Generate a forecast for an outbound queue

The aim of a forecast is to predict the amount of incoming work for a queue Entity that represents demand in WFM. Queues help predict workload by multiplying the volume of customer interactions by their expected handling time.. The forecast is based on multiple weeks of connect rate/right party connect rate and average handling time data. You can create a forecast for:

• Individual work queues

• Combined work queues

To generate a forecast for an outbound queue, not all steps in the process are compulsory. For example, you may only need to set scaling or add an outbound call list.

The forecast takes into account the Shrinkage and Modeling Factor that have been defined for the scheduling period the forecast is being generated for.

Procedure 

1. Go to Forecasting and Scheduling. Under Forecasting, select Tactical Forecast Feature in WFM used to estimate the required resources for a specific scheduling period based on historical data. The data in a forecast includes interaction and work volume, and Average Handling Time (AHT)..

2. From the filter pane on the left, select a Campaign, Scheduling period, and Queues.

3. Add data to the forecast by doing one of the following:

   • Add historical weeks

   • Load a forecast profile

   • Import a forecast

   • Enter historical data manually

4. Optional. Create a call list on the Lists tab by doing the following:

   1. Click Add (+) on the Lists tab.

   2. Specify the start and end dates for the list by selecting the calendar icon in the table row for the list. These dates specify when the dialer can begin dialing the numbers on the list and when it must stop dialing.

   3. Set the Length, which is the amount of numbers on the list.

   4. Set the number of Retries allowed for each of the numbers on the list.

   If historical outbound call lists are contained in the history weeks that you add, they show up in the table on the Lists tab when the historical week is added. Remove any list using the delete icon.

5. Optional. Scale all or part of the forecast data.

   If there is a known reason why the volumes may be increased or decreased for the scheduling period, you can uniformly scale the forecast data.

6. Optional. To save a copy of the forecast you are working on, select Save as Instance. Saving the forecast as an instance, makes it retrievable as an instance though the Forecasts selector.

7. Optional. To save the forecast as a profile, select Save as profile from the ribbon. Saving the forecast as a profile, allows you to load these weeks as a profile as the basis for a new forecast at another time.