Patent ID: 7103562

Claim:
A method of predicting the operational performance of a call center system, the method comprising: enabling a user to input into a computer model a first call volume for a first time period, the first time period including a series of component time periods; enabling an entity to input into the computer model a first staffing level for the first time period and a first average handle time for the first time period; providing a staffing level distribution for the first time period and an average handle time distribution for the first time period, the staffing level distribution or average handle time distribution for the first time period including a staffing level value or an average handle time value associated with each component time period of the series of component time periods within the first time period; and determining within the computer model a first operational performance value for the first time period based on the first staffing level, the first call volume, the first average handle time, and at least one of the staffing level distribution for the first time period and the average handle time distribution for the first time period, the first operational performance value representing the predicted operational performance of the call center system; wherein determining the first operational performance value for the first time period includes: providing a call volume distribution for the first time period; determining a second call volume for each component time period within the first time period based on the inputted first call volume and the provided call volume distribution for the first time period; determining a second staffing level for each component time period within the first time period based on the inputted first staffing level and the provided staffing level distribution for the first time period; determining a second average handle time for each component time period within the first time period based on the inputted first average handle time and the provided average handle time distribution for the first time period; determining a second operational performance value for each component time period within the first time period based on the second staffing levels, second call volumes, and second average handle times; and determining the first operational performance value based on the second operational performance values.