Availability Calculations

[Arthur]

Can someone explain to me how to calculate agent availability?

Thanks!!!

[jeffchow]

Go can download the free copy of the Quick Staff software from www.thecallcenterschool.com, it can with the instructions as well.

[JoeB]

Arthur,

What do you mean by availability? Most staffing calculators will give you an estimate of utilization (occupancy rate), which determines how much of the time agents are handling incoming service requests.

You may also want to know how much excess capacity your call center has, that is how many additional service requests that call center can take in its current staffing and utilization rate. Download www.DiagnostiStrategies.com/EasyErlang.htm which calculates current and excess call capacity.

Let me know if you want the actual mathematical formulae to calculate theseÂ…

Joe

[Arthur]

Thanks to both Jeff Chow and Joe B for posting replies.

I will download the information per your suggestions, but to add more color to Joe B's point, our center is currently capturing agent availability using this mathematical formula:

ACD + Avail Time / Total Staff Time = Availability Percentage

It is my understanding that Agent Availability is slightly different that Occupancy or Agent Utilization which is calculated this way:

ACD + ACW / Total Staff Time.

Occupancy or Agent Utilization is inversely proportionate to service level (in theory). As agent occupancy rises, service level deteriorates. Conversely, as service level improves, occupancy deteriorates and agents are available to to handle more calls.

Can either of you confirm that the Availability Percentage formula we are using is correct or add further comments.

I appreciate it.

Thanks!

Art
Georgia

[JoeB]

Before we analyze the “availability” formula, we need to define the intended purpose. I must admit that at first glance I am not sure what it is trying to do… I am not sure what is the purpose of adding talk time and available time, and ignoring ACW. Do you have any guess?

Availability is sometimes defined as the amount of time an agent is available during the day, that is time less breaks, meetings, etc, (similar to daily planned shrinkage, i.e. does not include sick time or vacations.)

If by availability you mean idle time, then it is simply the inverse of occupancyÂ…

Your occupancy formula is fine, as long as “Total Staff Time” is actual time (talk, ACW and idle) and not total shift time.

Occupancy has an exponential inverse relation to service level. As you increase the service level (without increasing staff), utilization increases. For a given call load and service level target, utilization decreases exponentially as you add agents.

I hope this helps

Joe

[Arthur]

Joe -

I am trying to make sure our availability measurement definition is correct. Based on your definition, that is exactly what I am trying to ensure: "Availability is sometimes defined as the amount of time an agent is available during the day, that is time less breaks, meetings, etc, (similar to daily planned shrinkage, i.e. does not include sick time or vacations.)"

Additionally, I agree that ACW should be included in the ACD + Avail divided by Total Phone Time (Not Shift Time) in order capture the percentage of time agents are "available" to take calls. I don't think we are taking ACW into consideration as part of the forumla to capture "agent availability."

Thanks for all of your responses. You have been a great help.

Art

[JoeB]

Art,

Ahh, maybe we are on the right track then. Usually availability as an input parameter, that is, we define how much time we assume agents are unavailable due to breaks, meetings etc. Some staffing calculators (e.g. EasyErlang) can take this input directly, increasing headcount by that factors; in other cases you should factor shrinkage manually.

I understand that you want to find out the actual availability, but not the idle time (waiting for the next call to arrive). If agents have to log on and off, then availability is the total of logged-on time. If this is not the case, then the available time is to sum of talk time, ACW, and idle time (which you derive from the occupancy rate). The percentage availability will be this sum divided by shift time(!)

What do you think?
Joe

[Arthur]

Joe -

Ok man...I was with you for a second but now I am confused. Not by your comment, but the interrelation of terms (though I understand that the terms are sometimes interrelated incorrectly)

Let me ask it this way - two part question:

1. What is the difference between agent availability (as we have been discussing) and occupancy?

2. What is the difference between calculating availability & occupancy?

You are still the man but you tried to trip me up! (just jokes)

Art

[JoeB]

Art,

It is confusingÂ… I often trip over my own logic

Here are the definitions I am trying to use, hopefully consistently.

Availability – time during the shift an agent is available to service calls. So if in an 8-hour shift the agent spends an hour doing other work, then availability is 87.5% (7 / 8 = 0.875).

Occupancy describes how busy the agents are when they are on the phone (during those 7 hours). 70% occupancy means that they actually service requests (talking calls, researching issues and ACW) for app. 5 hours (7 x 0.7 = 4.9).

The rest of the time (2 hours) agents are waiting for the next service request to arrive, taking breaks, etc.

My other (confusing) comment was trying to propose a way to figure out the actual availability if agents do not log their time and you donÂ’t have a hard figure (the 87.5% above).

Joe

[n_meghanath]

Arthur,

I understand there could be lot of confusion as availability could be translated in many ways. Now, lets understand what we actually need,

Agents logged in for 9 hrs
Break - 1 hr
Quality feedback 30 min
idle time- 2 hrs
Talk time-4 hrs 30 min
ACW 1 hr

As far as I understand we would have to see how we calculate as per our need. I feel the first two things that we generally need is Occupany( Meaning amount of time occupied). confusing? ok we can have 2 occupany, 1 telephone occupancy and another in chair occupancy.

Telephone occupancy(which someone might term it as agent utilization)=talk time+acw/agent logged in time=4.5+1/9*100=61%

In chair Occupancy(amount of time agent is available on his or her chair taking calls or waiting for calls)=talk time+acw+idle time/total logged in time=4.5+1+2/9*100=83.3%


Let me know if this answer your question.

[Arthur]

Thanks Meghanath. I appreciate the reply and the timely response.

Art

[Arthur]

Hey Joe -

I hope you had a happy 4th of July. Thanks for your last reply. That makes sense and it confirms what I was trying to get at.

I appreciate all of your responses!!!!

Art