Patent ID: 8050955

Claim:
A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes a computer to perform the following method steps in a contact center environment that is expected to receive contacts that are not required to be serviced by contact center agents in real time, the contact center environment having associated therewith a first forecast, the first forecast being a forecast of contact load expected to be received in each of a set of future time periods within a given future time range, and wherein a given service level goal is identified for a given future time period within the given future time range of the first forecast, the service level goal describing a maximum amount of time that may occur between receipt of a given contact and handling of the given contact: (a) for the given future time period of the first forecast, using the given service level goal to identify a number of time periods over which the contact load in that given future time period may be allocated; (b) for the given future time period of the first forecast, applying a given function to the contact load wherein, as a result, a percentage of the contact load for the given future time period is allocated into each time period of a given set of the identified number of time periods; (c) repeating steps (a)-(b) on an iterative basis for additional given future time periods within the given future time range to allocate the contact load for each additional given future time period; and (d) with respect to a given future time period, aggregating the contact load that has been allocated into that given future time period as a result of applying, on an iterative basis, steps (a)-(b) to generate a second forecast, the second forecast being a forecast of contact load expected to be handled in each of the set of future time periods within the given future time range; wherein the forecast of contact load expected to be received also includes a current number of backlog contacts to be handled.