M NM Ser Level Time Talk Time Work Time Rezeurce Cost Lost Factor secs secs secs Cost per hr Call The number of Agent Resources Required with a 15 UnProd Factor The number of IVR Resources Required with a 0 Prob Imm Abandons Factor eckual Calls Ti T calls x of d
50. 7891 012 i2Gemini s End User License Agreement will be displayed for your review and acceptance It is highly recommended that you accept the program s default folder and file placement locations during the installation process However to select your own locations use the Browse button to make your selection Start Copying Files Setup has enough information to start copying the program files IF pau want to review or change any settings click Back IF you are satisfied with the settings click Nest to begin copying Files This screen provides you with a summary of the path names where the application files will be copied once the Next gt button shown on the bottom of this screen is clicked Current Settings Excel Add In Files C Program Files Microsoft Office fficel 0 s L5 TART Program Files C Program Files i2GerniniHills B Optimizer Pro Start Menu Folder AW GerminHills B Optimizer Pro Cancel Hills B Optimizer Pro Setup This screen provides you with a 3gtup Status S status bar on the progress of the SN files being copied This screen Hills B Optimizer Pro Setup is performing the requested operations automatically disappears once setup is complete Installing E HTLT Hills B Optimizer ProsHills B Optimizer Pro doc User Manual 11 Setup Complete When all files are copied and the setup status screen disappears
51. 81 56 73 Your Calls expected for this day column has reverted back to the same values prior to beginning the Change Call Scale Factor exercise above And Hills B has recalculated your results accordingly Using What if Typical Calls Icon to Change Typical Call Volumes Once you have populated your Typical Calls Table Hills B extracts what it needs from the table to populate the Calls based on typical day column in the Forecast Sheet For example your Typical Calls Table may be a fully populated 24 7 grid However your Forecast Sheet has been set up as a Monday through Friday forecast open between 08 00 and 17 00 Consequently Hills B will only extract data from the typical call table that fall within the Forecast Sheet s specified parameters Once the Calls based on typical day column is populated there is no need to go back to your Typical Calls Table to adjust call volumes and or the distribution of calls As discussed earlier you can accomplish those tasks by using the Adjustment column and or the Calls scale factor located in the Summary Table However there may be a need for you to make an overall adjustment in call volume directly in your Typical Calls Table You will have the ability to do this right in your Forecast Sheet by activating the What if Typical Calls icon While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast click the What If Typical Calls icon located on the Hills B toolbar di BE Gee w J wv
52. Adjust Calls Expected totals menu Current total Typical Calls Current Eakaf Calls Expected Note the Totals for both the Current total Typical Calls and the Current total Calls Expected Enter new total Calls Expected 15000 Input 75000 in the Enter New total Calls Expected field Click Apply then Close to exit menu mmm and save your changes Close Cancel Review the changes that have been made to your Forecast Sheet Calls scale lt Summarg Table ow or Calls based we Day on typical day Adjustment xpected on this da Disc 31 2007 Mon i fox x x Jan D 2002 wed 15 736 10 Review the Summary Table You will now note that 1 The Calls scale factor cell has a value of 0 87 2 The daily distribution of Calls expected for this day decreased accordingly and 3 The Total for the Calls expected for this day column reflects the 15 000 you entered above Jan 03 2002 Thu Jan Od 2002 Fri Totals Click on the Calls scale factor cell located in your Summary Table and overwrite the current value of 0 87 with 7 00 Click Enter Calls scale factor Summary T able Calls Calls based on typical dau Dee 31 2001 Man v ME 183 Jan O2 2002 wed 4 086 a a L asao p 15 735 0 The values in the Calls expected for this day column have been Jan 4 20002 restored Totals 17 1
53. B Optimizer Pra 110 From the Open Typical Calls menu navigate to the Calls folder that was automatically installed by the Hills B program in the location below provided the default files and folders locations were accepted during installation Open Typical Calls workbook cs F gig 315 Floppy A ES i Pragram Files Htlt 1 From the Calls folder highlight Sample Calls xls Open Cancel Advanced From the Select Typical Calls worksheet window perform the following steps Select Typical Calls worksheet From the list of templates provided Sample calls xls by Hills B highlight Sample 30 mins template 15 mins template 60 mins template 120 mins template From the first Import Typical Calls window 111 Import T ypical Callz Click Yes to overwrite your current Typical Calls data currently at zero A 22 Lvenawrte current Typical Calls data When you click Yes a second mport Typical Calls window appears Perform the following Import Typical Calls When notification of import Pan complete click OK i Typical Calls imported You will now be in the Typical Calls Table that contains the program s sample data Review then follow instructions below HINT To review typical call data beyond what can be displayed on your screen simply scroll down to view later hours of the day and view the daily totals Return to the Forecast Sheet by clicking on the tab entitled IVR W
54. Fixed Average Value to a Variable Value is another option you have available to you by activating the Customize Forecast icon located in the Hills B toolbar THE DEFAULT VALUES SHOWN ARE FIXED AVERAGE VALUES LEAVE THESE INTACT FOR NOW 5 MAIN TABLE The Main Table contains all of the Performance Details of your forecast The details are displayed in either 15 30 60 or 120 minute increments whichever you chose when beginning your forecast in this case 30 minutes Also itis within the Hesources Scheduled section of the Main Table where you will schedule resources Pre Launch Setup Procedure Once the program is successfully installed open MS Excel to access Hills B Pro Once in MS Excel note the addition of the Hills B Pro option on the options bar When you open MS Excel after Hills B installation you will find the Hills B Tool Bar in the center of the MS Excel worksheet Hills B allows you to move the Tool Bar to merge with the main Excel toolbar or to a location of your choice by following the instructions below Move or Dock the Hills B Toolbar To dock the Hills B Tool Bar open MS Excel When MS Excel is opened a blank Worksheet appears with the Hills B Tool Bar appearing within the worksheet area as shown in the screen image below With an MS Excel worksheet open and the Hills B Tool Bar located within the worksheet perform the following 15 X Microsoft Excel Booki 5 File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data
55. From Bop SI a column in Main Table to k 19 Iwank to move From a column back to a Fixed value Click want to move from a column to a fixed value C Toperemtobaninre er ERSTE collin C Toren bo use an existing caii aie e The prompt below is asking if you want to have the Performance Details formula updated as well Change Resource Cost per hr input source Do pou want to change the input source for Resource Cost per hr When prompted click Yes used by the formula in Performance Details to the new location The prompt below is notifying you that your Forecast Details and Performance Details are both going to refer to the parameter as a Fixed value Hills B Optimizer Pro Click Yes to remove the column NOMIC MEN Nave 9 The column lt 23 52 gt is not referenced by any other Formulas da you want to delete it 65 When you click Yes to the prompt above and you are returned to the Customize forecast window do the following gt Click Close when the Customize forecast window appears to exit and save your changes Review the Forecast Sheet and note the following change Input Parameterz Wait Trunks Glat UnPrad Prob Imm Berries Tolerance SerLevel Time Talk Time Work Time Resource Gast Last Trunk Cast Abandons ee zess zess secs Cost per hr Call per hr lt e lt sooo wee The gray shading has been removed from the Resource Cost per hr cell in your Input Parameters
56. Goals For Resources Optimization type Service Level Note that the 30 is now reflected in your Forecast Sheet At least 80r OF all calls answered in less than zer Enter XEervice Level Heackmark Manually change both of the Service Level Benchmarks from 35 to 30 Click on the cell and enter 30 Click Enter puo ur ew 30 LC ERE 70 Service Level Goal Comparisons Set at 35 and at 30 Seconds Results with ASA at 35 Sec Summary Table aa Note that Resource hours required results displayed in the Summary and Main Table sections of this Forecast sheet are lower than those displayed in the screen image below because of the greater time allowed 35 secs vs 30 secs in the ASA goal to answer calls 16 267 65 Calls ected For iz da Resource Resource Tara ari hours Hours E Ser Level ASA secs amp bandz total Calls Ans d required Scheduled The greater time allowance benefits the Service level objective for each time wait period as it is met more often than in the lt screen image below Call details Forecast details Actual rezomrcez 100 Die Time Tipala Actyal Calls Talk Time Resources Resources AddiDisl ES Expected secs Req Sched Dee 31 2001 20 22 B3 Results with ASA at 30 Sec Summary Table 1 00 Talk Time Work Time Resource Cask Lost Trunk Cost secs secs Cost per hr Call per hr Resource More Resource Hours are required to Hour
57. Month Year Monday 31 December 2001 1 ae m Step 3 Times End date Step 1 c End Date Sunday 6 January 2007 rs m wm Step 1 d Click Next or the Step mm 2 Days box zin Hexk gt Finish Cancel Step 2 Specify Day of Week Selection Because your operation may not be open 7 days a week this step provides you an opportunity to exclude non business days that fall within your forecast dates Additionally should a national holiday fall within your forecast s start end dates you will be notified and given the opportunity to include or exclude the holiday in your forecast The Hills B program includes a Holidays File which includes national holidays for several countries The default Holidays File is the USA This Holidays File default can easily be changed and the contents can be modified as well Later on you will be shown the option that allows you to add delete change dates and change Holiday Files For this exercise make the following selections a Retain the selected business days of the week DOW b Select Monday New Years Eve to be included in the Forecast c Retain USA as the Holidays File d Click Next 101 Step 2 a The default DOW list has each business day checked For this example even though Tuesday is checked it will not be considered Ni een me because it is not checked on the Holiday s list Select Ehe days of the week and or select holidays Check to include holid
58. Overwrite with 10 cancel When you click Finish you will be back in your Forecast Sheet Note that the Optimization Goals for IVRs reflects the new goal of 90 of all calls answered in less than 10 seconds The program automatically updates your Performance Details based on these new values Optimization Goals For IWHz Optimization type Service Level Adj ALE least of all calls answered in less than Optimization Goals are now 90 of all calls answered in less than 10 Secs 107 You are now ready to set the second set of Optimization Goals which will affect the number of Agent resources that are forecasted Hills B Optimizer Pro A Winter Holiday Season xls dit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Hills B Pro Help Cul Forecasts d Select Change Optimization Goals menu item from the MS Excel Toolbar NEEDS Change Optimization Goals Or Click the Change Optimization Goals icon located on the Hills B Import Typical Calls toolbar XN ES 76 4 QP SR ES DI whai The Change Goals Optimization window appears presenting you with two options The first option allows you to change the IVR Optimization Goals The second option allows you to change the Agent Resource Optimization Goals Change Goals Optimization Select which Goals you wish to change Click here to change Optimization Goals for Agents C Optimization Goals For IVRs Optimization Goals For Age
59. R Resources then click OK Set Forecast Study Period Day of Week amp Time of Day Parameters Once you have selected the Study type the Create New Forecast wizard will appear This wizard will guide you through three basic steps each requiring you to set specific parameters for your new forecast Study Specifically Step 1 Select duration of the forecast including start and end dates Step 2 Specify the days of the week to include exclude Step 3 Select start and end times for your hours of operation and select the display period desired e g 15 30 60 120 mins etc Step 1 Set Dates for the Forecast Sheet Follow these steps to set the dates for your Forecast Sheet a Using the drop down box provided select 7 week for the Number of days b Click on the calendar and select the Start date of Monday 31 December 2001 or use the drop arrows to make the selection c The End date automatically adjusts according to the Number of days and Start date selections except when Custom is selected When Custom is selected a Start date and an End date must be specified d Click Next or click on the Step 2 Days box 100 Step 1 a Set Number of days for Forecast Sheet Create new forecast Step T umber of days and startfend dates Number of days 1 week elect stark and end dates Click box bo select Step 1 b Start Date Step 1 Dates l Step 2 Days Start date Dav
60. Talk Time work Time Gray shading indicates that this Abandons d Factor Geel eee o wg secs sees sees Fixed Average Value will not be used for program calculations These Variable Values associated with each time of day increment will Talk Time Resources now be used for calculations secs Req 39 Changing Variable Values You now need to enter Variable Values for your Talk Time Assume the average time an agent speaks to a caller is 120 seconds during the morning hours i e 0800 to 1200 which is lower than the Talk Time of 240 second for the afternoon hours i e 1200 to 1630 Further assume that this variance only takes place on Monday Follow the directions below Input Parameters walk Trunke lat LinPrad Prob Imm TM Talarn SerLevel Time Talk Time work Time Abandons ve secs secs secs C fel l In your Main Table go to the new Ple dodi Shae E and click Call details on the 12 00 cell for Monday Overwrite the current value of 120 a C Tupical cali cera Calls with 240 zb E Expected TER NC Ai Forecast details Talk Time Resources zecz Esq Do the same for the remaining cells for Monday You will end at the 16 30 hour for Monday Stop there it is only Monday that has this wide difference and 16 30 is the last half hour increment before the day s end i e End time of 17 00 that was specified earlier Copy and Paste HINT When you ente
61. UR Ua EM uou Vau Re Do cee 103 Save VOUT Dew S BIO eco E bere AE cp PME E es enone S MSIE 103 Agent and IVR Forecast Sheet Attributes ccce eee eee ee eee eee Lett tette ettet neas eo ssssssssaus 104 Set Optimization Type and Goals aei iioii ee es 106 Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations ccccccccceccccceeeceeeeesesseeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaas 109 Change doioneipid 4m c E Y 109 Select Typical Calls Templates eren ed eoe eo ice oe 109 W hatis Typrcabe alls data Jeanette estela uia da or dedu at d ae G o ocu Idea uot tuu Riu Pad ars 109 How is the Data Entered into my Forecast Sheet cccccccssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeaaas 110 It porane a Typical Calls L able cuite tei OE uode nep Dnta d bolus utusa Mu Nod bedtetoted quis 110 REVIO W C M A 112 et liti Parameters esa en 113 User Manual Type SOEVOlUe Stet uter unti sett a spent Mose Neo obuueuR E codi UM oeOu 114 Changing an existing Fixed Average Value cccccccccccccccecceeecaeseeeessseseeececeeeseeeeeeeeeaaas 114 Converting from Fixed Average Values To Variable Values eeeeeeeeeesessss 115 Chanem Vartable Wal S ooaced ta ated eed be DPaaeepE ea donatus oda tuus ode o dp db uosun in asso rho outs 118 ROVE EMPTORE pecans 118 Set Resources Scheduled 2 sides diede Rie bovis eie eoba re peut doo abe ivo aa 119 Schedule RCSOUICeS ASEMS aris
62. Using the drop down box provided select Thursday Note the Current daily total for Thursday is 5160 This figure is the total number of calls currently in your Typical Calls Table falling within your hours of operation for Thursday Select day Current daily total Enter new daily total Enter 4000 in the Enter new daily total field Click Apply then Close to exit menu and save your changes gt Now Click on the Typical Calls tab located in the bottom left hand corner of your screen Note we ve hidden the rows for the times associated with the hours of 14 00 through 22 00 for full screen viewing purposes 74 Warning Deleting or renaming this zhest will affect the operation of Hillz E Optimizer Pro Typical Gans The tical call 5 distribution Far the 24 day of the week 2 The program takes the new value of 4000 that now shows on the ntra week table and distributes those calls appropriately within the Typical Calls Table for Thursday week mn m m m amp D ae om amp amp G um nm EU t na h m a oc a m o ew gt gt gt gt gt Em amp gt amp m oZ mJ Ea ow 3 Use the scroll bar located on the 1 right hand side of the screen not Click on the Typical Calls tab to shown in this screen shot to view view the 24 hour daily grid showing the totals f
63. Window Hille B Pro V amp H Toolkit Help D c E eU X5 oor f Fh ELM A 0 1 The Hills B Toolbar appears within a Eon posse tan SSCs ES E ge SET EET E EIE etg TE I S FEE SJ Place your cursor on the Blue title band at the top of the toolbar left click once and hold your mouse button down and drag the toolbar to the Toolbar area at the top of the screen Hills B Optimizer Pro ix T a o An et oz 0p 2 S F X Microsoft Excel Book1 8 File Edit View Insert Format Tools Dfta Window Hills B Pro V amp H Toolkit Help Place the Hills B Toolbar in a location that s convenient for you We selected the upper left hand corner of the MS Excel toolbar area in our example e ages eroe inesse tenis pops eaten J eee a esae eM Name Box BIB IEISRUS 16 1 Click on Startthen Programs 1 Open MS Excel as you X Microsoft Excel Booki normally would File Edit View Insert Format Tools Dalase Hills B Pro Y amp H Toolkit Help 2 Click on Hills B Pro from the Launching Hills B Pro When you have familiarized yourself with the contents of the section above titled What You Need to Know it is time to launch Hills B Pro and build your forecast Once installation has been completed you can access the program in one of two ways 1 Using the Start Menu to launch Hills B Pro as shown in the screen image below or 2 Opening MS Exc
64. able 1 Increased Agent and IVR Resources Req 2 The results shown in the Performance Details column are very poor not shown Summary T able Bez Bez Calls based ee die Total Trunk Day p 5 hourz Hours a Ser Level lk uU required Scheduled i Dec 31 2001 Man 35 Jan 02 2002 wed x a 0x Jan 03 2002 Thu x eu ux Jan Q4 2002 Fri eu ux Totals 2 444 55 eu 5x Input parameterz w all i Trunks alat LinPrad Frob Imm Patries Tani Zer Level Time Talk Time Work Time E Gast Last Trunk Gost Abandons Factor secs secs secs Coz Call per hr Main Table Call details TO details Talk Time secs Dec 31 2001 Mon 0 00 161 1 0 05 30 345 2 1X 470 ga 521 3A ros 09 30 Sr ici 3 5x roo What all this means is you must either increase your Resources Scheduled to meet the new call volume expected on Monday or you need to do some creative what if exercises to see where else you could reduce e g Input values Optimization goals etc Or you could try and do a little bit of both of these approaches Optimization Choices When you increased the calls for Monday Dec 31 by 3596 the screen image above shows that you will no longer meet either your SL or ASA objectives The column 124 Note Service Level and A Averages for Monday in the Summary Table labeled Diff located in the Forecast Results portion of the Forecast Sheet not shown here indicates that between the hours of 08 00 and
65. able for Studies you based on the scenario Edit Change a specific scenario and save those changes Using Change Options Icon to Change Default Selections The Options feature allows for adjustments to current settings for the Input Columns Inputs Results Columns Results Cell Formats Formats Holiday Files Holidays Typical Calls and the Forecast Sheet New Forecast options Adjustments made utilizing this feature will be retained as the Hills B Optimizer Pro defaults until further adjustments are made and saved While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet E Click the Change Options icon on inm EN aya oe 75 dn the Hills B toolbar Dea The screen shot below provides an overview of the options provided using the Change Options feature This feature can be selected at any time during a current forecast exercise 80 Options Inputs Results Formats Holiday s Typical Calls Mew Forecast Change Input Parameter Names Change Performance Results Names Change the format of the Inputs and or Re iilte Change the Holidays File in use e g USA to UK Resource cast per hour L Change the Default Typical Calls Table in a new Study increments Disable Input Comments or change i2 Apply Tened Forecast Sheet fonts etc B Adjust Inputs Change Value and or Column Name Selecting the nputs tab from the Options menu allows you to change a value and or change the
66. ade in the management reports Agent Cost The cost per hour for adding an agent The number of actual agents This is the number reported as average manned positions in ACD reports This number may be a fraction The effective number of agents used for traffic engineering is reduced by the Unproductivity Factor If a trunk is free the call is answered by the ACD If an agent is available the call Answered Call will be Immediately Answered otherwise it will be Delayed In some ACD reports answered calls are referred to as Received Calls Aic Speed of The time in queue divided by the number of calls that are answered by an agent Average Time to The average time that delayed calls which do abandon wait before abandonment Abandonment In the Hills B formula this average excludes the calls that abandon immediately The expected number of calls made to the ACD in a given period Typically this period is 30 minutes but the user may change it Calls includes calls that receive Calls a busy and therefore may never be seen by the ACD It does not include retries which are estimated by the calculator The average time in seconds spent by an agent talking to an incoming caller a Delayed Call will be given a recorded announcement multiplied by the Call Time in seconds 3600 Full Time Equivalents The number of agents needed on staff to fill the Agent FTE Hours required for the Study period See a more detailed explanation at the end of t
67. ain accurate results If you need to analyze the results using more than one display period we recommend you always work on a copy of the original Forecast Sheet Use the Edit gt Move or Copy sheet command from the Excel menu bar Alternatively you can Add a New Forecast Sheet activating the Customize forecast sheet icon You will automatically use the same Typical Call template and when the Input Parameters and Optimization Goals are replicated you will be in a position to analyze the results of two or more by Forecast Sheets forecast periods Convert Input Sources from Fixed Average Values to Variable Values Input parameter values can easily be converted from a Fixed Average Value to a variable by activating the Customize Forecast Sheet feature and selecting the nput 62 Sources tab In this exercise you will convert your Hesource Cost per hour from a Fixed Average Value to a variable E SAN oC c EGZ While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize Forecast icon on the Hills B toolbar When you click the Customize Forecast icon on the Hills B toolbar and the Customize forecast window appears perform the following Customize forecast Times Forecast Period Input sources Result columns Click the nput sources tab t esulbs Range Select Input Forecast Details Resource Cost per hr Performance Details Cast Last Call Prob Imm 4bandons In the Sel
68. alls in period 140 Input Elements There are 12 Input Parameter elements associated with Agent Resources blue text with white background and 7 elements associated with IVR resources blue text with yellow background Input parameters Wait Ser Level f Resource Trunk Trunks Slots UnFrod 2mm FRietrics Tolerance Time alls Pires cori Time Cost per nion Cost per xis Factor 262 rese ese hr hr 1 ee een ee ee InptNam Description The average value ascribed to calls when received and handled by an Agent or IVR Cost Lost Call unit Resource The Probability of Immediate Abandonments or the expected percentage of callers who will hang up immediately when they are placed into queue This may occur because the recorded announcement gives them all the information that they need For instance an airline reservation system may give an alternative telephone number for pre recorded arrival information Most ACDs report the number of Immediate Abandons Before Answer separately from calls that Abandon Before Answer Generally an ACD regards an immediate abandonment as one occurring within the first 4 10 seconds The threshold is part of the user s data base Immediate abandonment probability of calls that abandon Immediately of offered calls 100 Prob Imm Abandons The maximum number of callers who may be placed into queue In the absence of After Call Work time the
69. an 03 2002 Jan 04 2002 fui Using the drop box provided click on 11 00 for your new End Time Click Close once the status bar reaches 10096 to save your changes and exit this window Annl Cancel When you click Close you are back in the Forecast Sheet Note that the Calls based on a typical day column in your Summary Table shows a considerable decrease from 7 694 to 2 658 for Monday Since Hills B only extracts data specified by the Forecast Sheet this new Calls based on typical day total represents those calls and the distribution pattern of those calls between the hours of 08 00 and 11 00 from your Typical Calls table 44 Decrease in Monday s calls from 7 694 to 2 658 due to reduction in Hours of Operation Calls scale Fackor Summary Table Calls based coe EEG Adjustment expected For B basse this da Oo x E55 Dec 31 2001 Mon Jan 02 2002 wed Jan O3 2002 Thu Jan Od 2002 Fri x x x Totals 15 452 0 15 452 0 Input Parameters Prob Imm MAE Main Table Time of Day TOD column now only shows half hourly increments from 08 00 to 10 59 NOTE Even though 10 30 is displayed the program takes the time period 10 30 to 10 59 into consideration Call detail Actual Calls Ti T calls ime ypical ca Expected IC Dec 31 2001 Adjust Call Volume The Calls based on typical day colum
70. an be used to perform this type of analysis by adjusting for example your Input Parameters or Optimization goals Below we show you a couple of ways your Performance Details might be improved However the important thing to remember is that whatever changes you decide to make you must ensure they are realistic and achievable within your environment Adjust an Agent Resource Input Parameter Another way in which to lower Agent Hesources Heq results in the Main Table would be to lower one or more of your input parameter values Remember these values must remain as accurate as possible so keep them realistic In this next exercise you are going to adjust your Work Time secs value to further assist you in lowering the Agent Resources Reg column for Monday Start by assuming that you will have your most experienced staff available for the morning hours of Dec 31 2001 and can therefore realistically reduce the Work Time secs from its current value of 60 to 50 seconds The example below shows there is a10 second reduction to the Work Time This means that Agents will on average spend less time handling calls This will cause a reduction to the number Resources Agents Required A reduction in Work Time will also cause the percent of calls that can be answered within objective time frames to increase increased SL and hence decrease the time it takes to answer calls decreased ASA This effect of reduced Work Times will improve the SL and ASA
71. ast Sheet Click the Scenarios icon on the Hills B toolbar Input Scenarios The nput Scenarios window Select from list appears with the Week of Dec 31 2001 highlighted the current ok of Dec a1 2004 FREE SET forecast open Shaw ew Click on the New button Delete Edit Merge Sumrnar NH NN tenes Sama ol ee The New Scenario window appears providing you an opportunity to give Hew Scenario the current Input Parameter values in your forecast a name for easy Scenario Name Cancel retrieval for future use Hint make z them clear for easy recall Retries at 50 The Edit Input Scenario Values screen appears providing the option to adjust any of the current values entered in the Forecast Sheet prior to saving the scenario The Week of Dec 31 2001 currently has a Retries value of 1 The following exercise will demonstrate how the edit feature works 78 The current values on the Week Edit Input Scenario Values of Dec 31 2001 forecast sheet appear in the Edit Inout Scenario Retries 50 o Values window f Apply to Agents Apply to Ive Call Scale Factor 1 Agent Scale inn Overwrite the current value of 196 Fackar with 50 in the Hetries field TRIDES TER Ser Level Time Em secs MSloks D Talk Time secs 120 UnProd id Work Time co secs 4 Resource Cast per hr Retries 50 Test Lost Call 30 Wait Tolerance ang Trunk Cast pe
72. athematical Model Requirements All ACD traffic tables need as a minimum Incoming call rate Average talk and work times Number of agents If you are using one of the advanced models you will need items such as Number of trunks Parameters describing abandonment behavior What Information Do You Get From Your Management Reports Number of Calls The management reports do not actually tell you how many calls arrive in a half hour but rather how many eave When a call arrives the ACD starts a timer for that call and waits to see when it is answered and then clears or waits to see when it abandons The statistic does not get recorded until the call clears So a call that arrives at 8 59 and waits 1 minute before answer by an agent and then spends 2 minutes talking will be logged at 9 02 From the management reports this call will be counted as arriving in the 9 00 to 9 30 period If the expected calling rate is the same for the whole morning this will not cause an error The number of calls which actually arrive between 8 55 and 9 00 and logged as occurring in the 9 00 to 9 30 period will be balanced by the number of calls which arrive between 9 25 and 9 30 and are logged in the 9 30 to 10 00 period However how many of you have a situation where the calling rate is uniform On a Monday morning your management reports may indicate the number shown in Table 1 Between 8 30 and 9 00 the management report indicates that 100 calls arrived
73. ations use minus sign for by user This column factors in the Scale Factor Forecast details Actual resources Loms Talk Time Resources Resources AddiDel Pesouypces secs Reg Sched cO gt cc 2 FG SG 2 O amp deleting resources Resources Req Resources Sched and the Add Del columns Explanation of Actual Resources Fields Resources Sched This column is where you will input the number of Resources you want to schedule In a perfect world you would want to mirror the Resources Reg column located directly to the left in the Forecast Details section of the Main Table Add Del This is a user defined column where you can add or delete Resources originally entered in the Resources Scheduled column without disturbing your original input Diff This column is not to be accessed by you It is strictly a visual for you to reference The Difference column values are calculated using the following formula Resources Sched Add Del Resources Reg Resources This column is not to be accessed by you The values displayed in this column are the FINAL number of Resources Agents scheduled and this is the column the Hills B Formula will refer to when calculating Performance Detail results Scale Factor Enter a positive factor here to effect an overall percentage increase decrease in the number of Actual Hesources This scale factor is applied to the whole forecast Schedule Resources Agents In this ex
74. average Resources manned positions in ACD reports This number may be a fraction The effective number of agents used for traffic engineering is reduced by the Unprod factor Percentage of Retries Attempts The percentage of call attempts that are retries This is expressed as a percentage of the first offered calls Retry percentage of calls which are retries of calls offered 100 For instance if the number of calls offered is 1000 under heavy overload and there is a 90 plus retry probability there may be an additional 1500 call attempts as callers repeatedly retry The management report will indicate a total of 2500 calls The retry percentage will be the 1500 repeat attempts divided by the actual first Total queue time attempts of 1000 or 1500 1000 150 The next four fields show the actual costs for these three items 143 Glossary of Terms Automatic Call Distributor A device that interfaces to a number of trunk groups ACD to distribute calls in order of their arrival to agents or to other resources such as IVR ACD Call A call that is connected to an agent either immediately or after a delay The percentage of calls handled within the service level time as a percentage of Adjusted Service calls accepted by the system It excludes abandoned calls and calls receiving Level busies When comparing results from our program to your ACD reports it is important to check what assumptions have been m
75. ay s Check to include DOW Saturday Sunday 12 31 2001 Mon New Year s Eve L o1foifeo02 Tue New Year s Day Step 1 Dates Step 2 Days Monday Tuesday uy E g Persia Friday A NISIISIESIE TE Default File in use Change USA dat Step 2 b From the Holidays listed check Monday New Year s Eve so that it is included in the Forecast Period Ensure Tuesday New Year s Step 2 c Retain USA as the Day is unchecked so that it is not Holidays File included Step 2 d Click Next or click on the Step 3 Times box Finish Cancel NOTE The Holidays File overrides the DOW selections because Forecast Periods that exceed 1 week need to be correctly handled Specifically if this were a 2 week Study beginning Dec 31 2001 and ending January 13 2002 Tuesday Jan 8 2002 is not a holiday during the second week so it must remain selected for inclusion in the DOW list Step 3 Set Time of Day Specific In this step you will have the opportunity to set your hours of operation as well as specify how you would like your performance results displayed in your Forecast Sheet Follow these steps a Use the drop down box and select 08 00 as the Start time if it isn t already selected b Use the drop down box and select 77 00 as the End time c Select 30 mins for the Period d Click Finish 102 Create new forecast Step 3 of 3 Step 3 a Using the drop down box Select sta
76. chmarks 31 109 Change Column Order of Appearance in the Performance Detail Section 68 Change Daily Call Volumes 72 Change Default Selections 80 Change Holidays File 85 Change Holidays File Options Icon 95 Change Optimization Goals to Adjust Service Levels amp Costs 69 Change Options Icon 80 Change Overall Call Volume 72 Change the Default Format Settings 94 Change the Default Template in Us 91 Change the Forecast Periods Display on the Main Table 62 Change Time of Day Displays 61 Change Typical Call Volumes 74 Change Value and or Column Name 81 Changing an existing Fixed Average Value 36 114 Changing Variable Values 40 118 Color Coding Legend 13 Convert Input Sources from Fixed Average Values to Variable Values 62 Convert Input Sources from Variable Values to Fixed Average Values 64 Converting from Fixed Average To Variable Value 115 Converting from Fixed Average Value to Variable Value 37 Create a New Study 51 Create New Study Step 1 52 Create New Study Step 3 53 Create Scenarios Icon 77 Customize a Forecast Sheet 60 Day of Week amp Time of Day Parameters 100 Definitions of a Study Forecast Sheet and Tables 13 Delete a Holiday from Current Holiday file in use 87 Deleting a Forecast Sheet 59 Determining Average Call Volume and Distribution 148 Develop Alternate Forecast Views 77 Dock the Hills B Toolbar 15 Erlang C Is it all that bad 136
77. cifically there may be saved folders or files shown in the screen shots where you show none This will not affect your progress through Volume B so you may simply continue on with the instructions provided This section will guide you through the initial setup required inputs results calculated and the functionality associated with the Agent and IVR Resources template If you have run through Volume A of this manual as well you will note that the Agent and IVR and the Forecast Agent Resources templates are very similar The difference of course is the additional fields for IVR data To begin using the Agent and IVR Resources template Open MS Excel Once MS Excel is open click on the Hills B Pro menu item as shown below 1 Open MS Excel Hills B Pro Help Forecasts e new study 2 Click on Hills B Pro from the ae Optimization Goals 27 Open existing study Excel Menu Import Typical Calls irem Insert Forecast What if k DN ustomize 3 Point to Forecasts then click on Create New Study Holidays E Copy values only Options Help About Hills B Optimizer Pro Select a Study Type When you select Create new study the New Study window appears with a selection 1 Select Forecast Agent and IVR Resources 2 Click OK 99 Hew Study Select template Forecast Agent Resources Forecast Agent and IVR Resources Select Forecast Agent and IV
78. ctual Calls Talk Time Resources Reg o Resources Reg using 120 seconds for the each TOD increment between 12 00 and 16 30 S ignificant i Resources Req are recalculated AA based on Variable Talk Time Values of 240 seconds from TOD increments 12 00 to 16 30 doo d a Keep your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet open and continue to the next forecast exercise which is Scheduling Resources Set Resources Scheduled Up to this point you have entered all of the Forecast Details required The final step will be for you to review the Resources Required calculated by Hills B then schedule the Resources you have available Ideally you will want to schedule what Hills B has identified as Required The screen image below shows four columns allocated to the Actual Resources section of the Main Table Refer to the section Explanation of Actual Resources Fields to better understand the purpose of these four columns 41 Entering values in the Resources Sched column is the last step before running What if studies Time Actual Calle 164 161 Dec 31 2001 Enter initial En values Automatic calculation of the This is the final number of Working column used to difference between the number of resources scheduled and it is adjust your initial values resources required by HillsB and the values in this column that in the previous column the number of resources scheduled Hills B utilizes in it s calcul
79. d input the answer 3 Hours of Monday Manda Manday Talal Calls Total Ag Call _4 Operation One Two Three per dhr deidedhy3 per 1 2 hr 5 E 9 00 580 563 600 1763 587 55 En ga 516 FPU SAF 1553 31 7 55 8 10 00 43d 422 418 274 274 65 S 10 30 528 530 540 1607 535 55 10 11 09 506 510 500 1516 505 33 11 11 30 496 188 497 1471 480 33 42 12 00 403 404 4128 1233 411 00 13 12 30 09 47 482 1421 273 65 1 00 415 418 437 1271 473 33 14 1 30 436 428 470 1334 444 65 15 2 00 393 355 326 1035 341 55 d FC 4h51 ibll vad UL EI 346 65 18 3 00 332 395 3T bia 482 33 1g 3 30 368 350 348 1085 355 33 20 4700 342 i45 3st 1027 3527 33 21 430 IH i33 328 gs 326 65 _ 5 Round your answers appropriately and insert the number in the Avg Call per 1 2 hour column These are the averages you will insert in our 24x7 Typical Calls Worksheet Grid for Monday There is your Monday Let s 3 Hours of Monday Monday Monday Total Calis Total Avg Call bring it into our default Operation Due Twa Three per Wehr de ded by 3 per 172 hr Typical Calls Worksheet 2 00 580 523 cnn 1763 587 68 588 3 30 515 500 33T 1553 517 56 518 TUUN 444 Nr 418 Tete 42 4 hh q75 10 30 528 530 548 1607 535 66 536 11 00 504 510 200 1515 505 33 505 11 20 4m 2068 497 1473 440 33 490 12 00 403 404 426 1233 411 00 411 12 30 162 470 182 1421 r 2 Bb 474 1 00 415 318 437 1270 42233 423 1 30 435 42B aro 1334 444 Bb 445 2 00 253
80. d or select holidays Step 2 a The default DOW list has each business day checked For this example even though Tuesday is checked it will not be considered because it is not checked on the Holiday s list Check Eo include DOW Saturday Check to include holiday s Preerererreererrrrrererrrrrereerrererrrrrerrrrrererrrrrererrrerertrrrrrrrrr iter terre re rr iret irr rite erie LI to select Sunday L Panda 7 Bosal Step 2 b From the Holidays listed Wednesday check Monday New Year s Eve so Thursday that it is included in the Forecast l Period Ensure Tuesday New Year s Friday Day is unchecked so that it is not included i ijz 2 Tue New Years Day Default File in use change usadat Step 2 d Click Next or click on the Step 3 Times box Step 2 c Retain USA as the Holidays File NOTE The Holidays File overrides the DOW selections because Forecast Periods that exceed 1 week need to be correctly handled Specifically if this were a 2 week Study beginning Dec 31 2001 and ending January 13 2002 Tuesday Jan 8 2002 is not a holiday during the second week so it must remain selected for inclusion in the DOW list Step 3 Set Time of Day Specific In this step you will have the opportunity to set your hours of operation as well as specify how you would like your performance results displayed in your Forecast Sheet Follow
81. ders and files are organized in the same manner as Excel Below you will find isGemini s definition of terms in Hills B as they compare to Microsoft definitions STUDY is equivalent to a Microsoft WORKBOOK You will save your forecasts as a Study Each Study is comprised of one or more Forecast Sheets When you save a forecast electronically it will be saved as a STUDY or Workbook FORECAST SHEET is equivalent to a Microsoft WORKSHEET Later on this manual will guide you through performing forecast exercises within Forecast Sheets A Study can contain as many Forecast Sheets as necessary For example if you create a forecast for the month of October 2001 instead of combining all 4 weeks of October into one long Forecast Sheet you could insert 3 additional Forecast Sheets and assign a name to each such as Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 The Study will be saved as October 2001 which will contain 4 separate Forecast Sheets see figure below Prob Imm QSlots UnProd Main Table Call details 33 66 63 62 54 54 43 46 44 42 44 gt IN Typical C3 i E Oct0l weekl 4 OctO1 Week2 Oct0l Week3 Oct0l Week4 TABLES are formatted WORKSHEETS that contain the data needed by Hills B The data contained in these tables feed information to the Forecast Sheet Color Coding Legend The Forecast Sheet below contains the data that is displayed when the Forecast Agent Resources template is chosen Review the
82. dule the same number in your Resources Scheduled however this will not always be the case The What if Agents function will allow you to quickly schedule your resources based on a percentage of those required by the Hills B Formula in the Resources Required column While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast click the What if Agents icon on the Hills B toolbar hes x irem EN A A Tee sd od Ace x E 3 ra Click here to Select all Adjust Hesources Scheduled totals dates On the Adjust Resources Scheduled totals screen enter the new value of 95 Now the Resources Sched column contains values that are 95 of the Forecast details Actual resources Resources Req column in your Main Table Resources a AddiDel eee Esq WT d d roe Bre Using Create Scenarios Icon to Develop Alternate Forecast Views This feature allows the user to build a library of frequently used Input Parameter scenarios which greatly reduces the amount of time required to perform what if scenarios for the current and future forecast Here s how it works whenever the user has entered the values in the Input Parameter section of a Forecast Sheet the option is available to add that scenario to a library Once the scenario is saved it is accessible for the current as well as future forecasts This feature is extremely useful for those who continually revert back to the same Input value scenarios T7 While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forec
83. e average number of calls and the distribution pattern of those calls you TYPICALLY receive on similar days you are preparing to forecast Obviously a typical week in May would not be similar to a typical week in the winter holiday season Information entered into the Typical Calls Table will automatically populate the Calls based on typical days column located in the Summary Table of the Forecast Sheet The typical call data is a STARTING point for your Forecast Sheet s within your Study However you will not need to toggle between the Typical Calls Table and the Forecast sheet to adjust your call volumes once the Typical Calls Table is populated and the Calls based on typical days column is populated The Adjustment column and the Calls scale factor located in the Summary Table of your Forecast Sheet are where any call volume adjustments will be made Both are discussed earlier in this manual Again you will not have to toggle between the Forecast Sheet and the Typical Calls Table to adjust the call volumes To determine the averages for your Typical Calls Table review Appendix A Determining Average Call Volume and Distribution NOTE A Study can contain as many Forecast Sheets you required However there is only ONE Typical Calls Table for each Study Therefore any Typical Calls Table within a Study will be the starting point for each Forecast Sheet contained within that Study This may seem odd especially in a situation whereas a Study c
84. e Cost per hr the Performance Details formula used by the formula in Performance Details to the new location updated as well gt When progress bar reaches 100 the new column for Resource Cost has been inserted into your Main Table and you are returned to the Customize forecast window Click Close to exit the menu and save your change Note the new column for Resource Cost per hr is now located in your Main Table You will also note that the cell for Resource Cost per hr in the Input Parameters section of your Forecast Sheet is shaded gray This is a visual reminder to you that the formula is now factoring values contained in the Hesource Cost per hr column in your Main Table instead of the cell The Fixed Value for the Input Parameter titled Hesource Cost per hr is shaded to denote that this value will not be used in the calculations Input Parameters JN walk Prob Imm SerLevel Time Talk Time Wark Time cm Last Lost Trunk Cost Trunks Hilotz LinProd Tolerance Abandons secs secs secs ES ESI hr Call p E hr Factor Main Table New Variable Value Column titled S 0 Eorecast detail Actual resources Resource Cost per hr is inserted into the Main Table section of the ET Jes vius Forecast Sheet Set pernt das 193 20 418 525 The values in the newly added column default to the value that is contained in the Fixed value cell of the Input Parameter section You are now able to change the values
85. e E rad 134 zd 4 22 Ti 15h 166 11 155 T 4 n 1 iz Es E 20 14 ix st 10d o est xit 243 i 4 2 12 0 D TI TI nt T 1h FI i 100 Gh ma ad 14 g tz ii Ws e ri u 14 id 45 a0 o 11 16 i 11 5 m 20280 D a 11 T ka 7 Ez 210 a 2 a 11 3g LES IE zi 7 12 5 11 11 a 4 220 iz E jy ii EN 22 30 o T 2 7 2 s 21 Eaa peii z n a 2 z oe Zin 4 i D ih EZ bs DETE S zn BILE 5 150 1 054 qt 7 You will then do the same procedure for each of the remaining days of your forecast 150 Index ACD Management Reports and Traffic Tables 134 Actual Resources Fields 42 Add a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table 66 Add a Holiday to Current Holiday file in use 88 Add a New Country Holiday File 89 Add a New Forecast Sheet 56 Add Del 46 125 Additional Conditions 31 Adjust an Agent Resource Input Parameter 127 Adjust an Input Parameter 50 Adjust Call Volume 45 123 Adjust Formats 83 Adjust Input Parameters 129 Adjust Inputs 81 Adjust New Forecast Options 94 Adjust Resources Scheduled 77 Adjust Results Change Column Name 82 Adjust Typical Calls 91 Adjusted Service Level 144 Agent and IVR Forecast Sheet Attributes 104 ASA Average Speed of Answer 31 Average Call Volume and Distribution 148 Average Speed of Answer 132 144 Average Time to Abandonment 144 Begin Forecasting 25 BENCHMARKS 15 Busies 144 Change Ben
86. e erreur nnnnn 144 Additional ExplanationS ssssssssccccecccccccccosscsssccccccceccecccossssssccccccceccecosossssseccccccceececessssssssseee 146 bull Pune BEgutvalent FLE ea tenni Ede ete E N due CES 146 Wan Tolerance EHI s t odeeen ios ied etus Mme e cM OR MEI M ein 147 APPEND A mnc 148 Determining Average Call Volume and Distribution ssseccccccecccccssssssseccececcocccsscsssssssssee 148 User Manual Contacting i2Gemini How to Contact Us i Gemini i Gemini Inc MD Technical Center PA Corporate Center 1111 August Dr 40 Cedar Ave Annapolis MD 21403 Hershey PA 17033 USA USA Fax 410 240 1721 Fax 717 520 5292 240 547 1304 www i2Gemini com mailto Sales i2Gemini com Customer Service amp Technical Support Information If you require technical support on our product please call us at the phone number below Another option would be to e mail us We are here to help you Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 9 00 a m until 5 00 p m EST 240 547 1304 voice Support i2Gemini com Email Visit our Web Site For valuable industry related issues product upgrade information product demos new releases and much more www i2gemini com User Manual System Requirements Installation System Requirements Microsoft Windows 98 through Vista Microsoft Excel 98 through 2007 Minimum 32MB memory Pentium 90 Processor Disk Space 5MB VNNKN NN Warning When upgrading from a previous version
87. e lost due to either abandonment or busies To help you find this number Divide the sum of the Number of calls that receive Busy and the Number of calls that Abandon by the Number of offered calls Multiply your answer by 100 Total Lost Calls Cost for lost calls in a period The number of hours in an hour that callers spend in queue This includes calls that are handled as well as those which abandon before an agent answer NOTE The sum of Total Talk Time and Total Queue Time is the Total Trunk Holding Time If you are paying for incoming calls it is this sum which will control your bill The number of seconds in an hour that agents spend talking to incoming calls Total Trunk Cost Cost for trunk usage in period Trunk Cost The cost per hour for trunk usage The total number of trunks available for incoming calls including those occupied by Trunks agents talking to incoming callers If you specify zero for trunks the formula assumes you are defining QSlots rather than trunks Unproductivity The Unproductivity Factor is the percentage of time that an agent who is logged in 145 Probability of Immediate Abandonments Total Loss Total Queue Time Factor is unavailable for taking calls This factor takes into account breaks and time spent on outgoing calls NOTE Managers forecasting or scheduling on a daily basis will have a lower percentage than managers who are predicting based on long range plans Th
88. e no longer equal to Resources Required for all time increments Note the Diff column indicates a shortage of one agent for the last 4 time increments on Monday Note drop in Performance work Time Resource Cost Lost Trunk Cost Details because of this shortage secs Cost per hr Call per hr Agents scale Factor Forecast details Acteal resources Performance details Average Resources Overflowbo Actual Calls Resources Resources Add del Bierce Sor Lewel Speed of Abands total Req live agents Expected Req Sched RISE eb 10 2 52 9 10 4 T5 2 10 T 83 8 10 T a5 b 10 8 B4 10 5 With the Summary Table above showing a 65 9 SL the objective of 70 has not been met and is therefore highlighted in red However your ASA result at 31 7 seconds is still within the Benchmark objective of 35 seconds This tells you that if you want to achieve the 35 second ASA objective and can accept a less than optimum SL fewer Agent Resources are required In this instance only 65 9 versus 70 to 80 of your offered calls will be serviced within 35 seconds or within the ASA objective of 35 seconds The decision you must make is can you live with fewer offered calls being answered within the objective timeframe 126 Perform What if Exercises In situations where you have no available resources to schedule you may need to perform some What if exercises to find other ways to improve Performance Results The What if scenarios c
89. e otu eeu uS Ded 40 Set Resources Scheduled 5 0 eerta oar qoi rto De Eee ea geared 02v Ged Laer DERE PN e 000 oroe E IP FEE R eaoat 41 Explanation of Actual Resources Fields inert d e RENE EL Ee adds 42 SCHECUIEIRESOUTCES ASe dcos eive Lacus tastes cte aD eT oss eMule eus 42 Modifying Hours of Operation oe oer eere otio or oir ooo deii oed 44 Adj st Call gi D 45 CPO ation CHOICES RR 46 Op mizeby Service evel SL uenen aer a rE 46 Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA ccccsecccceceeceeeceeaaeeeesaeeeessseeeeeeeeeseeeeeeqaas 47 Perform What Exercises iiie ied a aaa a 49 Adjust an Input Parame tet cesses settee he Ec oe a E E0D Uca ma ee euahee Pedes ess vtta tau e UR MEE cups 50 USING THE HIEES B TOOLBAR x21 oaovecceso arabo Ya eu eed eoi eo devra ie2uez 51 Using the Create a New Study IcoOn eee eee eee eee eee ouo eere ee torre reete eee eere ee eoo eee Peas err eeOe S1 Using Open Saved IDE 55 Using Add a New Forecast Sheet Icon ssssssssssssscccccccccccccsssssssssssscsscsscccccsscccssssssseees 56 Using Deleting a Forecast Sheet Icon cssssssssccscccccccccccccsssssssssssssscsccscccssccccsssssseeees 59 Using Customize a Forecast Sheet Icon ssssssssssscccccccccccccsssssssssssscsscccccccccssscssssssssees 60 Change Time of Day Displays us Notgevcntsodtetiitasetrase
90. e you may find that a value for a particular input may vary widely throughout the forecast Variations of this type would obviously cause less than accurate results Because of this the Hills B Optimizer Pro provides you with the ability to convert a FIXED AVERAGE VALUE to a VARIABLE VALUE VARIABLE VALUES Any of the Input Parameter values can be simply changed from a Fixed Average to a Variable Value Converting to a Variable Value allows you to create a column in the Main Table that gives you access to enter any value you want throughout your forecast For example if your graveyard shift had an average Resource Cost per hour of 20 and your day shift had an average value of 14 you would input this to be a Variable Value Changing an existing Fixed Average Value While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet click the 1596 cell for Unproductivity Unprod Enter 10 then Click Enter In the two figures below you will note the before and after results Hills B automatically re calculated results based on the new value Input Parameters W alt Trunks satz LInProd Prab Imm Estrie Tolerance Sere cuit Abandon Factar secs Main Table The number of Resources Required with a 15 UnProd Factor all details Actual Calls ES DE Ti T calls i aE Eezourcez Esq 36 P Parameterz wait With the UnProd factor changed to PE Olat UnProd Prob Imm Tolerance oat Level Time 10 Abandons Fac
91. ea 88 Editing the current Holidays E dit Holidav Fil Table In this exercise the E holiday Lincoln s Birthday will be added to the USA file neliz 2U0i Lincoln s Birthday lt lt O2 14 2001 Valentine s Day O21 9 2001 President s Day Ossi 7 2001 St Patrick s Day 415 2001 Easter New record D 1 Type Lincoln s Birthday in the empty Edit field provided Lincoln s Birthday Mew zr ETE Country File in use is LISA dat Using the drop down boxes available select 02 12 01 in the appropriate fields Click Apply then Close to save addition and exit the menu Lincoln s Birthday is now added back Create a New Holiday File Create a new Holidays File is selected when a user wants to choose a new country from the Hills B list provided Creating a new file allows for saving the country s Holidays Table in a central location and have access to modifying the Hills B entries as done in the previous exercises To add a new country follow the instructions below Adding a new country s file Options Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast Current File C Program Files HTLT Hills B Optimizer PraYlsertHalidays ILISA dat Browse Click New to create a new country s Holidays file 2 E 89 Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast The Select Country window will appear Current fi
92. eans that a system that bases the number of agents upon Erlang C will inevitably overestimate the number required The Hills B Formula in comparison to Erlang C adds reality to a queuing system It is proven time and again that the Hills B Formula actually models a real life queuing system with the addition of these factors v Percentage of Immediate Abandonment Calls which abandon immediately if they enter the queue This figure is normally available from your management reports v Wait Tolerance Time A factor that characterizes a caller s tolerance to waiting A high number indicates they are prepared to wait a considerable time before they abandon The Wait Tolerance Time is a function of the customer and the type of service for which they are queuing For instance a customer requiring an airline reservation for a destination served by several carriers would have a lower Wait Tolerance Time than a customer calling Customer Service to find out why their new computer is not working ioGemini has developed a number of techniques for estimating this factor from historical data v Number of Lines The number of trunks into the queuing system or the maximum number of calls in which are permitted to be in queue 130 v Percentage Retries The percentage of callers who retry the call in the same 15 or 30 minute interval after they receive a busy or after they abandon This figure has to be an informed estimate as it is virtually impossible
93. ecified time Typically the percentage is based on the number of calls which are answered immediately or which enter the queue It excludes those calls which receive a busy as these are normally invisible to the call management system v Average Speed of Answer ASA The average speed of answer in seconds of calls that are answered by an attendant v Abandonment Percentage The percentage of calls which either abandon immediately or after some time in queue Y Busy Percentage The percentage of calls that receive a busy signal or are otherwise prevented form entering the queue For instance some systems divert a call to a different announcement or a take a message desk when the number of calls currently in queue is above a user defined threshold These calls would count as busies It is a fact that Erlang C is based on the assumption that all calls which are not answered immediately are placed in queue and those calls never leave the queue except to be answered Unfortunately this is not real life Consequently Erlang C cannot predict busies or abandonments nor can Erlang C deal with overload situations When the number of calls arriving exceeds the capacity of agents to answer them in reality some calls will be lost or abandoned otherwise the queue will get longer and longer with time Lastly experience has shown that Erlang C predicts higher Average Speed of Answer and poorer Service Level than those found in reality This m
94. ect Results Range list highlight Forecast Details This Slots selection will insert a column in the Retries Forecast Details section of the Main Ser Level Time secs Table Show me Click Apply to move the reference of the input source Fram 6619 to a column in Main Table Highlight Resource Cost from the aant bo move bron acoum back boa heed value Select Input list ant En insert a new column Click want to insert a new column C Toren bo use an existing canm When Apply is clicked a prompt appears allowing you to make sure that you indeed want to convert a Fixed Average Value which is located in the Input Parameters section of the Forecast Sheet to Variable values that will be located in the Forecast Details section of the Forecast Sheet If you want to proceed with this action perform the following Customize forecast 2 Inzert a new column for Resource Cost per hr When prompted click Yes to insert a new column in your Main Table for this input E Ma Cancel When you click Yes to the above prompt Hills B further prompts you to identify if you want the formula to use the values that you will enter into the Variable Value column that will be created as the Input Source for calculations If you want to proceed with this action perform the following 63 Change Hesource Cost per hr input source When prompted click Yes to have Do vou want to change the input source for Resourc
95. ed up to 1500 paid Agent Hours Ultimately the trick is to find out the number of people that you would need to hire in order to fill the Agent Hours Required If you are going on a 7 day Study period or a 4 week month it is easy Divide the number of paid agents hours per week by 40 or whatever your full time week equates to So if you require 1600 hours of paid time in a week and it s a 40 hour week you will require 40 FTEs 1600 40 40 If you hire 40 full time agents that will not help solve your problem because on a busy Monday morning you may need a peak of 60 people answering the phones Therefore you are going to have to hire at least forty 40 half time agents and 20 full time agents so that you can get a peak of 60 but only pay for an average of 40 This theory is fine if you are dealing with a 4 week month If you are working with a calendar month then the number of hours you get for a full time employee will vary depending on how long the month is and the number of agent hours required will vary by the number of Mondays in the calendar month So if you are planning by the calendar month life gets more complicated because you will need more agent hours in a 31 day month then a 28 day month You may require more agent hours in a 31 day month that has 5 Mondays compared to a 28 day month that has only 4 Mondays So the question is how do you convert the agent hours required per month into FTEs The method commonly used in the i
96. eek of Dec 31 2001 located in the bottom left hand side of your screen You will see that the typical calls have been imported The figure should resemble your screen Note that the Hills B program automatically extracted the call data it required from your new Typical Calls Table It only took those calls that came in between the hours of 08 00 and 17 00 for the specific days you are forecasting Consequently the TOTALS in the Typical Calls Table may not match up to those in the Calls based on typical day column Typical Calls data appears for only Summary Table ee ee the hours of operation specified Calls earlier Pale cee Adjustment expected For on typical day this day Review Reviewing your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet you will note that you have successfully worked through 3 of the 5 main sections of the Forecast Sheet In summary you have 1 Set Optimization Type and Goals 2 Set Best Worst Benchmarks for SL and ASA 3 Populated your Calls based on typical day column Take a look at the figure below This figure should mirror your screen Do not be alarmed by the red shading in the Service Level SL column The program is alerting you that based on the Forecast Details you have entered thus far your SL for all days are at some point falling below your Worst case scenario as specified in your 112 Benchmark area Keep in mind that Hills B automatically re calculates with each adjustment you make to your fo
97. eet Highlight the template you want to change For this exercise select the 60 mins template Sample calls xls Sample 30 mins template 60 mins template 0 120 mins template Update Default Typical Calls Click Yes so the program will 3 Ovenanite curent Typical Callz data overwrite the current 30 minutes template Update Default Typical Calls Click OK once you receive notification that calls have Default Typical Calls has been updated been updated 93 The new template in use is 60 minute period Note in the screen shot below that the Time column located in the Main Table now displays each day in 60 minute increments versus 30 minute increments cal Winter Holiday Season 2001_xls Enter Service Level Eenchmark l Options Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls New Forecast Default Folder Browse Calls scale Summary Table Y m FilesiHTLT1Hills E Optimizer ProUser 20 om oy nicl d Date on typical day expeckoc Dee 31 2007 Mion Jan 02 2002 wed un DeFaultTypical Calls Jan 03 2002 Thu Jan 04 2002 Fri TUR Totals 147180 60 mins period in D RN RN Input Parameters ET I Main T able Forecast detail Acteal resources 7 miim x Ackual Calls Talk Time Beseurcez Resources T calls Addi Disc 31 20601 03 00 ETE 611 120 34 4 33 2 09 00 1 099 1379 120 Toe BT 10 10 00 1 050 1260 120 BT B4 1 4 Remain in the Options menu and con
98. el as you normally would and launching Hills B directly from an MS Excel worksheet Launching Hills B Pro From the Start Menu A Accessories gt gt SIGE 9o E leq amp Hills B Optimizer Pro gt A Startup i uninstall US TurboT ax Deluxe 2000 Command Prompt e Internet Explorer a Windows NT Explorer usi Administrative Tools Common 4g Adobe Acrobat 4 0 2 Navigate to Gemini then to the Hills B Optimizer Pro with the MS Excel icon New Office Document NETT ES Open Office Document S Microsoft Reference pe ug Msde dj oid LS Netscape Communicator LS Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition gt 8 Startup gt ug TOSHIBA Power Management Programs A Documents e a ee a aA A e a Winzip Y h is i Microsoft Access 2 A Find gt gt Microsoft Binder e Help BE Microsoft Excel m 4 Microsoft Outlook E ge Bun Microsoft PowerPoint m amp Microsoft Project gt CY Ei doen FH Microsoft Visio 8b t rosoft Excel Book Launching Hills B Pro From MS Excel The method we use in this manual T Ca Forecasts b iA Create new study BZU Ghenge Optimization Goals Ge Open existing study Ea odii Import Typical Gals Insert Forecast What it J Customize Holidays m a Gopy Walles On yr EA EN 3 Point to Forecasts then click on a 2 e Help
99. er Service Level Beackhmark Manually change the Service Level Benchmark from 30 to 35 Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations Detailed explanations on when to use each of the available options are provided below Set optimization goals 7 1x Service Level select the SL optimization method applicable to your Agent environment EN Service Level Adj C Service Level Mortel ASA select ASA to optimize via Average Speed of Answer ASA Average Speed of Answer less than fio SECS Minimum cost 1 C Limited resources s i amp of calls accepted answered in less than o mins dditional conditions Minimum Cost select to optimize MC to have the system ignore all other settings on this screen Busies less than 0 1 fo Occupancy less than oo fo Limited Resources select in catastrophic situations UseERL C Additional conditions click box es and reset percentage if required ERL C is there to compare Hills B and Erlang C MT Service Level Service Level methods deal with the various Service Level options that will be used in your forecast Service Level is defined as the percentage of calls which 30 are answered by an agent handled in less than the Service Level time parameter goal There are three types of Service Level options available gt Service Level All This is the default option in Hills B that expresses the Service Level as a percentage
100. ercise you will schedule resources Agents very quickly by utilizing the What if Agents feature provided by Hills B This feature allows you to instantly populate the Resources Sched column based on a user entered percentage of the Resources Reg There will always be the option to schedule row by row by clicking on the appropriate cell in the Hesources Scheduled column and entering a value The next exercise will demonstrate the What if Agents feature While in the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet 42 Click on the What if Agents icon located on the Hills B toolbar on the Hills B toolbar mE SUN IE RT a When the Adjust Resounces Scheduled totals screen appears perform the following Adjust Hesources Scheduled totals From the Adjust Resounces Adjust Resources Scheduled as percent of Resources Req Scheduled totals type 100 in the Enter new value box Current value Far selected date Dec 31 01 Click to Select all dates Jan 04 2002 Click Apply and then Close to save v Select all dates your changes and exit window TN Once you click Close you will be returned to the Forecast Sheet Review the results in the screen image below Note that your Resources Scheduled column mirrors your Resources Reg column The scheduling method you just went though simply instructed Hills B to schedule exactly what Resources were required 10096 of the Resources Heq column for each day of the Forecast
101. esources Sheet 1 Optimization Goals for Resources Benchmarks Gr go Ie S T bl a m Calls f rita source in ource a aad ash T ustment expecte ou run er Leve ummary a e a for this z day requir i gas Cost toe Input Parameters Ed PIT E Jan 02 2002 Wed Main Table Jon 03 2002 Ti Jan 04 2002 i wait Ser Level 3 work Agent Trunk Talk Time g Cost Tolerance Time Time Cost per Lozt Call Cost per Factor secz zece secs hr pbs hr Main Table Call details Forecast details erformaace details Too Typical Actual Calls ents AddiDel Ser Level ASA secs Abands calls Expected total Dec 31 2001 Mon 08 00 08 30 03 00 03 30 10 00 10 30 11 00 11 30 12 00 ld 4 gt Wi Week of Dec 31 2001 Typical Calls Forecast Sheet Sections Detailed Description 1 OPTIMIZATION GOALS FOR RESOURCES This table displays your operation s targeted optimization type and goals This information will be utilized by the Hills B Formula when calculating the Performance Details To change or set these values use the Change Optimization Goals menu toolbar command 14 2 BENCHMARKS Here you can set your Best and Worst Case scenarios for both Service Level SL and Average Speed of Answer ASA Though this data is not required for the Hills B Formula it is valuable information that will assist you throughout your forecasting exercise How The Main Table can consist of many days and hours which r
102. estere teet Ne ere base eute eee e Ine suoi ie P ase Eve eee e ene eR Reepiea pa Peu dn 28 Set Optimization Type and Goals e eee dede desee esee eee ees esssssssssssssssssssssus 28 Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations cccccccccccccccecceeeeeseseeseeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeenaaas 30 Set Service Level and Average Speed of Answer Benchmarks eere 31 Change Bencina d e as aw A E a a 31 Select Typical Calls Template eoe roa arse aee eee ee heo ete apes AE ENR 32 What io Typical Cals data horieri e tul aile retta adc tet nni ta pon ud Etui o b aon Du Esau Cn edd 32 How is the Data Entered into my Forecast Sheet riot ade ere t RR Ete eu dd 22 Lr port inb a bypicabC alls Table osse nina tion ordeve atra evi tle edic ma detalles a nt E ous d 32 RENEW aot ooo t tst mn cans eu da ted teret edo indes etaed atum ide toc dco ene aate ee A cose i aid 35 Ser Input Pa3rdnie BS ooo n ede reri r oU Poo ee rey IRE UIN HE HT TIVA TEE 35 VIDE SOL HUE S sccedpa inteso quus on So cas Leo Oo ian aun oculus dre dose boteesta milan tar oben dons wus bas topo dota tuc t cS amadd 36 Changing an existing Fixed Average Value eti tets cou talent recdeeladenebetecwobsedwedens 36 Converting from Fixed Average Value to Variable Value cccccccecccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 37 Channoine Variable Value Six tie tawa rei tester toast tae cua lob bet dente auto dtaws uo ove Don bas draft es
103. esults in a long spreadsheet By setting these Benchmarks you have a quick visual prompt during your what if exercises that something way down in your forecast is not good This prompt will be in the form of red shading You will immediately know where you need to investigate within your Forecast Sheet 3 SUMMARY TABLE This section provides a daily summary of your Forecast Sheet and is primarily populated with a summary of performance results When displayed performance results are always displayed using red fonts Additionally it provides a helpful prompt whenever a day within your forecast is falling below your pre set Service Level SL and Average Speed of Answer ASA benchmarks The prompt will be in the form of red shading The Summary Table also allows you to adjust your expected call volumes by utilizing the Adjustment and Calls scale factor features 4 INPUT PARAMETERS The Hills B Formula requires specific Forecast Details from you that relate to your forecast The majority of the data is entered in the Input Parameters section You can adjust each of these values very easily by simply overwriting the current values shown Additionally these values are currently defined as Fixed Average Values that are utilized by the formula for the entire forecast There will be times when these values will have to be converted to Variable Values so that they can be changed during user defined time periods throughout the forecast Converting a
104. eview the Schedule Resources instructions Enter the values that were displayed in the Diff column into the Add Del column as shown below SL and ASA results become 79 696 and 14 9 seconds respectively and Note that the ASA results for Monday are colored green to show they are Dec 31 2001 are well within the 35 within the Service Level Benchmark second Benchmark objective objectives Level Beachmark Optimization Goals for Resources Optimization type Sertice Le AE leask OF all calls answered in less than Fre eunee Total Trunk Hours er AS secs AI FTE Required Scheduled i MiA 6155 0 When you enter the same values here that were indicated in the Diff column here the Performance Details are used Resources Reg Resources Sched and the to calculate the Summary Table OTE Cozt Lost Trunk Cost It Diff column reflects 0 for each period per hr Call per hr results Forecast details Actmal rezomrcez 10x Performance details Talk Tims Pibseunes Wessurecs Add Del Resources Ser Level ASA secs Abands tota secs Esq Sched 0 0 ia TO 0 Tr az T 59 The values in the Resources column are now equal to the values in the Resources Req column Both of the Summary Table SL and ASA results above 79 6 and 14 9 respectively are now within the Benchmark objectives When you add the number of Agents in the Diff column it increased the SL and lowered the ASA
105. f 80 and 35 seconds respectively To improve the SL and or ASA results you have a couple of Optimization choices to make Optimization Choices When you increased the calls for Monday Dec 31 by 2096 the screen image above shows that you will no longer meet either your SL or ASA objectives View the column labeled Diff located in the Actual resources portion of the Forecast Sheet above You will see that in all cases you are short Agent Resources For the remaining hours of operation you are short 2 Agent Resources To improve the Performance Details you have two choices 1 You can optimize by SL which will require more agents but will maintain your SL objective and also keep you within your ASA objective or 2 You can optimize by ASA which will result in fewer agents being required but could result in a missed SL objective Optimize by Service Level SL To improve the Service Level SL one of your options is to increase your Hesources Sched for each half hour increment as reflected in the Diff column displayed on the above screen image To increase the scheduled resources to the exact number showing in the Resources Reg column simply enter the numbers indicated in the Diff column for each half hour increment into the Add Del column for same half hour increments Or 46 you may click on the What if Agents icon located on the Hills B Toolbar select Dec 31 2001 and enter 100 in the Enter new value space Click here to r
106. fault until further adjustments are made and saved HETA Adjust Results Change Column Name Selecting the Results tab from the Options menu allows for adjustment to the name of a Result column Note that when a Result name is selected the middle of the screen provides the Hills B definition Review these definitions provided prior to changing a name It is important that both you and Hills B understand the definitions of both the Results and Inputs of the program While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Change Options icon on the Hills B toolbar 82 From the Options menu Options Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast Select the Results tab Select From list Using the drop down box average peed of Answer provided select ASA secs Edit Result Mame 474 secs Note the definition provided by Busy Hills B Calls Ans d Imm 4bands Lost Calls Total Occupancy Enter Average Speed of Answer in the field provided calls which are answered bv a resource Click Apply then Close to save chanaes and exit menu Remember the name change will remain as the Hills B default until eee Reset names anw chose saved Ed Reset mames Apply Close Cancel The new column heading for the ASA secs in your Performance Details is now entitled Average Speed of Answer This change will remain as your default until a further change is made and saved Adjust Fo
107. for specific TOD periods 41 53 1 Click on cell in the Resource Cost per hr column associated with the Call detail Forecast details 10 00 hour for Dec 31 Enter the value of 20 click Enter Talk Time Resource Resources secs ost per hr Fieg Now the agents working between 10 00 and 11 00 on Dec 31 are paid 20 per hour vs 15 per hour which will change the Resource Costs per hr Total as a result Convert Input Sources from Variable Values to Fixed Average Values In this exercise you will remove the newly created Resource Cost per hr column from your Forecast Details section of the Main Table In so doing you will then convert any 64 Variable Values to a Fixed Average Value in the Resource Cost per hr cell located in your Input Parameters section While i Week of Dec 31 2001 u e ITE OLIL dp QoS m Z Click the Customize Forecast icon on the Hills B toolbar When the Customize forecast window appears perform the following Customize forecast Forecast Period Input sources Result columns Click the Input sources tab elect Results Range Select Input Forecast Details t Resource Cost iper hri jq vFarmance Details Cast Last Call Prob Imm Abandonsz In the Select Results Range list Ped highlight Forecast Details ghilg Ser Level Time secs Highlight Resource Cost from the ain He Click Apply bo move the reference of the input source
108. g a trunk This increases the number of Queue Slots Q QSlots beyond the difference between Trunks and Agents For instance if there Slots are 100 trunks and 80 Agents the number of QSlots will be 20 if there is NO Work Time involved If the Average Talk Time is 240 seconds and the Work Time is 60 seconds agents are only occupying a trunk for 240 240 60 or 80 of the time When all 80 Agents are occupied they will only be occupying 80 80 64 trunks In this case the number of QSlots is 100 64 36 Service Level All Gives the Service Level as a percentage of all offered calls including Retries Service Level Adjusted Gives the percentage of calls that are accepted by the Service Level ACD i e it excludes calls that receive busies or which abandon immediately The Adjusted Service Level is the parameter normally reported by an ACD management report Service Level Nortel Gives the percentage of calls which are accepted by the ACD however it excludes abandonments and busies that occur prior to the pre set service level time configured within your switch Also known as Holding Time For Agents the time a caller is connected to an Agent to the time the Agent Talk Time disconnects the call For IVRs the time a caller connects to the IVR to the time of caller disconnection from the IVR Total Agent Cost Cost for agents in period Total Cost Total cost in period The number of first offered calls that ar
109. have the ability to toggle between the various types and or change the values anytime during a forecast This is accomplished by either using the Change Optimization Goals icon located on the Hills B toolbar or by accessing Change Optimization Goals through the Hills B Pro menu Listed below is a list of the various types of optimization types available to you 1 Service Level 2 Average Speed of Answer 3 Minimum Cost 4 Limited Resources The default setting for Resources Agents is Service Level All with the goal of 80 of all calls answered within 30 seconds secs or less The default setting for IVRs is Service Level Adjusted with the goal of 9596 of all calls answered within 12 seconds or less For now retain these default settings Optimization Goals For IWHz Optimization Goals For Resources Optimization type Service Level Ad Optimization type Service Lerel AE least AE leas IVR Optimization Goals OF all calle answered in less khai of all calls answered in less th Resource Agent Optimization Goals While still in your IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet you will go through the steps of changing the optimization goals for the IVR portion of your Forecast Hills B Optimizer Pro WA Winter Holiday Season xls Select Change Optimization Goals menu item i ak MS Excel File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Hile B Pro Help Toolbar _ ae ee ee te Forecasts d
110. his section A group of Agents is called a Gate There may be one or more Trunk Groups Gate whose calls are directed at a gate In some cases if the queue to a particular gate become too long calls may overflow to another less busy gate The percentage of time an agent spends talking to an incoming call or performing Work Time This percentage EXCLUDES Unproductivity time The expected number of calls made to the ACD in a given period Typically this Offered Calls period is 30 minutes but the user may change it Offered Calls includes calls that receive a busy and therefore may never be seen by the ACD It does NOT include retries which are estimated by the formula Probabiltviot The number of calls that abandon after entering the queue To help you obtain this cene percentage Divide the calls that abandon after a delay by the Number of calls Agents offered including Retries Multiply your answer by 100 The percentage of offered calls that receive a busy because there are no trunks available or there are no QSlots available This would be the Grade of Service as reported by the telephone company To help you find the Probability of Busy Divide the Number of calls that receive a busy signal by the Number of calls offered including retries Multiply your answer by 100 The percentage of offered calls that arrive when there is a queue The number of Probability of Delay calls placed in queue expressed as a percentage
111. holiday REMEMBER The program computes all the above for you This explanation is for those who want to understand how the program computes the answers Wait Tolerance Time This is possibly the most difficult figure to obtain The Wait Tolerance Time is NOT the average waiting time of calls that abandon that number is obtainable from the ACD The WTF can never be known by the ACD unless you make all the agents busy or send all of them home and see how long the callers are prepared to wait Obviously the more competitive your business the less time your callers will be prepared to wait If you are the sole provider for the caller they will most likely wait much longer There is an approximate formula that can be used to obtain this percentage Divide the Percentage of Delayed Calls by the Percentage of Abandoned calls then multiply your answer by the Average Time to Abandonment 147 Appendix A Determining Average Call Volume and Distribution NOTE The sample below is strictly to give you an idea of how to populate the Typical Calls Table Please do not enter any of the results as you follow the instructions in this manual The Hills B Formula needs to know the following information Total number of calls you typically receive on similar days you are forecasting and gt The typical distribution pattern of those calls Here is a simple method of determining these numbers In this example forecast we will work on determini
112. idays file options icon located on the Hills B Toolbar In an earlier exercise the default Holidays File was changed from USA to Canada The following exercise will convert the default back to the USA While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Holidays file options icon on the Hills B toolbar 95 The Holidays menu that appears is the same menu that appeared when you clicked the Change Options icon on the Hills B toolbar and selected the Holidays tab from the Options menu Options Holiday s Note the location of the Holidays file currently in use Current File C Program Files HTLT Hills B Optimizer ProtUseriHolidas Woanada dat New is clicked to create a new country file Fdit the holiday settings of the current file would be clicked to edit the current Canada dat file For this exercise click Browse From Browse the Find Holidays file window appears Find Holidays file Ed 1 Using the drop box in the Open Look in field navigate to your Data Folder as shown 2 Highlight USA dat Cancel Advanced g Add Madif FTP Locations Find Files that match these search criteria File name Text or property Find Mow Files of type Holiday data File dat Last modified Jany time New Search E File s Found 96 Change Holiday file Q Your default current file will return to USA dat once Yes is clicked B ue Once Yes
113. iew Insert Format Tools Data Window Hills B Pro w amp H Toolkit Help New Study file name By m SA Kae carl f 4 3 BE 47 amp lacas E Ge 6 dp Q2 3 Z7 ar x o gU ES vw m Ester Service Level Benchmarks Optimizatiai Optimization ti Bet o At least aux 3u nf all calls an Main Table Factor Call details Forecast details Actual rezourcez Ferformaace Actual rine Te cae Bee ice Resources a deta Ser Level 5 calle Expected Req Sched ze E 312001 n 05 n 0 0 n 05 Forecast Sheet name K SP contained in Study B B o B a 0 05 i i 0 0 K fi Week of Dec 31 2001 Week of Dec 31 2001 4 Typical Calls fal Review your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet This sheet contains the parameters you set using the Create New Forecast Wizard You will note that you have successfully accomplished the following 1 Set the Start End Dates of your Forecast 2 Specified the Days of the Week to include or exclude 3 Set your hours of operations and the display period for the Performance Results in the Main Table of your Forecast Sheet 23 1 Study Dates The start Dec 31 and end dates Jan 4 chosen are displayed 2 Days of Week We specified Monday New Year s Eve to be included while Tues New Year s Day and the weekend days Sat Sun Jan 5 amp 6 were exc
114. is clicked the Options window returns Options C Program Files HTLT Hills B Optimizer ProyData Us4 dat Click on Close to save the change ctf i Sancel 97 Save and Close your Study This concludes the Hills B Optimizer Pro instructions for Volume A It is recommended that you move on to Volume B Volume B is very similar to Volume A however it encompasses IVRs into the forecast as well as agents Save and close your Holiday Season 2001 Study following the instructions below 1 From the Excel toolbar Click File 2 Click Close gt Hills B Optimizer Pro 3 When prompted click Yes to save your changes Microsoft Excel 98 Volume B Forecast Agent and IVH Resources The Forecast Agent and IVR Resources module is applicable to a Call Center system that is designed with physical trunks to an Interactive Voice Response IVR unit with the IVR configured to send some percentage of the calls it receives to live Agents In effect this type of Call Center configuration creates a 2 stage queue The first queuing stage occurs when calls wait for a response from the IVR The second stage occurs when the IVR unit transfers a call to an Agent NOTE Volume B has been written with the assumption that Volume A has been reviewed first and all of the exercises were performed If you have not been through Volume A you will find that some screen shots found in Volume B will not be exactly what is on your screen Spe
115. is type of manager would probably not only include breaks and outgoing calls but paid holidays sick leave training hours etc in this figure Wait Tolerance This is possibly the most difficult figure to obtain It is the average time in seconds Tri that a caller is prepared to wait after hearing the recorded message before he or she hangs up Also called Wrap Time this is the average time in seconds spent by an agent performing post talk work such as filling in forms entering data into a computer or making related outgoing calls NOTE This must be correctly registered and must Work Time wt not include any time away from the position In many cases this requires effective discipline by a manager to ensure that agents correctly input their status Agents in work mode have signaled the system not to give them new calls Additional Explanations Full Time Equivalent FTE Hills B Optimizer Pro computes how many paid Agent Hours you will require in a given period However it is necessary to note that you must have a realistic Unproductivity Factor one of the User Inputs The Unproductivity Factor takes into account vacations sick leave paid holiday breaks training etc It is also important to remember that all users of the program must have the same definition of Unproductivity For example you may need 1000 agent hours in a week but with the Unproductivity Factor taken into consideration you may actually ne
116. ises 49 127 Pre Launch Setup Procedures 15 Probability of Abandonment 144 Queue Slots 145 Remove a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table 67 Required Forecast Details 28 Resources 28 30 31 41 42 43 46 50 119 120 121 Retries 145 Review 13 23 35 82 105 112 113 Save your new Study 22 103 Save Your Study 54 Scale Factor 32 45 110 123 Schedule your Resources 42 119 Select Typical Calls Template 32 109 Selecting a Study Type 99 Service Level 132 145 Adjusted 145 All 145 Nortel 145 Service Level Adj 31 Service Level All 31 145 Service Level Nortel 31 145 Service Level Goal Comparisons 71 Set Dates for the Forecas Sheet 100 Set Forecast Study Parameters 19 152 Set Input Parameters 35 113 Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations 30 109 Set Optimization Type and Goals 28 35 106 112 Set Resources Scheduled 41 119 Set Service Level and Average Speed of Answer Benchmarks 31 Set the Study Period for your Forecast 19 Set Time of Day Specific 21 102 Specify Day of Week Selection 20 101 Study Types and Associated User Manual Volume 17 SUMMARY TABLE 15 System Requirements 10 Technical Information 139 10 Functions of HBO 139 Function Specifications 139 Inputs 141 Result Specifications 140 Results 142 The Average Holding Time 135 The New Study menu 19 Traffic Engineering Explanation 134 Trunks
117. late is 30 minutes The following exercise will demonstrate how to switch to a 60 minutes template The switch will effect how your Time of Day column is displayed on the Week of Dec 31 2001 forecast sheet 91 Click on Typical Calls tab Inputs Results Formats Note the path name of File currently in use Default Folder Click Browse when it is necessary to navigate to the Calls folder Ci Program Files HTLT Hils B Optimizer Proser calls created during Hills B installation DeFaultTypical Calls For this exercise click the Change icon provided to change the default setting for the Typical Calls template Navigate to the Calls folder as shown if not already displayed E 31 Floppy A Eg cu Program Files If the default folder locations were selected during installation this is the path Hills B Optimizer Pra Addi Modify FTP Locations Find files tha ESE SEAN Cher File name Tex Files of type Workbocks xls Lash 1 File s Found 92 Open Typical Calls workbook ki ES Look in Calls E Cancel 1 Highlight the file name you want Advanced to change For this exercise select Sample Calls xls Find Files that match these search criteria File name Text or property Find Mow Files of type workbooks C ls Last modified Jany time New Search 1 Filefs Found Select Typical Calls worksh
118. ld After clicking on OK in the screen shot above the Options menu reappears Change list Prob Delay Prob of Retry Gsloks required Ser Level Ser Level adj Ser Level Mortel To save adjustments click Apply the click m e ma EOS Close Total Cast Total Queue Time hrs Total Work Time hrs Total Talk Time hrs Inputs Results Total Trunk Time Trunks required Remember this change in format will remain as the Hills B default until further adjustments are made and saved The new format for Total Trunk Costs will now be displayed with the sign where 2 Reset Mames Apply cose Cancel applicable on the current and future Forecast Sheets until further adjustments are made and saved 84 Change Holidays File The Hills B program references a Holidays File when creating a new Forecast Sheet during Step 2 of 3 see screen shot below During this step there is reference to a country setting which is defaulted to the USA until adjustments are made Additionally there is a column to the right of the Day of the Week column Should a national holiday fall within the specified forecast dates in Step 1 of 3 it will be displayed with an empty box proceeding the holiday Users have an opportunity to include or exclude the holiday Step 2 of 3 of the Create New Forecast procedures that references the Holidays Table Create new forecast Step
119. le Su C Program Files HTLT1Hills B Optimizer ProWlsertHalidavs Using the drop down box provided Select Country Ea select Canada p mms Canada France Cancel Navigate to the Holidays folder when the Save As window appears gig 315 Floppy A Sj c Pragram Files If the default folder locati C Hth e default folder locations were l n selected during installation this is Hills B Optimizer Pro the path User File name Save as Evpe 90 Gave As Ei Save in Holidays dat 1 Make certain Canada dat is in the Cancel File Name field File name Canada dat Save as type Holiday data File dat Hew Holiday file Select to Yes to save new file in the 5 Holidays folder for future use and or 3 save changes editing The newly created Holidays File is Canada dat and it will remain the default Holidays File until you make any further changes Remain in the Options menu and continue to the next exercise Adjust Typical Calls Change the Default Template in Use The Typical Calls default template of 30 minutes can be changed to the following templates 1 15 minutes 2 30 minutes 3 60 minutes 4 120 minutes There is also a template included with the Hills B program entitled Sample This template provides sample data used in instructional exercises throughout this manual The user may access this as well for demonstration purposes The current temp
120. lier You will now be in your Typical Calls table which has sample hypothetical values that you will use for the remaining exercises Sheek will affect the operation of Hillz E Optimizer Pre 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 3 amp 8 24 12 71 33 156 178 253 213 307 erg 418 380 33b 348 295 285 295 261 361 258 307 302 air ord 2b 268 23b 322 293 306 307 238 291 295 28h 265 311 Day of week summary showing 1 Daily calls total 2 Daily call of total Weekly calls Daily calls Total 3 The Full Time Equivalent FTE factor Paid hrs per week Daily Hypothetical Typical Calls Data that you will have to replace with data relevant to your call center 12 To return to your Forecast Sheet click on the Week of Dec 31 2001 if ii tab located in the bottom portion of is your screen If ever you don t see your sheet tabs click on the maximize button and they should zb xus reappear 265 i 4 w Paid hours per week HINT To view typical call data beyond what is displayed on the initial screen simply scroll down to view later hours or the daily totals In the figure below you will note that the Hills B program automatically extracted the call data it required from your new Typical Calls Table It only took those calls that came in between the hours of 08 00 and 17 00 for the specific days you are forecasting
121. ls Using the Create a New Study Icon This tool bar function allows you to create a new Study when you are either launching MS Excel or working in a current Hills B Study and needing to begin a new separate Study to work in simultaneously This task is accomplished by clicking on the Create a new study function from the Hills B toolbar After you have gone through the initial set up described below you will have the ability to move between each of your active Studies by utilizing the Windows function on your Excel toolbar 51 With the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet open Click on the Create a new study icon located on the Hills B toolbar New Study Select the Forecast Agents Resources template from the New Study menu Forecast Agent Resources Forecast Agent and IVR Resources You will now be in the Create New Forecast menu Create New Study Step 1 In the Number of days field select 1 I 3tep 1 of 3 Week Click on the calendar and select Monday November 19 2001 Step z Days Unless you selected Customize the End date will automatically adjust to one week later Sunday 25 November 2001 Click Next or Step 2 Days box 52 Create New Study Step 2 Create new forecast Step 2 of 3 In the Holiday list leave Thursday Select Ehe days of the week and or select holidays unchecked call center is closed Thanksgiving Step 1 Dates Even though Thursday is checked it will not be incl
122. ls typically received on days similar to those you are preparing to forecast Additionally it is the average distribution pattern of those calls Bottom line it is historical data One of the attributes of Hills B is it requires little or no historical data to get you started How is the Data Entered into my Forecast Sheet Every Study created will contain a minimum of 2 sheets 1 Forecast Sheet and 2 Typical Calls Table The Typical Calls Table is a 24 7 grid that you will populate with the average number of calls and the distribution pattern of those calls you TYPICALLY receive on similar days you are preparing to forecast Obviously a typical week in May would not be similar to a typical week in the winter holiday season Information entered into the Typical Calls Table will automatically populate the Calls based on typical days column located in the Summary Table of the Forecast Sheet The typical call data is a STARTING point for your Forecast Sheet s within your Study However you will not need to toggle between the Typical Calls Table and the Forecast sheet to adjust your call volumes once the Typical Calls Table is populated and the Calls based on typical days column is populated The Adjustment column and the Calls scale factor located in the Summary Table of your Forecast Sheet are where any call volume adjustments will be made Both are discussed later on in this manual Again you will not have to toggle between the Forecast Sheet
123. luded Summary T able Resource Resource Total Trunk expected For hourz Hourz thiz da i Scheduled Calls based on typical day Dost Tokals Input Parameters walk Trunks GShoks LInP rad Prob Imm Bistries Tolerance Eer Level Time Talk Time Abandons secs secs Factor w e fom s w a s Main Table Time ical calls Actual Calls P Expected Forecast detail Resources Esq 3 Hours of Operation Start time selected was 08 00 End time selected was 17 00 scroll to see additional dates and associated time periods with times being reported in 30 minute increments Ester Service Level Heachmarkz percent 5 Ax secs Abands total Buzy Calls Ans d Work Time Resource Cask Lost Trunk Cost secs Cost per hr Call per hr Scale facktor Arktmal rezomrcez 10x mp em oe a p 24 Djo O Begin Forecasting Hide or display Input Comments and or Cell Tips The Hills B program is defaulted to provide you with helpful comments and tips For example when you click on any of the Input Parameter cells a definition automatically appears in an Input Comment box Additionally there are column headings on the Forecast Sheet that contain red tips that will automatically display a definition of the column data when you cursor over it You may find these a nuisance once you familiarize yourself with the program To disable either the comment boxe
124. lumes tab Jan tz 2002 Using the drop down box provided highlight Jan 02 2002 Note that the Current total Typical Calls and the Current total Calls Expected for this day match 4 086 In the Enter new Calls Expected for this day field the value of 5000 Click Apply then Close to exit menu and save your changes Cancel When you exit from the window above view the changes that have been made to your Forecast Sheet Calls scale Factor Review your Summary Table You Summary Table oim will see that the program Calle automatically entered 2296 in the based on Adjustment Column for tupical Wednesday The Calls expected for this day has the new value of Dec 31 2001 Mon E58 total calls for Wednesday of 5000 oea d O86 50000 528 4528 0 1464 0 Callz Adjustment expected For this day and appropriately the Total for Calls Jan 03 20n2 Thu expected for this day has increased Jan Q4 2002 Fri Total 15 755 Change Overall Call Volume gt Click the What if Daily Calls icon on the Hills B toolbar 72 While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 LE i 6 p V X Ev 9 7 Forecast click the What if Daily Calls icon on the Hills B toolbar When the Adjust Calls Expected totals window appears perform the following Adjust Calls Expected totals Change Daily Call Volumes Change Call Scale Factor Select the Change Call Scale Factor tab from the
125. matically appear You will note that the program automatically entered a File Name which is the name you gave your new Forecast Sheet It is highly recommended that you do not name your Study and Forecast Sheet the same This is because a Study can contain numerous Forecast Sheets For this exercise we are going to name our Study Winter Holiday Season 2001 To do this follow these steps 1 Go to the File name field highlight Week of Dec 31 2001 and enter Winter Holiday Season 2001 2 Click Save You now have a Study entitled Winter Holiday Season 2001 which contains the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet When the Save New Study window appears you are automatically navigated to a folder titled Study Save in Step 1 The default name File name is the name you gave the New Forecast Sheet above which was Week of Dec 31 2001 You are now saving that Forecast Sheet within a Study For this exercise overwrite the current Study File name to Winter Holiday Step 2 Click Save Season 2001 File name winter Holiday Season 2001 xls Save as type workbooks xls 22 Once you have saved your Study the Forecast Sheet appears with the Study Name located on the top of the screen and the Forecast Sheet name appearing on a tab located at the bottom of the screen You are now ready to begin forecasting 7 Hills B Optimizer Pro Winter Holiday Season 2001 ls dit V
126. meters or Optimization goals Below we show you a couple of ways your Performance Details might be improved However the important thing to remember is that whatever changes you decide to make you must ensure they are realistic and achievable within your environment 49 Adjust an Input Parameter Another way to lower the Resources Heq results in the Main Table would be to lower one or more of your Input Parameter values Remember these values must remain as accurate as possible so keep them realistic In this next exercise you are going to adjust your Work Time secs value to further assist you in lowering that Resources Req column for Monday For this exercise you are assuming that you will have your most experienced staff available for the morning hours of Dec 31 2001 and can therefore comfortably reduce the Work Time secs from its current value of 60 to 50 seconds Ester Service Level Benchmarks Optimization Goals for Resources Optimization type Service Level At least Click on the cell for Work Time of all calls answered in less than secs in your Input Parameters section Overwrite the current value of 60 with 50 and hit Enter Resource Hours er Level ASA secs f Abands total alls amp nz d FTE Required Scheduled EN A lower Work Time means that Agents will take less time to service calls You SerLevel Time Tall Time work Time Resource Lost Last Trunk Cost secs secs secs ost per hr Call per hr are
127. n FTE Required At 26 9 seconds the ASA however is now within the Benchmark objective of Performance details are used 35 seconds to calculate the Summary Table results The values you entered in the Add Del jo ETE oo E column resulted in the Resources not equaling the Hesources Req column for all time periods Seale factor 100 Performance details Eco een Beeeuteet Adds Resources Ser Level ASA secs amp bandz total Reg Sched ez 45 With the Summary Table above showing the SL at 63 396 the objective of 70 has not been met and is therefore highlighted in red However your ASA result at 26 9 seconds is well within the Benchmark objective of 35 seconds This tells you that if you want to achieve the 35 second ASA objective and will accept a less than optimum SL fewer Agent Hesources are required than would be if it were necessary to achieve both objectives In this instance only 63 396 versus 70 to 8096 of your offered calls will be serviced within 35 seconds or within the ASA objective of 35 seconds The decision you must make is can you live with fewer offered calls being answered within the objective timeframe Perform What if Exercises In situations where you have no available resources to schedule you may need to perform some What if exercises to find other ways to improve Performance Results The What if scenarios can be used to perform this type of analysis by adjusting for example your Input Para
128. n 7 2002 Forecast Sheet and move on to the next exercise Deleting a Forecast Sheet Y Week of Dec 312001 Week of Jan 7 200 Using Deleting a Forecast Sheet Icon If you need to delete a Forecast Sheet you will need to access the Edit function from the Excel toolbar below You are going to delete your newly created Week of Jan 7 2002 from your Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study 59 Edit View Insert Format To KJ reri abi Fe While in your Week of Jan 7 cant Repeat br SY 2002 Forecast Sheet click on Edit from the Excel toolbar then db Cut Ctrl Click Delete Sheet Copy Ctrl c FEL Paste Ctrl Paste Special Paste as E IET DS Fill Move or Copy Sheet Eind Ctrl F Replace Ctrl H G0 To CErl Links Gjrjjaer Microsoft Excel When Excel verifies your deletion The selected sheet s will be permanently deleted via a prompt Click OK to complete the deletion To delete the selected sheets click OK To cancel the deletion click Cancel Cancel You have successfully deleted the Week of Jan 7 2002 Forecast Sheet from your Study and you will find yourself back in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Stay here and move on to the next exercise Customize Sheet Using Customize a Forecast Sheet Icon The Customize Forecast Sheet function allows for numerous Forecast adjustments to be made specifically the Times Input Source
129. n given a registration number button Enter the registration number and click on the Finish button You will receive an onscreen message that your product is registered User Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS HOW TO REGIS TER iioii etn datei E nx iodhcu E dwtu usate Eus E iecEdui tes ursi tas E RUE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTOS 5 inszi a SER ERR ERRNNE RRRRERS FEAR EARE 4 CONTACTING GEMINI eere eurer ener nnn 9 How t0 C Ota US us E E E 000600c102596300 0062000020990 E E E 9 Customer Service amp Technical Support Information eee e eee eee eee esee eene eeuu 9 Vist our WED SIMON Ot hd dt uti sie Ue MI E 9 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS INSTALLATION 10 System Requiremiellls eoo oo Doe e Eea ode Dor de desee Ae tide eee 10 Installation PEOCOQUEFES sie opi e o ae E Orbe ei ies tasse veh eco ei epo Ne pAA ERE Ne eeu PUE eae cerle 10 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW icus s tesuzssutuuxas ve taveceds kocukn ga Cu unu cute 13 Definitions of a Study Forecast Sheet and Tables cc eee eee e eere eee eee eee eee enne 13 Color Coding Pieced outer ett tee c t ct i Raids 13 Forecast Sheet Sections Overview ccc eee e eee e eee eerte eee ettet ettet tete ettet ettet eese eee ss aaas 14 Lorecast Sheet sectrons lt Detailed DeSCtrpEHO 5 tiit EP aua edi tcu oa ed begun 14 PresEaunch Setup Procedure 224i oed thee ED Coetu e tes ec
130. n in your Summary Table is strictly a starting point The figure below shows the column labeled Calls based on typical day with the Calls scale factor cell and Adjustment column producing the Calls expected for this day lt is the Calls scale factor cell and the Adjustment column that can be used to adjust the Calls based on typical day Hills B will be utilizing the values located in your Calls expected for this day column NOTE Any increase or decrease in call volume will be appropriately distributed by Hills B This distribution pattern was established in the Typical Calls table Note that even though call volumes may fluctuate the calling behaviors patterns remain constant To adjust volume for a specific day s you will utilize the Adjustment column To adjust call volume for the overall forecast you will utilize the Calls scale factor The Adjustment and Calls scale factor features can also be used simultaneously While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet click on the cell for Monday Dec 31 2001 in your Adjustment Column enter 20 and METONS then click Enter Summary Table RM Calle based m ical day Adjustment expected For Dee m thiz da Dee 312001 Mon cep 189 an L3 2002 Thy 4 525 0 Ox Jan O4 2002 Fri 4 464 0 Ox Totals 15 453 0 15 37 0 5 The Calls expected for this day increased It is this column that is used by the Hills B Formula to calculate results
131. name in Mew Forecast worksheet has been created this case it s 07 Jan 02 to 13 Jan 02 if you prefer For this exercise Enter a name Far the Forecast though when New Forecast Name max 31 characters screen appears type in Week of Jan 7 2002 week of Jan 7 2002 You are now in your newly created Forecast Sheet entitled Week of Jan 7 2002 Note that the Summary Table has the Calls based on typical day automatically populated This data came from the Typical Calls Table already contained in the Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study In the figure below you will see that your Study now contains 2 Forecast Sheets and of course one Typical Calls Table 58 Calls based on typical day column for this new Forecast Sheet is automatically populated by the Study s Typical Calls Template Calls scale factor S PNE Calls Resource Resource Date D anpil dav Adjustment expected For hourz Hourz N this da required Scheduled Ox i 0 0 Jan OF 2002 Mon Jan Oi 2002 Tuc Jan OF 2002 wed Jan 10 2002 Thy Jan 11 2002 Fri Totals ea 554 Input Parameters wait Trunks Fabs LnPrad Frob Imm T Ser Level Time Abandons secs Factor ol 9lLslL Lel1 Main Table Call details Forecast details Actual Calls Resources f Expected Esq Note the Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study now contains 2 Jan F 2002 Forecast Sheets in addition to the Typical Calls Table oma Remain in your Week of Ja
132. ndon immediately The adjusted Service level is the parameter normally reported by an ACD management report NOTE The Service Level optimization is based on the All option irrespective of the setting of the Service Level Type option Average Speed of Answer The time in queue divided by number of calls that are answered by an agent Probability of Delay The percentage of offered calls that arrive when there is a queue The number of calls placed in queue expressed as a percentage of all calls l e including those blocked by busy signals or abandoned immediately Probability of delay of calls arrive when there is a queue of calls offered including retries 100 Agent Occupancy The percentage of time an agent spends talking to an incoming call or performing After Call Work This percentage excludes unproductive time Probability of Busies The percentage of offered calls that receive a busy because Busy there are no trunks available or because there are no Queue Slots available This would be the Grade of Service as reported by the telephone company Delay Result Name Descipion Probability of busy of calls which receive busy signal of calls offered including retries 100 Probability of Immediate Abandonment The percentage of calls which abandon immediately as soon as they are delayed Imm Abandons Probability of immediate abandonment of calls which abandon immedia
133. ndustry is to assign each day of the week an FTE Factor which is the total hours worked per week by a full time agents by the percentage of traffic for each of the 7 days of the week So for instance if 3096 of the traffic normally occurs on a Monday and it is a 40 hour week the FTE Factor for Monday would be 40x3096 which is 12 hours If 596 of the traffic normally occurred on Saturday the FTE Factor would be 40x5 which is 2 hours And if no calls will arrive on Sunday the FTE Factor would be zero What the program does is to assign these FTE Factors to each day of the particular month and add them up So for a 28 day February the answer would be 160 40 for 146 each week x 4 For 30 amp 31 day months it will be higher then 160 depending upon to the number Mondays and weekends To compute the FTE Required all you have to do is to take the total agent hours required for that month and divide it by the sum of the FTE Factors for the month For example if the sum of the FTE factor for a month is 172 and you require 10 000 agent hours for that month then the FTE Required will be 10 000 172 which is 58 because the average required full time agent will be paid for 172 hours in that month NOTE That the FTE Factor for a Monday which is a holiday and which zero traffic is still unchanged because the unproductivity Factors already takes into account paid holidays You must pay someone even though they are not working that particular
134. ng our typical call volume and distribution pattern for Monday You would follow the same steps for each additional day s of the week you are forecasting 1 Review 3 of your ACD reports for similar Mondays We will assume that this particular forecast will be for a boring non eventful week For example it is not a Monday that falls after a Friday holiday and or it is not a Monday when a particular marketing campaign will reach your customers 2 Create a separate worksheet in Excel consisting of 4 columns Column 1 will contain your hours of operation in half hour increments Column 2 will be titled Monday 1 Column 3 will be titled Monday 2 and Column 4 will be titled Monday 3 Add Total columns as shown below 3 Manually or through the cut and paste functions of Excel input the number of calls you have received for each of those 3 Mondays by half hour in the appropriate cells Hours of Mandin i Monday Total Calis Total Aw Call A helpful way to determine Operation One Three ber ehr divided by 3 per i2 hr your typical call volume and distribution 587 58 onn 1763 515 537 1553 434 422 418 life 528 3 549 1607 505 500 1516 485 BB qu 1471 403 T 128 1233 455 182 1421 415 e LEE Iaru 438 170 1334 353 326 1034 3h1 Jo fed Horn 382 af 370 1147 363 5 348 1066 342 34 340 1027 31 33 328 880 148 4 For each half hour period take the Total Calls per 1 2 hr and divide by 3 an
135. no p dtettiene aici dustan dada ecmesdnadkintngeusenta 61 Change the Forecast Periods Display on the Main Table cccccceeecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 62 User Manual Convert Input Sources from Fixed Average Values to Variable Values 62 Convert Input Sources from Variable Values to Fixed Average Values 64 Add a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table 66 Remove a Column in the Performance Detail Section of the Main Table 67 Change Column Order of Appearance in the Performance Detail Section 68 Change Optimization Goals to Adjust Service Levels amp Costs eeeesessssssss 69 Service Level Goal Comparisons Set at 35 and at 30 Seconds ccsseseeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 71 Using What if Daily Calls Icon to Change Daily Call Volumes 72 Chance Overall e all NOLO t iei teles E Seca DU Cu dd e EA 42 Using What if Typical Calls Icon to Change Typical Call Volumes 74 Using What if Agents Icon to Adjust Resources Scheduled 77 Using Create Scenarios Icon to Develop Alternate Forecast Views 77 Using Change Options Icon to Change Default Selections cccccccssssssssssssssssssss
136. now at optimum performance Los Q os s ose levels on Monday Dec 31 A slight reduction in the Work Scale Factor Forecast detail is sec decreased the 10x Eara E CENE LE details ASA secs f Abands total m 50 Using the Hills B Toolbar Hills B Optimizer Pro comes equipped with its own helpful toolbar You have the ability to access the functions on the toolbar by clicking on the appropriate icon However if you don t want to use the toolbar you may access the same functions by selecting Hills B Pro from the Excel toolbar and making your selection from there instead See diagram below Hills B Pro Help Forecasts id Change Optimization Goals Import Typical Calls what if b Holidays Options Help About Hills B Optimizer Pra While working in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet this section provides you with brief exercises to familiarize yourself with utilizing each of the functions that comprise the Hills B Toolbar To move the Hills B Tool Bar to a more convenient location capture the toolbar left click on your mouse and drag the toolbar to your desired location Release the mouse EES 7 Create new study ails ppenieeved sly Calculate this worksheet Add new forecast sheet Help Customize forecast sheet Scenarios Holidays file options Change Options Change Optimization Goals What if A What if Daily Calls at if Agents What if Typical Cal
137. nts Cancel When you click on OK the Set optimization goals screen appears as illustrated below Set optimization goals EES Confirm that Service Level All is mem selected and the percentage of all Optimization methad Service Level All jaa of all calls answered in less than 5 t Service Level Adj calls is set for 8096 C Service Level Nortel Click the field containing 30 secs and enter 35 ASA Average Speed of Answer less than 1o Secs C Minimum cast i C Limited resources 75 of calls accepted answered in less than 20 miris Busies less than 0 1 no Occupancy less than o Ho Help Cancel Additional conditions When you click Finish you will be back in your Forecast Sheet Note in the Optimization Goals for Resources Agents section contains the new value The program automatically updates your Performance Details based on the new value 108 Speed of Answer Optimization Goal is now 35 seconds Eater Service Level Benchmarks Optimization Goals for Resources Optimization typt Service Level However the Service Level of all calls answered in lez than Benchmark Best goal has not yet changed This must be done manually See NOTES NOTES 1 The Service Level value located in your Input Parameters section of the Forecast Sheet will be automatically adjusted when you change your Optimization Goals 2 However the Benchmark needs to be man
138. ocdbehsesteeceseeess 15 Move or Dock the Hills B Doolb8E i ont diete eset tR opui docta tu asses Eu creo Raise sescSd 15 LAUNCHING HIEES B PRO actae sve oy aaa Pon deemed dea 17 Study Types and Associated User Manual Volume cce ee eee eee ee eee e esee eee ee eeeaaus 17 VOLUME A USING HILLS B OPTIMIZERPRO TO FORECAST AGENT RESOURCES 5iiniepe icto eoe eei oe pue cae eee tede cues icas uude cdb as 18 Utilizing the Forecast Agent Resources Template ceee ecce eee ee ee e e ee eee ee eee ee 18 Set Forecast Study Period Day of Week amp Time of Day Parameters 19 Step l Set Dates tor the Forecast Sect uutern esti boctud a bantam oral sao DERE 19 Step 2 Specily Day Or Week SelectODb ones a epa passu ae ead annie aoa anoles 20 Step Seer Tune or Day Speci Cere a a n E decettreloan atus esae Rant totas toe Ded a 21 Name vour Forecast ohe B Dsoonsd aside tance Js RA digesaueenowes 22 Saves OU Dew S BIO ossis us esto ins quine osse vacuole scc ce usce MU dase TI Sue rupi 22 User Manual BEGIN FORECASTING eieren eero HEren epa sce exeo eee ni 24 BEGIN FORECASTING ici tuii ove de a EsNEEREEENESENERGU ER exEES Lev CE E CE E CE EE TEEUE 25 Hide or display Input Comments and or Cell Tips ssssseeeeeeeeeen 23 Find and Opena Saved Study iioi looo eo eee eee draco eec eco eei Ee occa donas denso cao cce ds 26 Required Forecast Details ic
139. of Hills B you must first uninstall the current version prior to installing Hills B Optimizer Pro Installation Procedures Hills B Optimizer Pro will automatically begin the installation process once the CD has been inserted into the CD ROM drive If the process does not automatically begin proceed as follows 1 Start Run D HillsBOptProx xx xxx exe if D is not your CD ROM drive type in your drive location 2 To abort the installation process click Cancel The InstallShield Wizard will begin the installation process Upon running the CD the user first sees the Hills B Optimizer Pro Welcome screen Welcome to the Hills B Optimizer Pro Setup program This program will install Hills B Optimizer Pro on your os computer It iz strongly recommended that vau exit all Windows programs before running this Setup program Click Cancel to quit Setup and then close any programs you have running Click Hest to continue with the Setup program WARNING This program is protected by copyright lav and international treaties Unauthorized reproduction ar distribution of this program or any portion of it may result in severe civil and criminal penalties and Will be prosecuted bo the maximum extent possible under law 1 Cancel User Manual 10 Enter in your name Company Name and serial number provided on the cd and or invoice given to you Hane Company Gemini Customer Information Serial RVHBPR f 2345 e
140. of all calls including those blocked by busy signals or abandoned immediately Probability of Busies 144 The expected percentage of callers who will hang up immediately when they receive an All agents are busy message This may occur because the recorded announcement gives them all the information that they needed For instance tele banking is quite common for those seeking account information Most ACDs report the number of Immediate Abandons Before Answer separately from calls that Abandon Before Answer Generally an ACD regards an Immediate Abandonment as one occurring within the first 4 10 seconds The threshold is part of the user s database A helpful equation to help you find the Probability of Immediate Abandonments Divide the Number of calls that abandon immediately by the Number of offered calls Multiply your answer by 100 The percentage of callers who retry after they receive a busy signal because all Probability of trunks are busy or there are no queue slots available To help you find the Retries Probability of Retries Divide the Number of call that retry in same hour by the Number of calls which receive a busy Multiply your answer by 100 The maximum number of callers who may be placed into queue In the absence of Work Time the number of QSlots is the difference between the number of trunks and the effective number of agents When there is Work Time there will be some agents who are working but not occupyin
141. of all offered calls including retries gt Service Level Adj This option gives you the percentage of calls that are accepted by the IVR or Automated Call Distributor ACD However it excludes calls that receive busies or abandon immediately The Service Level Adj is the parameter reported by an ACD management report Service Level Nortel This option gives the percentage of all offered calls that are answered or abandoned within the SL Time However it excludes busies and abandonments that occur prior to the pre set service level time configured within your Nortel switch ASA Average Speed of Answer The system default setting of 10 seconds means that an Agent will answer each call that enters the call center within 10 seconds Change this default if a higher or lower ASA is more appropriate for your environment Minimum Cost Establishing the Minimum Cost option as your optimization goal will override all other optimization settings and utilize the minimum cost algorithms provided in the program to forecast results Limited Resources Use this optimization goal when you know the Agent Resources available are less than what is typically required for the forecast period Most commonly used in an unexpected catastrophic situation When you select this option the default settings are activated allowing you to overwrite them as appropriate for your environment Additional Conditions These conditions contain additional defaul
142. ontains more than one Forecast Sheet with each Forecast Sheet not being similar types weeks But again as mentioned in the paragraph above you will have direct access to adjusting call volumes within the individual Forecast Sheet s through the Adjustment column and or the Calls scale factor Importing a Typical Calls Table Any saved Typical Calls Table can be imported into an open Forecast Sheet either when you are beginning a new forecast or during a current forecast The imported table will overwrite the current typical calls data repopulate the Calls based on typical day column in your Summary Table and recalculate the current Forecast Sheet based on the imported data It is not uncommon to create a subfolder entitled TYPICAL CALLS within the CALLS folder created by Hills B during installation This allows the user to create different Typical Calls Table scenarios The user can then save them organize them and utilize for future forecasting exercises Follow the instructions below to learn how to import a Typical Calls Table using the Sample Calls table provided by the Hills B program for instructional purposes While in your VR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet perform the following steps Hills B Pro Help Forecasts 1 Click on Hills B Pro from the Menu 2 Select Import Typical Calls Change Optimization Goals Import Typical Calls What if Holidays Options Help About Hills
143. or each day of your the hourly call distribution and the Study You will see the total of 4000 Intra week summary of call volumes for Thursday 267 zb 236 dab 294 305 37 c3 402 291 295 15 58 zd b 265 FI M Typical Calls 3 R After reviewing the adjustment in the Typical Calls Table return to the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet by clicking on the tab located in the bottom left hand corner of the Typical Calls Table While in the Typical Calls Table click the Week of Dec 31 2001 tab to return to the Forecast Sheet 75 The program automatically re calculates the Calls based on typical day column for Thursday in the Summary Tab This value is the sum of the new calls specified in the Typical Calls Table for the hours of operation specified 08 00 to 17 00 Calls scale factor Calls Resource Resource Calls based Total Trunk expected For hours Hours Ser Level en typical day Summary Scheduled Dec 312001 Man oe 3 189 6 TITY Jan Q2 2002 wed IL IT Jan Os 2002 Thu a5 PENNE 3 511 0 p Jan Od 2002 Fri c I m ET Totals 14 7719 0 16 164 6 roc 7T14 1 4626 60 Sig 17 4 ASA secs 76 Using What if Agents Icon to Adjust Resources Scheduled The Resources Required column located in your Main Table contains the calculated number of agents required to meet your expected call volumes service level objectives and input parameter values Ideally you would want to sche
144. orecast wizard Note that you have successfully accomplished the following 1 Setthe Start End Dates of your forecast 2 Chosen which days of the week to include and or exclude 3 Set your hours of operations and the display period for the Performance Results in the Main Table of your Forecast Sheet 105 Now in the VR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet you are ready to enter additional Forecast Details required by the Hills B Formula to accurately calculate your Performance Details You are also now ready to use all of the features and functionality of the software The Forecast Details you need to supply Hills B are listed below The manual will walk you through each section in the order in which they appear Set Optimization Type and Goals Set Service Level and ASA Benchmarks Import Typical Calls Set Input Parameters Set Resources Scheduled ae Is It is important to note that the program supplies you with the Hills B Pro Toolbar The Hills B toolbar contains icons you can use to quickly access all the menus you will need to set your forecast options and parameters as well as swiftly work what if exercises A more detailed description of the use of each icon is provided in the section titled Using the Hills B Pro Toolbar on p 49 of this manual Set Optimization Type and Goals You will need to determine the type of optimization you want to use then set goals There are actually 4 optimization types available to you You
145. p 5 above Before we begin the forecast exercises provided in this section it will be helpful for you to familiarize yourself with the location path name of your Study file so that you can easily find it if you have to close out Excel before completing this exercise 1 Exit MS Excel using the Excel menu selections as follows 2 Click on File 3 Select Exit 4 IF PROMPTED Select No to the Do you want to save the changes you made to Book 1 xls prompt 5 Select Yes to the Do you want to save the changes you made to Winter Holiday Season 2001 xls prompt Find and Open a Saved Study Now you are in a position to find and open your Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study that contains the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet To find and open a saved Study perform the following steps 1 Open MS Excel 26 A Hills B Optimizer Pro Winter Holiday Season 2001 xls 2 Click on Hills B Pro seg y A glao Create new study Change Optimization Goals L Open existing study 3 Select Forecasts irem Insert forecast d N Customize E 4 Select Open existing Holidays E Copy values only Study Options py ty y The Open Study window appears Click on the down arrow to the right of the look in area as shown in the screen image below You will be able to navigate the full path name that the system used to store your Winter Holiday Season 2001 file in the folder named Study on
146. period Forecast detail Actesal rezomrcez 1 ux E Resources Resources Reg 20 41 59 55 53 S 59 Sr 21 Tb I TS Go 55 Resources Reg now match Resources Sched Resources Req are displayed in fractional agents Resources Sched are automatically rounded and displayed as whole numbers Bis T3 TO 55 co Oo DO D OO DO OG 8 Oo Oo Oo Oo DO Oo oO O Oo amp At this point your Week of Dec 31 2001 looks very good in terms of your Performance Details results in the Main Table At this point you have completed the five required Forecast Details Set Optimization Set Benchmarks Import Typical Calls Set Input Parameter values and Scheduled Resources Your Forecast is complete and ready for you to begin What if exercises Continue through the remaining sections of this volume which will highlight the many features and functions of Hills B Optimizer Pro 43 Modifying Hours of Operation Tuesday is a holiday New Year s Day Because of this you want to shorten your hours of operation on Monday so your staff can enjoy a longer holiday Click the Customize Forecast icon from the Hills B toolbar Customize forecast Times Forecast Period Input sources Result columns Click the Times tab From the Customize Forecast menu select Monday December rt Date s to change Select SEark End times Far selected davis 31 2001 elect all days Dec 31 2001 Jan 02 2002 start J
147. previously created country s Holidays Table file location Current File C Program Files HTLT Hills B Optimizer Proiser Holidays ILISA dat New allows for user to select from the Hills B program s list of countries and create a file for future use and editing Browse Edit allows user to adjust the current Holiday s file in this sample it would be the USA dat file All edits to country files remain as default setting until further adjustments are made and saved Ba i ui iE E EI in L Apply and Close must be clicked following any adjustments 86 Editing the current Holidays Table In this Iiftrtert example a holiday will be deleted from the USA file Select the Holidays tab from the arent File Options menu The Options menu is activated by USA dat clicking the Change Options icon Mens Delete a Holiday from current Holiday file in use The current Holidays Table is USA Selecting the Holidays tab from the Options menu will allow access to the current Holiday file Users have the ability to 1 Edita current list e g date name 2 Delete a current holiday listing 3 Add a holiday Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls New forecast C Program FilesHTLTHills BE Optimizer Proiser Holidays located on the Hills B Toolbar Click Delete From the list of holidays highlight Lincoln s Birthday 2 12 01 Browse Edit Holiday File Country
148. r 1 Factor hr When you click OK you will automatically return to the nput Scenarios list Here are the scenarios currently in place Input Scenarios The Week of Dec 31 2001 scenario has all Select from list of the Input Parameter values shown in screen shot above with the Retries value at Week oF Dec 31 2001 Show 196 Retries SO ux EN The Hetries 5096 scenario has all of the Input Parameter values shown in the screen shot above as well BUT with the Retries value set at 5096 Delete Edit Merge Hemember The Scenarios feature is relative to the Input Parameters section of the Forecast Sheet only Sumrnar y Close __ stow Dete Em een Somma oce The below screen shot will give you an overview of the options available with the Scenarios feature 79 Input Scenarios Show Will insert the new data on your current Forecast Sheet and recalculate results based on this new data Select from list Week of Dec 31 2001 aA GREASE New Takes you back to the list of Input Values as in the exercise you just completed increasing Retries by 50 You have the ability to create as many scenarios as you like Delete Highlight a scenario name from the Scenario list and click here to delete the scenario permanently Merge Merge scenarios Summary The program provides a from other saved Forecast summary report and or a pivot t
149. r SL Time Abands total In the Select Results Range list ATA Secs Busy xk highlight Performance Details Last Calls Total Total Trunk Cost Occupancy Imm Abands lt Prob Delay Prob of Pars required Ser Level adj Ser Level Nortel Add j 4 Remove Click on the Add Hemove Columns tab From the Remove list highlight Imm Abands Click the Remove button Click Close to exit the menu and e Cancel save your change You will note that the column for mmediate Abandonments is no longer displayed in your Main Table t should also be noted that whether or not a column is displayed the formula will automatically re calculate the results for the hidden columns Change Column Order of Appearance in the Performance Detail Section Using the Customize Forecast icon perform the following While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click the Customize Forecast icon ia SS 8p R3 76 Jg v x Ee d on the Hills B toolbar 68 Click the Result columns tab Times Forecast Period Input sources Click on the Change column order Select Results Range tab Addi Remove columns change column order Forecast Details Performance Details pen Abands total n Bus In the Select Results Range list pe Total Trunk Cost highlight Performance Details From the list highlight Total Trunk Cost a Use upfdown buttons bo change the order c E Using
150. r as they are not available for incoming calls during that period Associated Outgoing Call An agent places an incoming call on hold and makes outgoing calls to a supervisor or some other source for information For correct engineering the time spent on this outgoing call should be included as part of the average talk time of the incoming call and not be subtracted from the average staff number If your management reports do distinguish between these two types you will have to make an estimate based on the way your call center operates as to the percentage of the outgoing call time that should be subtracted from the average staffed number For example your report says that over a half hour period the average staffed number is 64 6 and there are 6120 seconds of outgoing call time The average number of agents engaged on outgoing calls is 6120 1800 3 4 1800 is the number of seconds in a half hour If all this outgoing call time is for independent outgoing calls the average number of agents for traffic engineering is 64 6 3 4 61 2 However if 50 of the outgoing call time is performed while an incoming call is on hold or as part of the after call work time the actual number of agents is 64 6 0 5 3 4 262 9 The Average Holding Time The average holding time in a management report may seem straightforward provided there have been no adjustments Most traffic tables rely on the assumption of steady state which says that the calling rate doe
151. r the value of 240 in the 12 00 cell there are 2 methods that can be used to copy 240 into the remaining cells without altering the cell formats as follows 1 Manually overwrite the 120 with 240 in each of the cells covering the time period 12 30 through 16 30 OR 2 Use the MS Excel Paste Special function by performing the following steps a Place cursor on the value 240 in the 12 00 cell b Hit Ctrl C c Highlight the cells containing the value 120 in the cells associated with 12 30 to 16 30 d Click on Edit and navigate to Paste Special e When the Paste Special window appears click on the Values option on shown on the screen below f Click OK When you click OK 240 now appears in each of the highlighted cells 40 Paste Special El Ei Paste C all C Comments C Formulas C Validation ie Values C All except borders Click the Close button to save your C Formats changes and return to your Forecast Sheet Operation Mone Multiply C Add Divide C Subtract Skip blanks Transpose ce Faste Link With each input above the program re calculated the Resources Required column in the Main Table Look at the Resources Reg columns shown on the screen image below Note the significant increase in Resources Reg for the afternoon hours between 12 00 and 16 30 This was due to the significant increase in Talk Time Main Table Call details Forecast t Hg NENNEN ZEE E A
152. recast Consequently as you are building a forecast e g entering your required Forecast Details the program registers those adjustments and re calculates accordingly It is not until you have completed entering all of the Forecast Details that the results in all columns with values in red fonts will make sense or be accurate Key Optimization Goals For FAs Eater Service Level Henchmarks Optimization Goals Foi Resources Optimization type Service Level Adj of all calle answered in less than 10 Fics Optimization type Ab leash OF all calls answered in lesz IVR Optimization Set 90 in 10 secs i Calls scale Benchmarks for SL amp Agent Optimization Typical Calls Imported factor ASA set Set 80 in 30 secs Summary T able Total Trunk a amp djuztment expected For hours Hours Ser Level Speed of Abands total Calls amp nz d a this day required Scheduled Answer alls FRiesource Resource Average Disc 31 2001 Mon Jan O2 2002 wed Jan Q3 2002 Thu Jan Q4 2002 Fri D oo amp amp ARIE 0 0 45 0 ERTE Totals 21 475 0 21 475 0 Bos 0 00 Input parameters Wait Trunks Dzat LinPrad Prob Imm Este jc em er Lexel Time Talk Time Work Time Resource Gast Last Trunk Gast Abandons Factor secs secs feces Cost per hr Call per hr Resources are calculated based on the Forecast Details entered Main Table above A Actmal reso Resources Sched Call details Forecast details
153. red column The Hills B Formula uses the Resources column to calculate the 25 Performance Details Note that ASA for Monday are well within the 35 secs Benchmark goal Agents scale factor Forecast details Acteal resources 100 Resources Dverflos to Actual Calls Resources Resources Add del Bezourcesz Aeg live agents Expected Aeg Sched d T 1 11 11 a E T2 p p p colhnD DOoOxc 125 Both of the Summary Table SL and ASA results above 77 3 and 19 2 respectively are now within the Benchmark objectives Scheduling the Hesources Req brings your ASA down to 19 2 seconds well within the 35 second Benchmark objective Specifically this means that 77 3 of the offered calls will be answered within 19 2 seconds Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA What if you only have 1 additional Agent available for scheduling Or perhaps you just want to know the number of Agent Resources that are required to only achieve the ASA objective To obtain an answer you can enter 1 in the Add de column gt Enter the values 1 1 1 1 and 1 for each half hour increment in the Add Del column SL is now 65 9 and is shaded red indicating that it is falling below the 7096 Worst case Benchmark AE east OF all calls answered in less than ASA at 31 7 is still within the Best and Worst case Benchmark Ser Level p t 51 7 50 0 15 2 50 0 15 4 amp 0 0N 15 4 29 9 5 1 Resources ar
154. rmats Selecting the Formats tab from the Options menu allows for adjustments to the format of specific values Click the Change Options icon from the Hills B Pro Toolbar Options nnube essit ormats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast Select the Formats tab Change list Prob Delay Select Results in order to get a Prob of Retry listing of all Result columns names Inputs Oisloks required Ser Level f Results Ser Level adj Ser Level Nortel Total Resource Cast Highlight Total Trunk Cost Sample Total Calle Iost Total Cost 0 00 Total Queue Time hrs Total wwork Time hrs Total Talk Time hrs Total Trunk Cost Total Trunk Time Trunks required z Reset Hames Apply Cancel Click Change in the Sample section of the menu 83 After selecting to Change in F mat Celk 7 screen shot above the Format Cells screen appears To change Murmber Gel tomais r puts or eds NN nl i g General 1 087 97 Number Currency Decimal places E Accounting zb Symbol a s ELE Ic E Negative numbers Highlight Currency Retain 2 for the Decimal places raction Scientific Text Special uskoo Using the drop box select the sign 41 234 10 1 234 10 Currency Formats are used For general monetary values Use Accounting Highlight the 1 234 10 in the Formats bo align decimal points in a column Negative Numbers fie
155. rtend times and period for Start select 08 00 Startend times Step 3 b Using the drop down box art 03 00 for End select 17 00 Step z Days Step 3 Times Step 3 c Select 30 minutes for your Period to select how the Performance Results will be displayed Period 15 mins 1 hour z hours Step 3 d Click Finish Name your Forecast Sheet When you have completed the three steps of the Create new forecast wizard you are prompted to Enter new forecast name The system provides a default name that you can either retain or overwrite For this exercise we will overwrite the default name by performing the following steps 1 Highlight the default entry and type in VR Week of Dec 31 2001 2 Click OK Enter new forecast name Ei ES Mew Forecast worksheet has been created Enter the new Forecast Sheet name IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Enter a name For the forecast max 31 characters Cancel IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Save your new Study The Save New Study window will appear and you will note that the program automatically entered a name in the File Name field which is the same name just assigned to the new Forecast Sheet above VH Week of Dec 31 2001 It is highly recommended that you do NOT name your Study and Forecast Sheet the same Studies can contain many Forecast Sheets so again we recommend separate names For this exercise we are going to name our Study VR Win
156. s meet the shorter ASA goal of 30 i i Scheduled Seconds The shorter 30 second goal will also negatively impact the Service Level unless there is a change somewhere else as for example an increase in Resource Hours Scheduled 16 267 6 rid T59 Ter Level Time Talk Time Work Time Resource Cost Last Trunk Cazt Prob Imm Trunks 2x arz LInPrad Abandons MM f eece zece zece Cost per hr Call per hr u ft R ww o e e om RR BS se som oo Call detail i 100 Actual Calls i Resources Resources T T calls Addi Del Res 5 Dee 31 2001 12 es E 1 B3 i I 11 ra 71 Using What if Daily Calls Icon to Change Daily Call Volumes While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 um F d o Forecast click the What if Daily E ER Me Jin uw Ax d Calls icon on the Hills B toolbar The Adjust Calls Expected totals window appears with two tabs The first tab which is labeled Change Daily Call Volumes allows you to increase decrease the call volumes within the Summary Table of your Forecast Sheet When you use this function you will be populating the Adjustment column and or your Calls scale factor located in the summary Table The advantage in using this function is that you simply provide your target and the program calculates the Adjustment required Adjust Calls Expected totals Select the Change Daily Call hange Daily Call Volumes Change Call Scale Factor Vo
157. s 65 8 5a amp 5 for Monday between 08 30 and BT3 6 5 9 11 30 for Monday 43 4 44 5 S 58 5 53 7 8 56 4 51 7 6 19 5 218 26 5 16 7 45 181 224 19 0 45 211 25 6 17 1 45 186 23 0 Click on the 12 00 cell and change 17 9 45 196 24 1 the time to 60 secs and copy this So 45 159 2n n value through the remaining ms 45x 162 20 2 afternoon hours to 16 30 l 16 0 45x 172 21 4 15 5 45 165 20 6 14 5 45 153 19 8 Review With each change you ve made to the values in the Input Parameters the program re calculated the IVR and Agent Resources Required columns in the Main Table Note the Resources Reg columns shown on the screen image below As you were making the changes and entries shown in the screen image above Hills B was simultaneously re calculating the Resource Requirements based on those entries However none of the Performance Results e g SL and ASA that appear in the Summary Table and Performance Detail areas of your Forecast Sheet have been calculated yet Notice that the values in each of the Ser Level and Average Speed of Answer columns located in the Summary Table and Performance Details table are still showing 0 This 118 is because you still have one Forecast Detail entry to make to the Hesources Sched column located under the Actual resources portion of your Forecast Sheet Specifically you must enter the Agent Resources that you have scheduled for each day of the forecast T Average E ag Ser Level Speed of Abands
158. s and Result Columns on your Forecast Sheet At this point you should be back in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet You will work through each of the options provided on the Customize Forecast menu so you can get an understanding of this function With the Winter Holiday zu Season 2001 Study its E he Week of Dec 2001 Forecast Sheet open Click on the Customize Forecast Sheet icon E 48 Q2 9 E 0 Z7 located on the Hills B 60 Change Time of Day Displays When you click on the Customize Forecast Sheet icon the screen below appears Note that when you change your display this action will affect the entire forecast Click the Times tab HF forecast Times Forecast Period Input sources Result columns Highlight Jan 02 2002 Select Dates ka change Select Skart End times For selected davis Select all days Hel Start Jan 05 2002 Jan 04 2002 En Using the drop down boxes provided change the Start time to 10 00 and change the End time to 17 00 Click Apply then Close e Lu m Note in your Main Table that Wednesday Jan 02 2002 now has a start time of 10 00 a m You will also find in your Summary Table that your Calls based on typical day and Calls expected for this day have decreased significantly This is because all calls between 8 00 a m and 9 59 a m in the Typical Calls Table for Wednesday are no longer taken into consideration on your Forecast Sheet
159. s and or the column definition tips follow the instructions below NOTE You must be in a Study to perform this exercise and you can enable and disable these at any time during your forecast exercises pou the MS Excel Menu bar perform the following TOE E File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Uu Help Dc alat X Bm m Forecasts d 1 Click on the Hills B Pro menu Change Optimization Goals item located on the MS Excel toolbar Impork Typical Calls What iF Pi hA Holidays prions 2 Click on Options prion Help About Hills B Optimizer Pro When the Options screen appears perform Step 3 as shown below Inputs Results Formats Holiday s Typical Calls Mew Forecast esaource Cost IEF hr I 3 Click on the New forecast tab and edit below Edit Input Mame Resource Cost rper hr Edit Input values Agents 15 IVR Resource cost per hour 2 FN 25 With the Options screen still displayed perform Steps 4 and 5 Inputs Results Formats Holidays Typical Calls Mew Forecast Results Font Style Arial 8 pt Change Inputs Font Style Arial 8 pt Change Worksheet display 4 Uncheck the nput prompts box Row and Column headers v Cell tips 5 Click Apply then Close to save the changes To re enable 1 Follow steps 1 3 above 2 Place checks in the boxes 3 Then redo Ste
160. s not vary They also ignore the effect of the number of calls in queue at the beginning of the period It is obvious that if there are a large number of calls in queue at the beginning of a half hour there will be a higher ASA for those calls than if there were no calls Figure 1 shows an example of this behavior that was computed by a non steady state traffic formula This example shows the ASA that resulted for an ACD on a minute by minute basis where there are 60 agents and 10 calls in queue at the beginning of the half hour You can see that the ASA on a minute by minute basis starts high and as the queue is cleared drops to the steady state value in about 15 to 20 minutes However what the management report actually measures is the average speed of answer of all calls in the half hour period This is the total waiting time divided by the total number of calls answered by an agent The Cumulative line on the chart shows this 135 Figure 1 Figure 2 number Because of the large number of calls with high ASA in the early part of the half hour it takes a long time for the measured ASA to reach the steady state value Average Speed of Answer 60 Agents Secs 25 20 0 1 minute value Cumulative X Steady State ERL C Time Is Erlang C all that bad For good service levels Erlang C is fairly accurate Figure 2 shows a comparison with Erlang C and a traffic formula that
161. s type workbooks xls You will find yourself in the newly created Forecast Sheet entitled Week of Nov 19 2001 This Forecast Sheet is contained within your newly created Study entitled Thanksgiving Week 2007 w Hills 22aimizer Pro Thanksgiving Week 2001_xls ll File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Hills B Pro Help New Study Name New Forecast Sheet Name z nL 7 eek of Nov 19 7001 Tvpical Calls At this point you could begin to customize your new Forecast Sheet However for this exercise you will close this Study and the program will automatically return to your Winter Holiday Season 2001 Study To close the Thanksgiving Week Study perform the following steps Click File from your Excel toolbar Click Close When prompted click Yes to Save your changes You are now back in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Ac NL 54 Using Open a Saved Study Icon While you are working within a Study you have the ability to open a previously saved Study Like in Create a new study above you can toggle between the two open studies by utilizing the Windows option from the Excel toolbar In this exercise you will continue working with the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet and you will utilize the Open a saved study feature to re open your Thanksgiving Week 2001 Study 1 While in the Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet 2 Click the Open a saved study icon from the Hills B toolbar
162. sauces cettasi tae etc a aslo tara sei D botes Ue 119 Modifying Hours of Operation eot n ate s 121 Adju st Call Volumez5iii eee iii eue oeil el iai 123 Optimization 6 Mie Mee 124 Op mizeby Service Level SI iussi ctus itii pen a avu da bed cao edu tmd UA 125 Optimize by Average Speed of Answer ASA cccccccccceccecececeaeaesesseesseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaas 126 Perform What M Exercises 6 1 rh eoe ee EE Pert eei aaa ace 127 Adjust an Agent Resource Input Parameter cccccccccccccccceceesssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaeeeeeeees 127 A duscrVbscPatamite LS ooo a tan auos tct e inae abono an bos ten Past ae teBa uude bti Band emt sd bee Eo OD dan 129 HILLS B FORMULA HREVIEW eere eene 129 HIEES B FORMULA REVIEW cscutssuesku kenne xu an ken Rees rn En uoces 130 Hills B Formula OVeEVIGW sesonon rv eeu ae Idas eh D dou v eee FRE Roe Ve vua e ed U ev E DL ca Dess ec o auno d saa E 130 A Practical Comparison oi ei eii odo cto cop eben 1 eto De PEDE EUH EE eU Od eo On EEE OE 131 ITO ICI eee TT 132 SEE VICES roul M 132 Petcentase ADAndoptileHlbs aoro etta itd jutncdte tutes au anie etia tun noc dnt tud carrdutun a du MIU pA e ut au due 132 Average Speed OL ANS WEE ssa ittm LIE tus eabedus vitas tes annie lochs ed Cut eit Ma tI Ea ik RU evade 132 ACD MANAGEMENT REPORTS AND TRAFFIC TABLES 134 ACD Management Reports and
163. sceecs 80 Adjust Inputs Change Value and or Column Name esses 81 Adj stResu lts Change Colum Namie esis vatacedadadavedacshaemehinebusasimemnebada a aaia 82 AdS FONDAS onea E E T EP TDTTUREREES 83 Chance Hondas Filenin a e Dedi bos a S 85 Delete a Holiday from current Holiday file in Use eneeeseesseooeeeeeeessssssssssssssssereeesessssssssss 87 Add a Holiday to the current Holiday file in use cc cessessseeeeseeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeesaeeeenseeeeens 88 ciedad New Holiday Ee itecto tu Ete ci RI aee totas i uitdrse osi ob tos ec LOL 89 Adjust Typical Calls Change the Default Template in Use eeeeeeeessssssss 9 Adjust New Forecast Options Change the Default Format Settings in Use for New loyer Rp C EE 94 Using Change Holidays File Options Icon eee e eee e eee eee eee eee eee e ee eese eee ee 95 ave and Close your SUING P M 98 VOLUME B FORECAST AGENT AND IVR RESOURCES 99 Selecta Study UV DO es cscecesctecs cect cccecets ceca seen cces ces E 99 Set Forecast Study Period Day of Week amp Time of Day Parameters 100 Step l Set Dates fore Forecast Sheets dieta iE ODDS eee cate MSS 100 Step 2 Specily Day of Week Seleetion i esc E 101 Step et Time OL Day Specie ooi e as UR Ode ver esu Eun REUS vede aad Eua 102 Name your Forecasb SDeeE adodes teen e et Dog comer aus desc vee eran va anu sua
164. screen image below to understand the color coding scheme that is used so that you can easily interpret the information displayed 13 RED Read Only Results calculated by ss the Hills B Formula Results are based on i is the values in Optimization Goals Input E i parameters and Call Details BLUE User entered Data used by the Hills B Formula to calculate performance results BLACK Read Only Used for General parameters such as start end dates and hours of operation mpux raramecters Wait andons Factor Main Table work Agent Talk Time m ks Cost Lost Trunk Cost Time Cost per Call h sees sees hr al per hr EE detailz Forecast details Actual Calls Typical calls Agents Req F 33 66 63 52 54 44 4 4 b MIN Typical Calls Z Oct01 ET x Seti Week2 hatoi Week3 odoi Week4 ii ha mam lA A m a Forecast Sheet Sections Overview The Forecast Sheet is separated into the 5 following primary sections as shown on the screen image below 1 Optimization Goals for Resources 2 Benchmarks 3 Summary Table 4 Input Parameters 5 Main Table Forecast Sheet Overview X Hills B Optimizer Pro Winter Holiday Season 2001 xls File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Hills B Pro V amp H Toolkit Help et a ENA kee H l J K L o P Q R The 5 Sections of a Forecast 31 Enter Service Lordi Benchmarks Optimization Goals for R
165. t expected For this day alls based on typical day Dee 31 2001 Mon Jan 02 2002 wed Jan Q3 2002 Thu Jan Q4 2002 Fri Totals 16 459 0 16 439 0 Accordingly Hills B will be utilizing the values located in your Calls expected for this day column NOTE Any increase or decrease in call volume will be appropriately distributed by Hills B This distribution pattern was established in your Typical Calls table Hemember that even though call volumes may fluctuate the calling behaviors patterns remain constant To adjust volume for a specific day s you will utilize the Adjustment column To adjust call volume for the overall forecast you would utilize the Calls scale factor The Adjustment and Calls scale factor features can be used simultaneously as well 123 While in your VR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet click on the cell for Monday Dec 31 2001 in your acter Adjustment Column enter 35 and Summary Table then click Enter Adjustment Calls pad For Calls based on typical day The Calls expected for this day increased It is this column that is used by the Hills B Formula to calculate results Totals 15 439 1s After entering an Adjustment factor of 35 note the following adjustments that were made to your forecast Summary Table 1 Calls expected for this day column has increased 2 The TOTALS in the Summary Table show the increase Main T
166. t Sheet this new Calls based on typical day total represents the calls and the distribution pattern of those calls between the hours of 08 00 and 11 00 from your Typical Calls table 122 Summary T able Callz Resource Adjustment expected For hours this day required Decrease in Monday s calls from Calls based 7 694 to 2 658 due to reduction in on typical day Hours of Operation Jan 02 2002 wed Jan Q3 2002 Thu Jan Q4 2002 Fri Totals 16 439 0 16 432 0 Input parameterz wait Trunks GSlaks UnProd Prob Imm Fiekries Tolerance Abandons Factor Time of Day TOD column now only shows half hourly increments from 08 00 to 10 59 NOTE Even though 10 30 is displayed the program takes the time period 10 30 to 10 59 into consideration Main Table Call details Adjust Call Volume The Calls based on typical day column in your Summary Table is strictly a starting point The figure below shows the column labeled Calls based on typical day with the Calls scale factor cell and Adjustment column producing the Calls expected for this day lt is the Calls scale factor cell and the Adjustment column that can be used to adjust the Calls based on typical day The changed values resulting from modifications made to the Calls scale factor and the values in the Adjustment column are reported in the Calls expected for this day column Summary T able Calls Adjustmen
167. t values The current defaults are Busies less than 01 and Occupancy 90 To change either one click the appropriate box provided and make any adjustments required to the percentages by clicking in the appropriate box and overwriting the current value The Erlang C option is also available to you to compare its results to Hills B See the section titled A Practical Comparison of Erlang C versus Hills B for a more detailed explanation regarding the appropriate application of the Erlang C versus the Hills B formulae Set Service Level and Average Speed of Answer Benchmarks Hills B Optimizer Pro provides cells where you can set your best and worst case scenarios for Service Level SL and Average Speed of Answer ASA Whenever your SL or ASA falls below your worst case a prompt in the form of red shading appears in your Summary Table Similarly when the SL or ASA falls within the Best Case shading will be green Results between Best and Worst case have a white background Change Benchmarks While still in your Week of Dec 31 2001 forecast change your Worst case scenarios Enter Service Level Benchmarks Click on the 5096 cell under the Worst heading enter 70 and click Enter Tab over to the next cell Click on the 50 secs cell in the Worst heading overwrite 50 with 35 and click Enter 31 Select Typical Calls Template What is Typical Calls data Typical Calls data for Hills B is the average number of cal
168. te new forecast Step 1 of 3 EJ icl Bas be cala Select Mumber of days and startend dates Step 1 a Set Number of days for Forecast Sheet Step 1 b Start Date EE Step 1 c End Date Day Month Year Start date Calendar month Mexk month Monday 31 December 200 m re EJ b al b al b al Step 1 d Click Next or the Step End date 2 Days box Sunday 6 January 2002 m e L Step 2 Specify Day of Week Selection Because your operation may not be open 7 days a week this step provides you an opportunity to exclude non business days that fall within your forecast dates Additionally should a national holiday fall within your forecast s start end dates you will be notified and given the opportunity to include or exclude the holiday in your forecast The Hills B program includes a Holidays File which includes national holidays for several countries The default Holidays File is the USA This Holidays File default can easily be changed and the contents can be modified as well Later on you will be shown the option that allows you to add delete change dates and change Holiday Files For this exercise make the following selections a Retain the selected business days of the week DOW b Select Monday New Years Eve to be included in the Forecast c Retain USA as the Holidays File d Click Next 20 Create new forecast Step 2 of 3 Select Ehe days of the week an
169. tely of calls offered including retries 100 Probability of Abandonment The number of calls which abandon after entering the queue Abandons Probability of abandonment of calls which abandon after a delay of calls offered including retries 100 abandonment or busies Total Loss of calls that receive Busy Number of calls which Abandon of calls Total loss offered 100 NOTE f there are retries this figure may not be the sum of the percentage of busy signals and percentage of abandonment The percentage of busy signals will be higher than the percentage of lost calls as each attempt will generate a busy signal The call may be finally completed at a subsequent attempt and not count as lost Av imeto Average Time to Abandonment The average time that delayed calls which do abandon abandon wait before abandonment In the Hills B Calculator this average excludes the calls that abandon immediately Total talk time Total Talk Time The number of hours in an hour that agents spend talking to incoming calls Total Queue Time The number of hours in an hour that callers spend in queue This includes calls that are handled as well as those that abandon before an agent answer NOTE The sum of total talk time and total queue time is the total trunk holding time If you are paying for incoming calls it is this sum which will control your bill The number of actual Agents Resources This is the number reported as
170. ter Holiday Season 2001 Assigning a name to the Study instructions 1 Click in the File name field located in the Save New Study window highlight TVR Week of Dec 31 2001 and enter IVR Winter Holiday Season 2001 2 Click Save You now have a Study entitled VR Winter Holiday Season 2001 that now contains the Forecast Sheet VH Week of Dec 31 2001 103 Navigate to the Study Folder which if the default files amp folders locations were selected during installation will be as follows below Kl E3 Save Mew Study Save in 5 Thanks E E E E My Computer swe Lad gi 315 Floppy A quem e ic Program Files Htlt Hills B Optimizer Pra User p uj Network Neighborhood File name ES Internet Locations FTP g Add Modify FTP Locations Save as type Workbooks 4 xls Save Mew Study ki ES Save in Save Cancel di Thanksgiving Week z001 xls 55 winter Holiday Season 2001 xls For this exercise overwrite the current Study File name to IVR Winter Holiday Season 2001 IVR Winter Holiday Season xls File name Save as type workbooks xls Agent and IVR Forecast Sheet Attributes Once you have saved your Study the screen image below appears showing the format layout and content attributes associated with the Agent and IVR template You will note that they are very similar to the Agent Forecast Sheet attributes covered in Volume A The major difference bet
171. the Resources Reg 119 There will always be the option to schedule row by row by clicking on the appropriate cell in the Hesources Scheduled column and entering a value The next exercise will demonstrate the What if Agents feature While in the IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet Click on the What if Agents icon located on the Hills B toolbar on the Hills B toolbar When the Adjust Resources Scheduled totals screen appears perform the following Adjust Hesources Scheduled totals Adjust Resources Scheduled as percent of Resources Reg From the Adjust Resources Scheduled totals type 100 in the Current value for selected date Dec 31 2001 Enter new value box MIA Jan 04 2002 Click to Select all dates Enter new value Click Apply and then Close to save your changes and exit window Apply mance v Select all dates 120 Call detail Once you click Close you will be returned to the Forecast Sheet Review the results in the screen image below Note that your Resources Scheduled column mirrors your Resources Reg column The scheduling method you just went though simply instructed Hills B to schedule exactly what Resources were required 100 of the Resources Req column for each day of the Forecast period Resources Req are displayed in fractional agents Resources Sched are automatically rounded and displayed as whole numbers Resources Reg now match Resources Sched
172. the range 500 5000 seconds Time The program gives a measure of the average waiting time of abandoned calls The best method of verifying the Wait Tolerance Time used is to make an estimate as shown above use the Hills B Calculator in Analysis mode and determine the projected abandonment percentage If it is too low then increase the Wait Tolerance Time proportionally Note 1 If you enter O zero as the Wait Tolerance Time the calculator assumes that no calls abandon Note 2 The Wait Tolerance Time and the Average Time to Abandonment both exclude calls that abandon immediately Wrap Time The average time in seconds spent by an agent performing post talk work such as filling in forms entering data into a computer or making related outgoing calls Work Time secs NOTE This must be correctly registered and must not include any time away from the position In many cases this requires effective discipline by a manager to ensure that agents correctly input their status Agents in work mode have signaled the system not to give them new calls Results Elements Result Name Service Level The percentage of calls that are answered by an agent handled in less than the SL time parameter The All option gives you the Service Level as a percentage of all offered calls including retries Ser Level The Adj option gives you the percentage of calls that are accepted by the ACD l e it excludes calls which receive busies or which aba
173. this screen appears to indicate that the program installation and setup is complete The InstallShield Wizard has successfully installedHills B Optimizer Pro Click Finish to complete Setup NOTE If you are an Excel 2000 user you will be presented with a Readme file that displays when you click on Finish This Readme file explains how Excel 2000 deals with security by allowing Microsoft Office 2000 software developers to digitally sign projects such as Excel templates and Excel Add Ins by using a digital certificate that identifies the developer as a trusted source i2Gemini uses this technology in the Hills B Optimizer Pro product as an additional anti virus feature that allows our users to identify the source of the code and to ensure that the signed code has not been altered or tampered with This Readme information is automatically saved in your folder with the manual and Help files To exit the Readme text click on File then Exit User Manual 12 October 2001 Study with 4 T papas separate Forecast sheets for each sean week of the month What you need to Know Before using the Hills B application it is important that you have an understanding of the terms used that define the components of a Study It will also be helpful for you to understand the color coding scheme that is used Definitions of a Study Forecast Sheet and Tables Because our software is an add in to Microsoft Excel the Hills B fol
174. tinue to the next exercise Adjust New Forecast Options Change the Default Format Settings in Use for New Forecasts The format of your current and future forecasts can be adjusted by activating the New forecast tab from the Options menu To open the Options menu click on the Change Options icon located on the Hills B toolbar Then follow the instructions below 94 Options Click on New forecast tab wU j Formats Inputs Results Click here to change font formats for user defined input entries that appear on the Forecast sheet Inputs Font Style Results Font Style T Forecast Details Arial 8 pt Arial 8 pt Click here to change font formats D Change Change for the results generated by Hills B aM Performance Details Worksheet display Gridlines Row and Column headers Check the display options you would prefer for viewing the Forecast sheet M Feros Iv input prompts v Call tips Click Apply then Close to save your changes Hesel Mames Using Change Holidays File Options Icon There are two ways to access the Holidays file One way is to access the Holidays files is to use the Change Options icon on the Hills B Tool Bar which contains a Holidays tab To review this option follow the instructions in the section titled Change Holidays File on p 83 of this User s Guide A more direct way to access the Holidays files is to click on the Hol
175. tor secs The number of Resources Required with a 10 UnProd Factor Main Table Ackyal Calls Dat Ti T calls B BE Leave the change 10 Unproductivity Your next exercise will cover converting a Fixed Average Value to a Variable Value W N Resources Esq Converting from Fixed Average Value to Variable Value While in your Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet perform the following Click the Customize Forecast icon located on the Hills B toolbar on the Hills B toolbar 37 When the Customize forecast window appears perform the following Customize forecast From the Customize Forecast 7 Input sources Result columns menu click the Input Sources tab on the Hills B toolbar Results Range Select Input Forecast Details Retries a Performance Details Ser Level Time secs Talk Time secs Ast per hr In the Select Results Range list runks highlight Forecast Details UnProd Scroll the Select Input list to find Click amp pplv ba move the reference of Ehe input source From and highlight Talk Time secs 1 19 to a column in Main Table Select to nsert a new column C Tropea e bron a column back bo a heed value I want bo insert a new column C Toren bo Use an existing cainii When Apply is clicked as shown above the following window prompt appears Customize forecast ETETE s wewicoluniniee 3 Insert a new column Far Talk Time
176. ually adjusted as shown below This is accomplished by performing the following steps c Place your cursor in the ASA cell d Overwrite the value 30 with 35 e Click Enter Ester Service Level Benchmark Manually change the Service Level Benchmark from 30 to 35 Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations For a complete review of the 4 Optimization types offered see the section titled Set Optimization Goals Field Explanations on p 28 of this manual Change Benchmarks While still in your VR Week of Dec 31 2001 forecast follow the instructions below to change your Worst case scenarios Click on the 50 cell under the Worst SL heading enter 70 then click Enter Tab over to the next cell Click on the 50 secs cell in the ASA Worst heading overwrite 50 with 35 and click Enter Select Typical Calls Template What is Typical Calls data Typical Calls data for Hills B is the average number of calls typically received on days similar to those you are preparing to forecast Additionally it is the average distribution pattern of those calls Bottom line it is historical data One of the attributes of Hills B is that it requires little or no historical data to get you started 109 How is the Data Entered into my Forecast Sheet Every Study created will contain a minimum of 2 sheets 1 Forecast Sheet and 2 Typical Calls Table The Typical Calls Table is a 24 7 grid that you will populate with th
177. uded in the results because it is unchecked in the Tuesday Holidays list Wednesday Thursday a include DOW Check to include holiday s gt 11 22 2001 Thu Thanksgiving Day Saturday Monday Friday l Default File in use SEES lies Change USA dat Click Next or Step 3 Times box Back Finish Cancel Create New Study Step 3 Create new forecast Step 3 of 3 Using the drop down box provided l l select the Start time as 08 00 Select startjend times and period artiend times Using the drop down box provided Start 03 00 select 77 00 for your End time End izon Step z Days Retain 30 mins as the Period Periad 15 mins BI lt Back a Finish Cancel 53 Name Your Study Enter new forecast name When Enter new forecast name 7 screen appears type in Week of New Forecast worksheet has been created Nov 19 2001 Enter a name Far the Forecast max 31 characters Cancel Week of Mov 19 2001 Save Your Study Save Mew Study ki Ed Save in Widay Season 2001 xls Cancel When the Save New Study menu In the File Name field overwrite Week of appears use the drop down box Nov 19 2001 with Thanksgiving Week 2001 provided in the Save in field and select your Hills B Optimizer Pro folder Highlight the Hills B Study folder and Click Open File name Thanksgiving Week 2001 xls Save a
178. ween the two Forecast Sheets is the presence of light yellow areas on the IVR Forecast Sheet This light yellow color code is used to highlight the areas related to the IVR resources 104 New Study file name Color code key means that any column headings or cells colored Light Yellow are linked to the IVR portion of the Study White colored headings or cells are linked to the Resource Agent portion S Hills B Optimizer Pro YA Winter Holiday Season xls il Optimization Goals For FAs Enter Service Level Benachmark Optimizatio m Resources Optimization type R At least of all calls anzwered in less than At east of all calls Start End Dates Calls scale factor Dec 31 2001 Jan Q2 2002 Jan 03 2002 d Calls based Callz Resource Resource Average Date e expected For hours Hours Speed of pu this day required Scheduled ANSEL Wait Tru lots LinProd Prob Imm TUM Tolerance SerLevel Time Tall Time Work Time Resource Cost Last Trunk Cost Abandon a secs secs secs ost per hr Call per hr Hours of Operation amp Display of 30 Main T able minutes increments Forecast details Date Time b Ackual Calls Aiesources Diverlos to Ackual Calls Resources I Esq live pre Sheet Name 4 4 nnl IVR Week of Dec 31 2001 ical Calls Review your VH Week of Dec 31 2001 Forecast Sheet above This sheet contains the parameters you set using the Create New F
179. were two major anomalies one 7 30 and one at 9 30 The average ASA over the day was 56 seconds The average predicted was 70 seconds If we ignore the two anomalies the predicted average would be 64 seconds 133 ACD Management Reports and Traffic Tables ACD Management Reports and Traffic Tables Management reports are an integral component of an ACD system They are useful as a guide to system performance but they have severe restrictions when used for performing traffic engineering This appendix summarizes the major pitfalls that you may find when you attempt to match your management reports to your traffic tables Traffic Engineering Explanation Traffic engineering is the use of mathematical models to predict system performance For ACD applications there are many variants from Erlang C with its limitations to a wide range of extensions that take into account busy signals abandonments and changes in incoming call volume Sometimes managers attempt to check their reports against their traffic tables and are disappointed at the wide variance between Service Levels and Average Speed of Answers from their management reports and those they look up in the tables This note explains the reason for many of the discrepancies It is important to stress that the mathematical models can be very accurate provided that 1 You use the correct model 2 You enter correct data 3 The underlying assumptions behind the model are in fact valid M

to manual

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents