Core Concepts
This section discusses core concepts of Zoom Workforce Management. Account and scheduling administrators are recommended to read this section to understand each core concept before using the product.
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This section discusses core concepts of Zoom Workforce Management. Account and scheduling administrators are recommended to read this section to understand each core concept before using the product.
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Scheduling Groups are a top-level user group within Workforce Management, playing a crucial role in organizing, viewing, and managing users. Scheduling Groups act as the primary filter for sorting and interacting with users throughout the system, and are the key component in creating Schedules, scheduling users in bulk, and generating Forecasts.
A contact channel is a communication medium customers use to connect with a contact center. Examples of contact channels include voice (phone), video (video engagement), or messaging (SMS, web chat, and in-app chat like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp).
During the creation of a Scheduling Group, the account or scheduling administrator must specify at least one contact channel to associate with the group, and can add as many contact channels as necessary.
After a Scheduling Group is created, the account or scheduling administrator can associate two pieces of information with the group: contact center queues and/or agents. Each of these contributes to the fuunction of a scheduling group in important but distinctive ways.
When generating a Forecast, a Scheduling Group with at least one (or more) associated contact center queue(s) must be selected. Workforce Management then uses the historical engagement data associated with the queue(s) to establish a baseline and projection for future engagement volume.
Agents are assigned to specific Scheduling Groups to streamline scheduling, forecasting, and report filtering. This allows scheduling administrators to efficiently create forecasts and schedules for large user groups and easily access agent-specific data when filtering reports, such as the Adherence dashboard.
When creating Scheduling Groups, scheduling administrators should be aware that each contact center queue and agent can only be associated with one Scheduling Group at a time. Associating a contact center queue or agent with two distinct Scheduling Groups is not supported at this time.
Within a contact center, an agent’s Shift is often pre-scheduled with varying tasks or responsibilities the agent is accountable to perform throughout the day, such as attending a team meeting, taking a scheduled lunch break, or working a support queue. Within Workforce Management, these various tasks or responsibilities are referred to as Activities, and are the building blocks of an agent’s Shift. Examples of common Activities include, but are not limited to:
Phone Queue
Chat Queue
Messaging Queue
Meeting
Lunch Break
Short Break
Meeting
Focus Time / Projects
An Activity Type defines the productive or non-productive nature of an Activity, and is used to categorize Activities for reporting and scheduling purposes. With six different Activity Types, an agent only contributes towards the staffing needs of their assigned Scheduling Group when they are scheduled for a productive activity type. The six Activity Types are:
Productive: used to indicate that an agent is able to contribute to the staffing needs of their associated scheduling group.
Time Off: used to schedule an agent as “out of office.”
Non-Productive: used to represent scheduled time for job Activities that do not contribute to the staffing needs of their associated scheduling group, like meetings, coaching, etc.
Exception: used to account for time an agent spends out of adherence, such as if an agent is unable to complete their scheduled activity due to an IT issue or emergency.
Exceptions are not available when building a shift and can only be added to published Schedules on an as-necessary basis.
Meal: used to represent non-productive time reserved for meals.
Break: used to represent non-productive time reserved for non-meal breaks.
Account or scheduling administrators can create or customize Activities specific to their environment and workflows, helping an account ensure they have sufficient Activities for the various tasks an agent may perform throughout their day. Customizable features for Activities include:
Name: custom names for customized or new Activities
Default Duration: how long an activity is scheduled for by default.
Channel(s): which contact center channels are associated with the Activity.
Paid status: whether or not the Activity is paid (productive time) or unpaid (meal/break).
Adherence: whether or not the Activity is calculated in Adherence reporting.
Allow for Editing: whether or not an agent can request to add, change, or delete an Activity within their Schedule.
After a schedule is generated, Workforce Management admins and supervisors can bulk schedule fixed-time Activities for a specific group of agents at a designated date, time, and duration, streamlining the scheduling of events such as training sessions or team meetings. When this feature is used, Activities are added to the selected agents' schedules regardless of existing Activities; however, in the event of a scheduling conflict or if an Activity is scheduled while a user is not working, alternative time recommendations can be generated and implemented.
Shifts define an agent’s assigned Activities throughout a given workday or workweek. While an Activity refers to a specific task or responsibility at a given time, a Shift is the combination of an agent’s assigned Activities for a given time frame.
For example, an agent may be responsible for working a phone queue and working a chat queue as two separate Activities at two different times; however, a Shift is the formalized plan that defines when these Activities are to be performed throughout a workday or week.
When creating a Shift, the scheduling administrator can choose between fixed and dynamic Shift models.
With fixed Shift scheduling, users will typically start and end their shifts and breaks at the same time week-to-week. With dynamic Shift scheduling, admins can adjust settings to optimize flexible start, lunch, and break times day-to-day and week-to-week. For example, an agent’s break could be at 1PM Monday one week, but at 2PM Monday the next week, allowing scheduling administrators to align their staffing schedule with a Forecast to meet expected demand. Alternatively, if a business schedules without a Forecast, this can help stagger breaks and lunches to prevent overlap.
The following image provides an example of a fixed Shift, where each assigned agent has consistent Activities every day at consistent times.
Alternatively, the following image provides an example of a dynamic Shift, where agents may have fluctuating start, break, and lunch periods each day to fit the needs of the Forecast. In the top half of the image, the flex times for each Activity are specified, while the bottom half reflects an example of their placement within the Shift that coincides with the defined flex times.
Shifts can accommodate both static and flexible start and end times for each day of the week, customizable to meet diverse scheduling needs.
Example
The scheduling administrator, Alice, can create a simple shift that covers 8-5 Monday through Friday. Alternatively, Alice can also create a Shift that covers 8-5 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with a 10-7 shift on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or any other preferred time combination.
When designing Shifts, it is important to note that an agent can only be assigned to one Shift at a time. Consequently, each Shift should be designed comprehensively, ensuring that all agent’s Activities are scheduled for the week.
Although each agent can only be assigned to one Shift, each Shift can be assigned to an unlimited number of agents.
Example
The scheduling administrator, Alice, created a single Shift for 8-5 with three equal parts of Voice, Video, and Messaging queue time. Alice can assign this shift to agents Bob and Maurice, as well as any additional agents needed. However, if Alice creates a second Shift for 8-5 covering different Activities, she cannot assign Bob and Maurice or any other Shift-assigned agents unless they are removed from their currently assigned Shift.
When designing a Shift, the scheduling administrator should be aware that scheduled work hours will display according to each agent’s configured time zone, and are not static or universal.
Example
The scheduling administrator, Alice, is based in New York (UTC-5) and creates a Shift for 8-5. When Alice assigns an agent to this Shift, the agent will see the Shift's times and duration based on their Zoom account’s configured time zone. So, if an agent in Los Angeles (UTC-8) is assigned to the 8-5 Shift, they will see the schedule from 8-5 within their local time zone (UTC-8). Similarly, if an agent in New York is assigned to the same Shift, they will see the schedule in their local time zone as well. In this scenario, both agents are working from 8-5 according to their respective time zones. However, due to the time zone difference between their locations, they will begin working with a three-hour difference. From the perspective of Alice in New York, the Los Angeles-based agent will work from 11-8 based on the time zone-specific display for each agent.
The following image provides an example of a Schedule, composed of multiple Scheduling Groups, spanning a day. The various color blocks note the various Activities that each agent is responsible for throughout the day. If desired, Scheduling administrators can further refine this view to see the Schedule by individual agents or specific Scheduling Groups.
When creating a Schedule, the scheduling administrator can create a Schedule for up to four weeks at a time. This does not limit how far out in advance a Schedule can be created, but rather the extent of how long each schedule can be defined at a time. In other words, scheduling administrators can schedule more than four weeks out a time by creating back-to-back Schedules.
Example
In the month of December, the scheduling administrator, Alice, can create a Schedule beginning January 1st, extending four weeks until January 28th. To schedule beyond January 28th, Alce must create a separate schedule, which she can do immediately.
A Forecast anticipates the future engagement volume for one or more selected Scheduling Groups and their associated contact center queue(s). Once a Forecast is generated, it can be applied to a Schedule, and will include the underlying infrastructure of each Scheduling Group, including Shifts, Activities, and Agents, streamlining the scheduling process.
Workforce Management Forecasts list expected volume for each day in 15-minute increments, and can base projections using either a user-defined period of time or all historical data associated with a contact center queue to anticipate future volume trends.
Example
The scheduling administrator, Alice, created a Forecast for the next four weeks. This Forecast uses historical data to predict daily engagement volume in 15-minute increments. Each day's forecasted volume is based on data from corresponding days in the past, meaning Monday’s Forecast is derived from previous Mondays, and Tuesday’s Forecast from previous Tuesdays. As a result, if the hours between 8AM and 2PM are typically busier on Mondays than on Tuesdays, the Forecast will reflect a higher staffing demand for Monday compared to Tuesday.
Customers new to Zoom Contact Center and Workforce Management can import historical queue interval data via CSV files, with up to 10MB of data per file, to establish baseline Forecasts. Over time, new data will populate through use of the service to continue creating accurate Forecasts.
Scheduling administrators can create Forecasts that include a variety of key performance indicator metrics, such as a service level target answer rate, average speed of answer, average agent occupancy levels, and unexpected staff shrinkage (i.e., absenteeism). Scheduling administrators can use these metrics in any combination as a part of the forecasting process.
Creating a Forecast with the service level target metric will calculate the necessary level of staffing required to answer an average number of engagements within a specific time frame.
For example, if a company’s service level agreement is to answer 75% of all inbound engagements within 30 seconds, the Forecast will account for necessary staffing within each 15-minute period to meet the expected goal.
Creating a Forecast with the average speed of answer metric will calculate the necessary level of staffing required to connect a customer placed in a queue to an agent within the specified number of seconds. This metric is similar to the service level target, but does not specify a precise percentage goal of calls answered within the time frame. Instead, the average speed of answer metric will project staffing required for the total number of expected calls.
For example, if a company aims to maintain an average answer speed of 30 seconds, the Forecast will consider the required staffing to meet that target. However, it's important to note that this metric calculates the mathematical mean of the waiting time. For instance, if one call is answered in 1 second and another call in 60 seconds, the cumulative average speed of answer for both calls is approximately 30 seconds.
Creating a Forecast with the occupancy metric will calculate staffing to achieve a specific percentage of time that agents spend handling engagements every hour.
For example, if an agent is involved in a customer engagement for 54 minutes out of an hour, the user’s occupancy level is 90%. Consequently, creating a Forecast with a 90% occupancy rate is likely to result in each agent supporting customers for approximately 54 minutes out of every hour.
Creating a Forecast with the shrinkage metric will increase staffing by a designated percentage to account for agents assigned to non-productive Activities, or those who are unavailable or absent, while still meeting necessary staffing levels.
For example, if a Forecast is expected to require 10 agents, but has a 20% shrinkage rate, 12 agents will be forecasted to account for two potential absences. In the event 20% of agents are absent, minimum staffing levels for the Forecast are still met.
After a Forecast is generated, Workforce Management can generate staffing suggestions in 15-minute increments to meet both forecasted call volume and calculated performance metrics.
When reviewing a Forecast, scheduling administrators can edit the Forecast in each 15-minute interval for fine tuning and coverage.
For example, if a company expects unusually high call volume for an hour, a scheduling administrator can manually increase the expected volume to compensate for the expected change.
The following image provides an example of an edited Forecast where the anticipated call volume is significantly raised to account for a short term increase in call volume within a specific frame of time.
When editing a Forecast, a scheduling administrator can bulk edit the Forecast to account for anticipated changes that would otherwise not be captured through historical data. For example, if a company is launching a new marketing campaign in an upcoming week and expects a 10% increase in volume, the Forecast can be updated to reflect a 10% increase to ensure adequate staffing.
This bulk editing method allows supervisors to modify volume either by a specific number, such as 10 additional (or fewer) calls every 15 minutes, or by a percentage, such as a 20% increase (or decrease) in calls every 15 minutes.
The following image provides an example of a bulk-edited Forecast with an anticipated 10% increase in volume.
Similar to Schedules, a scheduling administrator can Forecast data in up to four-week increments.
For example, beginning a Forecast on January 1st will forecast out until January 28th, and a second Forecast can be generated for January 29th, extending out to February 25th.
When reviewing a Schedule with an applied Forecast, scheduling administrators can compare scheduled and required staffing levels to determine if staffing requirements are met.
The Staffing sub-section of a Schedule provides a list of all Scheduling Groups applied to the week’s schedule, compares the Scheduled versus Required staffing, and provides the Net Staffing difference. This table allows a scheduling administrator to quickly determine staffing levels for each 15-minute increment, and can dynamically adjust a user’s scheduled Activities to maintain adequate staffing.
The Adherence dashboard tracks the live agent activity against the published Schedule. If an agent's current status does not align with their scheduled Activity, they are marked as out of adherence, and the agent’s daily adherence score is dynamically updated.
For example, if an agent is scheduled for a Phone Queue Activity between the hours of 8 and 10AM, but goes on an unscheduled break at 9, the agent is marked as out of adherence and their daily adherence percentage is dynamically updated until their status returns to their assigned Activity.
