Create a forecast

A forecast is a prediction of the number of contacts for every 30-minute interval of the day that a contact center will receive over a specific period of time. There are three types of forecasts:

• The production forecast is used to generate the production schedule. There can be only one production forecast.
• Named forecasts are “what if?” forecasts, used to take into account volume drivers such as marketing campaigns that produce changes in contact volume, average handling time, or changes in operational hours. There can be many named forecasts.
• The strategic forecast is a five-year forecast that displays the number of agents required per month to meet the projected requirements of a service queue. There can be only one strategic forecast. This forecast is used to generate various strategic planning reports.

WFM uses historical contact data and a distribution to generate a forecast. The forecast is then used to create a schedule.