Managing reserve agents in a contact center

摘要

A reserve agent management system (“RAMS”) allows a user, such as a contact center agent or administrator, to access and edit a reserve schedule. In one embodiment, the reserve schedule indicates times, called reserve times, during the agent's off-hours when the agent would be willing to receive a recall invitation and potentially return to work. When, during operation of the contact center, a determination is made that additional agent resources are needed, agents having compatible reserve times are notified and invited to be recalled. Agents responding and agreeing to be recalled are then recalled by being scheduled to work at certain recall times. In another embodiment, agent's break times can be shifted to potentially accommodate unexpected changes in the required agent resources. The RAMS allows administrators and agents a limited amount of flexibility in adapting agent work schedules to accommodate unplanned needs for agent resources.

主权项

1. A system for managing a reserve schedule for an agent in a contact center having currently scheduled work shifts during a particular time period, comprising:
a data store storing a master schedule, wherein the master schedule delineates
a first time period during the particular time period when the agent is unavailable to be recalled,a second time period during the particular time period comprising a reserve time period indicating when the agent is potentially available to be recalled, anda third time period during the particular time period when the agent is scheduled to work, wherein the master schedule further comprises
a primary schedule associated with the agent indicating the currently scheduled work shifts of the agent during the particular time period, andthe reserve schedule associated with the agent, wherein the reserve schedule indicates for the particular time period the reserve time period outside the currently scheduled work shifts of the agent indicating when the agent is potentially available to be recalled to work between the currently scheduled work shifts; and a processor configured to
receive an agent login from the agent,authenticate and identify the agent,retrieve the reserve schedule from the data store,transmit the reserve schedule to a processing device used by the agent,receive an update to the reserve schedule from the processing device,update the reserve schedule thereby creating an updated reserve schedule,transmit the updated reserve schedule to the processing device used by the agent,store the updated reserve schedule in the data store,determine an agent resource deficiency in the contact center comprising
1) a quantity of agent resources required in the contact center, and2) an agent deficiency time period when the quantity of agent resources are required,determine the updated reserve schedule of the agent includes a time period coinciding with at least a subset of the agent deficiency time period,transmit a recall invitation to the processing device used by the agent,receive a response from the agent confirming acceptance of the recall invitation, andindicate at least a portion of the reserve time period of the agent is converted to work time.