Add a management unit

Prerequisites
  • Workforce Management > Management Unit > Add permission

A management unit is a collection of explicitly specified users from which you can set planning periods, adherence rules, time-off rules, and shift trading rules. Make sure that your management unit name contains at least one character. It can be no longer than 50 characters. For a single organization, you can add up to 500 management units, up to 10 per business unit, and up to 1500 agents per management unit.

  1. Click Admin.
  2. Under Workforce Management, click Management Units.
  3. From the Business Unit list, located in the upper right corner, select the business unit.
  4. Click Add . The Add Management Unit page opens to the General tab.
  5. In the Management Unit Name text box, type a name for the management unit.
  6. To change the division associated with this management unit, click the Division list and make the appropriate selection.
    Note: The default division is Home.

  1. Click the Scheduling tab.
  2. Under Maximum Occupancy percent for Deferred Work, use the arrows to select the maximum percentage of time to fill for agents who handle both calls and deferred work. 
    Note: This feature allows agents configured to receive multiple interactions the ability to receive supplemental work while waiting for calls to arrive. For example, you can set the service level so that agents likely handle calls for 85 percent of their time and you set the maximum occupancy to 95 percent. In this case, the scheduling engine adds enough deferred work to require up to 10 percent of the agent’s time. If agents only take calls, the scheduling engine ignores this setting.
  3. (Optional) Under Start Day of Weekend, change the weekend start date. By default, this constraint is set to Saturday.
  4. To set the start date for the planning period, perform these steps:
    1. Enable Planning period settings.
    2. Under Planning Period Start Date, click the calendar and select a starting date for the planning period.
    3. To change the planning period from the default setting of one week, under Planning Period Length in Weeks, use the up and down arrows to set a new planning period length.
  5. To set the percentage allowed for agents assigned to a shift but who are unavailable to take interactions, click Advanced Shrinkage and do the following:
    • To change the interval to 15-, 30-, or 60-minute intervals, click the and buttons. The default is 15 minutes.
    • In the Default unplanned shrinkage box, specify the default shrinkage percentage that the system uses when no interval level shrinkage appears. The default is zero percent.
    • Change the percentage for specific times. For example, you may want a shrinkage value of 15 percent from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on Monday through Friday.
      1. Press Ctrl+Click (or Cmd+Click for MacOS) to select the appropriate times.
      2. In the Set selected values to box, enter the percentage.
      3. Click Apply.  
    • Change the shrinkage by a certain percentage for specific times.
      1. Press Ctrl+Click (or Cmd+Click for MacOS) to select the appropriate times.
      2. In the Change selected values by box, enter the percentage.
      3. Click Apply.
    • To return certain values to the default of zero percent:
      1. Press Ctrl+Click (or Cmd+Click for MacOS) to select the appropriate times.
      2. Click Set selected values to default.
    • To return all values to the default of zero percent, click Set all to default.

  1. Click the Adherence tab.
  2. Under Severe Adherence Threshold, use the arrows to set the number of minutes after which an agent is considered severely out of adherence for real-time adherence monitoring. The default is five minutes.
  3. Under Adherence Exception Threshold, use the Minutes and Seconds up and down arrows to set the minimum threshold to include adherence exceptions in historical adherence. 
    Note: Any exception for adherence settings that occurs below this threshold does not affect daily percentages, and does not appear in the exception lists.
  4. Under Adherence Target, use the up and down arrows to set the minimum target adherence percentage for historical adherence.  
  5. To consider non-on queue activities equivalent for adherence calculations, enable Activity Equivalency. To ensure that non-on queue activities are not considered equivalent for adherence calculations, disable this setting.
    Example: If you set activity equivalency to Yes, then an agent scheduled for Break whose actual presence is Meal is considered in adherence. If you set this option to No, then the agent is considered out of adherence.
  6. To count on queue status outside scheduled shift time as an adherence exception, enable Working Outside Shift Considered Exception. To ensure that working outside the scheduled shift is not counted as an exception, disable this setting. 
  7. To add activities you want to exclude from adherence calculations, in Scheduled Activities to Ignore for Adherence click Select activities and choose the appropriate activity or activities. 
    Note: Any exception with an activity that should be ignored has a neutral impact on adherence calculations.

  1. Click the Time-Off Requests tab.
  2. To set the range of days for which agents create a time-off request relative to the current date, do the following:
    1. Enable Submission Range Constraint.
    2. Use the Minimum and Maximum up and down arrows to define the range of days.
      Note: The default is a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 90. The minimum offset must be between -30 and 30 days. The maximum offset must be between 0 and 365 days.
  3. Click Save.

  1. Click the Shift Trades tab.
  2. To allow agents to trade shifts, click Enable Shift Trading
  3. To allow the system to approve shift trades that meet configured constraints automatically, click Enable Automatic Review.
  4. To allow agents to request a shift trade with a specific individual, click Enable Direct Trade Requests
    Note: Agents cannot see other agents’ schedules. However, they can request a trade with a specific agent. The request recipient receives a notification of the trade offer in their inbox. Agents can also choose not to receive direct trade offers. For more information, see Navigate the Shift Trades panel.

Set the minimum hours until either traded shift starts

Under Minimum Hours Until Either Traded Shift Starts, use the arrows to define the number of hours before either shift is eligible for trade. Depending on the number set here, agents cannot create trade requests where the first possible trade occurs less than the number of hours in the future. For example, if the minimum is 24 hours, agents cannot request trades for the current. Agents can request trades for shift 24 hours from now.

This constraint gives agents and administrators proper warning about a change to the schedule that results from a schedule trade. 

Select agent matching criteria for shift trades 

Optionally select whether agents can only trade shifts with agents in the same queue membership, language, or skills. Once set, agents and administrators cannot override the criteria to create requests with non-matching agents. Under Agent Matching Criteria Requirements, choose any combination of the following:

  • Agents must have the same queue memberships. The agents must belong to the same queue. If the agent is in a different queue, they do not appear in the same schedule. 
  • Agents must have the same languages. Two agents can trade shifts only if they have the same language skills. 
  • Agents must have the same skills. Two agents can trade shifts only if they have the same ACD skills. 
  • Agents must be able to handle the same planning group. Two agents can trade shifts only if the agent that receives the trade can handle the same planning group as the agent who is trading the shift.

Set up shift trade rules

For the following constraints, select whether you allow, do not allow, or require administrator review:

  • Shift trades with unequal paid time. By default, the system allows this constraint.
  • Shift trades that are one-sided, which allows an agent to drop a shift but does not receive one in return. Another agent can pick up the shift, but does not give up one in return. By default, the system allows this constraint.
  • Shift trades resulting in minimum weekly paid time violations. By default, the system sets this constraint to not allowed.
  • Shift trades resulting in maximum weekly paid time violations. By default, the system sets this constraint to not allowed.