Tag: dynamics-customer-service

Shift planning and scheduling in Dynamics 365 Contact Center (Integrated Workforce Management to align agent availability with operational demand).

Real-time User Journey

This journey illustrates how a Workforce Scheduler moves from a theoretical capacity plan to an active, assigned shift schedule:

1. Template Creation: The Scheduler creates a Shift Template that defines the “ideal” workday, including specific slots for work periods, lunch, and training sessions.
2. Capacity Alignment: They link the template to a Capacity Plan (see previous feature) to ensure the number of shifts created matches the predicted customer demand.
3. Automated Scheduling: The Scheduler uses the Automated Scheduling tool to bulk-assign hundreds of agents to shifts based on their skills, contracts, and preferred time zones.
4. Intraday Adjustment: During the live shift, a sudden surge occurs. The Scheduler uses Manual Scheduling to quickly drag and drop an available agent into a “high-priority” shift slot to maintain coverage.
5. Break Distribution: The system automatically staggers break times across the team so that there is never a moment where all agents are offline simultaneously, ensuring continuous customer service.

Step-by-Step: How to Enable This Feature

To set up shift planning and scheduling within your environment:

• Step 1: Admin Center Access Sign in to the Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center.
• Step 2: Access Workforce Management Navigate to Operations > Workforce Management > Shift plans.
• Step 3: Define Shift Templates Select New to create a template. Define the start/end times and add “Shift Activities” like:
  • Work: For active customer handling.
  • Break/Lunch: To ensure compliance and well-being.
  • Training/Meeting: For non-operational tasks.
• Step 4: Configure Shift Plans Create a Shift Plan record. Select the date range, the target Organization Units (teams), and the Shift Templates to be used.
• Step 5: Run Automated Scheduling Within the Shift Plan, select Generate Schedule. The system will match agents to the required slots based on their profile data (skills and availability).
• Step 6: Publish the Schedule Review the generated calendar. Once satisfied, click Publish. This makes the schedule visible to agents in their personal dashboards and ensures Unified Routing only sends work to agents currently on an active “Work” shift.

Infographic: Shift Planning & Scheduling Pillars

Pillar	Focus	Key Benefit
Shift Templates	Structured Workdays	Consistent inclusion of breaks and training.
Automated Scheduling	Speed and Scale	Reduced administrative work for large teams.
Skill Matching	Quality Control	Ensures specialized queues (e.g., Technical Support) are staffed by experts.
Break Staggering	Continuity	Eliminates “dead zones” in service coverage.
Unified Integration	Routing Accuracy	Automatically prevents calls from being routed to agents on lunch.

References

Shift planning and scheduling in Dynamics 365 Contact Center