In the context of Schedule Manager, work patterns consist of:
- The Shift an agent works. As an example, a very common shift is the 9-5 workday.
- The Rotations an agent is assigned. Rotations comprise a series of shifts, recurring at certain intervals. Example: field geologists work the 8-6 shift daily for three weeks, then have one week off, then return to 9-5.
- Any Event Types that affect overall scheduling. A common example of such an event could be an agent vacation. Another event type might be a day away from the office, for a team-building exercise.
- When combined, the above elements form the overall schedule (covered later in this documentation).
In the Patterns section, you'll enter the shifts, rotations, and event types that affect scheduling. Once that's complete, you'll be able to create an overall schedule.
When setting up your shifts, rotations, and events for each agent, follow this three-stage approach:
- Stage 1: Shifts – Create all shifts that currently exist in your call center. For example, day shifts from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM; evening shifts from 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM, etc. Once you define shifts for your call center, you can move on to Stage 2 and assign rotations.
- Stage 2: Rotations – Combine shifts you created in stage 1 to create shift rotations that will be assigned to individuals or teams. Stage 2 is simply the creation of rotations, you are not assigning rotations to agents yet. Once all shift rotations are created, you can move on to Stage 3 and schedule rotations to agents.
- Stage 3: Schedule – Assign the rotations created in stage 2 and assign them to users to create schedules for each agent.