Selecting Exceptions
An exception message indicates that a particular performance threshold has been reached or exceeded and an unusual or undesirable situation may be occurring. Exceptions allow you to customize performance goals for each split or line group. For instance, you may establish a threshold of 3 minutes as an acceptable talk time for one split and 4 minutes as an acceptable talk time for another split.
You may want to use CMS for a few days before you select your exceptions and set your exception thresholds. In the meantime, all exceptions are set to off .
When you turn on an exception, you receive an exception message on your PC screen whenever a threshold for that exception has been reached or exceeded. For instance, you may choose to receive an exception message when an agent has refused a call or when all the lines in a line group have been busy for a certain number of seconds. If you want your PC to beep when an exception occurs, turn on the audible alarm option described in “Setting Captions.”
External lamps can also be used as alerts to visually notify agents when an exception is occurring.
Exceptions are an important management tool because they free you to do more productive work. Instead of constantly monitoring system status on your PC, you can administer exceptions to notify you when problems arise.
Most businesses need only two or three exceptions. Using all the exceptions available or setting unrealistic exception thresholds merely gives you unusable or inappropriate data. Consider these points when choosing the exceptions for your business:
●In sales line groups, the exceptions that indicate the length of time all lines are busy and the number of abandoned calls are important. When all lines are busy, potential customers may not be able to get through and may call a competitor. This means lost revenue for your business. Abandoned calls (instances where a caller hangs up before being connected to an agent) signal that there are callers who are tired of waiting for an agent and who might not call back— again, lost revenue.
The thresholds for these exceptions depend on the dollar value of each call versus the expense of an additional agent:
In businesses where each call generates high revenue (or where customer service directly affects sales), the thresholds should be set low. Thus the exception messages can alert the supervisor before too many calls are lost.
In businesses where the revenue per call is low, it may not be economical to have enough lines and agents to handle all calls. Exception thresholds could be set high.
●In a service business, agent productivity and cost per call may be important concerns. In this situation, the length of time an agent spends on a call (talk time) and in the
Selecting Exceptions
