FTE Requirements for Back Office

FTE Requirements for Back Office

I’m trying to ascertain FTE requirements for a back office environment that handles a number of different tasks, each with their own SLA.

I have used a standard workload calculation to determine the FTE required factoring in occupancy, shrinkage, etc but this does not take into account the SLA component, which would reduce these requirements presumably.

As an example:

Task volume per day = 202

Task AHT = 300 secs

Task SLA = 48 hours

Workload = 17 hours per day

Agents = 4

I’m sure it’s not as simple as halving the agent requirements (workload over 2 days). Hoping someone can assist.

Question asked by Pete

This is A Tough One….

Pete, it is really tough working this out, especially if you are using the current throughput to determine the actuals versus the possible.

Here’s an example. In a recent project I deployed intelligent workload distribution; effectively wrapping TASKS as if they were interactions in a contact centre and then ROUTING them to back office staff.

The very simple process of presenting work items to the back office resulted in a 300%+ increase in throughput! Why? Because back office staff weren’t cherry-picking jobs from a shared ‘queue’ in ERP/Task Management but were being given tasks without prejudice.

Heck, we even found 1 of the 100 or so back office staff had been unable to handle any tasks for weeks because their login to the ERP wasn’t working, yet they sat there, getting paid; whilst actually doing nothing.

So, with that cautionary tale out the way try to look at what is current based on actual throughput of a representative user. Not someone who is brilliant, and not someone who is brand new and unfamiliar with it.

Use them by monitoring closely for a few days to get your ‘actuals’. Shoulder surfing back office tasks often surfaces a whole range of other activities that these users get involved in that are not encapsulated by looking at the raw metrics.

Remember, this is always where PEOPLE, PROCESS and TECHNOLOGY overlap.

With thanks to Dave

Good Insight – Thanks!

Thanks Dave, so I’m still keen to understand how to account for SLA in determining agent requirements for non-voice activities.

With thanks to Pete

The Only Way to Work Out the SLA is By Simulation.

The only way to work out the SLA is by simulation.

The problem is that work arrives at random times. AHT is not evenly distributed. Some tasks take much longer than AHT, some are much shorter.

This simulator may help. It does not include shrinkage or occupancy so you need to load these into either the AMT or the contact volume.

Try this experimental multi-channel calculator

With thanks to Jonty

Author: Jonty Pearce