PureConnect

 View Only
Discussion Thread View
  • 1.  Contiguous Time

    Posted 10-24-2019 23:23
    Hi All,

    I don't understand contiguous time and why this is a feature.
    How is this meant to be used and what does it represent in Interaction Optimizer?
    #WEM/Optimizer

    ------------------------------
    Jayden Bradow
    Service Performance Analyst
    Precision Administration Services (Pty) Ltd
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Contiguous Time

    Posted 10-25-2019 12:20

    Hi Jayden - Contiguous Time in it's most basic use case is to shape the min/max amount of work time between comfort breaks.  Good understanding of the Contiguous Time Daily Constraint partly requires you to have a solid understanding of the Earliest Start & Latest Start for the Activities you place on that Daily Constraint.

    Think of the typical shift with a break, meal, break where you have placed those as activities on a Daily Constraint with a fixed window of time... (E.g., first break is at 02:00 hrs relative to shift start... Meal at 04:15 hrs... Second break at 06:30 hrs) In this scenario, Contiguous Time is irrelevant as no decisions are being made by the scheduling engine on where to place these activities when generating a schedule.

    Now, let's think of the typical shift with a break, meal, break where you have placed those as activities on the Daily Constraint with dynamic windows of time for each... (E.g., first break is at min 01:30 hrs relative to shift start and max 02:30 hrs relative to shift start with 00:05 time increments... Meal at min 03:30 hrs and max 04:45 hrs relative to shift start with 00:05 time increments... Second break at min 06:30 hrs and max 07:15 hrs relative to shift start with 00:05 time increments)  In this scenario, Contiguous Time is now very relevant as decisions are being made by the scheduling engine on where to place these activities when generating a schedule. Without any Minimum Contiguous Time values the schedule could place the first 00:15 break at the max and the 00:30 meal at the min, leaving only 00:45 minutes of work time in between these events. (You may not mind this but this is not preferred by most agents; and I think here I should call out that Break & Meal should not be marked as Contiguous activities.) By setting a Minimum Contiguous Time of 01:15 hrs for example, the first break and meal would then be placed on the schedule with at least that amount of work time in between in this scenario.

    I hope that helps build the foundation to understand.  Once you understand the above scenario, you can then think about how setting a Maximum Contiguous Time value might help your agents adhere to their schedule by placing comfort breaks at natural points in the shift.  Using wider windows of time for activity placement, and well thought out Minimum & Maximum Contiguous Time values helps the scheduling engine optimize for forecast all while helping to maintain agent satisfaction/adherence.



    ------------------------------
    Raymond Hicks
    Sutter Health
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Contiguous Time

    Posted 10-27-2019 18:28
    Thanks @Raymond Hicks

    Thank you, I couldn't find any explanation anywhere online however your explanation paints a very clear picture in my mind as to how this works.

    ------------------------------
    Jayden Bradow
    Service Performance Analyst
    Precision Administration Services (Pty) Ltd
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Contiguous Time

    Posted 10-28-2019 02:55
    Edited by Philip Last 10-28-2019 02:56




  • 5.  RE: Contiguous Time

    GENESYS
    Posted 10-30-2019 16:15
    Hi Jayden,

    Minimum contiguous work time (MInCWT) is critical for addressing one of the most common problems schedulers see when producing schedules, the dreaded activity stacking.  MinCWT allows flexible activities to be built with wider windows giving Optimizer more flexibility for placement.  MinCWT ensures that despite wider windows that perhaps might slightly overlap, activities will be spaced according to your planning rules.

    ------------------------------
    Chip Funk
    Manager, Business Consulting
    Genesys
    ------------------------------



Need Help finding something?

Check out the Genesys Knowledge Network - your all-in-one access point for Genesys resources