SWPP - Annual Conference

Annual Conference

Agenda
SWPP Annual Conference
March 26-28, 2008

Wednesday, March 26

7:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. – Registration

9:00-10:15 a.m. – Pre-Conference Sessions

Making the Most of Your SWPP Membership. Sometimes when you join an organization, you just don’t have the time to explore all the great benefits that are provided. This session will show you what you’re missing and what you need to do to take advantage of a membership in SWPP. You’ll learn how to get feedback from other members, find an old newsletter article, locate specific information on a topic of interest, and post a job opening on the website – just to name a few. Hear how SWPP provides you with the most important education and networking opportunities for your career. Speaker(s): Vicki Herrell & SWPP Board of Advisors

Workforce Management Certification Workshop. What is CWPP Certification all about? What will it do for you in the workforce management field? What are the requirements for certification? How do you prepare? These and other questions are answered by SWPP Board members. This workshop gives information on the certification preparation and process to attain the title of Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP). Speaker(s): SWPP Board of Advisors

Building a Business Case for Workforce Management Technology. Thinking about recommending a new technology or service for your call center? How do you ensure that the workforce management software is really needed in the first place, and how do you go about convincing senior management to budget the dollars? This session provides an overview of the business case development process that will help you objectively review the pros and cons of the project, develop a thorough financial analysis of the situation, and reach a sound, defensible decision. You’ll also learn the recommended steps of project management to ensure that your project is completed successfully and meets its objectives. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

10:15-10:30 a.m. – Break

10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. – Pre-Conference Sessions

Meet the Board SWPP Meet. Join the SWPP Board of Advisors for a SWPP Meet, as they present issues and solutions in today’s call center. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to network with your workforce management peers and discuss your toughest workforce management problems. It’s also a great time to meet the Board members and find out more about this group of industry leaders that directs SWPP’s activities and programs. Speaker(s): SWPP Board of Advisors

Top Five Workforce Management Trends. What’s hot and what’s not in the area of workforce planning and management? In this session, you will hear who’s doing what in the area of workforce planning and what some of the leading trends are for making the most of personnel resources. We’ll reveal some of the latest survey results from the Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) and hear about what the leading call centers are doing in terms of improving long-term planning as well as day-to-day management. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Behind Closed Doors Sessions. Want some time to hear from your workforce management software vendor? SWPP Sponsors will be holding group customer sessions to provide the latest information about upgrades, new releases, and new products. Meet other users in this group session led by your vendor.

11:45 a.m.–1:00 p.m. - Lunch on your own

1:00-2:15 p.m. – Welcome and Keynote Address
How High Can You Bounce? Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ll be a lot more optimistic when things get back to normal.”? The truth is, what may have been successful yesterday may not be successful tomorrow. This powerful program teaches the attitudes and actions needed to bounce forward, equipped to conquer change and triumph over trials. Learn to bounce to new heights and achieve extraordinary results. With these proven success principles, it doesn’t mean you won’t get knocked down, but it does mean you won’t get knocked out! Discover there is no limit to how high you can bounce: learn to bounce forward despite the obstacles; dispel the myth of predictability to become a change-ready peak performer; dramatically improve your personal bounce-factor to catapult above and beyond your competition; be equipped to prevail when you fail; and discover the secrets of resilient leaders. Speaker: Roger Crawford

2:30-3:45 p.m. - Workshops

Basic Track
Data Collection & Analysis. The most critical step in the workforce management process is the first one: data collection and analysis. The best predictor of future call workload is past data, so gathering the right data is critical to the workforce management process. Attendees will learn where to look for data and how to scrutinize the data to make sure it’s appropriate to feed into the forecasting process. The class will review mathematical techniques for analyzing data and making needed adjustments. The role of business drivers and how to incorporate them into the planning process will also be discussed. – Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Advanced Track
Life beyond Erlang C. In this session, the eight assumptions underlying the use of Erlang C in calculating staffing requirements for a contact center are examined and recent innovations to overcome their limitations are discussed. Two critical new developments are explored, including the “Lagmax” method, which enhances staffing calculations when there are steep increases and/or decreases in incoming traffic during the day. One of the critical assumptions in using Erlang C is that no calls are abandoned. While the mathematics to solve the problem of abandonment was developed in the 1950s, it has only received any attention and been revisited in the past few years. The solution used introduces the concept of operating in quality, efficiency or mixed regimes. The impact of using Erlang A versus Erlang C is illustrated for several practical contact center situations. Speaker: Mike Bendixen, Nova Southeastern University

Special Interest Track
Communicating Workforce Management Information to Senior Management. Workforce Management professionals are presenting to senior management on a wide variety of topics more frequently now than ever before. For some, this represents a new skill set and a new challenge: figuring how to explain WFM issues to executives. If it seems like there is a communication gap between WFM and the executive suite at your company, you are not alone. In this popular encore presentation from last year’s conference, we provide executive feedback and various examples to address that gap, so that Workforce Management staff can feel more confident and Operations VPs can get the information they need. Speakers: Dick Spearrin, HP, Michele Borboa, Contact Center Resources, & Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Services

Case Study
Workforce Management that Works: A Bell Canada Case Study. In this case study, learn how Bell Canada set up workforce management technology and processes that leveraged multi-site management and skills-based routing techniques for increased efficiency. Discussion will center on how Bell Canada successfully schedules and manages more than 6,500 agents across 8 sites. Centers of all types and sizes that are seeking to either implement a new workforce management system or revamp processes will benefit from this workshop and learn key considerations for a successful workforce management implementation, technology selection, process evaluation, and agent buy-in, how to gain much needed visibility into operations for improved forecasting, scheduling and agent management practices, and how to streamline operations with skills-based routing and multisite management techniques. Speaker: Cynthia Lapointe, Bell Canada

Special Interest
Incorporating Six Sigma Methodology into Workforce Management. Anecdotal evidence leads us to believe it takes six months for a new analyst to begin performing "at the average." The Enterprise Help Desk at The Boeing Company has decided to use the Six Sigma methodology to determine not only how accurate that assumption is, but also to find ways to speed up the learning curve for new analysts. Learn how Carlson Hotels Worldwide successfully implemented and maintains scheduling flexibility by using data driven decision making. Utilizing a Six Sigma tool, the DMAIC model, a new approach to scheduling was created and allows the company to maintain high levels of employee engagement. Speakers: David McNickle, Boeing, & Krissy Brand, Carlson Hotels

Tools & Technology Track
The Big Picture: Leveraging Performance Optimization Tools to Deliver Business Results. Managing the hectic, day-to-day reality of the contact center prevents managers from delivering results – not to mention the results that consumers expect and that corporate accountability demands. With just workforce management, contact centers do not fully have the tools to measure the progress and productivity – there’s often a profound lack of consolidated historical or real-time reports, and, as a result, no way to systematically measure performance and quality across your contact center operations. In this session, attendees will learn how to go beyond workforce optimization to implement a complete contact center performance optimization suite. Performance optimization tools, coupled with workforce management, can allow managers to consider everything that impacts performance – including agents, business processes, customers and systems – resulting in the power to take immediate, effective and measurable action. Speaker: Allyson Boudousquie, Aspect Software

Special Interest Track
Super-Charge your Workforce Management Presentations. From presenting ideas and information in a small team, speaking at the SWPP conference, to making strategy recommendations to executive leaders, it’s critical that your presentation be designed to deliver the most professional and productive quality you can, not only for the acceptance or understanding of the content, but also your professional integrity. This session gives valuable tips and reminders on fine tuning your presentations to garner the most you can from the information you’re presenting. Strategies around understanding audience, purpose statements, how much info is “too much,” slide design, visuals, platform skills, Q&A, and handouts are just some of topics included. Not just another “PowerPoint” seminar. Speaker: Todd Gladden, Ramsey Enterprises

3:45-4:15 p.m. – Break

4:15-5:30 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Forecasting Fundamentals. Review the most popular techniques used for forecasting and the advantages and risks of each. You will learn about the step-by-step approach used by most call centers called time-series analysis, including a case study and an exercise to complete after the class. Tips will also be provided on forecasting shortcuts and when to use them. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Advanced Track
Advanced Scheduling Techniques: Strategies for Improving Coverage and Effectiveness. Workforce scheduling is becoming increasingly complex with the additions of skill-based routing, multi-media contacts, and multi-site call routing. This session includes scheduling optimization strategies including skill-based scheduling, scheduling for non-call activities, and scheduling in a union environment. Shift bidding and schedule trades/rotations will be discussed, along with complications of scheduling in shared-seating scenarios. You’ll hear about tools that can support the process, along with how to work within your budgetary constraints to create the most acceptable and efficient coverage possible. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track
Capacity Planning – It’s Not an Exact Science. This session will explore the role workforce management plays in annual financial planning as well as view the variances that occur between the capacity plan and the 90-day operational plan that is hired to. What does a workforce manager do when the agents delivers a higher average handle time than planned? When attrition runs higher than plan? When HR struggles to get applicants to meet the required hire date? Speakers: Lisa Hower, Discover Financial, & Joey Provencio, Toyota Financial Services

Special Interest Track
There’s No Place Like Home…. Have you consulted the Great Oz to request the missing piece to your call center? Follow the yellow brick road to successfully utilize At-Home agents. Since you just can’t simply click your heels three times, we’ll discuss the benefits and challenges of initiating and maintaining an At-Home program. Hear from peers as to how they select agents, perform training, and manage performance. You may just discover you’ve had the heart, brains, and courage for such a program all along! Speakers: Corina Rust, KP OnCall, & Kim Newkirk, Bluegreen Corporation

Case Study Track
Reclaiming Lost Time: Best Practices for Improving Schedule Adherence at ICE & Genworth Financial “TOSS”es Time Off To Agents. The most robust forecast and optimized workforce schedule in the world is meaningless if there is no reliable mechanism to assure good schedule adherence. Maximizing agent productivity is especially important for International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. (ICE) as the company’s profits are made through commissions on booked cruises, resort vacation packages and related travel services, and the amount of time the agents are on the phone is directly linked to how much revenue they generate. In this session, hear how ICE was able to leverage its workforce management system to understand and improve schedule adherence. Genworth Financial created a systems called TOSS (Time Off Scheduling System) to provide a fair and equitable method to give associates located in the various Genworth Centers of Excellence (COE’s) the ability to pre-request a portion of their allotted paid time off for the upcoming calendar year. While many users utilize request bidding within their workforce management software, each company’s process behind the actual request bid may vary. The formula Genworth uses has four different components including the unique holiday ‘ding’ factors. Learn how spelling “TOSS” has spelled “SUCCESS!” Speakers: Adelina Petrov, ICE Gallery, & Jennifer McKinney, Genworth Financial

Tools & Technology Track
What Makes a Smart Center Smart? What makes a contact center smart? Is it the systems you purchase? Is it the people running the systems? Is it the processes people create to use the systems? Perhaps a smart center is the combination of all three: people, processes, technology. A really smart center would be one which combines people, processes, and technology from traditionally siloed disciplines to create a sensory environment - one that is not only smart, but also wise. Those attending the session will see a glimpse of the realm of possibilities when bridges are built across disciplines such as quality management, contact logging, customer surveys, workforce management, speech analytics, and performance management.Speaker: Nathan Stearns, IEX Corporation

Faciliatated Discussion Track
SWPP Meet. Each day during the conference we will have at least one facilitated session to allow open discussion among attendees. It will be run like an SWPP Regional Meeting (SWPP Meet), where attendees bring up top-of-mind issues from their center for feedback from the group. These meetings are a great opportunity to network with your workforce management peers and discuss your toughest workforce management problems.

5:30-7:30 p.m. – Networking Reception

Thursday, March 27

8:00-9:15 a.m. – Breakfast
Presentation of Preliminary Findings of the 2008 WFM Practices Study -- Dr. Jodie Monger
Presentation of the Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award

9:15-10:30 a.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Calculating Call Center Staff. Learn how to fine-tune staffing requirements to get the “just right” number of resources in place. This session will discuss cost vs. service concerns, the impact of large groups and economies of scale, call arrival rate, and staff occupancy. You’ll also learn about calculating staff for emails and outbound calling campaigns. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Advanced Track
Transitioning to Performance-Based Scheduling. Hear the benefits of moving from seniority based schedule bids to a performance based system. This session will address the perils and pitfalls to avoid along the way based on real-life experiences. Topics to be covered include: using statistics to drive call center goals; transitioning smoothly to performance-based bids, communicating effectively to agents to maximize performance, using new hire schedules between bids to entice agents to perform, how to address tenure, and lessons learned. Speakers: Richard Brooks, Bright House Networks, & Rich Blankenship, American Electric Power

Special Interest Track
The Scheduling Swap – Countdown of Scheduling Best Practices. If you’re struggling with what else to try in order to match up your schedules to the forecast workload, this is the session for you. You’ll hear about scheduling best practices from your workforce planning peers in a format that’s organized and practical, yet fun and entertaining. Bring at least two proven ideas with you to the session. You’ll have the opportunity to share ideas one-on-one with other participants and hear what’s working best in their centers. We’ll use a large group voting process to select the top five creative scheduling ideas with prizes for the winners. Whether you take home a top prize, or just a list of new scheduling ideas to try, everyone’s a winner in this session – and we guarantee you’ll have fun in the process. Speaker: Penny Reynolds & Pam Trickey, The Call Center School

Case Study Track
Centralized vs. Localized Workforce Management: Express Scripts’ IntegratedApproach & One Step to a Decentralized Workforce Management Group at SunTrust. Many workforce professionals working in multi-site enterprises know the pain of managing a shared workforce. The decision to go centralized or stay localized can have far-reaching impacts. Express Script’s acquisitions over a period of years left the enterprise with multiple call centers of various sizes and multiple approaches to workforce management. Express Scripts' history and current business model provides an interesting take on how to integrate processes for success. SunTrust has a centralized workforce team composed of long-range and short-range forecasters, schedulers, and intraday analysts. The workforce team is in a different location than the centers they support, and while they facilitated weekly conference/status calls, they still had a communication gap – information was not being filtered to everyone that needed to know. There was also the perception that the workforce management group resided in a glass house and the centers did not fully understand or “buy-in” to the recommendations that they made. By introducing a single site analyst at each location, they have minimized the challenges, and in this session you will learn the benefits that they have observed during the past year. Speakers: Heather Ostien & Julie DeNinno, Express Scripts & Julie Aronson & Deborah Morris, SunTrust

Tools & Technology Track
From Forecast to Hiring Plan to Budget to Variance to Forecast: The Optimal Planning Process. One of the great myths of contact center strategic planning is the idea that the goal of the planning process is simply to put together a budget. While it is true that the planning process results in a big book of budget numbers, the real result is that the call center organization uses this process to decide its priorities and to allocate their scarce resources. In this session, we will discuss how this planning process can be engineered to make optimal strategic decisions almost casually, as a matter of course. By developing an optimal strategic planning process, we improve not only our strategic decisions, but the tactical day-to-day operation. Speaker: Ric Kosiba, Bay Bridge Decision Technologies

Special Interest Track
The Truths & Myths About FMLA — Part 1. You deal with it everyday, but do you really know the truth about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Which employees are eligible to take FMLA leave? How much leave can eligible employees take? Can an employee be denied FMLA leave? Can an employee be fired for taking FMLA leave? Come to this session to learn what FMLA really means and what your role is in carrying out the provisions of this law. Speaker: Fred Bissinger, Wimberly Lawson Seale Wright & Daves

10:30-11:00 a.m. – Break

11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Scheduling Principles & Problems. Learn the basics of scheduling your personnel to meet call center cost and service goals. This session outlines the most common scheduling problems call centers face and will provide some traditional solutions as well as some creative new ones to help with your scheduling dilemma. Enter the attendee contest for most creative scheduling idea! Speaker: Pam Trickey, The Call Center School

Advanced Track
Strategically Plan Your Workforce Management Team Structure. Often workforce management teams are so involved planning for the center that they don't step back to review their structure and they fit strategically into the organization. After working with various models, this session will focus how to make different models working, dealing with mergers and acquisitions and how to position the workforce management for what lies ahead. Topics that will be discussed include the pros and cons of a centralized model; addressing customer and employee impacts; goal setting; hiring & training strategies; and planning for the future. Speakers: Chris Watchorn, Teleperformance, Liz Beardsley, Delta Airlines, & Dick Spearrin, HP

Special Interest Track
Key Performance Metrics Revisited. Everyone has been held accountable for the wrong metrics at some point in their career. Many resource planners, analysts, and others still face this hurdle and their compensation and bonuses are based on metrics they can never hope to own. As a result the individual is penalized and the business often fails to meet its overall objectives. Many contact centres battle with (or confuse) which metrics do or do not make sense and often the wrong people are held accountable for the wrong metrics. In this session we'll expose delegates to some groundbreaking research into the metrics that deliver results and who is accountable for what and why. Speakers: Mike Bendixen, Nova Southeastern University, & Rose DuPreez, Service Monitor

Case Study Track
Telerx Lights the Spark for an Organization-wide WFM Initiative & Gaining Consistency Across Multiple Locations Within the WFM Function at Allstate. The operational optimization and workforce management directors at Telerx faced a dual challenge when rolling out an organization-wide workforce management initiative — not only did they need to get buy-in from internal stakeholders, they also needed to demonstrate the value that workforce management could bring to the outsourcing company’s Fortune 500 clients. In this session, hear how they laid the groundwork for workforce management success through a concerted educational effort, and by making smart decisions related to processes, technology and training. Companies with multiple call center locations can have differing processes and procedures that make it difficult for the workforce management team to administer them all. It is not always easy to align a process from one site to another, but in this session, you will learn what the Allstate Financial Contact Center did to coordinate several key functions across two different sites to improve the tasks that the workforce management team performs. Discussion will include cultural differences and similarities, labor pool differences and similarities, assembling a virtual workforce management team, load balancing, benefits, obstacles, and disaster recovery. Speakers: Gina Blevins, Telerx & Jodi Wright, Allstate

Tools & Technology Track
How to Simplify the Desktop for Agent Efficiency and Effectiveness. Far too often, contact center technology initiates are well-planned for efficiency but not well-architected for effectiveness. By consolidating critical applications into single, unified, role-based desktop, contact centers can improve the contact center’s ability to provide quality customer service and achieve results. This session will explore how to tie workforce optimization to agent and supervisor workflows to help contact centers support key business initiatives, such as customer satisfaction, revenue-generation and customer retention. Speaker: Wayne Marlow, Calabrio

Special Interest Track
The Truths & Myths About FMLA — Part 2. In the second part of this session, we will continue to answer questions about this hot topic. You deal with it everyday, but do you really know the truth about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Which employees are eligible to take FMLA leave? How much leave can eligible employees take? Can an employee be denied FMLA leave? Can an employee be fired for taking FMLA leave? Come to this session to learn what FMLA really means and what your role is in carrying out the provisions of this law. Speaker: Fred Bissinger, Wimberly Lawson Seale Wright & Daves

Special Interest Track
Unlocking Workforce Management Data with Visual Basic. Contact center systems and generate massive amounts of data – forecasts, schedules, metrics on agent performance and more. This session will explore how the Visual Basic development environment can be used to build simple applications for extracting and leveraging workforce data quickly and easily. Attendees will learn what Visual Basic is and what it can do, and hear about fundamental programming concepts that enable flexible and adaptable applications. The discussion will also include an overview of the free resources available that can help developers at all levels — from beginners to those experienced with the tool — more effectively work within the Visual Basic environment. Speaker: Jason Hudson, Telerx

12:15-1:30 p.m. – Lunch and Workforce Management Jeopardy

1:30-2:45 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Attendance & Adherence. One of the toughest jobs related to workforce management may not be the intricate calculations of forecasting nor the numerous iterations of coming up with the best schedule mix. The hardest part may come after the schedules are in place – simply ensuring there are frontline staff available when and where you need them to be. Some call centers are much more successful than others at this attendance and adherence dilemma. So how do you get staff to show up for work on Mondays and stick to their planned break times? This session will share proven practices on attendance and adherence that have resulted in increased availability. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Advanced Track
Team Building Exercises for Your Workforce Management Team. Need ideas for building team cohesiveness, accountability and productivity in your workforce management group? This session will give a variety of exercises to build loyalty, accountability, morale and productivity in the workforce management team, or any other team. Details around facilitating exercises, from setup to debriefing will be discussed, along with a real team exercise delivered in the session. Great for Team Leaders and Managers! Speakers: Todd Gladden, Ramsey Enterprises, & Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Services

Case Study Track
Managing Union-Specific Requirements for Workforce Management at GHI & SMUD. Contact centers faced with special union requirements for agents will benefit from the lessons learned and best practices from this case study success story. Group Health has some interesting experience with union-specific requirements for scheduling. The company had been experiencing difficulties with scheduling given their attendance rules – resulting in 10+ minute ASA. They were able to leverage workforce management and process improvements to improve the average speed of answer to under a minute. At SMUD, they have union specified fixed start/end times and lunches and schedules that are chosen based on seniority. However, they are able to utilize workforce management to optimize the number of shifts available for the bidding process and to optimize the best breaks and lunch times. Speakers: Janice Fisher, GHI, & Tammie Nichols, SMUD

Case Study Track
Improving E-mail Workforce Performance at Principal Financial & Universal Agent or Multi-Skill – That is the Question at Toyota Financial. With organizations reaching out to their customers via more channels than ever before, the role of workforce management is extending beyond voice interactions. In this session, hear how Principal Financial Group tackled the challenge of implementing workforce management to understand how e-mail customer service could be addressed more efficiently. Attendees will learn about the technology and integration issues involved in linking workforce management with other critical contact systems, the metrics and processes that help managers understand e-mail patterns and schedule staff accordingly, as well as issues that are unique to Web-based contact channels. Toyota Financial has struggled with whether “'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” with new product lines, seasonal call volume or combining call groups in search of greater operating efficiencies... Workforce management is frequently asked by management whether it makes more sense to train everyone or create a separate agent group. Learn how Toyota Financial Services approached the question of whether to multi-skill versus adopt a universal agent model when asked to combine the inbound Collections and Customer Service departments. Speaker: – Tony Gracyzk, Principal Financial, & Joey Provencio, Toyota Financial Services

Tools & Technology Track
Routing: The Secret Partner of Workforce Optimization. Workforce Management systems have always focused on forecasting where and when your customer calls are going to go. However, have you ever stopped to explore HOW those calls are delivered and WHY they go where they go? This session will briefly explore the relationship between routing and workforce management, especially within environments utilizing "Skills-Based" technology. Come to this session to make sure your workforce optimization methodology is working WITH your routing logic instead of against it. Speakers: Tom Tritten & Jeff Woodland, Genesys

Tools & Technology Track
Contact Handling Performance Monitoring in Real-Time. In this session, hear an introduction and overview to the Real-time Monitoring and Resource Management toolkit currently utilised in British Telecom's 32 UK-based call centres. This system delivers hands-on control and realtime performance information for around 8000 call centre personnel, allowing managers and senior managers a hierarchal view of advisor activity at any given time. The tool also provides direct manager interface into BT's workforce management system, providing immediate 'change' information to be recorded and passed to call delivery planners for 'on the spot' remedial action, as well as continuous national views to BT's National Resourcing Team. Speaker: Martin Glen, BT

Tools & Technology Track
The Continuing Evolution of Workforce Management. This session explores how workforce management solutions are being changed by economic and social forces. No longer just a forecasting and scheduling application for call centers, modern workforce management solutions have already morphed into sophisticated activity management systems. The session will also discuss how contact center workforce management tools and processes can be applied to other areas of the enterprise. Speaker: Bill Durr, Verint

2:45-3:45 p.m. – Ice Cream Social with the Sponsors

3:45-5:00 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Building an Effective Budget Forecast and Gaining Senior Management Buy-In. Find out what questions you should be asking before beginning your budget forecast. Learn what potential pitfalls there may be if you don't ask all the right questions. Hear tips and techniques for creating a workable, flexible budget model that includes managing seasonality and shrinkage, preparing for the unexpected, and tracking changes. You will also learn some proven methods of how to successfully present and sell your budget! Speakers: Kristi White, FedEx, & Sandra McFatridge, Medco Solutions

Advanced Track
Performance Measurements for WFM Processes. Agents in the call center are measured on a multitude of metrics and are usually compensated based on those metrics. But what about your workforce management team? They can be measured as well, but the metrics need to be appropriate for the job functions. Learn how you can put individual performance measurements in place for forecasting, scheduling, and intraday functions. In this session, you will discuss what the metrics are, how to calculate them, and how you can measure individual job functions, as well as finding targets that make sense. Speakers: Debra Phillips, Convergys & Rich Blankenship, American Electric Power

Special Interest Track
Certification Prep – Taking the Exams. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know for the testing in SWPP’s Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP) certification process. In this session, you will review the competencies for the tests, look at some sample test questions, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the test.

Case Study Track
Redefining Quality at UnitedHealthcare: Applying Systems Thinking to Define Organizational Quality. An interactive discussion of how UnitedHealthcare's Customer Care division has used systemic thinking and the disciplines of understanding and limiting variation to develop an organizational quality concept. Why is it important to limit variation? Examples from the workforce planning realm are plentiful and can be carried over into any continuous improvement concept. What is "systems thinking?" Why are process maps important for a quality program? How does organizational quality differ from call quality? How does it all come together? Speakers: Scott Engman & Dan Balta, United Health Care

Special Interest Track
Using ACD Data to Effectively Manage Your Call Center. Do you ever get inundated with tons of ACD reports and just wish you understood them better? This session will review various ACD reports and help you learn how you can customize your data to capture the information needed on one report. Call routing will also be discussed, and how this affects your intraday performance reports. Very interactive class, so come prepared to participate in the conversation! Speaker: Debbie Davis & & Kelly Broadbooks, American Airlines Vacations

Tools & Technology Track
Using Workforce Management to Help Work/Life Balance. This case study will deal with the issues surrounding work/life balance and the use of workforce management to satisfy the needs of the company while enhancing the employee’s perception of achieving a desirable equilibrium. We will also discuss issues and approaches used to provide a workable approach to scheduling. Speaker: Craig Shambaugh, InVision Software

Workforce Management Practices in a Virtual Call Center. Are you experiencing challenges managing your labor in a work at home environment? Are you interested in learning how to leverage your virtual agents to improve your call center’s service levels and profitability? Hear about the benefits of deploying a flexible workforce to improve customer satisfaction. Learn how West Corporation effectively manages over 10,000 work at home agents. Discussions will include recruiting, scalability, technology, agent empowerment and workforce behavior. Speakers: Joseph Cox, West Corporation and Rod Bennett, Spectrum

6:00 p.m.– Buses depart for Evening Event

6:30-9:30 p.m. – Evening Event

Friday, March 28

8:00-8:45 a.m. – Breakfast

8:45-10:00 a.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a Good First Impression! One of the keys to a good relationship between agents and workforce management is a great understanding from the very beginning. So start workforce management’s working relationship with agents in the best possible way with an effective presentation during New Hire Training. This session addresses the planning, development and delivery of workforce management training for new hires. Topics will include the issue of securing the time required, items to cover, and suggestions for making sure the session accomplishes your goals. We’ll share ideas on knowing your audience so you can tailor the workforce management presentation for optimal understanding of all the basic principles. We will also share some success stories and some “learning experiences,” and hope you’ll share some of your own as well. Speakers: Michele Borboa, Contact Center Resources, & Todd Gladden, Ramsey Enterprises

Advanced Track
Skill-Based Routing Fundamentals — Part I. Skill-based routing is a powerful tool that can help call centers with many different call types handle them more effectively from both a customer and staff perspective. It can be equally powerful when applied to multiple contact channels – calls, emails, fax, and web chat – that most centers must handle today. This session provides a map to guide you through a process of applying skill-based routing fundamentals to the multi-channel environment. You’ll learn how to determine and assign priorities in order to manage service differences and make the most of your staff skills. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track
Certification Prep – Completing the Project. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know to successfully complete the required project for SWPP’s Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP) certification process. . In this session, you will review the approved sample projects, view some completed project data, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the project.

Case Study Track
The 3 R's -The Relevance of Reforecasting and Reviewing with Operations. At Accenture Business Services for Utilities, the workforce management team sees great importance in reforecasting a week out and sharing that information with Operations. By doing this, they share not only what will happen next week, but prepare for additional support from any Back Office agents and all other additional support. This enables the team to be proactive and filter the information down to Operations. In this session, hear best practices in this process, including the use of spreadsheets, the addition of coaching allotments, unplanned absences, and the improvements they have seen since starting the process. Speakers: Eva Turco & Mary Mandaric, Accenture

Tools & Technology Track
Using Performance Management to Drive Process Change and Accountability. People are your company's strongest asset and biggest expense. Getting them to perform at the top of their game is your greatest opportunity. By giving your employees insight into their performance statistics, you can increase efficiency, drive revenue and reduce costs throughout your company. In this interactive session, you will learn best practices in performance management as attendees exchange effective strategies for developing a culture of high performance and accountability; obtaining timely and trustworthy performance information; rewarding employees promptly and accurately for their hard work; handling the culture change with introducing a performance management system; and deciding how many and which metrics to use. Speaker: Paul Leamon, IEX Corporation

10:00-10:15 a.m. – Break

10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track
Power of One Activity Session. What other session utilizes a wading pool, tennis balls, and a bucket from your favorite fried chicken joint? Probably none, because this one is unique! Come to this session to find some proven techniques and activities to show agents how important they are – that one person really does make a difference! Speakers: Todd Gladden, Ramsey Enterprises & Tom Burrin, RCI

Advanced Track
Skill Based Scheduling Case Study — Part II. In Part II of this workshop, you’ll see the basic skill-based routing principles applied using two case study examples. We’ll review two different types of centers with varying sizes and mixtures of skills. These examples will demonstrate a variety of challenges and how they can be effectively met in the routing design and the schedule planning. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own SBR designs, plans and challenges for discussion in this problem-solving session. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track
60 Ideas in 60 Minutes. This fast-paced session will have you writing furiously as you try to capture an idea a minute on paper! This format will give you some great tips to take home and implement immediately – if you can catch them all!

Special Interest Track
Excel Fundamentals for WFM Professionals. Excel continues to be the most used application in workforce planning. Excel is used in Erlang models for budgeting purposes, reporting call center metrics, forecasting validation, financial planning, shrinkage reporting, and many other efforts. This session is designed to provide basic and intermediate level Excel users with tips, tricks, and ideas to enhance their Excel skill level. Additionally, this session will demonstrate how Excel can be used for a variety of reporting efforts. Speakers: Mike Andrews, Cincinnati Bell & Kristi White, FedEx

Special Interest Track
Gain Efficiencies by Blending Contact Center Resources. Are your Sales, Services and Processing functions separate and isolated in your current organization? Sales and Service functions typically have different intraday peaks and seasonal patterns. Running two different staffing models may result in carrying extra capacity throughout the year. This session will walk through how one can reduce FTE need and gain efficiencies by cross training some of your tenured resources. We will talk through pitfalls to avoid and lessons learned through our blending efforts. As well as what capacity data you need to analyze (transfers, AHT, conversion, rep productivity). Looking at AHT is not enough, you need to get more granular, evaluating the entire process of the work being completed, your service level agreements, as well your other key business measures. Speaker: Phil Cottell & Joe Calfo, Progressive Insurance

Tools & Technology Track
Outbound Workforce Management Strategies- Work Smarter, Not Harder. Any manager running an outbound contact center is well aware of the daily tactical challenges such as: continually trying to improve agent performance and morale, agents calling in sick, the availability of new calling lists, system outages, implementation of new policies and procedures, agent and supervisory attrition, customer experience and more. Working smarter means maximizing contacts with customers and reaching them with a single connect, rather than multiple attempts, to close the deal – whether that means collecting a past due amount, solving a problem, or selling a product or a service. In this session, attendees will learn how workforce management and performance optimization tools can help collections and telemarketing contact center managers assimilate business intelligence data points and utilize this information to optimize contact strategies, provide premium customer service and try and meet stated performance targets to grow revenues and minimize losses. Speaker: Deborah Mauk, Aspect Software

11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. – Conference Wrap-up General Session

2008 SWPP Annual Conference Ends