Configure the work plan’s daily shifts

The work plan includes one shift by default. To add a shift, click the Add button.

To add days to the daily shift, click each appropriate day. 

The scheduling engine selects exactly one daily shift for each day of the week that contains more than one selected daily shift, unless you select optional days. In this case, the scheduling engine can choose a daily shift or not. Under Optional Days in Work Plan, direct the scheduling engine to choose a daily shift for the day or not by clicking the day or days in the Optional row.

To configure a shift, perform the following steps:

1. Click the shift name.  
2. The Edit Shift dialog box opens. In the Name box, type a unique name or description for this shift.
   Note: The daily shift name cannot exceed 50 characters.
3. To select a specific start time for the shift, under Shift Start enter the shift’s start time in standard time format. For example, 08:00 AM or 04:30 PM.
   Note: You can modify the increments by one minute or five minutes depending on the configuration in the Schedule Granularity field in the Business Unit page. The default setting is five minutes. For more information see, Add a business unit.
4. To allow for flexibility in the shift’s starting time, do the following:
   1. Select the Flexible times check box.
   2. In the Earliest box, enter the appropriate earliest start time in standard time format. 
   3. In the Latest box, enter the appropriate latest start time in standard time format.
   4. Under Increment, use the Hours and Minutes up and down arrows to set the amount of time between shift start times. 
      Example: If you have an earliest start time of 8:00am, a latest start time of 10:00am, and a start time increment of 15 minutes, possible start times for the shift are: 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45, 9:00, 9:15, 9:30, 9:45, and 10:00.
5. In the Daily Paid Time area, use the Hours and Minutes up and down arrows to set amount of daily paid time for the shift.
6. To allow for flexibility in the shift’s daily paid time, do the following:
   1. Select the Flexible times check box.
   2. Under Minimum, set the minimum amount of daily paid time allowed for the shift.
   3. Under Maximum, set the maximum amount of daily paid time allowed for the shift.
7. (Optional) To set contiguous work time constraints for the shift, do the following:
   1. Select the Contiguous Work Time check box.
   2. Under Minimum, set the minimum amount of time the agent must work before starting an activity that does not count as work time.
   3. Under Maximum, set the maximum amount of time the agent can work before starting an activity that does not count as work time, or before ending the shift.
8. (Optional) Set the days off rule:
   1. Select the Days Off Rule check box.
   2. Choose Next Day Off or Previous Day Off.
9. Click OK.

When you set a shift’s start time, you can optionally allow for flexibility in the shift’s starting time. If you configure flexible start times, you can preview the shift at each incremental configured start time by clicking the left and right arrows under Preview shift at.