Patent ID: 8345855

Claim:
A method for calculating manpower requirements for agents in a contact center, the method comprising the steps of: accepting, at a processor, a traffic intensity per unit time and an average processing time of the agents as input parameters; calculating, at a processor, based on the input parameters, a probability that a call needs to wait for service, using the Erlang C formula; calculating, at a processor, responsive to the probability that a call needs to wait for service, an answering rate within a set time as a service level; repeating the step of calculating the probability that a call needs to wait for service and the step of calculating the answering rate within a set time in a recurring manner, thus calculating manpower requirements for satisfying a predetermined service level; inputting, to a processor, a predicted utilization rate of agents by an administrator; and re-calculating, at a processor, responsive to the service level and the predicted utilization rate, manpower requirements, wherein the predicted utilization rate of agents is based on empirical rules possessed by the administrator.