A plan for real time reporting

A Plan for Real Time Reporting

http://www.specorp.com

SPECTRUM CORPORATION www.specorp.com

This paper examines the six steps to implement a successful real time reporting solution. Following

these steps will help ensure the reporting solution will get approval, acceptance and will benefit the

call center and organization.

A real time reporting solution interfaces with call center software applications and extracts real

time and historical data from these applications. The reporting solution manipulates the data to

summarize it in a manner that is most beneficial to the call center and the people viewing the reports.

The real time reporting solution then reports the data to the call center, in real time, using different

methods that are appropriate for the call center.

The reasons companies select a real time reporting system are to improve efficiencies and effective

behavior in the call center. These companies have tried to use the reporting tools from their ACD

provider but found the reporting to be lacking in many areas. Third party reporting tools can access

competitive ACD platforms, third party applications such as WFM or CRM and can “mash up” the data

to create summary reports.

Reporting solutions also provide the reports to multiple levels of the organization and not just

management. The flexibility to create reports and segregate the data based on position within the

company makes real time reporting tools very valuable to the call center.




Executive SummaryContact centers require real time information to be able to do the job that is required. Too often the

real time information that is available in the applications the call center uses is not in a format that is

useful or actionable for the agents and managers. Or if the information is available it is stored deep

within application data silos and requires time consuming work to pull the data out.

Managers are aware of the data that is available to them but lack a detailed plan on how to

implement a reporting solution that will benefit the call center and provide an ROI for the company.

There are six steps that a manager should follow to build a clear argument for a real time reporting

solution. Following these six steps will help get approval for the project and help it from being

derailed during implementation of the project.

When followed through properly real time call center reporting will benefit the company with

reduced call center operating costs, more efficient agents and better communications within the call

center.

The six steps to implement a successful real time reporting system1. Determine the goals for the call center and understand the weaknesses in the call center.

2. Determine who will benefit from the solution and it’s not just the agents.

3. What are the data sources that the reporting solution should tap into? What data is required?

Is historical, trending and analytics required on this data?

4. How would you prefer to provide the reports to the people that will be receiving them?

5. Which departments need to be involved to launch the reporting system?

6. What will the ROI be for the solution?




Determine Your Goals And Understand Your WeaknessesThe goal for the contact center should be something that contributes to the bottom line of the

organization and not just the contact center. For example:

• Improve the overall productivity of the contact center by providing valuable information that

agents, team leaders and managers can use and make real time informed decisions.

• Reduce agent attrition through coaching, training and using reporting tools to help the agents

make informed real time decisions.

Do not stop with a single goal add other minor goals including soft goals to the list for approval of the

solution. Minor goals could include:

• Improved communications with the agents, team leaders and remote managers;

• Provide a communications tool to HR for employee and customer communications;

• Improvement of metrics through awareness of status and goals for the KPI’s;

• Improved customer satisfaction by improved metrics on KPI.

Many projects are never approved or fail to get properly implemented because the goal is weak or a minor

goal is used as the sole reason for budgeting for a reporting solution. Goals that are about getting agents

to do the job they are already paid to do probably will not go over well. For example improve the answer

time by alerting the agents to calls waiting. This goal is not acceptable because the agent is being paid to

do this duty, why does the company have to purchase software to get the agent to do their job?

The goal(s) should be something that is obtainable in the same time frame (or less) than the ROI for the

solution. If the goals and the ROI timing do not match be prepared to explain the case. If the ROI is 16

months and the goal is reached in 8 months it would be prudent to add another major goal for the project.

If you are having troubles defining a goal begin by asking yourself these questions:

1. Do I have agents or groups that never meet the goals we agreed to?

2. Does it seem like my agents are never aware of what is going on in their skill group?

3. Are my team leaders always busy taking overflow calls?

4. Do I manually create reports by pulling data from an excel spreadsheet or printed database report

and put that information on another spreadsheet?

5. Do I pull numbers from another applications web app and put enter them into a spreadsheet?

6. Am I constantly refreshing reports to get a glimpse of what my agents are currently doing?

7. Do I open multiple applications and jot down information from these apps for my weekly

management meetings?

8. Does senior management ask about status or want numbers from a call center app?




With a goal defined look at your weaknesses and where you need to improve your productivity.

For example:

• Low schedule adherence rates for agents in certain skill groups

• Low agent occupancy and high abandonment rates in these same groups

• Low customer satisfaction scores on Monday’s and Friday’s

• KPI’s appear to be in threshold too often

The goals and weaknesses help determine which data needs to be captured and how it is reported. If

the goal is to improve agent efficiency and the call center has agent occupancy and adherence rate

problems we know that we should be capturing agent states data from the ACD and agent data from

the WFM. In this example the reporting solution could display to the agent on their desktop how long

they have been in different states throughout the day.

• On ACD Calls

• In After Call Works (Wrap)

• Break

• Lunch

• Logged Out (Show the reason code)

If the goal is to improve then we need to know how we are performing so that we can do a better job.

Who Will Benefit By Having Real Time InformationThe entire contact center will benefit by a having real time reporting solution in place. However,

certain agents, team leaders and managers will benefit more from the solution. Some questions to ask

to determine who will benefit or improve the most from this solution:

• Which agents or groups struggle to meet their goals?

• Which agents or groups can react more appropriately when alerted to a threshold

condition?

• Which groups traditionally have a higher agent attrition rate?

• Which team leaders have the most difficult groups to manage?

• As a manager do you scramble to pull data together to create a call center status report for

management meetings?

• Which managers (senior managers) require reports while working remotely?

• Do I have work-at-home agents?

• Does senior management come to me for detailed information on a regular basis?

• Which groups will benefit from corporate communications from HR or Marketing?

• When writing the goals which agent(s) or groups came to mind?




By knowing who will benefit from the solution the type of report that is needed, the data that is

required and how the information will be presented to call center can be determined.

The advantage to a real time reporting system is the information that people need is automatically

extracted, accumulated, sorted, manipulated and then delivered when and where you need it. The

people and groups that need information to make decisions are the ones that will benefit most from a

reporting solution.

What Data Do I Need?A real time reporting solution is capable of helping the call center improve by extracting vital data out

of the many call center software applications and summarizing this data for the center. The summary

data is then assembled and presented to each level of the call center so decisions can be made and

behavior can be changed. Figure 1 is an architectural diagram showing the process of moving data

through the reporting solution.

Going back to the goals and the weaknesses is the method to track down the data that is needed. If

the goal is to improve agent adherence this defines what data is needed. If the goal is broader such as

improve overall performance then look to the weaknesses of the contact center. The weaknesses will

point to the type of data that needs to be captured and to whom the reports needs to be sent.




Client Layer

Data Manipulation Layer

Security / User Roles

Data Presentation Layer

Data Collection Layer

Data Source Layer

ViewActive

DirectoryCreate

Thresholds

Queries

Calculations

Formatting

Messaging

Dynamic KPI’s

Scheduling

Conditions

Edit Add Delete

MERGEMultiple applications

into an Enterprise viewEXTRACT

Site specific dataapplication specific data

CONSOLIDATEMultiple sites, varying

applications

COMBINEVoice, Email, ChatIM, Web Stats, etc.

ODBCXML

Screen ScrapeDelimited File Read

Socket: Avaya, Nortel, Genesys, XML, Delimited

Web Page

Web Pages Email/Fax

CRM/PDSACD’s • Aspect • Avaya • Cisco

• Nortel • Genesys • Etc.

VoIPNetwork Management

Software

Help Desk/TroubleTicketing

• Desktops• Plasma Screens• Wireless• IP Phone• Web Page• Wallboards• Printed Reports

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IVR/WFM

™

Architecture Diagram




Step 1: Data Source Layer:

The data is extracted from multiple data sources and placed in the neXorce SQL

database.

Step 2: Security / User Roles:

Using user rights and security roles access to the data is defined. The roles allow the

reports to capture and display only that data which the user has the rights to. This

layer comes before collection because of the rights to actually go out and capture

the data has to be established.

Step 3: Data Collection Layer:

The data is captured from the sources using multiple collection methods: Sockets,

ODBC and XML Queries, etc.

Step 4: Data Manipulation Layer: This step is critical as it summarizes the data in the manner in which the customer

requires. Most applications including ACD’s do not have the ability to summaries

data across groups, platforms or across applications.

Step 5: Presentation Layer:

Prepare the data for reporting by adding thresholds, messages, schedules, etc.

Step 6: Client Layer:

Reporting tools which display the information the customer wants to see and on

the device they want to see it on.

The data that is displayed comes from applications within the call center. The data that is extracted

will be determined by the goals for the reporting solution. If occupancy, open tickets, and average

handle time are three areas that need improvement then the data required will be WFM, Help Desk

and ACD. If the problem area is more granular such as agent adherence then data for the agent is

required.

To determine the data that is required for the reporting solution look at the goals and weaknesses

and determine what data will address these goals and weaknesses.




Real time reporting involves much more than the metrics from the ACD. An effective reporting tool

will extract data from many data sources including these listed below.

• ACD

• Multimedia ACD which might include Email, Chat, IM and Social

• Workforce Management (WFM)

• CRM

• IVR

• Dialer

• In house data

Key metrics can be extracted from each of these data sources and a summary report can be created

that allows the call center to improve and become more effective. The data from these software

applications can be reported on and when shared with the call center can improve the performance.

Multimedia ACD: This could be Chat, IM, Email, or Social. Knowing the metrics for

other customer contact methods is just as important as the traditional voice metrics.

If 30% of your contact is from something other than voice than you are missing a

huge opportunity to improve your center.

WFM: Adherence, Shrinkage, absenteeism are the top three metrics that are

improved. Showing the agent and team what their scores are has a dramatic affect

on the performance.

CRM: Revenue, quotes, close ratio and lost revenue are typically displayed to

management and senior management.

IVR: Dropped calls, abandoned calls, completed calls, “zero out” are very

expensive missed opportunities for the center. By reporting to the manager

what is happening in the IVR the manager can improve the IVR so fewer calls

are abandoned or go to an agent. IVR is one of the most over looked areas of

improvement when using a reporting solution. Tremendous savings can occur

through real time reporting on the IVR.

Dialer: Right Party Contacts, Total connected calls, Closure calls, talk time are

important to the manager to determine the effectiveness of the campaign and list.

In House data: Over 80% of real time reporting solutions include some type of

home grown data source. These databases or spreadsheets contain data that was

developed because the call center could not live without it. Making that data

available to everyone in real time will improve the value of the data.




Other Sources

Email

Help Desk / Trouble Tickets

Chat

Sales Force ODBC CRM

ACD

IVR PDS

First Call Resolution / Customer Satisfaction Surveys / Agent Adherence

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™

Unified Contact Center Reporting

Tickets Opened-Group/AgentTickets Closed-Group/Agent

Unresolved Tickets-Group/AgentTicket Types (Gold, Silver, Bronze)

E-Tickets

Service LevelAnswer Time

Average Answer TimeResolution Time

Sales Revenue by Group/AgentSales Revenue by Territory

Number of QuotesQuotes Open

Quotes Closed

Orders by AgentOrders by Day/Week/Month

Orders YTDAppointments Made

Emails in Queue-Group/AgentAverage Response Time-Group/Agent

Service Level-Group/AgentFailed Response

Emails by IntervalTime in QueueEmails Offered

Messages ReceivedSingle Replies

Average CSR ReplyAverage Total Reply Time

Inside Service LevelUnanswered

Calls WaitingService Level

Oldest Call WaitingAverage Speed of Answer

Agents AvailableAgents Staffed

ACD CallsCalls Offered

Abandoned CallsAnswer Time

ACD Talk TimeAbandoned Time

Calls AbandonedCalls AnsweredCalls Completed

Calls Answered DelayCalls Not Responded to

Calls not Responded to DelayCalls Waiting

Voice DetectsAnswering Machine Detects

No AnswerAbandon DetectsCampaign Name

Calls Attempted-Group/AgentContacts Made

WFMAgent Adherence

Absenteeism

MS CRMSales Revenue by AgentSales Revenue by Group

Salesforce.comSales Revenue

Opportunities quoted

SAP Blackberry Enterprise Server Network Management Software

(continued)

Chats in QueueService Level

Longest Wait TimeAverage Wait Time

Average Handle TimeChats Abandoned




Getting the most out of the solution is to extract the right data that will help meet the goals,

manipulate and summarize the data so it is appropriate for the person or groups receiving the data

and reporting on it properly. Summarizing the data is something that the reporting solution is

capable of doing. Real time reporting solutions are able to take data from any source and put it on

the same report. This view of different metrics that affect the same group(s) or agent(s) is part of the

tremendous value behind real time reporting.

This web based summary is reporting on data from the

ACD, Multimedia ACD, and the IVR.

The data is going to be extracted using different methods based on the data. Any one of the

following may be used to capture the data.

• Socket Interface

• ODBC Connection

• Custom API

• XML

• Screen Scrape (Data Emulation)

• RSS Feed




In fact the most challenging part of a real time reporting system is the data capture. Getting access

to the data is not always easy. Many data sources encrypt the data and require a custom API to get at

the data. If the reporting vendor has not already done development work against that API it could

become a road block to getting at that data. Other obstacles include locked database, no access to

the data, don’t know where the data is located (Imagine a database with 5000 tables and 50,000 KPI’s

with no schema, and security restrictions.

When working with a real time reporting vendor investigate the data capture capabilities. Investigate

the how the data is being extracted and make certain it is the most efficient way possible. Old and

antiquated tools should not be used when better methods are available. For example, data emulation

(screen scrape) should not be used unless there is no other way to capture the data.




Visual Reporting OptionsReporting or displaying the data that has been captured is based upon the person or group that needs

to receive the information. Reporting methods should not be based solely on budget considerations.

If the reporting method is not effective the cost of the solution does not matter. The goals and

weaknesses that were uncovered for the reporting solution will also be used to determine how the

real time reporting solution will display the information.

Some examples:

1. If agent adherence, apathy and occupancy are an issue information that is sent to the agents

desktop would be most effective;

2. Groups that are under performing should have information sent to the team leader and managers

dashboard, desktop or web report;

3. Group and agent summary information is best sent to team leaders and managers. Although

occasionally senior management wants to see these details. This information is best sent as a

dashboard or web report. This report can also be set up to have drill down features to go from a

summary report to a granular agent specific report.

4. Proactive alerting based on threshold violations and threshold variances can depend on the

threshold and variance. If the alert is for the agents then is should be reported on the desktop,

wallboards and dashboards. If the alert is a threshold variance then it should be sent to the

manager and possibly senior management as an email message or to the desktop or dashboard.

5. Remote agents and managers that are unaware of current status or want to know the status need

a flexible reporting method such as a desktop, dashboard or a web based report.




LCD Screens – The information to these screens is group data. The summary data

can be from WFM, CRM, ACD, Help Desk, in house data source or any other source

that is meant for a group of agents to review. These screens show information not

only in data grids but also in charts and graphs. Data that is best represented in a

chart or graph should be displayed (reported) on and LCD screen. (Agents, Team

Leaders, Managers, Senior Management)

Traditional LED Wallboard – These boards are meant to display pure text and

numbers so data for the group from the WFM, CRM, ACD, Help Desk and in house

data source is ideal. (Agents, Team Leaders, Managers, Senior Management)

Desktops – To get the agent’s attention to meet their goals specific information

about their targets should be reported to the agents desktop. Group information

also has value so the agent feels a part of the overall group. Desktops are used by

work-at-home agents as well. (Agents, Team Leaders, Managers) Messaging can

also be sent to agents desktops.

Dashboards – Managers have a need for a considerable amount of summary and

specific data. A dashboard with multiple tabs of information will provide the right

type and amount of details the manager requires. (Managers, Senior Management)

Web Reports – For the remote managers web reports can provide summary data

with drill down and drill across details. These reports can be viewed using a

browser and are typically spreadsheets or charts and graphs. (Managers, Senior

Management)

Email – This reporting tool is a proactive alerting tool. Alerting through email

should be used when a threshold variance has occurred or for end of day reporting

only. Getting an email to your smartphone when a call has gone into queue is not

good use of a manager’s time. Alerting is not only for negative thresholds, some

companies will use it for alerting senior management to large sales, daily sale

figures, trouble ticket service levels, CSat scores and FCR ratings.




PERSon oR GRoUP REPoRTInG METHoD

Senior Manager Web Report, Dashboard, Email, Smartphone, LCD

Screen

Call Center Manager Dashboard, Desktop, Web Report, Email,

Smartphone

Team Leader, Supervisor Dashboard, Desktop, LCD screen, Web Report,

Email, LCD Screen

Agent (Office) Desktop, LED Wallboard, LCD Screen

Agent (At home) Desktop, Web Report

Involving Other Departments Two extremely important internal tasks for successful deployment of a real time reporting solution:

1. Involve other departments in the process

2. Do not circumvent corporate policies regarding new software applications.

Involving other departments in this process may slow down the decision making and implementation

of the solution but it will also provide other benefits. Other departments can provide access to data

that is not currently available, they can provide content to be reported on, they can use the solution

and spread the cost of the solution across the organization and they may have other uses for the

solution that has not been considered.

If you have corporate policies regarding new software applications it is best to follow them. Imple-

mentations that circumvented corporate policies result in installations / implementations that are

exceedingly long or never getting implemented. Be sure to check these policies:

• Vendor agreements and contracts

• Non disclosure agreements

• Software SIT and UAT testing

• Server approval

• Data connectivity approval

• Security approvals

Your organization may have other policies it is best to contact legal and IT prior to purchasing the real

time reporting solution.




During the initial stages of planning for the real time reporting solution include your team leaders in the

discussions. Team leaders are closer to the daily action and can provide valuable feedback and insight

to the operations of the call center. Team leaders and some agents can offer information that will

help determine goals and weaknesses for the solution. These same people will help communicate the

benefits of the concept to the rest of the call center team when the solution is ready to be rolled out.

ROIA real time reporting solution will provide soft and hard ROI to the call center. Hard ROI is actual

savings that can be quantified while soft ROI is something that instinctively you know is helping but

are not able to easily put a number on the savings.

Hard RoI examples:

• Schedule adherence improvement

• Average Handle time reductions

• Abandon rate reduction

• FCR rate improvements

Soft RoI examples:

• CSat score improvements

• Reporting on revenue to increase competition

• Open ticket ratio improve visibility and closure

• Agent motivation and attitude

Work with your reporting vendor on your specific ROI. The ROI calculations should use your numbers

and allow you to modify any of the vendor’s numbers to determine your ROI. On average a Real Time

Reporting Solution has a 12 month ROI. Larger contact centers see an ROI in 8 months while smaller

call centers see ROI up to 17 months.

If the ROI calculations show an ROI of less than 10 months review the data again and begin asking

questions. Look for percentages and multipliers that the vendor has used to show a favorable ROI.

Only count those people that are affected by the reporting solution.

When the ROI comes back showing something greater than 15 months begin looking at the people

affected by the solution, look at total costs, review the goals and see if something has been missed.




Total cost is a good place to start. Many ROI calculations use only the agent hourly rate; this is not

accurate and should include the agent total cost. If an agent is earning $10/hour their real cost is

going to be closer to $20/hour because of taxes, benefits, real estate, administration, etc.

ROI Calculators are available on the internet but your real time reporting vendor should have one as

well. If your vendor does not have a calculator, consider another vendor.

Once the reporting solution is in place and providing benefits to the call center take the time to

review how to expand the reporting solution. The additional investment of adding on to the

reporting solution is typically minimal and the returns can be great. Expansion ideas:

• More data from previously untapped data;

• More clients

• Different reporting types

• High availability

• Updated reports

• Additional departments or business units

• Upgrade the software to an enterprise version

The benefits of a real time reporting solution are a more efficient call center, more effective agents,

improved customer satisfaction and reduced operating expenses. To gain the benefits of a reporting

solution a plan must be put in place to get approval and how to use the solution.

Many call centers do not have a plan when implementing a real time reporting solution. Or those

that have a plan lack a clear vision or direction for the reporting solution. This lack of planning and

direction will quickly get the project canceled or put on hold. Having a detailed plan will ensure the

project is approved and ROI will be realized for the call center.

Following the six steps for a reporting solution will enable you to create an effective plan for the

solution and will also provide clear talking points with the call center. One of the challenges in the

call center is a lack of focus and communications with the agents. Due diligence in building a case

for real time reporting will uncover many of the weaknesses of the call center and give the manager

things to think about and work on over the course of time. •

M134-0711



10048EasthavenBlvd•Houson,TXUSA77075

Office+1-713-944-6200•Fax+1-713-944-1290

[email protected]•www.specorp.com



A plan for real time reporting

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