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Forecasting & Scheduling in Enterprise 5.x

  • Updated

The refresher walks you through the forecasting and scheduling steps in Enterprise version 5.x.

To learn more, sign up for our recurring CommunityWFM College Forecasting & Scheduling webinar.

          Create a Working Forecast 

Create a working forecast 
  1. 1. Go to Forecast > Working forecasts. 
  1. 2. Select Click here to create a new forecast. 
  1. 3. Give the forecast a descriptive name and Save. 

or                    Use an existing Forecast Worksheet 

Navigate to an existing Forecast Worksheet 

  1. 1. Go to Forecast > Working forecasts. 

  1. 2. Find and open the working forecast (likely the one with the greatest number of current revisions). 

  1. 3. Click the name of the working forecast to open the forecast worksheet. 

Best practice 

Create one working forecast to use throughout the year. This is much more efficient and will help keep everything in one bucket. If you have 17 activities, you generate your CV and AHT all at once then revise individual activities, if needed.  

Working Forecast Contact Volume 

Generate forecast data 

This process generates the expected 15-minute interval call volume and average handle time for the date range, based on historical data. 

4. In the navigation pane under Working Forecast Contact Volume, click Generate forecast data. 

5.  Select the activity (site) and forecast dates—typically two weeks in advance, one week at a time. Click Next. 

6. Pick a forecast profile from the list.  
Click Select then Next. 

7. Click Next again. 

8. Click Import data then when finished click Next. 

9. Select Classic Community Forecast.  
Click Next then click Next again. 

10. Click Generate forecast and when complete click Finish. 

Confirm and verify the forecast data. 

11. Select View forecast reports. The report opens in a new browser window. 

12. In the options panel, select the activity (site) and date range. 

13. Click Apply options. 

14. Review the contact volume and AHT results to confirm that there is data present and that it makes sense. 

15. When finished, close the window, and return to Forecast Worksheet. 

Working Forecast Staffing Requirements  

Generate clusters 

This generates clusters for things like cross-training. 


  1. 16. Remain on the working forecast worksheet. (Forecast > Working forecast > open the working forecast). 

  1. 17. In the navigation pane, click Generate clusters under Working Forecast Staffing Requirements.  

  1. 18. Leave drop-down as Agent activity assignments.  
    Click Generate clusters. 

  1. 19. Click Finish.  

Generate forecast 

This generates the agent staffing requirements at 15-minute intervals for the selected data range. 

20. In the navigation pane, click Generate forecast under Working Forecast Staffing requirements. 

21. Select the activity/site and date range then click Next. 

22. Click Next to use the default service metrics from the Enterprise Model (EM). Click the pencil icon to edit. 

23. Click Next to include the defaults for shrinkage from the EM. Click the pencil icon to edit. 

24. The system generates the forecast data.  
When complete click Finish. 

Confirm and verify the staffing requirements. 

25. Click View forecast reports under Working Forecast Staffing requirements. 

26. Select the site and date range then click Apply options. 

27. Select the Staffing Hours tab in the report to view more data and verify the Total Adjusted FTEs.  

28. When finished, close the browser window to return to the Forecast worksheet. 

Publish forecast data 

This publishes the forecast so the data can be used in creating schedules. 

29. In the navigation pane, click Publish forecast data under Working Forecast Staffing requirements. 

30. Select the site and date range. 

31. Click Publish Forecast then click Finish. 

 

Create the Working Schedule  

Set up the basic properties of the new schedule.  

1. Go to Schedule > Working schedules. 

2. Select Click here to create new working schedules. 

Unlike the working forecast, create a new working schedule for each week. 

3. Select the activity/site and enter a name.  
Best practice: include the schedule date in the name. 

4. Be sure the box is checked to automatically include a reference to this week’s published forecast. 

5. Click Next. 

Define the dates for the schedule. 

6. Click on any day of the week within the week of your schedule. CommunityWFM will select the entire week. 

7. Click Next. 

8. Click on the From Date or Through Date to open the schedule worksheet. 

Schedule Worksheet 

Note: No need to select or customize participants here (agents are already assigned to activities). 

Add custom hours or closed dates 

9. Though inherited from the EM, if your center will be closed or have adjusted hours on a day, select Custom work habits & hours. Uncheck any days when the center/an activity is closed. Be sure to Save. 

Review time off requests from agents 

10. Select Review events and exceptions. In the options panel, check to include events from the Published schedule, and Apply options to run the report. 

11. If necessary, approve, deny, or return to pending any agent requests. When finished, close the report window.

Select forecast data 


  1. 12. Click Select forecast data in the tile or the navigation pane and verify that the date range matches the schedule you are creating.  

Generate optimized schedules 

13. Click Generate optimized schedules in the tile or the navigation pane. 

14. If there is a red stop symbol for any setting 🚫 you will need to fix the conflict before generating the schedule. A yellow triangle with an exclamation point ⚠ is a warning (e.g., there is an activity without an agent assigned) but you can continue. If you make changes, click Re-verify Schedule before proceeding. 

15. Click Generate Schedule. 

16, In the pop-up window click Go. The system will create schedules based on the published forecast. When complete, you’ll see a green box with Success. 

17. Review the schedule metrics in the pop-up then close the window. 

Manage agent schedules 

18. Select Manage agent schedules in the navigation pane then click Appy options to run the report. 

Pro tip: If the schedule loads but the net line statistics at the top of the page never loads, you don’t have a published forecast for that week. 

19. Review the schedule for each day and adjust if needed (e.g., add meetings and training).  
When finished, close the window. 

Publish the Working Schedule 

Publish the schedule 

  1. 20.Click Publish this schedule under Working Schedule Extras.  

  1. 21. In the pop-up window, add a required comment then click Next. Best practice: include the reasons for any major schedule adjustments. 


  1. 22.Review the table for errors (🚫) then click Next. If you see a 🚫, it means those activities already have an associated published schedule (e.g., when an agent has cross-training in > 1 activity), and you may need to unpublish those schedules first, then publish at the next higher level to cover the cross-training activities.  

  1. 23, When published, you’ll see a confirmation message.  
    Click Finish.  

Agents will receive a notification that there is a new published schedule with a link to review their schedule.  

Note: If you need to adjust the schedule, be sure to make the edits in the published schedule (Schedule > Published schedule OR Report > Published schedule > Schedule details > Enterprise model) and not the working schedule. 

FAQs

Why didn’t an agent receive a schedule?

There are a few reasons why an agent might not receive a schedule in Community. Here are a few things to check:

  • Does the agent have assigned Activities?
  • Does the agent have an assigned Schedule Template, with a proper effective date?
  • Is the Schedule Template assigned to the agent built correctly?
  • Is the agent's application role (in Basic Properties) set to 'Agent'?

Why aren’t agents notified of schedule changes?

Notifications are not automatically sent to an agent when you edit an event in the published schedule. To enable notifications, you must run the report and select Yes, send notifications for all schedule changes from the Enable notifications for schedule changes? drop-down menu.

You must change this setting each time you run the report.

How do I unpublish a schedule? 

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Navigate to Schedule > Published schedule. In the left side navigation, expand the section for Utility Schedule Reports and select Published Schedule Audit Report. Find the schedule week then click Un-publish.

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