Oh, this is not going to work. All the agents from this MU have all the skills, however, they don't have all the Queues assigned. When I added all the possible route paths for the particular Skill and Language, I'm getting 0 agents in the planning group.
Nothing is easy with WFM as one might think.
I would suggest putting more details on Genesys' resource pages in regard to the WFM limitations. For example, call metrics (minimum offered calls), minimum number of agents, routing constraints (possible routing paths), and anything else that may help with Genesys WFM implementation.
In addition to this, the WFM module has missing configurable parameters and UI is not user friendly in all the configuration objects.
Unfortunately, we need to face the client and explain that WFM configuration won't work for them (even though they are PC3) simply because they don't have the volume and enough agents for ABM to work as expected. Or, just to use WHI and one week of scheduling.
It seems to us, the only solution for them will be manual schedule creation. Not an option that we thought will be the only option.
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 19:26
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Sure, I'll re-configure the planning groups and will re-run the forecast.
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 18:54
From: Daniel Rickwalder
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
nope you definitely want to build in all valid route paths including the none. THey can be transfers or some other things.
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Daniel Rickwalder
Genesys
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 18:43
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
@Daniel Rickwalder,
Even with the volume of 1 call in the last 6 weeks?
Do you agree on the exclusion of all <none> route paths regardless of the volume?
Thanks,
Tatjana
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 18:34
From: Daniel Rickwalder
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
I would definietly include all routing paths available into the planning groups. Excluding them will definitely cause a problem
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Daniel Rickwalder
Genesys
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 18:27
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Hi @Daniel Rickwalder,
The number of routing paths on the system is 257 (returned by the Search option). However, for BU's I aggregated only high volume routes (high volume is 100 + Offered) and for example for one of BU's I have only 4 planning groups with 36 routing paths. All the agents from the MU are members of all 4 groups. Please note, route paths with <none> for Skill and/or Language are excluded from the planning groups.
When I ran ABM forecast I'm getting quite skewed forecast. For example for the next week the metrics are:
Offered: 2236
AHT: 1.2 seconds
Below is the output of ABM selected methods for all 4 routes and corresponding metrics.
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 17:33
From: Daniel Rickwalder
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
I think your issue is the number of planning groups. It sounds like you have over 200 planning groups for 24 agents? If this is correct, you should easily be able to consolidate planning groups. What is likely happening is ABM is seeing intermittent volumes in all these PGs and causing low forecasts. So look at which agents have the same queue skill combinations and group those RPs into 1 PG.
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Daniel Rickwalder
Genesys
Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2020 11:19
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Hi @Chip Funk,
The reason for the number of Queues is related to the nature of their business. The number of Queues is determined by the number of different LOBs they have for multiple clients. I don't think we can make any consolidation in that regard as the current model is applicable to their business (used for their billing as well to charge the clients).
In my first post, I pointed out that we do have routing groups with different volumes as we organized the routing groups per their business needs.
For example, in one routing group we have the following routing paths with the Number of Offered calls (routing paths and volumes are based on the Offered in last 6 weeks) :
Queue 1 + Skill 1 + English = 205
Queue 1 + Skill 2 + English = 30
As you can see the ratio is 7:1, and maybe it affects the forecasting error. Should we exclude low volume paths from this in order to "correct" this? Can you please share your inputs?
However, what absolutely puzzles me is the routing group configured as:
Queue + Skill + English with 670 Offered calls in the last 6 weeks. This routing group has totally different forecast results when we ran it using two forecast methods (see below):
Weighted index:
Total offered: 112
AHT: 241 seconds
Automatic best method
Total offered: 26
AHT: 298 seconds
Thanks
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2020 08:42
From: Chip Funk
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Just quickly reading through this thread, I think there is a larger fundamental issue that should be examined and addressed
(assuming I understand this comment correctly).
"We started with the configuration for one BU and one MU under it with approx 60 Queues, 6 Skills, and 4 Languages. Number of agents for this MU is 24."
This sounds to me like a routing consolidation challenge. Sixty queues handled by just 24 agents will drive challenge in your planning process. Why so many queues for so few agents? What has driven the creation of so many queues? It appears to me there is value in taking a step back and evaluating if there are options to simplify routing/agent selection to improve the planning configuration.
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Chip Funk
Manager, Business Consulting
Genesys - Employees
Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2020 08:20
From: Jay Langsford
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
To escalate a Care case please refer to the "Global case escalation management" section in the following article: https://help.mypurecloud.com/articles/contact-purecloud-care/.
I will tell you that forecasting for such a low volume grouping will always be stochastic and not accurate. Really anything < 10 interactions per 15m is extremely low especially if there really isn't any true pattern discernible. This is the case for any forecasting method...not just the ~18 or so we employ today.
Example you had 6 interactions for a particular planning group from 9:15am to 9:30am one out of the past 4 weeks, one week with 0 interactions, one week with 2 interactions, and one week with 4 interactions. Simple WHI with equal weighting for the four weeks would forecast volume at 3 interactions. Forecast accuracy for this one interval would be (actual interactions -> forecast accuracy):
- 0 -> 0%
- 1 -> 33.33%
- 2 -> 66.67%
- 3 -> 100.00%
- 4 -> 66.67%
- 5 -> 33.33%
- 6 -> 0%
I will contend that there is just not enough volume to accurately forecast volume nor AHT. Now in my example if 9:15am to 9:30am _always_ had 6 interactions, we'd nail it with either method.
I would recommend engaging @Chip Funk and his Professional Services Business Consultants group.
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Jay Langsford
Senior Director, Workforce Optimization Engineering
Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2020 19:31
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Hi Jay,
We opened the ticket re this on July 1st (Priority High) and yet no response and no resolution from the Team. We can't compare in Intraday monitoring as we didn't publish the schedule yet.
As for WHI we are going back for 6 weeks. We had a couple of tries and the forecast with 6 looked good.
Here is how actuals vs ABM forecast look like for yesterday and today:
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2020 19:16
From: Jay Langsford
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Not something I can or technically should troubleshoot via Community discussion thread. I would recommend opening a support ticket with Care. Information on Care along with escalation management can be found here: https://help.mypurecloud.com/articles/contact-purecloud-care/
If you look in intraday monitoring how do actuals compare in regards to offered and AHT? Specifically is it closer to weighted historical index (WHI) or ABM forecast? You can also generate/view a forecast in the past and turn on 'Show Actuals' in display options for another way to compare forecast versus actuals.
In general for WHI method, less weeks is better (e.g., 4 instead of 8) and good to look at one without any modifications and equal weighting of past weeks (versus one with several modifications and/or potentially counterproductive weighting scheme (e.g., 1,1,1,1 instead of 1,2,5,10).
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Jay Langsford
Senior Director, Workforce Optimization Engineering
Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2020 18:46
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Hi Jay,
This client has the Org and therefore historical data since Nov 2019. This is the time when almost all Queues and Skills were created and configured. Ever since the start they maybe added 2-3 new Queues. No other changes to the configuration objects that would affect routing paths.
Thanks,
Tatjana
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2020 18:23
From: Jay Langsford
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
See this thread and my reply for more information regarding disparity in the two - especially for 'cold start' case.
------------------------------
Jay Langsford
Senior Director, Workforce Optimization Engineering
Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2020 14:22
From: Tatjana Knezevic
Subject: Short term forecasting -difference in metrics between Automatic best method and weighted index
Hi @Jay Langsford,
We are in the process of onboarding our client on WFM. They have 2 business units, 1 management unit per each,1 media (voice only) with approx 100 Queues, 12 Skills, and 4 Languages. This client is PC-3 client and on Genesys Cloud since November 2019. So, no issue with the historical data for the forecasts.
The total number of possible route paths for all the planning groups is: 275.
We started with the configuration for one BU and one MU under it with approx 60 Queues, 6 Skills, and 4 Languages. Number of agents for this MU is 24. We followed Genesys recommendation regarding route paths configuration and considering the amount of possible combination we decided to aggregate the similar route paths for one language under one planning group. Please note, we excluded the routes with <none> for Language and/or Skill and didn't add any manual route paths, we selected only the ones offered by Genesys (Search button). The planning groups are aggregated based on Queue + Skill combo for one language that best suits their business needs. One detail worth mentioning is: with the exception to one planning group we have planning groups with route paths with different volumes.
When we run short term forecasts for the next week July 12th (BU Start Week of Day is Sunday) using the Automatic best method and Weighted historical index (6 weeks) we are getting huge difference in the metrics. Here are the details:
Weighted index
Total offered: 765.5
AHT 175.01seconds
Automatic best method
Total offered: 283
AHT: 278.17seconds
For the planning group that is not an aggregate i.e. the planning group has one Queue, Skill, and language, the difference in the forecast for it is:
Weighted index:
Total offered: 112
AHT: 241 seconds
Automatic best method
Total offered: 26
AHT: 298 seconds
NOTE: AHT is given here as an integer.
Can you please give us more insights/ideas on what may be the root cause of these discrepancies and recommendations on what to change/adjust in our configuration to have the forecasts from these two methods more aligned.
Thanks,
#ForecastingandScheduling/Decisions
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Tatjana Knezevic
Star Telecom
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