Genesys 2018 Cap Planning - Workforce Optimization and Strategic Planning

Sep 12, 2026

Upload by McQueen

Capacity planning focuses on building models and processes that translate forecasts into practical resource decisions for call-center operations. The material explains key model types, how to evaluate whether they are effective, and what organizations gain from reliable models. It contrasts traditional WFM for managing existing agent counts with strategic/long-term workforce planning that accounts for seasonality and variability such as call volume, sick time, attrition, handle time, learning curves, training requirements, and costs. It outlines steps, required data sources, and workforce targets.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time9 min

AccessFree to download

What is capacity planning?

Why forecasting matters for resource decisions

Workforce Optimization vs Traditional WFM systems

Strategic Planning and long-term capacity problems

Strategic planning models and how to judge them

Predictive, descriptive, prescriptive, and variable labor models

Data requirements for strategic planning

ACD/email/back-office and workforce management inputs

Finance/payroll, customer experience, and HR/training data

Improving Capacity Planning– Models are Important! Ric Kosiba What we are discussing today ◦ What is capacity planning? ◦ Types of models and what do they do ◦ How to judge whether models are good or not ◦ Why it is important: what do we get if we have good models Why do we forecast? ◦ Forecasting is just one part of the planning process ◦ We forecast to make resource decisions! ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ What types of contacts to service? How do we best match channels to segments of customers? What standards are right for each contact types? Where (which centers and staff types) and when (which weeks) do we hire? Hiring versus overtime? How many centers are optimal? Budgets and budget priorities? and so much more Workforce Optimization Ensure that the right numbers of agents are available at the right time to service our customers. Traditional WFM Systems Ensure the operation is nimble and efficient in reacting to day-of changes within the environment ✓ Scheduling ✓ Shift Bids ✓ Adherence/Conformance ✓ Real-time Management ✓ Etc. Strategic Planning Ensure the right number of agents are trained and available to meet the seasonal and changing demand. ✓ Hiring Plans ✓ Budgets ✓ Establishing Optimal Goals ✓ What-if Analysis ✓ Etc. An observation ◦ Most workforce management software systems do not determine how many agents are required to show up to work each week, nor do they develop an operational plan to ensure that the company delivers the required number of agents to the operation. ◦ Workforce management systems serve to best manage the number of agents that you already have. Our strategic or operational plan is only place where we try to manage the seasonality of the operation What is the Strategic/Capacity/Long Term Planning Problem? Determine the center resource plan that maintains the (appropriate) service standard at least cost over time. This is not a simple problem to solve (Hence, the mad scientist. ) Q: Why is this hard? A: There is seasonality and variability in call centers! Call Volumes! Sick Time! Attrition! Handle Time! …also learning curves, wage rates, training requirement, by center & staff group AND! Our (Analytic) Life is Getting Harder On An Inbound Call Arranging An Appointment At A Branch Office Processing Fax Reports In Three Chat Sessions What are the steps to strategic planning? Strategic planning systems work to take you from forecast to budget. They help to: Predictive Model “Predict the Descriptive Model“What happens to our Prescriptive Model “Find me the best Variable Labor Model future” performance in this resource decision” “Cost it all out” scenario?” What data do we need? ◦ ACD/Email/Back-office management system • How are my agents skilled and what are appropriate roll ups? • What is the historic performance (by interval): Contacts, service performance, abandons, work hours per interval, handle times • Where do calls go? ◦ Workforce management: • Shrinkage (note schedules not necessary) • Skilling: Universal agent?, silo’d?, skilled by proficiency? ◦ Finance/payroll: Costs and possibly revenues (eg. base rates, training rate, cost to recruit, telecom,…) ◦ Customer experience system/report (CustEx scores by location) ◦ HR/Training: How long to recruit, train and transition a rep?

FAQs

What is capacity planning in the context of a call center?

Capacity planning builds models and operational thinking that determine the center resource plan needed to meet service standards at least cost over time. It converts forecasting outputs into staffing and hiring decisions.

How do traditional WFM systems differ from strategic/capacity planning?

Traditional WFM primarily manages the agents you already have through scheduling, shift bids, adherence, and real-time management. Strategic/long-term planning is where seasonality is managed and the organization plans how many agents must be available.

What factors make strategic capacity planning difficult?

Difficulty comes from seasonality and variability in call centers, including call volumes, sick time, attrition, and handle time. It also includes learning curves, wage rates, training requirements, and assumptions by center and staff group.

What data are needed to run strategic planning?

Key inputs include ACD/email/back-office performance by interval, workforce management shrinkage and skilling details, finance and payroll costs, customer experience scores by location, and HR/training timelines for recruiting, training, and transitioning representatives.

Sep 12, 2026

Upload by McQueen