service levels

[cmitch]

I am a call center manager in a new position and want to know how to explain how you arrive at service levels in an inbound call center and how it is tied in to staffing. I know how service levels are measured based on your goals but how do you figure in the staffing?

[dreamer07]

I think it is more related to the amount of staffing u have for the project now as we know there could be two scenarios for this one being the call flow and the other being post call processing ,u could think of controlling break times for the people on floor by taking in more buffers coz it will automatically help you on absentism for the day and also do keep a check on the times when u have more amt of call flow in the center cause this will give u an idea on the staffing strength required hence scheduling can be done accordingly.

[JoeB]

Staffing calculations are based on target service levels as well as on call load. The theory behind the calculations is explained in this article http://www.diagnosticstrategies.com/..._modeling.htm. Because the actual calculations are quite complex and the process is iterative, optimizing to achieve best performance with minimal staff while maintaining acceptable workload, this is best done using call center software such as http://www.diagnosticstrategies.com/EasyErlang.htm.

You can use the same process to determine the service level and other performance indicators, such as response time and abandonment rates, for a given headcount.

Let me know if I can be of further help. Feel free to email directly (jbarkai@DiagnosticStrategies.com) with specific questions.

Joe