MXPA00005321A - Methods and apparatuses for determining the occupation measures related with an agent in a call center. - Google Patents

Abstract

In the present disclosure a call center is configured for including a capacity to generate the occupation measures for one or more agents. At least it is stored a value that characterizes an occupation measure determination for a given agent in a memory associated with the call center, and is used when generating an occupation measure for the agent. In an illustrative modality, a group of values stored for the given agent includes an initial occupational value for the agent, expressed in percentage terms. The occupation measure for the agent may be fixed then to the value of initial occupation of a register through the agent, to avoid an undue oscillation in the occupation measure after the register. The group of stored values for the given agent may also include, for instance, a limit which specifies a maximum quantity of time for a designed activity which will be considered as occupied time in generating the occupation measure or a limit which specifies a maximum effect of a designe d activity in generating the occupation measure. The designed activity may be, for instance, working the call later on or the auxiliary work performed by the agent.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING OCCUPATIONAL MEASURES RELATED TO AN AGENT IN A CENTER OF CALLS Field of the Invention The invention relates generally to call centers or other call processing systems in which the calls of voice, emails, facsimiles, voice messages, text messages, services requested in the communications network or other Types of communications are distributed among a number of service agents for their management.

Background of the Invention Call centers distribute calls and other types of communications to the service agents that handle the available calls according to several predetermined criteria. In existing systems, the criteria for handling a call are often programmable by the system operator through a capability known as the call vector. Normally, when the system detects that an agent is available to handle a call, the system identifies the call handling skills of the agent, usually in some REF. : 120465 order of priority, and gives the agent the longest wait call that will match the agent's highest priority ability. In addition, some conventional call distribution techniques focused on being "valid" for agents. This validation can be reflected, for example, in the use of the "most-inactive agent" agent selection process, for a period of time when a surplus of agents to choose is available. Call centers frequently calculate occupation measures to maintain the validity of the overall workload for a group of agents. These usually measure, trying to quantify so that each one of the agents is occupied, and they are taken into account in the distribution of calls to maintain an equal workload for the agents. For example, an agent can be selected to handle the next call if its occupations on a percentage basis are lower than those of the other qualified agents. A significant problem with the use of occupancy measures in conventional systems is that, under certain conditions, the exact measurements may not adequately reflect the actual workload of a particular agent. For example, when an agent registers in the system at the beginning of a change, occupation measures calculated in a conventional manner have a tendency to oscillate widely. In an existing system, occupation in a percentage term for a given agent is automatically set to 0% when the agent registers. The occupation for the given agent then jumps to a very high value, possibly as high as 100%, if shortly after registering there is a call for the agent to take it. After the particular agent ends the call, the occupation will then reject until the agent is selected for another call, while the occupation will begin to rise again. As a result of this type of oscillation, it may take an unduly longer amount of time for an agent to establish a relatively stable occupancy level. Similar problems can result when factors such as the job of calling later and the auxiliary work are incorporated in the occupation calculation. This is particularly true if the amount of time associated with the call back job and the back job is relatively greater compared to the amount of time already increased since the start of the calculated period. As an example, it is assumed that a given agent attends about 60 minutes of training class at the end of a shift.

Including the full 60 minutes as a valid • work time in the occupation calculation may cause this agent not to receive a call for several minutes after returning from class. If the remaining agents had 80% occupancy, this agent could not get any call for 15 minutes, since it could take a long time for their occupation to decrease by 80%. As is clear from the above, there is a need to improve the calculation of occupancy measurements in a call center, such that the resulting measures better reflect the workload of the current agent, particularly the registered agent and in the presence of factors such as the job of calling later and the auxiliary work.

Brief Description of the Invention The invention generates occupancy measurements for one or more agents in a call center in such a manner that the aforementioned problems associated with conventional occupancy calculations are avoided. In an exemplary embodiment, a memory associated with the call center stores one or more values that characterize an occupancy measurement determination for agent or a group of agents, and the stored values are used in the generation of occupancy measures for the agents . The group of stored values for a given agent can include, for example, an initial occupation value for the agent, expressed in terms of a percentage or in another convenient format. The occupation measure for the agent can be set to the initial occupation value in a register through the agent, to avoid undue oscillation in the occupancy measure after registering. The group of stored values for the given agent can also include, for example, limits that relate to the impact of particular designated activities, such as after the call work or auxiliary work performed by the agent, in the generation of the occupancy measure. Examples of the limits include - a maximum amount of time that will be considered as busy time in the generation of the occupancy measure, or a maximum effect of an activity designated in the occupation measure. Advantageously, the invention allows an occupancy calculation to be modified at the moment an agent initiates a turn and other pre-designated events throughout the turn such that the resulting best occupancy measurements reflect the real workload of the agents. More particularly, the use of an initial occupation value and the established limits of the contributions of the auxiliary work and of calling later for the occupation can equal the undesirable variations in occupancy calculations. The invention therefore provides more useful occupancy statistics, without oscillations or other strong effects that go beyond a reasonable definition of occupation, for example, in applications where occupation is enabled for a "valid" decision process. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a block diagram of a call center incorporating an illustrative embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 is a block diagram of an automated call distribution system (ACD) of the call center of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating examples of occupancy calculations that can be performed in the call center of Figure 1 according to the invention.

Figure 4 shows an example illustrating the manner in which occupancy measurements can be calculated using the techniques of the invention Detailed Description of the Invention Although the invention will be illustrated below along with the calling process in a call center example, it is not limited to be used with any particular type of call center or communications processing application. For example, the invention is applicable to processing incoming communications, outgoing communications or both. The techniques described can be used with automatic call distribution systems (ACD), telemarketing systems, private branch exchange systems (PBX), systems based on the integration of computer telephony (CTI), as well as in combination with these and other types of call centers. The term "call center" as used herein is therefore intended to include any type of ACD system, telemarketing system or other communication system that processes calls or other service demands, including voice calls, video calls, multimedia calls, email, facsimiles or voice messages as well as various combinations of these and other types of communications. The term "occupancy measure" as used herein should be understood to include any number, variable or other indication that characterizes the workload of one or more agents in a call center, including, without limitation, expressed occupancy measures in terms of a percentage or fraction. The term "activity" as used herein is intended to include any type of call or non-call activity, including for example, the call work performed later by an agent, auxiliary work performed by an agent, a training session assisted by the agent, a meeting attended by the agent, a scheduled break taken by the agent, or any other categorization, classification or other indicator of an action occurring in a call center. Figure 1 shows an illustrative call center in which the present invention can be carried out. The call center includes a number of telephone lines and / or trunks 100 selectively interconnected with a plurality of agent positions 102-104 by means of an ACD system 101. Each agent position 102-104 includes a voice and data terminal 105 to be used. by a corresponding agent 106-108 in the handling of calls. The terminals 105 are connected to the ACD 101 system by means of voice and data transmission 109. The ACD 101 system includes a conventional basic call control system (BCMS) 110, and is also connected to a conventional call control system External (CMS) 111. The BCMS 110 and CMS 111 register the collected calls, the call center statistics and other information to be used in managing the call center, in reports generated by the call center, and performing other functions . In alternative embodiments, the functions of the BCMS 110 and the CMS 111 can be provided using a single call control system internal or external to the ACD 101 system. The ACD 101 system can be carried out in a similar manner for, for example, the Definity® PBX-based ACD system from Lucent Techologies. Figure 2 shows a simplified block diagram of a possible implementation of the ACD 101 system. The system 101 as shown in Figure 2 is a controlled system of stored programs that includes an interface 112 to external communication networks, a switch structure of communications 113, service circuits 114 (e.g., tone generators, notification circuits, etc.), a memory 115 for storing the program and control data, and a processor 116 (e.g., a microprocessor, a CPU , a computer, etc. or various portions or combinations thereof) to execute the stored control programs to control the interfaces and structure and to provide automatic call distribution functionality. Referring again to Figure 1, the exemplary data elements stored in the memory 115 of the ACD system 101 include a group of call rows 120 and a group of agent rows 130. Each call row 121-129 in the group of Call rows 120 correspond to a different agent skill, such as each agent row 131-139 in the group of agent rows 130. As in a conventional system, calls are preceded, and can be, for example, investigated from a individual way of the row of calls 120 in their order of priority, or investigated differently from a plurality of rows of calls corresponding to one skill and each of which corresponds to a different priority. Similarly, the skills of each agent are preceded according to their level of specialization in that skill, and agents can, for example, investigating in an individual way the rows of agents 130 in their order of level of specialization, or investigating in a different way a plurality of rows of agents corresponding to a skill and each of which corresponds to a level of specialization different in skill. It should be noted that the invention can also be implemented in systems that use a wide variety of other types of row arrays and queuing techniques. The ACD system 101 also includes a call vector 140. The call vector 140 can be one of a number of different types of stored control programs executed in a system 101. Incoming calls to the call center in the lines or trunk 100 they are assigned by the call vector 140 or the different call rows 121-129 based on the agent's skill that they require to handle appropriately. Agents 106-108 who are available to handle calls are assigned to the ranks of agents 131-139 based on the skills they possess. An agent can have multiple abilities, and multiple agent rows 131-139 can be assigned simultaneously. Such agent is referred to herein as a "multi-skill agent". In addition, an agent may have different levels of skill specialization (eg, different specialty levels on a multiple level scale or primary (P) and secondary (S) abilities), and may be assigned ranks of different agents 131-139 a different levels of specialization. The call vector is described in more detail in Definity® Communications Systems Generic 3 Cali Vectoring / Expert Agent Selection (EAS) Guide, AT & T Publication No. 555-230-520, Issued November 3, 1993, which is incorporated herein by reference. Skill-based ACD techniques are described in more detail, for example, U.S. Patent No. 5,206,903, which is incorporated by reference herein. Another program running in the ACD System 101 is an agent selector 150. The selector 150 can be carried out in a set of programs stored either in the memory 115 of the system 101, in a peripheral memory (for example, a disk , CD-ROM, etc.) of system 101, or any other readable middle type of computer associated with system 101, and executed by processor 116 or other physical component of the appropriate processing computer associated with the ACD 101 system. The selector 150 in this exemplary embodiment is carried out by conventional techniques to provide an allocation between the available calls and the available agents. Conventional techniques carried out by selector 150 are well known in the art and will not be further described herein. It should be noted that these functions could be carried out in other elements of the ACD 101 System, or by using a combination of several different elements in the system. Additional details regarding the processing of the calls in a system such as the ACD 101 system can be found in, for example, US Patent Application Serial No. 08 / 813,513 filed March 7, 1997 and entitled "aiting Cali". Selection Based on Anticipated Wait Times ", and US Patent Application Serial No. 09 / 022,959 filed on February 12, 1998 and entitled" Cali Center Agent Selection that Optimizes Cali Wait Times ", both of which are incorporated by reference at the moment . The call center in Figure 1 includes a capability to calculate the occupation measures for a given group of agents. This occupation calculation function can be carried out using one or more of the elements of the ACD System 101, such as, for example, the agent selector 150. More generally, the occupation calculation can be carried out by the processor 116 of Figure 2 using program instructions and other information stored in memory 115. In other embodiments of the invention, other elements of the call center of Figure 1 or any other type of call center can be used to provide the calculation of the Occupancy measures. According to the invention, the occupancy measurements for a particular group of agents is calculated in such a way that the aforementioned problems associated with conventional occupation calculation techniques are avoided. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the occupancy calculation characteristics of an illustrative embodiment of the invention. It will be assumed without limitation that in the illustrative embodiment, the occupancy measurements are calculated by the processor 116 of the ACD 101 which operates in conjunction with the memory 115 to execute the appropriate instructions stored in the program. In step 200, an initial occupation value is set for each agent, each type of agent, or for the call center as a whole. This initial occupation value can be, for example, expressed in terms of a percentage and a time frame, and is used as the initial occupation by the agent or agents in the registry. By initializing the initial occupation of an agent to a value specified in this way, the amount of time required for the agent to reach a relatively stable occupation level is considerably reduced. The undue initial oscillation associated with the conventional occupancy calculation is therefore effectively eliminated. Steps 210 and 220 of Figure 3 illustrate the manner in which the invention can improve the utility of the occupancy calculation while factors such as working the call later (ACW) and auxiliary work (AUX) are also taken into account. In step 210, a limit is set on the amount of ACW time, for example, in seconds or minutes, which is considered "busy" time in the occupancy calculation, and this limit may vary depending on the type of skill involved in performing the ACW . Similarly, in step 220, a limit is set on the amount of work time to AUX that can be considered as busy time in the occupation calculation, and its limit can vary depending on, for example, an AUX work code that identifies the type of AUX work. By indicating limits on the amount of ACW and AUX work time that can be considered as busy time, the resulting occupation measures can better reflect the actual work load of the agents. In the flow diagram of Figure 3, occupancy measurements are periodically calculated by the agents in step 230, using the initial occupation value or the values set in step 200, and the working limit group of ACW and AUX in the respective steps 210 and 220. It should be noted that there is no particular order for steps 200-230 of Figure 3, and one or more of these steps may be repeated periodically as required in a particular application. For example, the calculation of occupancy measurements in step 230 may be repeated for each group of predetermined time intervals. In other applications, the initial occupation value or limits of ACW and AUX may vary depending on other factors such as time and day, volume of calls, etc. In addition, limits may be placed on other amounts than the amount of time which may be considered as the time occupied. For example, a limit can be placed on the maximum effect of a given type of work in the occupation calculation, as a limit on the number of percentage points that the occupation can increase in the performance of the type of work.

It should be noted that many variations can be made in the illustrative occupancy calculation process as shown in Figure 3. The following are a number of possible variants of an occupancy calculation process according to the invention: 1. Each activity where a agent is coupled and can be managed to have any work time, inactive time, or time ignored in the calculation of occupancy. 2. A single case of an activity could contribute to working time to a certain extent and to inactive time to a certain extent, for example, the first 10 minutes of the agent's resting count as work time, but the remaining minutes count as inactive time. 3. With respect to the course of a given unit of time, for example, a shift, the first incidents N of an activity can be counted in one way, and the remaining incidences are counted in another way. For example, you can ignore the first 3 breaks to go to the bathroom of an agent, with any rest to go to the bathroom after it was counted as inactive time. 4. With respect to the course of activities of a particular type or over the course of a group of identified activities, the first minutes N can be counted in one way, with the remaining minutes counted in another way. For example, the first 30 minutes of rest can be counted as work time, if that comes in the form of 3 breaks of 10 minutes each or 5 breaks of 6 minutes each, with 31 minutes and previously counted as inactive. As another example, scheduled breaks and spontaneous breaks, which may have different AUX codes, can be added together with the total at 30 minutes counted one way and all the remaining minutes counted in another way. 5. A given activity can be treated such that a particular percentage of that activity is counted one way and another percentage in another way. For example, breaks can be counted 50% as work time, and 50% as time ignored. 6. A particular activity could be counted in part as working time, partly as inactive time, and partly as time ignored. For example, a first number of minutes can be counted as work time, a second number of subsequent minutes ignored, and the remaining minutes counted as idle time. Such an arrangement could be applied to the accumulations of ACW. For example, the first 30 minutes of ACW through all retained agent skills can be counted as work time, the next 15 minutes ignored, and any remaining minutes counted as idle time. Alternatively, a percentage, for example, 70% of the activity is considered work, with another percentage, for example, 30%, is considered idle time. As another example, the ACW in skill 5 can always be counted as work time, but the total amount of the other ACW in the remaining skills are counted as 70% of work time and 30% ignored. A measure of occupation of the agent according to the invention can be initialized in several different ways. For example, agent occupancy can be initialized to the current average occupation of the corresponding call center or a similar group of agents. Other possibilities include initializing the occupation of the agent based in part on the current average, for example the current average minus 3 percentage points, initializing to the last known occupation of the agent since the last time of the system's registered or initializing to a appropriate administered value. It should be noted that if an agent leaves and registers again what is considered a single change, the accumulations against several limits incurred in the first part of the change can be carried in the next part of the change. Also, the limits of the effect would still apply, in other words, when an activity code is administered, may be the positive or negative limit on the effect that may have. It should be noted that for any given type of activity or group of activities, the invention can be configured to allow different rules for different classes of agents. For example, the first 2 minutes of skill ACW 4 can be counted as work time and the remaining time ignored for "expert" class agents, while "trainer" class agents can have the first 4 minutes of skill ACW 4 counted as work time and the remaining time ignored. This feature can be particularly important in applications such as local rules directed to work issued in a global call center. An agent class can be assigned for all abilities, or uniquely for each ability to call the appropriate count rules for activities such as ACW that are associated with the call's ability, in addition, the class of an agent can be assigned to all AUX codes or uniquely for each AUX code to call the appropriate rules for each AUX code. Figure 4 shows an example illustrating the occupation calculations according to the invention, for a given agent, which uses an initial occupation value and established working limits of ACW and AUX as described in conjunction with Figure 3. The example of Figure 4 is presented in the form of a table where: the first column indicates the time elapsed at the beginning of an event; the second column indicates occupation, in percentage terms, before the event, the third column specifies the event; the fourth column indicates the time elapsed at the end of the event, the fifth column specifies the "new" occupation, that is, the occupation calculated after the event, using the initial occupation value and the limits established as in Figure 3, and the sixth column shows the corresponding explanatory comments. The rows designated A, B, C and D in the table of Figure 4 represent the sample calculations. It will be assumed for the example of Figure 4 that the initial occupation value for the given agent is 80%. It is also assumed that the agent performs the subsequent call-work (ACW) for skill level 7, so that a limit of two minutes is set. In addition, the agent performs the tasks under an auxiliary work code 4 (AUX), so that a limit of 15 minutes is established in the amount of time that can be considered as busy time, and under an AUX 5 work code, so that a maximum effect in the occupation calculation of +3 percentage points has been established. Finally, it is also assumed that the agent goes to lunch. This activity corresponds to an AUX 6 work code, and no time used in this activity is considered occupied time in the occupation calculation. The first event in the example of Figure 4 is the registration of the particular agent. This event occurs at a time 0:00. Prior to registration, the agent's occupation is 0%. According to the invention, the occupation of the agent is initialized in the register for the designated initial occupation value, which, as previously noted, is assumed to be 80% in this example. Without this initiation, the initial occupation for the agent being registered will be 0%, and thus tend to lead to the oscillation problems normally associated with conventional occupancy calculations. As shown in row A, in an elapsed time of 15 minutes, the agent has an occupation of 84%, and begins to perform the AUX work, which corresponds to an AUX code 5, which lasts 15 minutes. In the realization of this work, in an elapsed time of 30 minutes, the occupation for the agent is 87%. This is due to the fact that the AUX 5 work code has a limit of +3 percentage points in terms of its effect on occupancy, and thus occupation can increase by no more than + 3%, from 84% to 87%. %, although the work took 15 minutes. Without this limit of effect, the increase in occupancy will have to be greater, for example, of 92% using conventional calculation techniques. The details of the calculation for row A, which results in a new occupation of 87%, are as indicated below. (15 »84) + (15« 100) 1260 + 1500 = 92% > 84% + 3% (15 + 15) 30 In row B, in the elapsed time of 30 minutes, the occupation for the agent is 87%, and the agent speaks for six minutes, and then begins performing skill 7 of the ACW, which lasts five minutes. To complete skill 7 of the ACW, the elapsed time is 41 minutes, and the new occupation is 83.2%. This occupation value reflects the fact that a maximum of 2 minutes of skill 7 of the ACW is considered as busy time, and that the remaining portion is counted as idle time. Without the limit, the occupation would have been higher, for example, of 90.5%. The details of the calculation for row B are as indicated below: (30 • 87) + (6 • 100) + (2 • 100) + (5 - 2) • 0) _ 2610 + 600 + 200 3410: 83.2% (30 + 6 + 5) 41 41 In row C, in an elapsed time of 60 minutes, the occupation for the agent is 86%, and the agent begins to perform AUX work corresponding to the AUX work code 4. In the realization of this AUX work, which lasts 20 minutes, the elapsed time is 80 minutes, and the new occupation is 83.3%. This occupation value reflects the fact that a maximum of 15 minutes of the AUX 4 work code is considered as busy time, and the remaining portion is counted as idle time. Without the limit, the occupation would have to be higher, for example, of 89.5%. The details of the calculation for row C are as follows: (60 «86) + (15 * 100) + ((20 -15)« 0) _ 5160 + 1500 _ 6660 = 83.3% (60 + 20) ~ 80 80 In row D, in an elapsed time of 180 minutes, the agent performs the work code AUX 6, that is, he goes to lunch, for 45 minutes. In the realization of this activity, which as previously noted has no effect on the occupancy calculation, the new occupancy in the elapsed time of 225 minutes is not altered by 81%. The details of the calculation for row D are as indicated below: (180 • 81) + (0 * 100) = 81%. (180 + 0) The example in Figure 4 illustrates the use of an initial occupation value and limits established in ACW and AUX work contributions for an occupation that can equal undesirable variations in occupancy calculations, such that the resulting occupancy meters reflect better the real workload of the agents. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the occupation calculation can be delayed until a variable or present working time interval has elapsed, to the point that the initial occupied occupation value is discarded and a calculated real value is used, with or without the application of rules such as any rule that is applied for maximum effects. The initial value for a given agent can be set at a level that approximately equals the occupation of the agents or a subset of the agents of a group, it can be set at a lower value such that more work is directed to a newly registered agent, or It can be set at a higher level to avoid sending work to a particular agent. Additionally, some agents can be administered with high initial occupation levels that are not subsequently recalculated. In this way, these agents are selected only if they are available agents, or if the other agents are also working hard. This type of occupation assignment can be seen as an example of a high "false" occupation type, and can be useful for a supervisor / mentor, a higher level employee, etc. The above-described embodiments of the invention are only desired because they are illustrative. For example, it should be noted that the exemplary configuration of the call center shown in Figure 1 may be altered to incorporate a wide variety of different arrays of components to provide them. occupation calculation functions described herein. In addition, as previously noted, the invention can be applied to a wide variety of communications, including facsimiles and electric mails. The initial occupation values and work limits described above can, for example, be assigned administratively during the call handling process plan, or assigned through an application as a computer telephony integration (CTI) application. Other convenient techniques could also be used to assign the appropriate initial values and limits. Furthermore, it should be noted that the invention can be carried out at least in part in the form of a computer readable medium containing the set of programs which, when executed by a computer or other appropriate processor mole, will cause the processor to Implement the processing functions described above. For example, the BCMS 101, the call vector 140, the agent selector 150, and other elements of the ACD system 101 can each be implemented as one or more programs of the program set stored in the memory 115 or any other computer readable medium. associated with the ACD 101 system, and executed by the processor 116 or another physical component of the processing computer associated with the ACD 101 system. These and numerous other alternative embodiments within the scope of the following claims will be clear to those skilled in the art. The technique; It is noted that against the relationship a dates of this, the best method known by the applicant to carry out the practice the aforementioned inventions, is the conventional one for the manufacture of the objects of the products of or one that the same one refers.

Claims (30)

1. Having described the invention as above, the content of the following claims is claimed as properties: 1. A method for determining an occupancy measurement for an agent in a call center, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: minus a value that characterizes at least a portion of an occupancy measurement determination for an agent; and generate an occupation measure for the agent based on at least one value.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of storing includes storing an initial occupation value for the agent.
3. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the step of generating additionally includes setting the occupation measure to the initial occupation value of the register through the agent.
4. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the occupation measurement is expressed as at least one of a percentage and a fraction.
5. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of storing includes saving a limit that specifies a maximum amount of time for a designated activity that will be considered as a busy time in generating the occupancy measurement.
6. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of storing includes saving a limit that specifies a maximum effect of an activity designated in the occupation measure.
7. 7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of storing includes saving at least one value for a designated activity performed by the agent.
8. 8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the designated activity is a designated type of activity without call made by the agent.
9. 9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the designated type of activity without call includes at least one of the subsequent call work performed by the agent, of the auxiliary work performed by the agent, a training session assisted by the agent, a meeting attended by the agent, and a scheduled break taken by the agent.
10. , The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally includes the step of delaying the generation of the occupancy measure for the agent, such that an initial occupation value is used instead, until at least one of (i) a specified range of working time has elapsed, and (ii) a specified number of calls that have been received by the agent.
11. 11. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally includes the step of establishing a different initial value for the occupancy measure for the agent that willed the corresponding occupation measure for at least no other agent, to adjust the workloads relative of the agents.
12. 12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of storing includes saving, for each activity in a group of activities where the agent is coupled in, an indicator of a corresponding portion of the activity that can be designated as at least one working time, idle time, and time ignored in the calculation of the occupation measure.
13. 13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the indicators for a given activity are different for different classes of agents, and the class for a given agent is assigned either for all the skills in a given group of skills or singularly for each skill in at least a subset of the skill group.
14. 14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it additionally includes the steps of counting at least one of (i) an accumulated amount of time with respect to an event of a particular type, and (ii) of a number of events of type or particular types, so that * a given group of indicators is used by the agent, and using a different set of indicators for the agent after a designated account has been reached.
15. 15. An apparatus for processing communications in a call center, the apparatus characterized in that it comprises: a memory for storing at least one value that characterizes at least a portion of an occupancy measurement determination for the agent; and a processor coupled to the memory and operative to generate an occupancy measure for the agent based on at least one value.
16. 16. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that at least one value characterizing at least one occupation measure determination portion for the agent is the initial occupancy value for the agent.
17. 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, characterized in that the processor is additionally operative to generate the occupation measure for the agent by setting the occupancy measurement to the initial occupation value in a register through the agent.
18. 18. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the occupation measurement is expressed as at least a percentage and a fraction.
19. 19. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that at least one value that characterizes at least the portion of an occupancy measurement determination for the agent includes a limit specifying a maximum amount of time for a designated activity that is considered as busy time in generating the occupation measure
20. 20. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that at least one value that characterizes at least one portion of an occupancy measurement determination for the agent includes a limit specifying a maximum effect of an activity designated in the occupation measure.
21. 21. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that at least one value that characterizes at least a portion of a occupancy measurement determination for the agent includes at least one value for a designated activity performed by the agent.
22. 22. The apparatus according to claim 21, characterized in that the designated activity is a designated type of activity without call made by this agent
23. 23. The apparatus according to claim 22, characterized in that the designated type of activity without call includes at least one of the call work performed subsequently by the agent, of the auxiliary work performed by the agent, of a training session assisted by the agent , of a meeting attended by the agent, and of a break taken by the agent.
24. 24. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the generation of the occupation measure for the agent is delayed, such that an initial occupation value is used instead, until at least one of (i) a specified interval of working time has elapsed, and (ii) a specific number of calls has been received by the agent.
25. 25. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that a different initial value is established for the occupation measure for the agent than for a corresponding occupation measure for at least one other agent, to adjust the relative workloads of the agents.
26. 26. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the memory is stored, for each activity in a group of activities that the agent couples in, an indicator of a corresponding portion of the activity that can be designated as at least one of working time. , of idle time, and of time ignored in the calculation of the occupation measurement.
27. 27. The apparatus according to claim 26, characterized in that the indicators for a given activity are different for the different classes of agents, and the class for a given agent is assigned either for all the skills in a given skill group or singularly for each skill in at least a subset of the skill group.
28. 28. The apparatus according to claim 26, characterized in that the processor is additionally operative to count at least one of (i) an accumulated amount of time with respect to a particular type event, and (ii) several events of type or types Individuals, for a given group of indicators to be used by the agent, and to use a different group of indicators for the agent after a designated account has been reached.
29. 29. The apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the memory and the processor are elements of an automatic call distribution system.
30. 30. An article of manufacture containing a set of programs (software), characterized in that when it is executed in a processor, it causes the processor to perform the steps of: storing at least one value that characterizes at least a portion of a measurement determined of occupation for the agent; and generate an occupation measure for the agent based on at least one value. OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AN AGENT IN A CALL CENTER SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A call center is configured to include a capability to generate occupancy measures for one or more agents. At least one value is stored that characterizes an occupancy measurement determination for a given agent in a memory associated with the call center, and is used in generating an occupancy measure for the agent. In an illustrative embodiment, a group of stored values for the given agent includes an initial occupation value for the agent, expressed in terms of a percentage. The occupation measure for the agent can then be set to the initial occupation value of a register through the agent, to avoid undue oscillation in the occupancy measurement after registration. The group of values stored for the given agent can also include, for example, a limit that specifies a maximum amount of time for a designated activity that will be considered as busy time in generating the occupation measure or a limit that specifies a maximum effect of an activity designated to generate the occupation measure. The designated activity can be, for example, to work the call later or the auxiliary work done by the agent.