Pro or Enterprise plan · Admin role
- Plan
- Pro or Enterprise plan. Compare plans
- Create, edit, and apply optimization rules
-
Admin role
Or a custom role with Manage optimizations set to Can manage optimizations on the Configure tab
Admins set roles and permissions in Manage team > Roles and permissions.
Use optimization rules to place events such as breaks and lunches automatically. You set the timing limits, and Assembled places each event where it best supports your staffing needs. Create rules on the Optimizations page, then apply them from the Staffing timeline.
To open it, go to Configure > Optimizations.
Note: If your company uses the schedule assistant, Optimizations isn’t in your Configure menu, and Schedule assistant on the Staffing timeline opens the schedule assistant instead. See Schedule assistant.
How optimizations work
- Events are placed to match your forecast. Assembled places events so your scheduled staffing stays as close as possible to the required staffing from your forecast.
- Your channel filter decides what’s balanced. If you apply a rule with all channels shown, Assembled balances coverage across every channel. If you filter to one channel, it optimizes for that channel and its queues.
- Some events stay where they are. Assembled schedules around the event types you choose to keep in place, such as meetings, 1:1s, or time off.
- An agent is optimized fully or not at all. If an agent’s events can’t fit within the rule, usually because the shift is too short for the durations and gaps you’ve set, Assembled leaves that agent’s events exactly as they were.
How optimizing affects service level
Your forecasted service level can go down after you optimize, for two reasons:
- You added events. If agents didn’t have breaks or lunches before, adding them reduces productive time, so some drop in service level is expected.
- Coverage was rebalanced. Assembled protects your least-staffed queues first. Some queues may end up with a lower service level while others improve, because the goal is the best overall result.
Create an optimization rule
An optimization rule sets the limits Assembled works within when it places events. You can create as many as you need, such as one for lunches and one for lunches and breaks.
- Go to Configure > Optimizations.
- Select Add rule.
- Enter a Title. You choose the rule by this name when you apply it, so keep it short and clear.
- Under Event types to keep in their original place, choose any events that shouldn’t move, such as meetings, 1:1s, or time off.
- Select Enforce the order of event rules if your events must happen in a set order, such as a break, then lunch, then another break. Leave it cleared if events can happen in any order.
- Select Stagger events to spread event times across agents, so everyone doesn’t take lunch at the same time.
- Select Add event rule and fill in the settings for each event you want to place. See the table below.
- Select Add optimization rule.
Each event type you add must already exist in Assembled. See Event types. To change a rule later, open it from the Optimizations page, make your changes, and select Save optimization rule.
Event rule settings
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Event type | The event to place, such as Lunch or Break. |
| Event duration | How long the event lasts, in hours or minutes. |
| Time from start of shift is at least | The earliest the event can start, measured from the start of the agent’s shift. Optional: leave it blank to allow any time. |
| Time from end of shift is at least | The minimum time between the end of the event and the end of the agent’s shift. Optional: leave it blank to allow any time. |
| Time between other events (that are part of this optimization rule) is at least | The minimum gap between this event and the other events in the same rule. Optional. |
If you leave all the optional settings blank, the event can be placed anywhere in the shift.
Apply an optimization rule
Assembled applies the rule to the agents and dates you’re viewing on the Staffing timeline.
- Go to Schedule > Staffing timeline.
- Filter to the agents whose events you want to optimize.
- Choose your dates. If you’re viewing a day, the rule applies to that day. If you’re viewing a week, it applies to the whole week. The range must be less than 60 days.
- Select Schedule assistant. Optimize events opens.
- Choose an Optimization rule.
- Select Optimize events.
This can take a few moments for large teams or long date ranges. When it finishes, a summary lists the modified events and any Agents with non-optimizable schedules. To fix an agent whose events couldn’t be placed, compare their shift length with your rule: a shorter event or a smaller gap usually helps.
If you see Date range too long, choose a shorter range and try again.