Hi everyone,
I'm having a bit of a dilema figuring out this forecasting model that I inherited in my call centre. I'm hoping that talking the spreadsheet out will maybe bring me some clarity. Thanks in advance for anyone who can assist.
Basically, we are planning required FTEs for anticipated workload. This will allow us to determine how many agents can be approved to go on vacation per any given week.
On the current spreadsheet, there are two columns. Required FTE forecast for vacation planning period, and required FTEs for day-to-day management.
The day-to-day management column makes sense for me. This is simply the number of agents needed based on an erlang C calculation using historical call volumes for same time last year and factoring in our average number of unplanned FTEs who are away due to illness, etc. The spreadsheet says that the other column, required FTE forecast for planning, is based on an assumsed staff level of 25. This is my problem. I cannot make the leap between the day-to-day management call column, and how the spreadsheet creator arrives at the forecast number. Any thoughts as to how staffing of 25 predicted agents might come into play on this sheet? In my mind, and perhaps I am missing something very simple, if I am predicting required agents for the upcoming year based on historical volumes, why would it matter how many agents I may or may not have?
If I cannot figure out the old way, I am, of course, also interested in discussing other better ways to approach this forecast.
Thanks,
Cody
I'm having a bit of a dilema figuring out this forecasting model that I inherited in my call centre. I'm hoping that talking the spreadsheet out will maybe bring me some clarity. Thanks in advance for anyone who can assist.
Basically, we are planning required FTEs for anticipated workload. This will allow us to determine how many agents can be approved to go on vacation per any given week.
On the current spreadsheet, there are two columns. Required FTE forecast for vacation planning period, and required FTEs for day-to-day management.
The day-to-day management column makes sense for me. This is simply the number of agents needed based on an erlang C calculation using historical call volumes for same time last year and factoring in our average number of unplanned FTEs who are away due to illness, etc. The spreadsheet says that the other column, required FTE forecast for planning, is based on an assumsed staff level of 25. This is my problem. I cannot make the leap between the day-to-day management call column, and how the spreadsheet creator arrives at the forecast number. Any thoughts as to how staffing of 25 predicted agents might come into play on this sheet? In my mind, and perhaps I am missing something very simple, if I am predicting required agents for the upcoming year based on historical volumes, why would it matter how many agents I may or may not have?
If I cannot figure out the old way, I am, of course, also interested in discussing other better ways to approach this forecast.
Thanks,
Cody
