US-12626201-B2 - System and method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule

US12626201B2US 12626201 B2US12626201 B2US 12626201B2US-12626201-B2

Abstract

A computerized-system for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center is provided here in. Upon receiving a time-off request from a source-agent, operating a Time-off Convertor (TC) module. The TC module includes (i) searching open trade requests in dates where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, to yield a list-of-trading-agents; (ii) retrieving from the yielded list-of-trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date; (iii) presenting the compatible-agents, via a display unit; (iv) enabling the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent, sending an approval request to the agent; and (v) upon acceptance of the agent, sending to the source-agent and to the agent a trade-success-notification, and operating change of scheduled shifts in one or more WFM MSs.

Inventors

Vaibhav Chobe
Priyanka PADALALU
Ojas Pitre

Assignees

NICE LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220508

Claims (9)

1 . A computerized-system for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center, the computerized-system comprising: one or more processors, a trade-requests database and a memory to store the database thereon, said trade-requests database is associated with one or more Engagement Manager (EM) Micro Services (MS) s, upon receiving a time-off request for a shift in a specified date via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an Engagement Manager (EM) mobile application that is running on a computerized-device of a source-agent, wherein a source-agent is an agent that is sending a time-off request, for the shift in the specified date, said one or more processors are configured to: (i) search in the trade-requests database, open trade requests of trading-agents in dates, other than the specified date, where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, during a preconfigured period to yield a list of trading-agents; (ii) retrieve from the yielded list of trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date; (iii) present the compatible-agents to the source-agent, via the GUI on a display unit associated to the computerized-device of the source-agent; (iv) configure the GUI of the EM mobile application to enable the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending an approval request to the agent via a notification-service component; (v) upon acceptance of the approval request by the agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, send to the computerized-device of the source-agent and to a computerized-device of the agent a trade-success-notification, via the notification-service component to be presented on the display unit and operating change of scheduled shifts to the source-agent and the agent in one or more Workforce Management (WFM) MSs, such that the agent is scheduled to the shift in the specified date and the source-agent is scheduled to the scheduled-shift of the agent, wherein said EM mobile application is communicating with one or more EM MSs, (vi) when no compatible-agents have been retrieved, present via the GUI on the display unit to the source-agent schedule-swap of shifts for selection; (vii) upon selection of the schedule-swap of shifts by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, search one or more shifts during a preconfigured period which are understaffed and the source-agent is not scheduled to and present the one or more shifts to the source-agent via the GUI on the display unit for schedule-swap selection; and (viii) upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, of a shift from the one or more shifts, which are understaffed, operate change of shifts to the source-agent in the one or more WFM MSs from the shift in the specified date to the selected shift.
2 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein compatible-agents are agents having preconfigured parameters in the EM mobile application.
3 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein an option of the one or more options is to initiate a new trade-request.
4 . The computerized-system of claim 1 , wherein an option of the one or more options is taking time-off, and wherein upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, removing the scheduled-shift from the one or more WFM MSs.
5 . A computerized-method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center, the computerized-method comprising: upon receiving a time-off request for a shift in a specified date via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an Engagement Manager (EM) mobile application that is running on a computerized-device of a source-agent, wherein a source-agent is an agent that is sending a time-off request, for the shift in the specified date, operating a Time-off Convertor (TC) module, said operating the TC module comprising executing, by the computerized device: (i) searching in a trade-requests database open trade requests of trading-agents in dates, other than the specified date, where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, during a preconfigured period to yield a list of trading-agents; (ii) retrieving from the yielded list of trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date; (iii) presenting the compatible-agents to the source-agent, via a display unit associated to the computerized-device of the source-agent; (iv) configuring the GUI of the EM mobile application to enable the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending an approval request to the agent via a notification-service component; and (v) upon acceptance of the approval request by the agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, sending to the computerized-device of the source-agent and to a computerized-device of the agent a trade-success-notification, via the notification-service component to be presented on the display unit and operating change of scheduled shifts to the source-agent and the agent in the one or more Workforce Management (WFM) MSs, such that the agent is scheduled to the shift in the specified date and the source-agent is scheduled to the scheduled-shift of the agent, wherein said EM mobile application is communicating with one or more EM MSs, (vi) when no compatible-agents have been retrieved, presenting via the GUI on the display unit to the source-agent schedule-swap of shifts for selection; (vii) upon selection of the schedule-swap of shifts by the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, searching one or more shifts during a preconfigured period which are understaffed and the source-agent is not scheduled to and presenting the one or more shifts to the source-agent via the GUI on the display unit for schedule-swap selection; and (viii) upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, of a shift from the one or more shifts, which are understaffed, operating change of shifts to the source-agent in the one or more WFM MSs from the shift in the specified date to the selected shift.
6 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein compatible-agents are agents having preconfigured parameters in the EM application.
7 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein an option of the one or more options is to initiate a new trade-request.
8 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein an option of the one or more options is taking time-off, and wherein upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI of the EM mobile application, removing the scheduled-shift from the one or more WFM MSs.
9 . The computerized-method of claim 5 , wherein the TC module is configured to be enabled or disabled.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the field of data analysis and more specifically, to converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule. BACKGROUND In a contact center, scheduled agents are entitled to request time-off in case of an unexpected unavailability. Also, agents have to utilize their predefined paid time-off balances, such as sick, personal, vacation, Paid Time Off (PTO) and the like or unpaid time-off in case their balance has been exhausted. In current technical solutions when an agent raises a time-off request, then a user, such as a supervisor has to put manual efforts to manage the agent's time-off request and to adjust a possible understaffing situation. Also, agents in need for time-off might be unaware of existing trade requests of other agents or schedule swap opportunities which may be available for them. Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule. Thus, enabling agents to utilize existing open trade or swap opportunities instead of exhausting their time-off balances. SUMMARY There is thus provided, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computerized-system for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a self-swap schedule, in a contact center. The computerized-system includes one or more processors; a trade-requests database and a memory to store the database thereto. The trade-requests database is associated with one or more Engagement Manager (EM) Micro Services (MS)s; Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, upon receiving a time-off request for a specified date via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that is associated with an Engagement Manager (EM) application that is running on a computerized-device of a source-agent, the one or more processors may be configured to operate a Time-off Convertor (TC) module. A source-agent is an agent that is sending a time-off request. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, the TC module may include: (i) searching in the trade-requests database, open trade requests of trading-agents in dates where the source-agent doesn't have a scheduled-shift, during a preconfigured period to yield a list of trading-agent; (ii) retrieving from the yielded list of trading-agents, compatible-agents who do not have a scheduled-shift in the specified date; (iii) presenting the compatible-agents to the source-agent, via a display unit associated to the computerized-device of the source-agent; (iv) enabling the source-agent a selection of an agent from the presented compatible-agents and upon selection of the agent by the source-agent, sending an approval request to the agent via a notification-service component; and (v) upon acceptance of the agent, sending to the computerized-device of the source-agent and to a computerized-device of the agent a trade-success-notification, via the notification-service component to be presented on the display unit and operating change of scheduled shifts to the source-agent and the agent in one or more Workforce Management (WFM) MSs. The EM application may be communicating with one or more EM Micro Service (MS)s. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, when no compatible-agents have been retrieved, the TC module may be further configured to present to the source-agent via the display unit one or more options for selection. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, compatible-agents are agents having preconfigured parameters in the EM application. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, an option of the one or more options is schedule-swap of shifts and when the schedule-swap is selected by the source-agent via the GUI, searching one or more shifts during a preconfigured period which are understaffed, and the source-agent is not scheduled to and presenting the one or more shifts to the source-agent via the display unit for schedule-swap selection. Upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI, the TC module may comprise operating change of shifts to the source-agent in the one or more WFM MSs. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, an option of the one or more options may be to initiate a new trade-request. Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, an option of the one or more options is taking time-off, and upon selection of the source-agent via the GUI, the TC module may comprise removing the scheduled-shift from the one or more WFM MSs. There is further provided, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computerized-method for converting a time-off request of an agent to a shift-trade with another agent or to a