Patent ID: 7406171

Claim:
A method for scheduling agents working in a network, the method comprising: forecasting network data for a given future time interval using at least network data related to a past time interval; determining a first group of agents belonging to a workforce, wherein each agent in the first group has an agent profile associated therewith; forecasting group statistics based at least in part on the forecasted network data and the agent profiles of the agents in the first group; prior to assigning the second group of agents, (i) selecting one of: (a) including at least one more agent in the first group, and (b) removing at least one agent from the first group of agents; and (ii) determining that the second group of agents is satisfactory; and if the second group of agents is satisfactory, assigning the second group of agents to work the given time interval based at least upon the group statistics, wherein the agents of the second group belong to the workforce.