General

I can’t see one of the Talkdesk Workforce Management™ (WFM) screens. What do I need to do?

You may not have the permissions you need in your user role. Talkdesk WFM offers specific permissions for Forecast, Team Schedule, Configuration areas, and more. These may be adjusted in Talkdesk’s Admin > Roles and Permissions, under the Workforce Management application section.

Does WFM use Holiday or Business hours settings from Talkdesk Contact Center?

WFM uses the Business Hours and Holiday settings, which can be found under Admin > Preferences and Admin > Holiday Hours.

Note: WFM does not consider settings from Talkdesk Studio™ that might override or work around these settings.

What are the default and maximum values of the Timelines configuration page?

Forecast offset 6, duration 47 (maximum 53).
Schedule offset 6, duration 6 (maximum 6).
Release offset is now disabled as an option to configure as this value should be set to 0 so that agents can see calendar changes as soon as they are made.
Min offset 0, maximum offset 99.
Minimum window lengths = 1.

Note: All values are defined in weeks.

Importing Historical Data and Forecasting

After I import history, I’m not seeing it on Insights. What should I check?

Ensure you are using and referencing the correct dates.
Ensure the proper format of the file, as, most often, the issue is the date format.

I uploaded history, why don’t I have a (new/revised) forecast?

After queues are configured and history is loaded, forecasts will appear after the next automated run. By default, these happen overnight, unless the “Update forecasts and schedules after import” option is used when importing the data. If the update checkbox is selected, it may take anywhere from several minutes to over an hour for the forecasts to update. It depends on the amount of data uploaded and the number of queues being forecasted. The dates to be forecasted will be based on the settings in Configurations > Timelines.

Can I manually edit a forecast? Can I see the original forecast or when it was updated?

Yes, manually overriding a forecast value is available. The original forecast value along with the last updated information is visible for reference.

What is Patience, and how do I determine it?

Patience is the threshold at which a customer experiencing long wait times will abandon. This is not the same as “Average Time to Abandon”, which includes short abandons and impatient customers whose interactions would have been answered within the service level threshold had they not abandoned. The recommended method to determine Patience is to identify periods of missed/poor service levels and measure the time to abandon at those times. This method of determining how long customers will wait when they “have to wait” will provide a more accurate Patience value. Typically, queues with a history of poor service will have longer Patience values, as customers know they will need to be patient to get through. Queues with historically high service levels will have lower Patience values, as customers are used to fast service.

Why do I see zero staff hours even though I have a forecast?

If the Patience value is set lower than the service level threshold, there will be a zero staffing requirement.

Our contact center has recently undergone a shift in the way we do business. How can I let the forecast model know about this?

Adjust the “History Start” date under Configurations > Queues, so the forecast engine will focus on new, relevant data, including arrival volume, arrival patterns, and handle times.

To what extent does WFM consider historical data for forecasting purposes?

Up to the last 3 years of historical data is used by the forecasting model.

Scheduling

Does the schedule engine always create schedules according to the break, shift, and rotation rules even if they are not needed based on forecast requirements?

Talkdesk WFM creates schedules based on configurations, even for days when there may be a shortage of work.

I am not seeing any initial schedule. What should I check?

Make sure that you are looking at the correct time period in the Team Schedule page, taking into account that schedules will only be generated after the defined Schedule Offset period, and within the period defined on the Schedule Duration. Both configurations can be found on the Timelines page.

I am still having trouble generating initial schedules, what should I do?

Many inputs can influence the generation of schedules. For a complete checklist, please refer to the WFM Schedule Troubleshooting Checklist.

Shifts and breaks are no longer appearing in schedules. How do I fix this issue?

This is often related to a configuration change on the agent, shift templates, or one of the break rules. Consider if one of these settings has been updated recently and review it for accuracy. If there is still uncertainty, please refer to the WFM Schedule Troubleshooting Checklist.

Why don’t breaks appear on my schedules?

Often this is related to a misconfiguration that resulted in a break rule that doesn’t fit the span of the shift. For example, if a 9-hour shift is being created, the break rule should be flexible enough to fit an 8.5-hour shift and a 9-hour shift.

Can I move a scheduled event by clicking on the event and dragging it?

Yes, although it’s still not possible to change the event duration.

If I move a shift, will the breaks move with it?

Yes, breaks will keep their position relative to the start of the shift. Meetings and time off events will not move with the shift.

Why is the drag & drop of events not working?

Below are the possible causes for this:

Moving the event partially or totally on top of another event with the same usage.
Trying to move events in rapid succession.
The scheduler is running and updating the schedules. This can be either during the nightly run or if history is imported and the option to run the scheduler (or forecast and scheduler) is selected during this process.

How can I change the event type for an event that is already scheduled?

Delete the event and create a new one with the desired event type.

Can I add multiple people to the same event?

For event types with the “meeting” usage, yes. Other event types are limited to only one person per event.

What is a lock? How do shifts, blocks, and events become locked?

A locked event is an event that will not be optimized/overwritten by the WFM scheduling algorithm. These include:

Events created manually.
Events edited manually (even if automatically created by WFM).
Two shifts (one automatically generated, the other manually added) scheduled for the same agent on the same day. In this case, the automatically generated shift becomes locked.
Locked shifts. These result from its blocks and/or breaks being manually edited by a user, and therefore becoming locked.
If a shift is locked: Breaks and blocks contained in it are locked automatically.
If a break or a block is manually deleted by a user, the shift that contains it becomes locked.
If a shift is manually deleted by a user, no shifts will be automatically added by WFM for that day (the day becomes locked).

Can time off be imported to the Team Schedule from my Human Resources(HR) system?

Yes, there is a Scheduled Time off API capable of importing, updating, and deleting time off on the WFM Team Schedule, based on data from an external HR system, for example.

When will agents see the updates made to the schedule?

Manual changes that impact the agent’s schedule within the release window configured on the Timelines Configuration page are released immediately. Changes that impact agent schedules outside the release window will be visible to agents, based on the release window in effect at that time.

Will agents be notified when there is a change to their schedule?

Optionally, WFM can send Agents a notification whenever their schedule for the next 48 hours changes.

Talkdesk Schedule Mobile App

What prerequisites are required for Talkdesk Schedule mobile app?

To use the mobile app, you'll need the following:

Talkdesk WFM Requirements:

Talkdesk Workforce Management license and credentials.
The standard WFM app is installed. Note: The user must have access to it.
WFM configured (with schedules being generated).

Mobile Requirements:

Network connection with at least a 3G data signal.
Android: An Android smartphone running Android Marshmallow or a later version.
iOS: An Apple iPhone running iOS 13 or a later version.

How do I start using the mobile app?

Go to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and search for "Talkdesk".
Select the Talkdesk Schedule mobile app. Tap on "Install" and open the app.

What kind of schedule viewing does the mobile app support? Will it show agent requests?

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly scheduled views are available in the mobile app. The mobile app displays the latest status on requests, but requests may not be initiated or updated in the mobile app at this time.

Request Management

What triggers each type of request, and in which languages are requests recognized?

Talkdesk WFM uses natural language processing to trigger different types of time off and schedule requests.

Examples include:

Taking full or multiple days off.
Taking a partial day off.
Picking up hours.
Working extra hours.
Working overtime or late.
Coming in early
Requesting team schedule events.

Languages supported at this time are:

English.
French (multiple dialects).
German.
Italian.
Portuguese.
Spanish (multiple dialects).

Reporting

Where can I find the WFM reports?

There is a knowledge base article on each report. The Data Dictionary for each available report can be found here.