Patent ID: 7478051

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining at least one effect of an agent staffing plan for a long-range period that is more than a month in the future, comprising: receiving, at a computer, a definition for each of a plurality of agent profiles comprising a group of agents that have similar characteristics, and wherein the definition includes the similar characteristics, including at least one skill, at least one performance measure, and at least one attribute specifying an amount of change in the number of agents in the group during a specified time period, wherein there is an available work associated with each agent in each of the agent profiles; defining a plurality of work loads; specifying at least one criteria to be satisfied by a long-range staffing plan, wherein the plan covers a period that is more than a month in the future; and calculating at least one effect of applying the plurality of agent profiles to the plurality of work loads while satisfying the at least one criteria, wherein the calculated effect includes at least one performance measure for the plurality of work loads, wherein the calculation is performed by a computer, wherein the calculating comprises: adding a first agent from one of the agent profiles to a proposed schedule, wherein the proposed schedule is for servicing the plurality of work loads over a predefined time period; after adding the first agent, calculating an effect of adding the first agent as if the first agent is the only agent being added, wherein adding the first agent includes distributing the available work associated with the first agent among the plurality of work loads; after calculating the effect of adding the first agent, adding an another agent from one of the agent profiles to the proposed schedule; after adding the another agent, calculating an effect of adding the another agent as if the another agent is the only agent that will be added; and alternately adding agents and calculating effects comprising: adding additional other agents from the agent profiles to the proposed schedule one at a time and calculating the effects of adding the additional other agents one at a time as if each additional other agent is the only agent that will be added until the available work for every agent in the plurality of agent profiles has been distributed.