Interval Manager
Use the Interval Manager tile of Syntelate Studio to configure a booking system. You can create booking systems to be used by your agents, your customers, or both.
EXAMPLE
Inisoft Travel created a booking system using Interval Manager to help the business manage callbacks effectively. The system is embedded into their website to provide a self-service facility for customers. Meanwhile, Inisoft Travel agents also have access to the system, from their desktop and the website, so they can edit or create callback bookings on behalf of customers.
- Customers can visit the Inisoft Travel website to check availability and then complete a booking by themselves.
- Agents at Inisoft Travel have visibility of the bookings, which means they can make changes to existing ones, or create new bookings for customers who request assistance with the process.
- Supervisors have visibility of callback demand, so training and holidays can be scheduled effectively.
The rest of this topic describes the Interval Manager’s features and how to configure its settings.
Concepts
An interval is a time slot that agents can assign tasks to.
A task is a piece of work to be completed at a particular time, for example, a callback. In the above screenshot the number inside each green interval is the maximum number of tasks (such as callbacks) that can be assigned to that interval.
An interval group is used to organize intervals together so that you can specify certain settings for the group, rather than for each interval. Interval groups become especially useful if you need to create more than one group. For example, one group for sales and a second group for support. An interval group includes the following settings:
- A weekly pattern: Defines the intervals in a typical week, for example:
- Fifteen-minute intervals for Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM; four tasks per interval.
- Fifteen-minute intervals for Saturdays, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM; four tasks per interval.
- No intervals on Sundays.
- Overrides: One-off exceptions to the weekly pattern. For example, Wednesday 14 June is a training day and a reduced number of agents will be available. The intervals on that day could be overridden to only allow two tasks per interval.
- Holidays: Days when no intervals are available for agents to assign tasks to (because the call center is closed, for example).
An interval group can be assigned to a workzone and to a specific Date box with intervals control. While working on an interaction record, this allows agents to use a Date box with intervals control to book a task to an interval, such as a callback.
Self-service booking system
If you want to give your customers the ability to book their own appointments from your website, first use the Interval Manager to create a booking system. You can then embed the system as a form on your website to enable customers to make their own bookings.
The booking system will look like a text box, like in this screenshot:
When a customer clicks the text box, the interval group that you have defined will appear on the screen.
The customer can then choose an appointment slot from the available intervals.
You can let agents manage those customer bookings by adding the Date box with intervals control to the agents’ desktop.
Alternatively, agents can manage bookings by using the same online form as the customer.
For instructions on how to use the Interval Manager, read through the Tasks in this
Tasks
Click a task for step-by-step instructions: