Nortel Workforce Management Agents' Guide

Nortel Workforce Management

Agents' Guide

NN44480-112.

Document status: StandardDocument version: 01.01Document date: 6 October 2009

Copyright © 2009, Nortel NetworksAll Rights Reserved.

While the information in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable, except as otherwise expressly agreedto in writing NORTEL PROVIDES THIS DOCUMENT "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANYKIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. The information and/or products described in this document are subjectto change without notice.

Nortel, Nortel Networks, the Nortel logo, and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

3

Contents

New in this release 5Features 5

Introduction 7Customer support 8

Finding the latest updates on the Nortel Web site 8Getting help from the Nortel Web site 8Getting help over the phone from a Nortel Solutions Center 8Getting help from a specialist by using an Express Routing Code 8Getting help through a Nortel distributor or reseller 8

Conventions Used in This Guide 9

Welcome to Workforce Management 11Logging into Workforce Management 13Seat-Based Licensing 15Understanding Roles and Access Rights 15Navigating in Workforce Management 17

Expanding Pages 18Expanding and Collapsing Lists 19Selecting Items in a Drop-Down Menu 20Expanding Truncated Text 20Sorting Data 21Printing a Page 21

Setting Preferences 21Getting Help 23Logging Off the System 23

Agent Modules 25My Schedule 27

Viewing Your Schedule Summary 27Viewing Your Personal Schedule 28Viewing Your Group Schedule 29

My Requests 31My Requests 32Viewing Request Notifications 50My Time Off Calendar 51

Nortel Workforce ManagementAgents' Guide

NN44480-112 01.01 Standard7.0 6 October 2009

Copyright © 2009, Nortel Networks

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4 Contents

My Time Off Report 52Swap Board 52My Bid Options 53Policies 53

My Time 54Schedule 54Time Record 54Log History 55My Adherence 56

My Profile 58Personal Information: Changing Your Password 58Schedule Preferences 58

My Volumes 60Work 60History 61




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5

New in this release

The following sections detail what’s new in Nortel Workforce ManagementAgents’ Guide (NN44480-112) for Release 7.0.

• "Features" (page 5)

FeaturesThere are no feature changes for this document.




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6 New in this release




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7

Introduction

This guide provides detailed information on how you, as an agent, can useWorkforce Management to log your activities and time, view your schedule,submit requests for time off or shift swaps, or submit shift bids. This guideis not intended to teach the basics of computer or software operationor use, and does not contain tutorial information. You are expected tobe experienced in working with contact center equipment and softwareapplications as well as PC workstation hardware and software.

This guide is designed to be used by agents in a contact center. Users areexpected to be experienced in working with contact center equipment andsoftware applications as well as PC workstation hardware and software.

Please note that this document is intended primarily for viewing on-line.However, the format of the document is based on that of a printed manual,to support customers who print all or portions of the document. For similarreasons, entries in the Table of Contents, cross references, and indexentries refer to page numbers. Those same entries function as hyperlinksfor ease of use when the document is viewed electronically.

Note that colors may not print legibly on black and white printers. If youare using a non-color printer, make sure to select the option to print colorsas black.

In addition, please note that the screen shots used in this guide are forillustrative purposes only. There may be some differences between whatyou see in the product and these screenshots, but those differences shouldnot be significant or affect the accuracy of the information contained in thisguide.

The document contains the following chapters:

• "Welcome to Workforce Management" (page 11)

• "Agent Modules" (page 25)

Depending on your license, you may also have access to the Scorecardsmodule. Because this module can be part of several Impact 360 packages,a separate guide, Scorecards User Guide (NN44480-122), is available.Please refer to this guide for details on using Scorecards as an agent.




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8 Introduction

Customer supportThis section explains how to get help for Nortel products and services.

Finding the latest updates on the Nortel Web siteThe content of this documentation was current at the time the productwas released. To check for updates to the latest documentation, go towww.nortel.com/documentation.

Getting help from the Nortel Web siteThe best way to get technical support for Nortel products is from the NortelTechnical Support web site:

www.nortel.com

This site provides quick access to software, documentation, bulletins, andtools to address issues with Nortel products.

• download software, documentation, and product bulletins

• search the Technical Support web site and the Nortel Knowledge Basefor answers to technical issues

• sign up for automatic notification of new software and documentationfor Nortel equipment

• open and manage technical support cases

Getting help over the phone from a Nortel Solutions CenterIf you do not find the information you require on the Nortel Technical Supportweb site, and have a Nortel support contract, you can also get help over thephone from a Nortel Solutions Center.

In North America, call 1-800-4Nortel (1-800-466-7835). Outside NorthAmerica, go to the following web site to obtain the phone number for yourregion:

www.nortel.com/callus

Getting help from a specialist by using an Express Routing CodeTo access some Nortel Technical Solutions Centers, you can use an ExpressRouting Code (ERC) to quickly route your call to a specialist in your Nortelproduct or service. To locate the ERC for your product or service, go to:

www.nortel.com/erc

Getting help through a Nortel distributor or resellerIf you purchased a service contract for your Nortel product from a distributoror authorized reseller, contact the technical support staff for that distributoror reseller.




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http://support.avaya.com/supportfaqs

http://www.avaya.com

http://www.avaya.com/callus

http://www.avaya.com/erc

Conventions Used in This Guide 9

Conventions Used in This GuideThe following two tables describe some of the conventions that are usedin this document:

• The Standard Conventions table highlights conventions used to describeuser interaction, as well as special notations

• The Information Icons table describes the icons used to highlightinformation of special interest to the user

Standard Conventions

Area Description

Menu Items Menu items are highlighted in bold as in the followingexample:From the menu, choose File > Preferences > Options.

Document Names Documents are referred to using italics.For example: Refer to Nortel WorkForce ManagementManagers’ Guide (NN44480-113)

for more information.

Buttons, Functions,and Dialog Box andWindow Names

Specific button or function names are highlighted in bold.The following example shows how a button and dialogname are referred to in the documentation:Click OK, and then choose the Restore Databasedialog box.

User Variables When the user is expected to type a value, the name ofthe variable to be replaced is surrounded by < > . Thefollowing are examples:<Your ER Server Name>

The notation <Your ER Server Name> refers to thename of your Enterprise Reporting server.

When you see this notation, replace it with the actualname of your Enterprise Reporting server.




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10 Introduction




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11

Welcome to Workforce Management

To meet the needs of a broad spectrum of enterprises, the WorkforceManagement portion of the Workforce Optimization Solution is available inpre-packaged solutions that deliver different levels of functionality.

The Operational Series Workforce Management Package is comprisedof functionality designed to optimize agent performance, reduce risk, andautomate manual processes such as forecasting and scheduling. It includes:

• Forecasting and Scheduling—Client software used for daily and weeklyforecasting and scheduling.

• Web-Enabled Self-Service—A standard, web-based interface modulefor agents, supervisors, and administrators.

• Advanced Adherence—Real-time agent adherence tracking, adherencemanagement capabilities for monitoring adherence to schedule fordeferred media, including aux codes and non-phone-based activities, aswell as enabling management of adherence exceptions.

• Basic Scorecards—Pre-defined role-appropriate scorecards withpre-packaged Workforce Management and Quality Key PerformanceIndicators (KPIs), which display actual performance information on adaily basis.

Our Advanced Series Workforce Management Package builds on theOperational Series’ functionality, and focuses on optimizing enterpriseperformance by raising first call resolution rates, increasing enterpriserevenue generation, and ensuring consistent customer experiences.

In addition to those functions included in the Operational Series, theAdvanced Series includes:

• Time Off Management (TOM)—A web-based module allowing agentsto request and supervisors to manage agents’ time-off and vacationrequests.

This module is also an option for the Operational Series.




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12 Welcome to Workforce Management

• Advanced Scorecards—A superset of the scorecards found in BasicScorecards, as well as the ability to display trend information comparedto goals.

An even deeper level of functionality for Scorecards is provided with KPIDesign, which provides users with the ability to define additional datasources types, source measures, KPIs, and to connect custom adaptersfrom these additional data sources.

• Strategic Planner—Allows you to plan long term for multi-skilled contactcenter and enterprise back-office environments, assess the operationaland financial benefits and impacts of different scenarios before makingdecisions, increase forecasting accuracy with sophisticated analysisof historical data, plan your resources to reflect projected customerdemand and corporate objectives, develop optimal staffing plans thatminimize costs while meeting service goals, and provide executiveswith the information they need to review and rapidly approve budgetsand plans.

The Strategic Series Workforce Management Package builds on theAdvanced Series’ functionality.

In addition to those functions included in the Advanced Series, the StrategicSeries includes:

• Learning Lesson Management—Enables agents and supervisors toaccess on-demand learning, to enhance their skills, and to increasetheir productivity and performance.

• Content Producer—an application comprised of editing, authoring, andconversion tools to develop interactive clips for internal training andassessment.

Optional functions for the above packages include among other functions:

• Multi-Contact—Enables forecasting and scheduling for additional mediaother than phone, such as chat, e-mail, etc.

• Shift Bidding—A web-based module facilitating automated shift bidding.

• Multi Week—Enables you to schedule over a multi-week period ratherthan one week at a time.

• Operations—Allows volume control and workload management,particularly with the financial services arena.

• Projects—Nominally part of the Multi-Contact functions, this separatelylicensed feature expands the solution’s functionality to meet the needsof non-customer-facing activities in the financial services and bankingarenas.




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Logging into Workforce Management 13

• Queue Hopping—Allows you to schedule agents to work on differentqueues at different times.

The Performance Management Series Workforce Management Packageis similar to the Advanced Series Workforce Management Package. Itincludes:

• Strategic Planner

• Volume Capture (part of the Operations functions mentioned above)

• Pulse

• Alerts

• Standard reports

• Ad-hoc reports

• Advanced Adherence

• KPI Design (includes all the functionality of Basic Scorecards andAdvanced Scorecards)

This guide assumes at a minimum that you have the Operational Series.Modules and functions that are either optionally available or are onlyavailable in the Advanced Series or Strategic Series are appropriatelyidentified in the text.

ATTENTIONThe Workforce Optimization Solution includes the functions described in thisWorkforce Management guide. For that reason, you will at times see theproduct referred to as the Workforce Optimization Solution and at other timesas Workforce Management.

Logging into Workforce ManagementThere are two ways to start the web application in Nortel WorkforceManagement, depending on how your system is configured:

• Single sign-on

When your system has been configured for single sign-on, you do notlog into Workforce Management, or indeed, any of the Nortel WorkforceManagement applications, such as eLearning, or Nortel QualityMonitoring. All authentication is done when you log into Windows onyour computer.

• Application-dependent sign-on

You must log into each Nortel Workforce Management applicationindependently.




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To start Workforce Management:

Step Action

1 Open your web browser and type the URL of the server locationwhere Workforce Management is installed.

If your system is configured for single sign-on, WorkforceManagement displays the default page for your role, or the pagethat you have selected in Preferences. You can start working withWorkforce Management.

If your system is not configured for single sign-on, the Login pageopens.

2 Type your Username and Password (both are case-sensitive), thenclick Login. Workforce Management opens to the default page foryour role or the one you have selected in Preferences.

The following are special characters, and cannot be used withinNortel Workforce Management:

• [ left square bracket

• ] right square bracket

• < less-than sign

• > greater-than sign

• \ reverse solidus (backslash)

• " quotation mark

• & ampersand

• ! exclamation point

• ? question mark

Individual pages within Nortel Workforce Management might restrictthe use of some other characters

—End—

If users have forgotten their password, and provided your company’snetworking and security environment permits, they can click ResetPassword. The system will prompt them for certain data to identify them(the same data specified in the section Self-Identification of the WorkforceManagement Administration Guide), and if an e-mail address has beenregistered for them, it will send a temporary password to their e-mail




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Understanding Roles and Access Rights 15

address. They can use this temporary password to log in; the system willthen require them to change the temporary password and log in using thenew password they have selected.

ATTENTIONIf an e-mail address is not registered for them, they will be instructed to contacttheir system administrator either to reset their password or register an e-mailaddress for them, so they can reset it themselves.

Seat-Based LicensingLicensing is based either on the total number of employees, or the numberof concurrently scheduled employees, also referred to as seats.

If your license is based on seats, and your current schedules, published orunpublished, exceed the number of seats for which you are licensed, allusers will see one or both of the following error messages displayed onthe login page:

<x> seats are scheduled from <y> to <z>. Your license does not allowmore than <n> seats. Please contact your system administrator forassistance.<x> seats are published from <y> to <z>. Your license does not allowmore than <n> seats. Please contact your system administrator forassistance.

These error messages will continue to appear until the number of seatsproblem has been rectified. If this situation occurs for you and your users,please contact your Nortel sales representative as quickly as possible toresolve this situation.

Understanding Roles and Access RightsAccess to all functions is controlled through the use of roles. See RolesSetup in the Workforce Management Administration Guide (NN44480-600).A role defines a user’s access rights; each user must be assigned arole in order to log into Workforce Optimization Solution and WorkforceOptimization Solution will display or enable only those functions to whicha user’s role provides access. In Scorecards, your participation in KPIs isbased on roles.

Each user’s role is also assigned a scope. The scope can be either theorganization level to which the role applies, campaign to which the roleapplies, or group to which the role applies. For example, a manager mayhave access to the records of people in his own organization but not thosein other organizations, or a scheduler can have rights to schedule CampaignA, but not Campaign B. Roles limited to generic (non-organizational andnon-campaign) functions do not have scopes.




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ATTENTIONThe roles and associated access to the various functions, modules, sections, andtabs within Nortel Workforce Management are described in the documentationset as they would be for a new installation. If your systems has been upgradedfrom a previous release, your previous settings are maintained, making it possiblethat users might not have access to certain features. If you want to grant accessto these features, you will need to manually modify the role’s access rights, asdescribed in Roles Setup in the Workforce Management Administration Guide(NN44480-600). Refer to the Workforce Management Roles and Privileges Guide(NN44480-601) to determine what the various privileges control, as well as theirdefault role assignments.

Workforce Management comes preconfigured with nine different roles:

• Adhoc Query Analyst—Adhoc Query Analysts by default have accessonly to the Ad Hoc Reports section of the Reports module. Thissection lets them create, edit, and delete ad hoc reports, which arecreated using the Cognos Query Studio.

• Administrator—Administrators can generally set up and administer theWorkforce Optimization Suite’s functions and organizations, such asOrganization Setup, Security Setup, System Setup, Scorecards Setup,and Request Management Setup. Administrators are responsible foroperational and business configuration, not for the functions typicallyperformed by Information Technology (IT) organizations.

• Agent—Agents can generally view schedules, request timeoff, requestshift swaps, participate in shift bidding, run Learning lessons, enter theirtime and activities, and view their scorecards.

• Branch Administrator—Branch administrators can generally set upand administer the Workforce Optimization Solution solution’s functionsand organizations, in the context of retail financial services, which use asubset of the Workforce Management Express features.

• Branch Employee—Branch employees can generally view schedules,and enter their time and activities, and view their scorecards. They aresimilar to agents, but in the context of retail financial services, which usea subset of the Workforce Management features.

• Branch Manager—Branch managers combine some of the functionsof managers and schedulers (see below), again in the context of retailfinancial services, which use a subset of the Workforce Managementfeatures.

• Manager—Managers can generally manage people, view groupschedules, approve agents’ requests, view adherence status, authorizeadherence exceptions, create and view reports, and view and configureemployees scorecards.




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Navigating in Workforce Management 17

• Scheduler–In addition to their use of Forecasting and Scheduling,schedulers can use Workforce Management’s web application for avariety of tasks, including publishing schedules, viewing adherence data,managing requests, and viewing their own scorecards and organizationscorecards.

• Supervisor–Supervisors have a more limited set of permissionsthan managers. They can view scorecards for themselves and theiremployees, and view highlights. They also can use the Reports module.

Navigating in Workforce ManagementWorkforce Management uses a web-browser-based interface with anavigation bar and multiple levels of tabs.

The topmost level of navigation consists of modules, such as the following:

The next level of navigation is referred to as a section, such as the following:

The next level of navigation is referred to as a tab, such as the following:

In some modules, there is no need for a section level. Instead, the nextnavigation level consists of tabs.

In addition, if a role has access to only one module (as is the case for thedefault agent role), that module is hidden, and the sections below it aredisplayed as modules. For example, an agent would not see the My Homemodule, but its sections, such as My Schedule, would be displayed asmodules. This behavior allows agents to see more information on thescreen without having to scroll.




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Finally, a different type of lower-level navigation, consisting of sidebarelements, is only used for administrators in the System module’sAdministration section. General controls are located above the navigationbar:

• Click Refresh to update the data on your page.

• Click Print to print a copy of the current page.

• Click Send Message to send a pop-up alert to selected target users.See Sending Messages.

• Click Enter What If to enter What If mode. See What If Mode.

• Click Preferences to open the Preferences window. See "SettingPreferences" (page 21).

• Click Help to open the Workforce Optimization Solution Help systemand display help for the current page. See "Getting Help" (page 23).

• Click Logout to log out of the Workforce Optimization Solution. SeeLogging Out.

Navigate by clicking the appropriate button for the module, section, tab,or sidebar element you want to use. Note that the button configurationchanges depending on the user’s role.

If you resize your browser window, the rightmost buttons on the button barmay be hidden. Resize your browser window, scroll horizontally, or changeyour screen resolution to see them.

If you find yourself frequently changing among two or three tabs, you canopen multiple sessions in separate browser windows to make your accessto these tabs quicker and easier.

Agents typically have access to the following Workforce Optimization Suitemodules:

• My Schedule–You can view your own schedule, your group’s schedule,and your time-off, shift swap, and shift bidding requests. (Time-off andshift bidding are optional, separately-licensed functions.)

• My Requests–Allows you to view and manage your time-off, shift swap,and shift bidding requests (the latter is a separately licensed optionalfeature).

• My Profile–Allows you to review and update your personal information

Expanding PagesSome pages in Workforce Management use two panes with a selection liston the left and an action page on the right. Either side of these pages canbe expanded by clicking one of the arrow buttons between the panes.




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Navigating in Workforce Management 19

• Click the button facing right to expand the left pane into a summary list.

• Click the button facing left to expand the right pane into a full pagedisplay.

• To return to the original display, click the single-arrow button to the sideof the display. To switch the pages displayed, click the double-arrow.

The pane on the right may consist of one or more groupings, referred toas containers. Each container has its own title and can be collapsed orexpanded. Containers may contain multiple collapsed levels.

Expanding and Collapsing ListsSome lists have controls that allow you to expand the list completely, orto collapse it.

Click this button to expand the list.

Click this button to collapse the list.

For example, the following graphic shows the Organization Scope list in bothits expanded and collapsed form:




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Expanded Collapsed

Selecting Items in a Drop-Down MenuYou set the value of some items in the web interface using drop-downmenus. There are two types of drop-down menus:

• single-selection

You can only select one item from the drop-down menu.

• multi-selection

You can select one or more items, using the Ctrl key to selectnon-adjacent items or the Shift key to select a contiguous range of items.

The type of drop-down menu is indicated with the following buttons:

Single-selection

Multi-selection

Once you’ve finished multi-selecting, click, click the Multi-selection buttonagain.

If the items you have selected cannot be fully displayed in the selectionbox, position your cursor over the selection for a few seconds (known ashovering). The selected items will be displayed as a tool-tip. This sametechnique can be used for both single and multi-selections.

Expanding Truncated TextSome windows automatically truncate text in the Content Title area of thewindow. To indicate that the text has been truncated, the system adds anellipsis (...) to the end of the displayed text.




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Setting Preferences 21

To expand the text so you can see it in its entirety, position your cursorover the text for a few seconds (referred to as hovering). The full text thenappears in a pop-up box.

Sorting DataMany pages contain columns of information that can be sorted.

To sort information:

• Click the name of the column to be sorted. The column head turnsdarker and a small arrow indicates the sort order of the column.

• To reverse the sort order, click the name of the column again.

Printing a PageTo print a page:

Step Action

1 Click Print on the navigation bar. The Print dialog box opens.

2 On the Options tab, select Print frames as laid out on screen.

3 Click Print.

—End—

Setting PreferencesYou can set your viewing preferences by clicking Preferences on thenavigation bar. These settings remain in effect until you change them.These settings affect only your display. Some of the preference settingsshown may not be applicable to you, depending on your license.

Preferences allow you to choose the following display options:

General:

• Default Language—available languages are determined by yourlicense and made available by your administrator through the LicensedLanguages container of the System module’s Administration section’sGeneral sidebar element. If only one language is available, this optionis not displayed.

• Default Regional Format—sets the default format for:

— Date (short and long formats, order, separator)

— Time (12 or 24 hour and relevant symbols, separator, leading zero)

— Currency (symbol, number settings)




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— Number settings (000 separator, decimal point character)

— First day of week (in calendars)

The localized setting will be used anywhere dates, times, currencyfigures and numbers are displayed.

• Default Time Zone—activity times and schedules are displayed to youin this time zone.

• Default Screen at Login—the screen that first appears each timeyou log in.

User Interface:

• Show Navigation Images—toggles the display of the images shownabove the module names in the navigation bar. Suppressing the displayof the images allows more information to be displayed on your monitor,somewhat reducing the need to scroll.

• Show Organization Dropdown in Hierarchical Order—determineshow organizations are displayed in drop-down menus. If this parameteris checked, organizations are displayed in hierarchical order, that is,indention is used to show peer, parent, and child relationships. Allorganizations are shown, even those not in a user’s scope.

If this parameter is not checked, organizations are listed alphabetically.Only organizations in a user’s scope are shown.

• Repeat Header Every N Rows—the frequency a table or report headerwill be displayed as you scroll through a list. Type a number in the textbox. A blank box sets the number to the default, 30. Enter a zero (0) ifyou don’t want the header to repeat.

• Default Rows in a page—for pages that support pagination, the numberof rows to display by default for tabular data.

• Adherence Auto-Refresh (Today Only)—How often to auto-refreshadherence data. (Adherence is a separately licensed feature, and maynot be relevant for your organization. )

• Adherence Timeline Collapsed View—Which of the three time linesshown in expanded adherence data should be displayed when the datais shown in collapsed format. The choices are Scheduled, Actual, andException. (Adherence is a separately licensed feature, and may notbe relevant for your organization.)

• Pulse Auto-Refresh (Today in Date Range Only)—How often toauto-refresh Pulse data.




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Logging Off the System 23

Getting HelpHelp for each Workforce Optimization Solution web page is available byclicking the Help link on the navigation bar.

On the Help page, click the User Guides button to access the majorWorkforce Management user guides.

Click the About button to view statements about intellectual property, opensource attribution, and the user license.

Click the Close button to return to the main page.

Logging Off the SystemYou can log out of the Workforce Optimization Solution at any time.

To log out of the Workforce Optimization Solution:

• Click Logout on the navigation bar.




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25

Agent Modules

As agent, you have access to the following modules and tabs:

• My Schedule–You can view your own schedule, your group’s schedule,and your time-off, shift swap, and shift bidding requests:

— Summary–View the current week’s schedule in an abbreviatedformat, a time off summary, shift swap summary, and a shift biddingsummary. See "Viewing Your Schedule Summary" (page 27).

— Personal–View your detailed schedule information in a format bestsuited for printing. See "Viewing Your Personal Schedule" (page 28).

— Group–View schedule summary information for each day in aselected range for multiple employees in their own organizationsand other organizations as specified in the Time Off settings. See"Viewing Your Group Schedule" (page 29).

• My Requests–Allows you to view and manage your time-off, shift swap,and shift bidding requests (the latter is a separately licensed optionalfeature)

— My Requests–View your personal requests. See "My Requests"(page 32)

— My Time Off Calendar–View personal Time Off information inCalendar View. See "My Time Off Calendar" (page 51)

— My Time Off Report–View details on the time off you have taken andthe time off you have scheduled. See "My Time Off Report" (page52)

— Swap Board–View and create Shift Swap postings. See "SwapBoard" (page 52)

— My Bid Options–View available biddable schedules for a campaignand create Shift Bid Requests. Shift bidding is a separately licensedoptional feature. See "My Bid Options" (page 53)

— Policies–View Time Off, Shift Swap, and Shift Bidding Policies, aswell as Auto-Processing and Filing Rules information. See "Policies"(page 53)




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26 Agent Modules

• My Time–You use the My Time section, available as part of theAdvanced Workforce Management solution, to enter and updateactivities and view your schedule.

— Schedule–View your schedule of activities. See "Schedule" (page54)

— Time Record–Log onto the system, start and change activities, andend your shift. See "Time Record" (page 54)

— Log History–View a history of your activities. See "Log History"(page 55)

— My Adherence–Only visible if your site includes the separatelylicensed My Adherence feature. Allows you see your adherencedata (how well you are conforming to your assigned schedule) in agraphic form. In addition, it shows a summary of the data for the day.See "My Adherence" (page 56)

• My Scorecards–Allows you to view your scorecards. This moduleis documented in a separate guide, the Scorecards User Guide(NN44480-122).

• My Learning–Allows you to view advanced eLearning tools that delivercustomized lessons to your desktop. These lessons are designed toincrease your performance and competency rank. This module isdocumented in a separate guide, the Competency-based LearningStudent User Guide.

• My Profile–Allows you to review and update your personal information.

— Personal Information–View your personal information and updateyour password. See "Personal Information: Changing YourPassword" (page 58)

— Schedule Preferences–Specify or change your preferences on howyou are scheduled. These are your general preferences, and arenot related to a specific week or scheduling period. See "SchedulePreferences" (page 58)

If your license includes the optional Operations features, you will also seethe following module and tabs:

• My Volumes-Allows you to track current and historical work volumes:

— Work–Track workload of various types as it arrives, is completed,and pending (backlogged) through the day and week. See "Work"(page 60)

— History–View a history of your entered and completed work. See"History" (page 61)




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My Schedule 27

My ScheduleThe My Schedule module provides a quick and convenient way to workwith your schedule. Once your organization’s schedule is set in Forecastingand Scheduling, the Workforce Management scheduler publishes it (makesit available to you). You can then retrieve your personal schedule from theintranet with a standard web browser such as Internet Explorer.

In addition, depending on which features have been licensed, the MySchedule module’s functions allow you to submit time-off requests, proposeor accept shift swaps, and submit shift bids for schedules that are notassigned to a specific agent.

The My Schedule module contains the following tabs:

• Summary–Summarizes your schedule for the week, your time off for theyear, and any of your shift swap or shift bidding requests that are stillactive. See "Viewing Your Schedule Summary" (page 27).

• Personal–Shows your schedule details for the current week. You canalso change the range of dates to see additional schedule information.See "Viewing Your Personal Schedule" (page 28).

• Group–Shows the schedule for your entire group. See "Viewing YourGroup Schedule" (page 29).

Viewing Your Schedule SummaryThe Summary tab consists of up to four containers:

• This Week’s Schedule

This container displays a summary of your schedule for the currentweek. It includes:

— The number of days and paid hours you are scheduled to work.

— The times you are scheduled to work each day.

If your schedule has not yet been published, you will see the text NotPublished below the date.

• Time Off Summary (Hours) for Year

If your license includes Time Off Management, you will see thiscontainer, which shows the status and availability of your vacation days.

• Shift Swap

This container provides a list of your shift swap requests and their status.

• Shift Bidding

If your license includes Shift Bidding, this container provides a list ofyour shift bidding requests and their status.




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28 Agent Modules

Viewing Your Personal ScheduleThe Personal tab shows detailed schedule information for the current user.It is best suited for printing personal schedules.

To change the dates shown:

Step Action

1 Click on the date range selector icon next to the shown dates andselect the date range.

—End—

When selecting the date range, you can click one of the following buttonsat the bottom of the pop-up:

• Today

• Tomorrow

• This week

• Next week

Alternatively, you can select the start date on the left calendar, end dateon the right calendar, and click Set.

ATTENTIONYou can move both calendars in sync using the arrow buttons on either side of thewindow title Select Date Range. To move each calendar independently, use thearrow buttons on either side of the month’s name. The « and » buttons move inincrements of a year; the < and > buttons move in increments of a month.

If you do not want to change the date range in the selector, click Cancel.

To switch the view from text to graphical, use the View drop-down selectoron the top right of the page.

In graphical view, each date in the date range is represented by a record inthe Shift column (on the left). The record may show the shift start and endtimes, or No shift, or Not published. The color box on the left of the shiftshows the main shift activity. If you see a yellow information icon next to theshift end time, you can hover the mouse over it and read the shift comment.




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My Schedule 29

Each activity during a day is represented by a row, which shows the activitycolor box, activity name, activity start and end times, and an optionaldescription icon. The description is displayed when you hover the mouseover the yellow information icon.

In Text view, a shift overtime period is displayed on a separate line in theShift column and activities that are covered by an overtime period have across-hatch pattern on top of the color icon box next to the activity name inthe Activities column. The pattern resembles the following:

In Graphical view, when a shift assignment has an overtime period, eitherbefore the normal start or after the normal end of the shift, the samecross-hatched pattern used in Text view covers the overtime period. Thispattern can cover any event and background color.

Viewing Your Group ScheduleThe Group tab displays schedule summary information for each day ina selected range for multiple employees. The other views of the groupschedule display only one day on the page.

Each date in the date range for each person is represented by an entry inthe table. The entry may be one of:

• the start and end of the work period

• No shift

• Not published

• Off

The start and end usually represent the start and end of the shift, exceptwhen the shift is extended by an adjacent calendar event or when it istrimmed by a time-off event.

To change the dates displayed, click on the date range selector next to thedates shown and select the date range. When selecting the date range, youcan click one of the following at the bottom of the pop-up:

• Today

• Tomorrow

• This week

• Next week




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30 Agent Modules

Alternatively, you can select a start date on the left calendar, an end dateon the right calendar, and click Set . If you do not want to change the daterange in the selector, click Cancel.

You also have the option of switching the view from text to graphic or multidayformat using the View drop-down selector on the top right of the page.

Viewing the Schedule for a Different Group of EmployeesTo view a different group of employees, click on the group selector icon nextto the name of the current group. The group selector window appears asa pop-up window, which allows you to select a group of employees usingtheir organization and/or campaign associations.

Step Action

1 Select one organization in the left-hand tree, or select one campaignin the right-hand list, or select both an organization and a campaign.When selecting an organization, you can expand and collapseorganization tree branches by clicking the triangular icons to theleft of the organization names.

2 Click Save.

—End—

If both an organization and campaign are selected (highlighted), theselection will affect employees from the selected organization who areworking in the selected campaign, a subset of both organization andcampaign.

If only an organization name is selected, you are selecting all the employeesin this organization.

If only a campaign name is selected, you are selecting all the employeesworking in this campaign, regardless of their organization.

Changing the Schedule Sort OrderUse the Sort by drop-down selector to change the sort order. If you are notviewing the first page in a multipage list of the selected group of employees,changing the sort order takes you back to the first page.

You can sort the information on this screen by one of the following:

• Last Name

• First Name

• Start Time (shift start time)




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My Requests 31

• End Time (shift end time)

• Length (shift length)

Usage NotesIf the list of selected employees in the group is long, use the paginationdrop-down selector at the bottom left of the window to limit the number ofemployees being displayed, thus allowing the page to display quickly.

You can also use the scroll bars to view the continuation of the list. Thecolumn headers repeat every certain number of rows. You can change thisnumber in the Preferences window (see "Setting Preferences" (page 21).

To move to the next or previous page in a long list, use the next (right arrow)or previous (left arrow) buttons in the pagination control.

My RequestsThe My Requests module gives you access to up to six tabs, which allowyou to enter and manage your requests for time off, shift swaps, and shiftbids. The tabs are:

• My Requests—Allows you to view the status of any outstanding requestsyou made, as well as create new ones. See "My Requests" (page 32)

• My Time Off Calendar—If your license includes Time Off Management,shows you a graphic view of your organization’s time-off calendar for theupcoming 12 months. A color key allows you to distinguish such thingsas working holidays, blackout periods, and the like. See "My Time OffCalendar" (page 51)

• My Time Off Report—If your license includes Time Off Management,allows you to view details on the time off you have taken and the time offyou have scheduled.

• Swap Board—Allows you to view your own and others’ swap boardpostings, create new ones, and agree to a shift swap proposed byanother agent. See "Swap Board" (page 52)

• My Bid Option—If your license includes Shift Bidding, allows you tosubmit bids for schedules that have not been assigned to a specificagent. See "My Bid Options" (page 53)

• Policies—Allows you to see the organization policies that apply to shiftswaps, auto-processing, and filing rules. (A filing rule is a condition thatmust be met, such as submitting a request a certain number of daysin advance.) If your license includes Time Off Management and ShiftBidding, you will also see policies that apply to time-off requests andshift bids. See "Policies" (page 53)




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32 Agent Modules

My RequestsUse this tab to view personal requests. Click on the top of a column to sortby the column. Click again to reverse the sort order.

To view requests of specific type:

Step Action

1 Go to the View field on the top right area of the page and selectthe request type.

—End—

The Status column shows you the status of your requests, using the iconsin the following table:

Icon Meaning

The request has been approved. Below this icon you may seean additional icon if you have requested withdrawing the time-offrequest.

• A request to withdraw the approved time-off request is inprogress:

• A request to withdraw the approved time-off request has beenrejected:

The request has been denied.

The request has been escalated. (See "Escalating DeniedRequests" (page 50))

The request has expired.

The request is in negotiation.

The request is invalid.

The request is pending approval.

The request has been waitlisted. (A request that has been deniedcan be waitlisted for approval if conditions change.)

The request has been withdrawn.

The Alerts column shows you any violations of your organization’s rules forfiling your requests.




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My Requests 33

The validation rules for time off requests are listed in the following table:

Icon Rule and Description

Organization has available time off hours.This rule is violated if the total length of scheduled time off eventsduring the requested day(s) is greater that the number of hoursentered in the App Admin:Request Management:Available TimeOff page for the organization, to which the requester belongs. Ifavailable time off hours are entered for the organization branch,then this rule will be affected by time off events for all employeesin this branch.

Employee has enough time off hours.This rule is violated if the total length of scheduled time off events forthis employee during the time off year exceeds the yearly allotmententered on the People:Time Off page. Time Off year may be eitherthe employee anniversary year or a calendar year, as configured inthe App Admin:Request Management:Settings page.

Request complies with filing rules.This rule is violated if the request submittal date violates at leastone of the filing rules applicable to the requester’s organization.

Request avoids blackout days.This rule is violated if the request covers a day marked as ablackout day on the App Admin:Request Management:AvailableTime Off page.

Requested time off is not being swapped.This rule is violated if one or more request choices overlaps a shiftthat will be received from a pending shift swap request (state ofshift swap request is either pending, in negotiation or escalated).

Scheduled calendar event activities that the request avoids.This rule is violated if the requested time off period overlaps withthe selected scheduled calendar event(s):

• All

• Day Off

• Learning Break

• Meeting

• Project Filing

• Supervisor Meeting

• Tardy

• Training




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34 Agent Modules


Minimum duration of the request.This rule is violated if the request duration (end date - start date) isnot at least the specified minimum. The minimum can be expressedin units of Minutes, Hours, or Days.

Maximum duration of the request.This rule is violated if the request duration (end date - start date)exceeds the specified maximum. The maximum can be expressedin units of Minutes, Hours, or Days.

The validation rule for approved time-off withdrawal requests is listed in thefollowing table:


Request complies with filing rules.This rule is violated if the withdrawal request submittal dateviolates at least one of the filing rules applicable to the requester’sorganization.

The validation rules for shift swap requests are listed in the following table:


Both agents are from the same organization.This rule is violated if employees are assigned to differentorganizations.

Both agents are from the same campaign.This rule is violated if both shifts in a swap do not belong to thesame campaign. They may be in the different campaign-weeks,which would be OK.

Both agents have the same skills for the active campaignqueue.This rule is violated if the receiving agent does not have the sameskills as the agent currently scheduled to work the shift.

Both agents have the same proficiencies for the activecampaign queue.This rule is violated if the receiving agent does not have the sameskills and proficiencies as the agent currently scheduled to workthe shift.





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My Requests 35


Both agents comply with min/max hours.This rule is violated if, after the swap, at least one of the employeeswill not comply with the min/max hours during the correspondingweek(s) of the shift they get and the shift they give away in theswap.

Swapped shifts start on the same organization week.This rule is violated if the swapped shifts do not fall within the sameorganization week.

Swapped shifts have the same paid hours.This rule is violated if the total duration of paid time in the two shiftsis different.

Swapped shifts must overlap the exact same portion withscheduled calendar events and time offs, and not overlapunavailabilities.This rule is violated if:

• calendar events, which may or may not be inside a shift, do notoverlap the exact same portion of the swapped-in shift

• time off events, which may or may not be inside a shift, do notoverlap the exact same portion of the swapped-in shift

• any unavailability type event will overlap with the swappedshifts as the result of the swap

Swapped shifts will overlap scheduled calendar events thatmust occur during a shift.This rule is violated if calendar events, which have to be inside ashift, fall outside of shifts as the result of the swap.

Partial Shift Swap: Minimum duration of the shift that can beswapped: <x> Minutes/Percent.This rule is violated if the duration of the swapped shift is less thanthe specified duration.

Partial Shift Swap: Minimum duration of the shift to leave afterpickup: <x> Minutes/Percent.This rule is violated if the remaining shift duration after the swap isless than the specified duration.

Partial Shift Swap: Maximum shift duration allowed: <x>minutes per Organization Day/Rolling 24 Hour Period.This rule is violated if the total shift duration as a result of the swapis greater than the specified maximum. This rule can be appliedin 2 ways:

1. For organization day: the shift duration will be calculated usingthe organization day boundaries.

2. For a rolling 24-hour period: the rule will consider a rolling24-hour period before and after the shift for the durationcalculation.




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36 Agent Modules


Partial Shift Swap: Activities that cannot be included in theswap: <activity name(s) from drop-down>This rule is violated if the swap includes any of the specifiedactivities.

Partial Shift Swap: Gap should be between <x> and <y>minutes, or at least <z> minutes.This rule is violated if the gap created as a result of the swap isoutside the specified range, or if the gap is less than the specifiedduration. If both the range and the minimum are specified, the rulewill be violated only if both the conditions are violated.

Partial Shift Swap: Maximum overlap with an existing shift:<x> minutes.This rule is violated if the overlap with an existing shift caused dueto the swap is greater than the specified duration.

The validation rules for shift bidding requests are listed in the following table:



Agent’s schedule complies with min/max hours.This rule is violated if the requested schedule does not comply withthe employee’s min/max hours for the week of the auction.

Agent has sufficient skills for the selected schedule.This rule is violated if the employee does not have the skills as thephantom employee for whom the schedule is generated.

Agent’s schedule complies with organization hours ofoperation.This rule is violated if any of the requested shifts in the shift bid falloutside of the employee organization’s hours of operation.

You can edit, withdraw, view the details of existing requests, and escalatedenied requests using the icon buttons in the Actions column of this page.

The following icons are used in the Actions columns:


Cancel a request for withdrawal of an approved time-off request.

Edit the request.




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My Requests 37


View the request details. A pop-up window opens that providesseveral groups of information, each in its own container. ForTime-Off Requests, you see:

• Summary Information:

Contains information such as the Employee Name, Time OffType, and Time Off Hours.

• Alerts Information:

Displays the icons and a description for any failed validations.

• Time Off Choice(s) Information:

Contains Time Off Choice(s) information associated with theTime Off Request, such as choice ranking, dates, total duration,number of hours debited against time off, and choice alerts.

Each possible choice for a time off request is validatedindependently. For each failed validation, this area shows theicon and description of the validation, similar to that describedin the previous section on the alerts information.

• Status Information:

Contains the modification history (audit trail) of the Time OffRequests.

For Shift Bidding Requests, you see:

• Shift Bid Request Information:

This container displays Shift Bid Request information, and iseditable when you are creating or updating a Shift Bid Request.The information includes the Bid Name, Preference Level (ifapplicable), and comments associated with the requests.

When an Auction is configured to use Bonus Points, acheckbox allowing you to specify Use Points is displayed. Keepin mind that using points might affect the rank on the Shift BidRequests. This information is displayed in the Shift Bid Auctionsection of this form.

• Shift Bid Auction Information:

This container displays associated Shift Bid Auction informationand is not editable.

The information in this container includes Scheduling Periodand Deadlines.

• Biddable Schedule Information:

This container displays shifts assignment information for one ormore selected biddable schedules and is not editable.





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38 Agent Modules




Contains the modification history (audit trail) of the Shift BidRequests.

For Shift Swap Requests, you see:

• General Information:

This container lists the employees’ shifts to be swapped.Shift information includes shift type and date. It also containsinformation regarding the expiration of the request.




Contains the modification history (audit trail) of the Shift SwapRequests.

Escalate the request. (See "Escalating Denied Requests" (page 50)

Withdraw the request.Ordinarily, you can only withdraw requests until they’ve beenapproved. However, in some cases, depending on how yourmanager has structured the auction, you may see the Withdrawicon in the Actions column. In such cases, you can withdraw arequest even if it has been approved. Any bonus that was givenwhen the request was approved is removed, and you are enabledto submit a bid for a different shift.

Creating a Shift Swap RequestYou can create a shift swap posting to swap your entire shift or a portion of it.

To create a shift swap request:

Step Action

1 Click Create New Request on the toolbar; a menu appears listingthe available request types.

2 Select Shift Swap; a pop-up window appears allowing you to createa new request of that type.

3 In the Shift Swap Specification area at the top of the container, usethe drop-down menus to specify:

• Whether you are offering to swap a shift or a day off.

• Which type of swap (two-way or one-way)




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My Requests 39

• Whether you want to swap the entire shift or a portion of it

• For an entire shift, the date of that shift or day off: for a partialshift, the date and time range.

• Whether the other agent should pick the entire posting or canpick a portion of the posting.

ATTENTIONOnly one date is required for a one-way swap.

4 In the Expiration line (starts with the text This posting will expireon), specify when the request expires. (For existing requests innegotiation, this area shows when the negotiation expires.)

5 Specify whether you need feedback (The agent willing to swapshould send the request to me for confirmation) or allow the shiftswap request to be submitted to the manager by the other employeeinvolved in the swap (The agent willing to swap may submit therequest directly to the manager). (This area is only available whilethe request is still being negotiated.)

6 Optionally, while the request is still being negotiated, enter anegotiation comment. For example, you and the other personinvolved in the negotiation can use this area to provide feedbackto each other.

Negotiation comments are not submitted to the manager, however, ifyou are responding to a request and submitting the request directlyto your manager, you are also able to send comments on the requestto your manager.

—End—

Creating a Time Off RequestIf your license includes Time Off Management you can create a new TimeOff request, as follows:

To create a time off request:

Step Action


2 Select Time-Off; a pop-up window appears allowing you to create anew request of that type.




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40 Agent Modules

3 In the container at the top of the window, specify the Time Off Type,Time Off Hours, and optionally fill in the Comment area.

Time Off Types include:

• Floating Holiday

• Personal Day

• Sick

• Unavailable

• Vacation.

Time Off types can also include other activities that youradministrator has configured as requestable time off.

Time Off Hours specifies what kind of effect you want the time offrequest to have on your regularly scheduled hours. For all of theTime Off types except Unavailable, the possible choices are:

• Use my time-off hours to schedule my absence: You areasking to use your allocated time off hours and work less hoursthan your full schedule for that week.

• Schedule around my time-off request if possible: You areasking your manager to schedule you as needed, except for thetime you’ve requested off. As an example, if you normally workan 8-hour shift and have requested the two hours at the endof your shift as time off, you could be scheduled to work sixhours, or you could still be scheduled to work eight hours, takinginto account your time off. In the first case, the results of thischoice are exactly like Use my time-off hours to schedule myabsence. In the second case, you are not debited for any timeoff, because you worked a full shift.

For Unavailable, the choice is:

• Mark as unavailable and schedule around this time: You areasking your manager to schedule you for your full amount ofwork hours, working around the time marked as unavailable.

4 Select at least one Time Off choice. To add a new Time Off Choice,click Add, and use the date selector to specify the time off range.You can request time off in increments ranging from 15 minutes tohours (partial days) to one or more days.

Only one date choice per request can be approved. Multiple choicesare intended for long-term vacation planning.

To request several periods, submit several requests.




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My Requests 41

The rank of the Time Off Choice can be specified by selecting theTime Off Choice row and then use the toolbar buttons to move itup or down.

5 To delete a Time Off Choice, select it and click Delete.

—End—

The Time Off Calendar container contains Time Off Information for fourconsecutive months. This information is intended to help you make the rightchoices for time-off dates. (You cannot select a time-off period by clickingon dates in the Time Off Calendar container.)

The months to be shown can be changed through the month and yeardrop-down menus in the header of the container.

The Time Off Calendar Color Legend can be toggled by clicking Legend inthe header of the container.

Creating a Shift Bidding RequestIf your license includes the optional feature of Shift Bidding, you use thispage to view available biddable schedules for an auction and to create ShiftBidding requests.

Shift bidding is done in the context of a shift auction. Your manager oranother person with the appropriate access rights and permissions createsthe auction, and then adds agents to the auction.

Agents who are added to the auction are notified, typically using WorkforceManagement alerts (e-mail), which include the deadline by which they mustsubmit their shift bidding requests.

If you are notified that you have been added to an auction, you can viewschedules for a campaign before submitting your shift bidding request: Toview the schedules:

• Select a campaign from the list of available campaigns shown in thebrowser box to the right of the tab’s title (Bid Options).

The page refreshes and displays the biddable schedules for the selectedcampaign.

To create a shift bidding request:

Step Action





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42 Agent Modules

2 Select Shift Bidding; Workforce Management automatically opensto the My Bid Options tab.

3 Select a single schedule if the Auction is configured to bid on FullSchedule.

or

Select multiple schedules if the Auction is configured to bid onIndividual Shifts.

4 Click Create.

The Shift Bid Request Form appears enabling you to create, modify,or view Shift Bid Requests. This page contains the followingcontainers:

• Shift Bid Auction information

This container displays associated Shift Bid Auction informationand is not editable. The information in this container includesScheduling Period and Deadlines.

• Biddable Schedule information

This container displays Shifts Assignment information for one ormore selected Biddable Schedules and is not editable.

• Shift Bid Request information

This container displays Shift Bid Request information, and iseditable when you are creating or updating a Shift Bid Request.The information includes the Bid Name, Preference Level (ifapplicable), and comments associated with the requests.

When an Auction is configured to use Bonus Points, a checkboxallowing you to specify Use Points is displayed. Keep in mind thatusing points might affect your rank on the Shift Bid Requests. Thisinformation is displayed in the Shift Bid Auction section of this form.

5 Click Save to create or update a Shift Bid Request.

—End—

Understanding Bid Rank information Bid Rank shows your rank forthe biddable schedule.

In schedules for Shift Bid Auctions that use Scoring, you might see a BidRank shown as 3(1). In such cases, the value in parenthesis represents thebid rank if you were to apply points to the bid. This notation is only shownwhen you have not submitted any bid for the schedules.




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My Requests 43

Sorting and Filtering Shift Bid RequestsYou can sort the biddable schedules by clicking the column heading. Anarrow appears to the right of the column heading, showing the directionof the sort.

You can click on additional columns -- the system sorts the biddableschedules by the last three columns selected. The last column selected isthe primary sort. For example, by clicking on the Preference column, thenthe Bonus column, and then twice on the Hours column, the display wouldbe sorted primarily by the number of hours, highest to lowest, then by Bonus(lowest to highest), and then by Preference, lowest to highest.

Clicking on one of the date column headers brings up a pop-up menu thatallows you to sort that column by one of:

• Shift Start

• Shift End

• Shift Length

The settings that you currently have active for sorting can be displayedusing the Filter and Sort Settings controls above the table showing yourbid options.

You can scroll through the contents of the Filter and Sort Settings area usingthe scroll controls at its right side, or click the expand button to expand thearea to show all your current settings.

You can also filter requests.

To create a filter:

Step Action

1 Click the Filter button.

The Request Filter Configuration window opens.

2 Select the options as desired for shifts and schedules, activities,and skills, and click Save.

The available options provide a great flexibility for filtering, and aredescribed in the following table:

Option Description

Shifts and Schedules




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44 Agent Modules

Option Description

Template Name You can filter on the name of the templateassigned to the biddable schedule.

Note: The names assigned to biddableschedules have two possible sources. Iffiltering on the template name does not seemto work correctly, try filtering on the shift name(described later in this table).

Availability You can filter on the number of instances of aparticular template that have not yet been bidupon. (Refer to the column Available on theMy Bid Options tab.) Choices are:

• Any Number of Options

No filtering will be done for thischaracteristic.

• Equal To

Causes a field to appear where youspecify the number of instances.

• No More Than


• No Less Than


• Between

Causes two fields to appear, where youcan specify the range of instances.

Schedule Length You can filter on the length (in hours) of aparticular template. (Refer to the columnHours on the My Bid Options tab.) Choicesare:

• Any Length


• Equal To

Causes a field to appear where youspecify the number of hours.

• No More Than





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My Requests 45

Option Description

• No Less Than


• Between

Causes two fields to appear, where youcan specify the range of hours.

Shift Name Similar in use to the Template Name optiondescribed previously.

Shift Length You can filter on the length (in hours) of aparticular shift (the number of hours on aparticular day). Choices are:

• Any Length


• Equal To


• No More Than


• No Less Than


• Between


Shifts Starting You can sort on the time that a shift starts.Choices are:

• Any Time


• At

Causes a time selector to appear,where you can select the exact shiftstart time on which you want to filter. Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.




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46 Agent Modules

Option Description

• Not After

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or before whichthe filtered shifts should begin (similarto a less than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.

• Not Before

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or after whichthe filtered shifts should begin (similar toa greater than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.

• Between

Causes a time range selector to appear,where you can select a time rangebetween which the filtered shifts shouldbegin. A checkbox Match all shifts inschedule also appears, which filters all ofthe shifts in the schedule based on thesame time constraint.

Shifts Ending You can sort on the time that a shift ends.Choices are:

• Any Time


• At

Causes a time selector to appear,where you can select the exact shiftend time on which you want to filter. Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.

• Not After




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My Requests 47

Option Description

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or before whichthe filtered shifts should end (similar toa less than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.

• Not Before

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or after whichthe filtered shifts should end (similar toa greater than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint.

• Between

Causes a time range selector to appear,where you can select a time rangebetween which the filtered shifts shouldend. A checkbox Match all shifts inschedule also appears, which filters all ofthe shifts in the schedule based on thesame time constraint.

Activities

Activity Name You can filter on the name of up to twoactivities within the schedules displayed. Forexample:

• Break

• CKA

• Late

• Learning Break




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48 Agent Modules

Option Description

Length You can filter on the length (in hours) of aparticular activity. Choices are:

• Any Length


• Equal To


• No More Than


• No Less Than


• Between


Starting You can sort on the time that an activitystarts. Choices are:

• Any Time


• At

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the exact activity starttime on which you want to filter. Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint for that activity.

• Not After

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or before whichthe filtered shifts should begin (similarto a less than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint for that activity.

• Not Before




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My Requests 49

Option Description

Causes a time selector to appear, whereyou can select the time at or after whichthe filtered shifts should begin (similar toa greater than or equal to constraint). Acheckbox Match all shifts in schedulealso appears, which filters all of the shiftsin the schedule based on the same timeconstraint for that activity.

• Between

Causes a time range selector to appear,where you can select a time rangebetween which the filtered shifts shouldbegin. A checkbox Match all shifts inschedule also appears, which filters all ofthe shifts in the schedule based on thesame time constraint for that activity.

Skills

Skills Associatedwith Shift

Displays a two-column table listing the skillsyou have.) Select (or multi-select) the skillson which you wish to filter and click the rightarrows button to move the skill(s) to theSelected Skills column (or the left arrowsto remove a skill from the Selected Skillscolumn.Additional radio buttons allow you to specifywhether you want to filter for an exact matchfor the skills you’ve selected, or whether youwant to see other possible matches. Theavailable radio buttons are:

• At Least These Skills

You want to see any shifts which includethe selected skills.

• At Most These Skills

You do want to see any shifts whichinclude skills other than the ones you’veselected, but you do want to see shiftsthat might not include all of the skillsyou’ve selected.

• Exactly These Skills

You only want to see shifts which includethe selected skills.




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50 Agent Modules

—End—

Escalating Denied RequestsIf one of your requests is denied, and you would like your manager toreconsider, you can escalate the request:

Step Action

1 Click the Escalate icon in the Actions column of the My Requeststab.

A Request Status Change window opens.

2 Enter an explanation why you are escalating this request in the AddComment area.

3 Click Continue to send the escalated request to your manager.

The escalated request’s status changes from denied to escalated,as shown by the change in the icon in the Status column.

—End—

Viewing Request NotificationsYour administrators and schedulers can specify certain conditions that willcause Workforce Management to send you an alert about such things aschanges in your scheduled activities, changes in the status of a requestyou submitted for time off, or shift swapping, or, if your license includes it,optional shift bidding.

These alerts can take the form either of pop-up messages appearing onyour workstation, or an email.

In the case of emails sent to you about your shift requests, the email includesa link that allows you to view the request, as shown in the following graphic:




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My Requests 51

My Time Off CalendarIf your license includes Time Off Management, you can use this page toview personal Time Off information in Calendar View.

To change the calendar being displayed:

Step Action

1 Go to the Content Title area where there is a drop-down menu forthe month and year. Select the desired month or year; the pagerefreshes with the selected month and year as the starting calendar.

The previous and next month can be chosen through the left andright arrow beside the month and year drop-down menu.

This page supports two viewing modes:

• Year at a glance

• 2 months

The 2-months mode displays two calendars that contain more detail,such as Hours available, scheduled time off, and hours pending.

In addition, the 2-month mode has two possible display views:

• Organization

• Personal

In 2-month mode, each day of the month contains three numbersdisplayed below the calendar date:

• hours allocated or hours available

In the Organization display view, the hours allocated indicate thetotal number of time-off hours allocated for that day to the currentorganization.

In the Personal display view, the hours available indicate theremaining number of time-off hours allocated for that day to thecurrent organization.

• hours pending

In the Organization display view, the number of time-off hours forthat day that have not been approved or denied for the entireorganization. In the Personal display view, the number of yourtime-off hours for that day that have not been approved or denied.

• scheduled time off

In the Organization display view, the number of time-off hoursapproved for that day for the entire organization. In the Personal




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display view, the number of your time-off hours approved for thatday.

The Time Off Calendar Legend is also displayed at the bottom ofthe page.

—End—

To create a new time-off request:

Step Action

1 Click Create New Request on the toolbar; a pop-up window appearsallowing you to create a new time-off request.

—End—

My Time Off ReportIf your license includes Time-Off Management, this tab allows you to viewdetails on the time off you have taken and the time off you have scheduled.

To view time off events, select the time frame for which you wish to viewthe time off report.

The time off taken and scheduled time off events are displayed in differentcontainers.

Swap BoardThe Swap Board page allows you to view Shift Swap postings. Click on thetop of a column to sort by the column. Click again to reverse the sort order.

Note: A Shift Swap posting is an announcement by one person aboutthe intention to swap with someone else. A Swap Request is a contractbetween two agents, and has to be approved by a manager.

To view postings for a specific group:

• Go to the View field on the top right area of the page and select theGroup Type. The support options are:

— My Postings—Show only your postings.

— All Postings—Show all available postings.

— My Campaign—Show postings that belong to your campaign.

— My Organization—Show postings that belong to your organization.




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Note: The options All Postings, My Campaign, and My Organizationfilter out postings with which you cannot swap.

To view the skills of the agent who posted a specific request:

• Click on the agent’s name under the Name column for a specific ShiftSwap Request.

To create a new Shift Swap Posting, click Create New Posting on thetoolbar and refer to the detailed instructions in "Creating a Shift SwapRequest" (page 38).

You can edit and withdraw your own postings or pick up a posting fromanother employee using the Actions column on this page.

Click the View Schedule button in the Actions column to view your ownschedule for the date that matches the selected posting’s shift date.

My Bid OptionsIf your license includes Shift Bidding, you can use this page to view availablebiddable schedules for an auction and to create Shift Bid Requests.

To view schedules for a auction:

• Select an auction from the list of available auctions shown in the browserbox to the right of the tab’s title (Bid Options).

The page refreshes and displays the biddable schedules for the selectedauction.

To create a shift bid request, refer to the detailed instructions starting"Creating a Shift Bidding Request" (page 41).

PoliciesUse this tab to view Shift Swap, auto-processing, and filing rules. Dependingon your license, you might also see Time Off and Shift Bidding Policies.

The Policies tab can show the following containers:

• Time Off Management Policies:

States the policies associated with Time Off.

• Shift Swap Policies:

States the policies associated with Shift Swap.

• Shift Bidding Policies:

States the policies associated with Shift Bidding.

• Auto Processing:




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Displays information about all Auto Processing settings for yourorganization for each Request Type.

• Filing Rules:

Displays information about all Filing Rules for your organization for eachRequest Type.

My TimeThe My Time module of Workforce Management is part of the Time OffManagement feature. It is by default part of the Advanced WorkforceManagement solution, but can be optionally added to the OperationalWorkforce Management solution. The section is used to log your activitiesduring the day, review your schedule, and view a log history of your activities.

It contains three tabs:

• Schedule

• Time Record

• Log History

If your license includes the optional My Adherence feature, you will see afourth tab, My Adherence.

ScheduleUse the Schedule tab to view your scheduled activities for the day. Use thedate selector to select a different day and then click the Refresh button toupdate the data.

You can also start or change your activities from this page. See "Selectingan Activity" (page 54).

Time RecordThe Time Record tab is used to record your activities during the day.

When you first start your shift, you select an activity on this page. You willreturn to this page when you change activities during your shift, and use itto end your shift at the end of your workday. Your activities are displayedon the left side of the screen as you start them.

Selecting an ActivityUse the Activity Selection section to start an activity or end your shift.

To start or complete an activity:

Step Action

1 Select an Activity Type from the menu.




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My Time 55

2 Select an Activity from the drop-down menu. Your most recentactivities are listed under the Recent Activity Type.

3 Type any notes or comments you want your supervisor to seeregarding the activity you’ve selected.

4 Click Start Activity. This completes the current activity (if any) andstarts the new one. The action also logs you onto or off of yourdevice and makes an entry in the Log History.

—End—

To end your shift:

• Click End Shift. This completes your current activity and logs you offthe system.

Note: Logging out of Workforce Management will NOT end your shift orchange your current activity. You must use the End Shift button.

Starting Another ShiftIf you end a shift and need to start another activity the same day, a newshift is created.

To start a new shift:

• Start a new activity. A new shift is recorded.

Automatic Merging and Ending of ShiftsWorkforce Management automatically merges shifts that have less than twohours between the end of one and the start of the next into a single shift.They are separated by a system-defined activity.

Workforce Management automatically creates an End Shift event if theduration of an activity is more than ten hours. (This ten-hour setting can beadjusted by your administrator.) A Start Shift event is recorded when thenext activity begins.

Viewing Your Time RecordsWhen you start an activity, a record is displayed in the left side of the page.The duration of the activity is not displayed until you select a new activityor end the shift.

Log HistoryUse the Log History tab to view a history of your activities.




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Use the date selector to select a date range and then click the Refreshbutton to update the data.

My AdherenceThis tab shows your adherence data (how well you are conforming to yourassigned schedule) in a graphic form. In addition, it shows a summary ofthe data for the day.

There are three controls at the top of the page:

• The Refresh Rate selector. You can have the data refreshed at specificintervals (5, 10, 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes), or not at all. This selector isonly visible when the data being displayed is for the current day.

• A Date selector. The right and left arrow buttons allow you changethe displayed date one day at a time. A date selector allows you toimmediately go to a specific date.

• A Refresh button. This button refreshes the data displayed on demand,and is visible regardless of whether the data being displayed is for thecurrent day.

The remainder of the page is divided into two major sections:

• Adherence information graph

• Summary

Adherence Information GraphYour adherence information (see the previous graphic) is shown on threelines, graphed against the hours of the day in your time zone:

• Scheduled: For scheduled activities.




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• Primary - ACD: For actual activities. (Your administrator might haverenamed this line.)

• Exceptions: For adherence exceptions.

A colored cell in one of the first two rows indicates the type ofscheduled/actual activity for that time slot (the Legend button pops up awindow that indicates the color for each activity). A colored cell in the thirdrow indicates that you are out of adherence for that time slot (green indicatesan approved exception, while orange indicates an unapproved exception).

A fourth line might also be displayed, if your administrator has enabled itfor you:

• Secondary - Desktop: For supplemental/desktop activities. (Youradministrator might have renamed this line.)

Summary InformationThe summary section contains the following data, with all values shown inHH:MM format:

• Approved Exception Hours: The total duration of all approvedexceptions for the day.

• Unapproved Exception Hours: The total duration of all unapprovedexceptions for the day.

• Scheduled In-Office Hours: The total duration of all scheduledactivities for the day that do not map to the system-defined No Activity.When viewing the current day, this value counts the scheduled hoursup to the current time only.

Note: The use of the term In-Office is not related to physicallypresent employees vs. work-at-home employees.

• Exceptions during In-Office Hours: The total duration of allunapproved exceptions for the day that occur during scheduled activitiesthat do not map to the system-defined No Activity. Only the minutesthat overlap between the exceptions and the scheduled in-office hoursare counted.

• Day’s Adherence: The percentage of time during scheduled in-officehours that you are in adherence. This value is calculated using thefollowing formula: (1 - (Adherence Exceptions during In-Office Hours /Scheduled In-Office Hours)) * 100. When viewing the current day, thisvalue counts the scheduled hours up to the current time only.

Note: This calculation is computed using the exact underlyingdurations (with millisecond precision) , rather than using the roundedvalues displayed in the table. Also, the percentage is rounded to




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the nearest integer. Therefore, the value displayed may be slightlydifferent than the number you arrive at by your own calculations.

RoundingAlthough seconds are not displayed in the Summary Table, if the underlyingnumber of seconds is greater than or equal to 30, the minutes value willbe rounded up. So, if an underlying duration is 7 hours, 59 minutes, 30seconds, then it is displayed as "08:00" (8 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds).

Current DayWhen viewing the current day (today), the values in the Summary Table areonly up to the current time. For example, if you are scheduled for 8 hoursfrom 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the current time is 10:00 AM, the ScheduledIn-Office Hours will be one hour ("01:00"). If that first hour is made upof 30 minutes of adhering exceptions, and 30 minutes of non-adheringexceptions, the Approved Exception Hours will be "00:30," the UnapprovedException Hours will be "00:30," and the Adherence Exceptions duringIn-Office Hours will be "00:30." The Day’s Adherence will be 50%. As youcan see, the 50% does not mean that half of the day is in adherence, butrather than half of the scheduled time up to now is in adherence.

My ProfileUse the My Profile module to review your personal information, change yourpassword if desired, and view and set your schedule preferences.

Use the right arrow buttons to expand or contract each section.

Personal Information: Changing Your PasswordTypically, you should not need to change any of the information shownon the Personal Information tab, with the exception, perhaps, of yourpassword. Use the Login Data container of the Personal Information tab ofthe My Profile module to change your password, as described on "PersonalInformation: Changing Your Password" (page 58).

Schedule PreferencesThe Schedule Preferences tab allows you to specify or change yourpreferences on how you are scheduled. These are your general preferences,and are not related to a specific week or scheduling period.

The page consists of three containers:

• Start Time Preference

• Day Off Preference

• Over Time and Voluntary Time Off Preference




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My Profile 59

Note: Although your manager and the Workforce Management’sscheduling algorithms make an effort to accommodate your schedulingpreferences, there is no guarantee that your preferences can beaccommodated.

Start Time PreferenceIn this container fill in your first, second, and third shift start time preferencesfor each day of the week. To designate a preference starting at an exacttime, enter only the first time in the range. To specify a preferred range oftimes, enter both the from and to times.

Note: The time periods you enter cannot overlap.

Select your general preference for starting early or late by clicking one ofthe radio buttons:

• No preference

• Early

• Late

Day Off PreferenceSelect your preferences for days of the week you have off and sort them inyour preferred order.

Select your general preference for which is most important, your preferencesfor a day off or your preferences for a start time, by clicking one of the radiobuttons:

• Day off preferences are more important than start time

• Start time preferences are more important than day off

• They are equally important

Over Time and Voluntary Time Off PreferenceUnforeseen variations can cause the need to revise schedules. Twopossible ways to revise a schedule involve either assigning over time, orsending people home early (referred to as voluntary time off). This containerallows you to express your preferences for over time before the start of ashift or at the end of a shift, and for voluntary time off at the beginning of ashift or at the end of the shift.

Accordingly, there are preference settings in this container:

• Over Time Before Shift

• Over Time After Shift

• Voluntary Time Off at Shift Start

• Voluntary Time Off’ at Shift End




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For each of these, use the drop-down menu to the item’s right to set yourpreferences. Possible choices are:

• No Preference

• Prefer

• Do not Prefer

As noted previously, there is no guarantee that your preferences can beaccommodated.

My VolumesThe My Volumes module is only visible if you are licensed for the Operationsfeatures, and allows you to track current and historical work volumes. Itcontains two tabs:

• Work

Track workload of various types as it arrives, is completed, and pending(backlogged) through the day and week.

• History

View a history of your entered and completed work.

WorkUse the Work tab to track workload of various types as it arrives, iscompleted, and pending (backlogged) through the day and week.

You can use this tab to view a summary of the work entered for you. You can:

• Enter the amount of work “checked out” from a work queue and “checkedin” when completed

• Track new work that arrives

• View the status of each work queue’s inventory on an intra-day and/orintra-week basis

There are 5 types of VCT events for which work can be entered; the workqueue profile determines which events are applicable for that given workqueue.

• Arrivals—Team managers have the ability to add arrivals to workqueues, which increases their inventories by the arrivals number. Thearrivals get transformed into volumes through an Integration Serveradapter.

• Inventory—Provides you with a net total of outstanding work for eachwork queue of the organization at which you are working.

• Check-Out—Identifies a quantity of inventory as being worked on byyou. Checking work out for a work queue or sub-work queue decreases




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My Volumes 61

the inventory level of that work queue or sub-work queue by that valueand increases Work in Progress (WIP) by that value. Work can bechecked out through this page.

• Check-In—Work that is tied to a work queue or sub-work queue thathas been checked out can be checked back in. This process removesthe amount from the Work in Progress (WIP) tally for that work queueor sub-work queue by the value of the Check-In. Work can be checkedin through this page.

• Work-In-Progress (WIP)—Provides you a current net total of your workthat has been checked out for the work queue in question. (Check-Outincreases WIP; Check-In decreases WIP.)

The default view of this tab allows new work to be entered for the currentdate and time. You can click the Selected time radio button to display a dateand time selector so work can be checked out or checked in, or arrivalsadded, for a work queue at a particular date and time in the past.

HistoryUse the History tab to view a history of your entered and completed work.

You can:

• View history by event type, or can select [All Events] to view the historyfor all events

• Select the work queue to view or select [All Work Queues] to view allwork queues together

• View the corresponding time that an entry occurred

• Sort any of the columns

Additionally, the Managed column for a row indicates that the OperationsArrival Processing adapter has been run for that instance, and, if the eventis an arrival, that it has been converted into a volume for that work queue.For that reason, a managed row is not editable.




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Nortel Workforce Management

Agents' GuideCopyright © 2009, Nortel NetworksAll Rights Reserved.

Publication: NN44480-112Document status: StandardDocument version: 01.01Document date: 6 October 2009

While the information in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable, except as otherwise expressly agreed to in writingNORTEL PROVIDES THIS DOCUMENT "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS ORIMPLIED. The information and/or products described in this document are subject to change without notice.

Nortel, Nortel Networks, the Nortel logo, and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.

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