Net Staffing and Simulation

When managing schedules, it is important to balance staffing levels with your company’s needs. Understaffing results in longer wait times for contacts. Overstaffing is an expense to the business.

The net staffing bar shows whether you're overstaffed or understaffed. The bar is displayed above the agents' schedules in Day and Week view.

When you make a schedule change, CXone WFM immediately displays an instant estimate so you can continue working without delay. Overnight, the system automatically refines that estimate into a simulation-based number using your complete scheduling and forecast data.

Both values are valid for their context, the simulation-based number is more precise because it incorporates additional data.

How a Staffing Number is Generated

Each time you edit a schedule, such as adding training, approving overtime, granting time off, or adjusting a shift, the system processes the change in two stages:

Instant estimate

Appears immediately after you save the change. The system calculates a directional staffing value based on the specific edit you made. This allows you to continue working without waiting for a full recalculation.

Overnight simulation

Runs automatically during the nightly processing cycle. The system recalculates staffing using your complete scheduling and forecast data, including:

• Agent skill assignments and proficiency levels

• Planned activities (training, meetings, breaks)

• Current forecast data (volume, AHT, service level targets)

The simulation-based number replaces the instant estimate and is available the next time you open your schedule.

Instant Estimate vs. Simulation-Based Number

The following table describes the differences between the two staffing values displayed in CXone WFM:

Attribute	Instant estimate	Simulation-based number
Availability	Immediately after a schedule change is saved	After the next overnight processing cycle
Data scope	Based on the specific schedule change made	Based on the full schedule, agent skills, planned activities, and forecast data
Recommended use	In-the-moment scheduling decisions	Reporting, capacity planning, and firm staffing decisions
Precision level	Directional	High

Net Staffing Bar in the Day View

Each hour is split into 15-minute intervals and displayed as color blocks. The more you're overstaffed or understaffed, the longer and darker the block.

Net Staffing Bar in the Week View

The weekly staffing bar gives the consolidated staffing conditions on a particular day. Each color in the bar represents a specific staffing condition. The intensity of the color is based on settings in the Net Staffing Threshold:

• Green: Overstaffed

• Red: Understaffed

• White: Balanced.

The proportion of each color is how much your day is overstaffed, understaffed, or balanced.

For example, if the bar is all green, it means your complete day is overstaffed. If the maximum portion of the staffing bar is red, it means more hours of the day are understaffed. If the bar is all white, it means it is balanced, and so on.

Keep in mind that the bar’s color sequence is always red, white, and green, respectively.

The net staffing bar is displayed only when there is staffing data.

Staffing conditions shown in the weekly bar are calculated as percentages. This means you see what percentage of the day is overstaffed, understaffed, and balanced.

Net Staffing Data

A tooltip displays data for net staffing when you hover over one of the blocks in the day view.

Filtering by scheduling unit or skill changes the data displayed in the tooltip:

• Req: The full-time equivalent (FTE) A unit that indicates the workload of an agent. number of agents required to handle the interactions (such as calls and chats) within that time interval. The number comes directly from the forecast or staffing plan used to generate the schedule.

  See examples

  • You expect to handle six calls in a 15-minute interval. The average call takes 10 minutes. This means that during the 15-minute interval, your agents need to be available for 60 minutes (10 minutes per call × 6 calls = 60 minutes).

    In this case, the required staffing will be 4.00. Why? Because four agents handling interactions for 15 minutes equals 60.

  • You expect to handle seven calls in a 15-minute interval. The average call takes 10 minutes. This means that during the 15-minute interval, your agents need to be available for 70 minutes.

    In this case, the required staffing will be 4.67 (70-minute total handling time ÷ 15-minute interval = 4.67).

• Sched: The FTE number of agents that are scheduled to be open to handle interactions within that time interval.

  See example

  Let's say you have four agents open during a 15-minute interval:

  This means that your agents will be open for a combined 60 minutes during that 15-minute time interval. The staffing you see is 4.00. Why? Because the 60 combined minutes that they're open, divided by the 15 minutes in the interval, equals 4.

  During that time, two of those agents will have a ten-minute break. This means that your agents will be open for a combined 40 minutes during that 15-minute time interval. The staffing you see is 2.67. Why? Because the 40 combined minutes that they're open, divided by the 15 minutes in the interval, equals 2.67.

• Diff: The difference between the required and staffing fields.

  See example

  You look at the tooltip and see that the required staffing is 4.00, and the actual staffing is 2.67. The difference is -1.33.

Defining Net Staffing Thresholds

Each block in the net staffing bar represents a staffing threshold you define. Once you set the thresholds, they're applied to the staffing area in the Schedule Manager. Day and week views have the same threshold settings. This means that a particular threshold set is applicable for both the day and week views.

To define net staffing thresholds:

1. Click the app selector and select WFM.

2. Click Schedule Manager.

3. Click Options and select Net Staffing Threshold.

   The scale shows the different thresholds of understaffing and overstaffing. Each threshold has levels of severity that can be adjusted. Each level corresponds to the size and color of the block.

4. For each level, slide the control to define the threshold. The color of the block for that level will be the color on the scale.

   When your staffing is balanced, there won't be a block in the bar. The value for balanced staffing is the number of agents between minor understaffing and minor overstaffing.

   The levels cannot overlap, and the lower and upper limits of -30 and 30 employees are fixed.

5. Click Save.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)