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Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

  • 1.  Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-12-2026 03:01

    Hi folks,

    I'm hoping someone can help me understand what's happening with the schedules I'm trying to generate for a customer.

    The customer has agents who spend off queue time each day either in the morning or afternoon to do casework that's not routed through GC. So I've created a number of Work Plans and Rotations that should cater for this.

    However, when I generate a schedule it seems to place too many agents with Off Queue time at the same time. 

    It's even worse when a work plan with a defined team meeting is in play:

    I feel like I've adjusted every setting possible, but I'm not getting the coverage I'd expect. Does anyone have any ideas about what's happening and what I can do to fix it?

    Cheers,

    Tristan.


    #ScheduleGeneration

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    Tristan James
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  • 2.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-13-2026 08:17
    Edited by Jay Langsford 08-13-2026 08:17

    Isn't that top line of numbers the required staff row? Without more details it looks like your need is in the second part of the day where less of that large Off Queue block is being scheduled. Not sure if there are more agents I cannot see, but it looks like a fairly tight range, percent wise, of understaffing throughout the day.

    If you have multiple planning groups, then viewing across all planning groups make the gross required number less meaningful the more tactical (e.g., intraday) you are working.

    Your work plan is very rigid (no variability in start time of shift or activities other than break; 5 variations only for each of the two possible shifts). You probably designed it this way, but I'd suggest making those big off queue blocks simply have a large start window. Then you could go down to exactly one shift (example pasted at the bottom). That type of shift has flexibility in a number of ways and will be significantly more likely to produce better coverage.

    If nothing stands out, then I would recommend opening a support ticket.



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    Jay Langsford
    VP, R&D
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  • 3.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-20-2026 02:16

    Thanks Jay (and everyone else), that's all been useful advice. Through some more trial and error I've been able to produce some schedules that look a lot better. However, I think because of the 1 hour minimum contiguous work time, and other constraints, it is placing meal breaks at the same time as off queue times. If I set the max contiguous work time to 3.5 hours (the same as the off queue blocks) I end up with the same problem as before, where all off queue is either in the morning or the afternoon. Is there another way to get the meal breaks to 'butt' onto the Off Queue blocks?

    Here is the config of a typical Work Plan:

    Thanks again for everyone's help!



    ------------------------------
    Tristan
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-13-2026 10:07

    Hi, 

    I don't have full visibility into the current configuration or the exact requirements for the rule.

    However, if this "off-queue" time is mandatory and follows a set pattern, I suggest creating distinct work plans and alternating between them using rotation plans.

    If it is based on availability, I suggest creating a single work plan that allows for flexibility regarding these activities throughout the day-similar to what was shown in the screenshot shared earlier. But this could lead to issues: if your distribution isn't optimized based on your forecast, the system tends to constantly reassign staff to where they are needed most. You might end up with a schedule like the one you showed, where everyone's shifts remain largely static.

    Regarding the specific issue with off-queue activities: the system treats them as a break. You need to configure the activity code to allow for activity overlapping; doing so should help you prevent this problem.

    I hope I've been able to help in some way.



    ------------------------------
    Karine Alves
    Project manager
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  • 5.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-13-2026 19:25
    Edited by Paul Wood 08-13-2026 20:34

    Hi Tristan, 

    This thread might also be of interest to you:
    https://community.genesys.com/discussion/workplans-for-backoffice-work

    Paul

    **edit**
    it might also be worth looking at the Activity Smoothing option in the Business Unit--> Schedule configuration and Schedule Generation options:

    Add a business unit - Genesys Cloud Resource Center

    Generate a schedule from a forecast - Genesys Cloud Resource Center

    In the Schedule Generation section, use the fields as indicated:

    • Default Activity Smoothing list: Indicates how the flexible work plan activities such as break, lunch time, can be distributed through the agent’s shift. The available options in this field are: 
      • Reduce concurrent activities across the Business Unit (Recommended). Select this option, enabled by default when you create a business unit, to ensure that the schedules of agents in the same business unit are updated to minimize the number of concurrent activities. For example, lunch breaks for all agents in the business unit have to be scheduled from noon. to 1:00 p.m. The lunch breaks are distributed in a way that best supports the business unit service predictions. This can result in some management units seeing specific times within the flexibility period configured in the work plan having more concurrent activities.
      • Reduce concurrent activities within the Management Unit. Select this option to ensure that the schedules in the same management unit are updated to minimize the number of concurrent activities. For example, break time of agents in the management unit are distributed in such a way that all agents do not get to take their breaks at the same time.
      • Schedule activities to offer the most consistent service goal prediction across the whole schedule. Select this option to ensure that the service levels are consistently maintained and result in more concurrent activities for agents. For example, breaks are distributed in a way that provides the most consistent service predictions. The supervisor assigns breaks in the same time, rather than distributing the activities evenly across the flexibility period.



    ------------------------------
    Paul Wood
    Genesys - Employees
    WFM Product Manager
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  • 6.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-13-2026 19:37

    I think the thread @Paul Wood shared probably maps very closely to your scenario.

    The point about Off Queue activities not being optimized against forecasted workload seems especially relevant here and may explain why the scheduling engine is grouping too many agents into those activities at the same time.

    Definitely worth reviewing that approach against your current Work Plans.



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    Raphael Poliesi
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  • 7.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 08-14-2026 07:56
    Edited by Jay Langsford 08-14-2026 07:57

    It might help, but the fundamental issue is that across the two shifts there are only two total options for where to optimize/place that huge off queue block. On the one picture it is a ~30-50% understaffing throughout the day. With so few of agents and shift variations, a single change from early to/from late off queue shift would swing the understaffing significantly.

    I have not seen evidence presented on this thread to suggest it is not optimized against the forecast workload as best that can be had given the constraints. The original post only noted "seems to place too many agents with Off Queue time at the same time" which is more of a visual critique if presented without forecast, predicted service performance, etc. per planning group. There could also be many other things in play (agents not really filling any capacity).



    ------------------------------
    Jay Langsford
    VP, R&D
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 09-04-2026 00:03

    Hi again everyone, I posted the below as a response to Jay but haven't had a response yet. Does anyone have any suggestions for my issue?

    Thanks Jay (and everyone else), that's all been useful advice. Through some more trial and error I've been able to produce some schedules that look a lot better. However, I think because of the 1 hour minimum contiguous work time, and other constraints, it is placing meal breaks at the same time as off queue times. If I set the max contiguous work time to 3.5 hours (the same as the off queue blocks) I end up with the same problem as before, where all off queue is either in the morning or the afternoon. Is there another way to get the meal breaks to 'butt' onto the Off Queue blocks?

    Here is the config of a typical Work Plan:

    Thanks again for everyone's help!



    ------------------------------
    Tristan
    ------------------------------



    ------------------------------
    Tristan
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  • 9.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 09-07-2026 02:26

    Hi Tristan, 

    Could you please raise a support ticket for this so that one of the team can help investigate further and review log files if needed.

    I see from 1 of the screenshots that you are consistently understaffed. This could also be a driver for the generated shifts, with the meal break forcing a reduction in the possible flexibility to 1:30 combined with the understaffing, there may be no optimal or varied start time solution.

    Paul



    ------------------------------
    Paul Wood
    Genesys - Employees
    WFM Product Manager
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 28 days ago

    Thanks Paul, I had logged a support ticket a couple of days before you message :)

    It looks understaffed because the schedule is filtered to a BU that doesn't handle all planning groups. Shelby's suggestion below has produced better schedules that should work for the customer for now.



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    Tristan
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 09-14-2026 10:39

    Hi Tristan, the contiguous time is definitely causing some challenges here, but remember that contiguous time only applies to "non work activities."  I would revisit your Off Queue Activity code and make sure that it is marked as work time.  This means that meals and off queue time could be scheduled back to back, and contiguous time would not apply. 

    To Jay's point, you have only give the system two options: off queue morning and off queue afternoon, which gives it very little room for optimization.  

    What I strongly recommend to customers is that they give the system the ability to determine how LONG an agent gets to spend on queue and WHEN they get to spend it off queue. 

    So consider creating several shifts within the workplan: 1 with 1 hour of flexible off queue time, 1 with 2 hours of flexible off queue time (2, 1 hour blocks would be more optimized than a single 2 hour block), 1 with 3 hours (3, 1 hour blocks more flexible than 1, 3 hour block), etc.  The more "blocks" you use, the more optimized it becomes by allowing the system to plug on queue time in between. 

    For as long as a single morning/afternoon block is a business requirement, you are not going to have an overly optimized schedule. 



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    Shelby
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Scheduling engine not choosing most appropriate shift

    Posted 28 days ago

    Hi Shelby, thanks for the suggestion. I had disabled the work time setting for the off phone activity so staff would have a minimum of 1 hour on queue time, but it obviously had some unintended consequences!

    I've re-enabled it now and the schedules are giving much better coverage, but reintroduced 30 minute blocks of On Queue time. Not ideal, but I think we can work with it.

    As far as the different size blocks of off queue time, the business has a requirement for only 4 hours On Queue time a day, with a preference that the Off Queue time is in one block. This does make it difficult!

    Thanks again :)



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    Tristan
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    Original Message


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