System and method for complex schedule generation

A system for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees in a call center environment, the system comprising:

• at least one server comprising at least one storage device;
• and
• at least one client processor coupled to the server through a network, wherein the client processor is coupled to a plurality of storage devices, including a storage device that stores instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one client processor to,
• receive a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations;
• and
• during execution of the scheduling program, determine an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including:
• receive a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee;
• estimate an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, including estimating using as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee;
• determine whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm;
• and
• generate estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks;
• and
• displaying the schedule for the plurality of employees in the call center environment with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein each time period includes a plurality of queues associated with corresponding tasks, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform the various tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period, hence, the employees are shared across tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period.

An electromagnetic medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, cause the system to generate a schedule in a call center environment, wherein generating the schedule comprises:

• receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations;
• during execution of the scheduling program, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including:
• receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee;
• estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee;
• determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm;
• and
• generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks;
• and
• displaying the schedule for the plurality of employees in the call center environment with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein each time period includes a plurality of queues associated with corresponding tasks, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform the various tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period, hence, the employees are shared across tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period.

A computer-implemented method for generating a schedule in a call center environment, the method comprising:

• initiating an automatic scheduling process that receives employee data including skill sets as an input;
• determining whether to simulate a proposed schedule, including measuring a cumulative error of using an estimation function from results of the simulation, and a predetermined allowed error;
• if it is determined not to simulate the proposed schedule, continuing with the method including evaluating and outputting the proposed schedule;
• determining whether a change has been made to the employee data;
• if a change has been made to the employee data, calculating an effective change to staffing levels, wherein the calculating includes estimating an effect of at least one changed employee on the effective change to staffing levels for a number of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee, wherein the calculating includes determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm;
• continuing with the method including evaluating and outputting the proposed schedule;
• and
• displaying the schedule for the plurality of employees in the call center environment with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein each time period includes a plurality of queues associated with corresponding tasks, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform the various tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period, hence, the employees are shared across tasks in the plurality of queues within the time period.