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---
lab:
    title: TechLab: Workforce Management
    description:
    level: 400
    duration: 120 minutes
    islab: true
    primarytopics:
---

@lab.Title

Please enter your own Microsoft alias (without the @microsoft.com) in the field below before starting the lab. This information is required to correctly associate your activity with your learner record and ensure your completion is accurately captured and reported. For data integrity and compliance reasons, learners may only enter their own alias. After completing the lab, please allow up to 5 business days for all reporting systems to fully reflect your completion.

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===

Survey

@lab.ActivityGroup(initialsurvey)

===

[!Alert] Before proceeding, you must complete the prerequisite lab, TechLab: Sales and Service MDX Set Up. This lab depends on configuration completed in that prerequisite. If you have not already completed it, you will not be able to complete the tasks in this lab. If you have already begun this lab, please exit now, complete the prerequisite lab, and then return to this lab afterward.

##Where does this fit-in as part of an end-to-end demo?

Business context

Contoso Coffee stands as one of the leading producers of premium coffee machines in the United States, boasting an extensive clientele that surpasses 5 million with $1 Billion revenue. This customer base is provided with a variety of sophisticated coffee machines, in addition to options for ordering coffee supplies, service agreements, and extended warranties. Contoso caters to both business-to-business (coffee shops) and business-to-consumer (individual buyers) markets.

During Contoso Coffee's seasonal product launch, a surge in customer inquiries about new flavors, water tank maintenance, and warranties exposed major flaws in their workforce management systems; with over 2,000 agents scheduled manually using ServiceNow and Genesys Engage, mismatches between staffing and demand led to long wait times, missed shifts, and compliance risks, while the lack of predictive analytics and real-time scheduling tools caused overstaffing during slow periods and understaffing during peak hours, frustrating customers and burning out agents-all highlighting the urgent need for AI-driven solutions to streamline scheduling, shift swaps, and capacity planning.

Challenges

Contoso is experiencing significant challenges in managing its global customer service workforce:

• Inconsistent staffing across time zones and seasonal demand fluctuations.

• Manual scheduling processes that are time-consuming and error-prone.

• High agent turnover due to lack of scheduling flexibility and visibility.

• Limited visibility into agent performance and adherence.

• Difficulty forecasting demand during promotions, holidays, and product launches.

• Inability to quickly reallocate resources during unexpected demand surges.

Why are we talking to Contoso?

Their current approach relies very heavily on manual processes or overly complicated scheduling tools. The lack of dynamic data makes it difficult to respond quickly to changing customer demand. They are looking to move away from their current system in ServiceNow to a solution that will help them to modernize its workforce management capabilities and unify its global support operations under a single, intelligent platform.

Desired outcome breakdown

Key outcomes:

• Implement AI-driven forecasting to predict contact volumes across channels and regions.

• Automate agent scheduling based on skills, availability, and demand.

• Improve agent satisfaction with self-service shift management tools.

• Monitor real-time adherence and performance metrics.

• Reduce operational costs through optimized staffing and reduced overtime.

How Dynamics 365 Contact Center helps:

• AI-powered forecasting engine uses historical and real-time data.

• Schedule builder supports multi-skill, multi-time zone optimization.

• Agent portal allows shift bidding, time-off requests, and swaps.

• Real-time dashboards provide supervisors with adherence and productivity insights.

• Integration with HR systems ensures up-to-date agent availability and compliance.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this lab, you'll:

• Enable Workforce Management in Dynamics 365 Contact Center.

• Configure the necessary supporting components.

• Create and manage forecasts using historical and imported data.

• Build and publish optimized schedules.

• Configure and demonstrate agent self-service features.

Estimated time to complete this workshop: 75-90 minutes

Prerequisites

[!Alert] You must complete the required steps in the TechLab: Sales and Service MDX Set Up lab before you start this lab. This ensures that your environment is configured properly and includes all resources that are required to support this lab.

===

Exercise 01: Create supporting components

Introduction

Contoso's biggest pain point is that scheduling decisions aren't driven by skills, availability, or real demand, resulting in overstaffing during slow periods and understaffing during peak hours. To fix that, Workforce Management needs the foundational building blocks that make optimization possible: enabled features, manager relationships, skills and proficiency, bookable resources with working hours, shift activities, time-off types, and queues for routing. In this exercise, you'll configure these core components so Contoso can later forecast accurately, plan capacity, and build schedules that reflect real operational constraints.

Task 01: Enable Workforce management options

Introduction

Contoso can't move from manual scheduling to AI-driven planning until Workforce Management capabilities are enabled across forecasting, scheduling, and agent self-service.

Description

In this task, you turn on the Workforce Management features required for forecasting, capacity planning, schedule management, shift-based routing, and agent self-service capabilities like bidding and swapping.

Success criteria

• Workforce Management features are enabled and available for configuration and use across forecasting, planning, scheduling, and self-service.

###Key steps

1. In Edge, go to Dynamics 365. The URL should resemble https://org6e56877e.crm.dynamics.com/.

2. If prompted, sign in by using the administrator credentials for your demo environment.

3. On the Published Apps page, select Copilot Service admin center.

   

4. In the left pane, In the Operations section, select Workforce management.

   

5. In the Time management section, locate the Representative calendar option and select Manage.

   

6. Set Enable my schedule for agents to On.

   

7. On the command bar, select Save and Close.

8. In the Forecasting section, turn on the following feature:

   • Capacity planning

   

9. In the Shift and schedule management section, turn on the following features:

   • Capacity planning
   • Schedule management
   • Shift-based routing

   

10. In the Time management section, turn on the following features:

    • Representative calendar
    • Bidding
    • Swapping

    

===

Task 02: Assign managers

Introduction

Shift swaps, bidding, and time-off requests require clear reporting relationships so approvals and accountability work at scale across Contoso's global support team.

Description

In this task, you assign managers to agents so requests such as time off, swaps, and bids can follow an approval path and support better workforce visibility.

Success criteria

Managers are assigned to the required users so shift and time-off workflows can be submitted and approved.

###Key steps

1. In Copilot Service admin center, in the left pane, select Workforce Management.

   

2. In the User Management section, select View.

   

3. Locate Users and then select Manage.

   

4. Select Enabled Users and then select Agents to change the view.

   

5. Select your administrative account.

   

6. Select the Summary tab. On the right side of the page, on the Organization Information tile, in the Manager field, set the value to Alan Steiner.

   

7. On the command bar, select Save and Close.

   

8. In the list of agents, select the Alex Baker record. On the Organization Information tile, in the Manager field, set the value to your administrative account.

   

9. Repeat Step 8 to assign your administrative account as the Manager for the following users:

   • Alicia Thomber
   • Amy Alberts
   • Anita Montero
   • Benjamin Mcphee
   • David Mallory
   • Molly Clark
   • Nancy Warner
   • Renee Lo
   • Spencer Low

===

Task 03: Create skills and proficiency levels

Introduction

Contoso's staffing challenges worsen when the wrong skills are scheduled against the wrong demand, especially during seasonal surges and product launches.

Description

In this task, you'll create the skill framework (for example, Commercial, Residential, Subscriptions, Warranty, Repair) that will be used for forecasting, routing, and schedule optimization.

Success criteria

The required skills are created and available to assign to customer service representatives.

###Key steps

1. In Copilot Service admin center, in the left pane, select Workforce Management.

   

2. In User management, select View.

3. In Skills hub, select Manage.

4. On the Skills page, select Create.

5. Configure the Characteristic as follows:

   • Skill Name: Commercial
   • Skill Type: Skill

6. Select Save and Close.

7. Repeat the steps above to add the following skills:

   Name	Type
   Residential	Skill
   Subscriptions	Skill
   Warranty	Skill
   Repair	Skill

8. Your completed skills should resemble the image below (you may have more skills in the list if they existed from before):

   

===

Task 04: Assign skills and proficiency levels

Introduction

To reduce long wait times and avoid overstaffing or understaffing, Contoso needs schedules that reflect who can handle which types of customer inquiries-and how well.

Description

In this task, you'll assign skills and proficiency levels to agents so the system can match staffing to demand by skill, not just headcount.

Success criteria

• Agents have the required skills and proficiency levels assigned to support skill-based planning and scheduling.

1. In Copilot Service admin center, in the left pane, select Workforce Management.

   

2. In the User management section, select View.

   

3. On the User management page, in the Enhanced user management section, select Manage.

   

4. Select your admin account. On the command bar, select Update user attributes and then select Update skills.

   

5. In the Select proficiency field, select Excellent. Then, in the Skills field, select Commercial and Warranty.

   [!Alert] You must select the proficiency level before selecting the skill.

6. Select Add to all.

   

7. In the Select proficiency field, select Very Good. Then, in the Skills field, select Residential and Repair.

8. Select Add to all.

   

9. In the Select proficiency field, select Fair. Then, in the Skills field, select Subscriptions.

10. Select Add to all.

    

11. Select the Save button.

12. Repeat the Steps to define skills for additional users as follows:

    Rep	Fair	Very Good	Excellent
    Alan Steiner	Commercial	Warranty, Residential	Repair, subscriptions
    Alex Baker	Warranty	Residential	Commercial, Repair, Subscriptions
    Alica Thomber	Repair, Residential	Commercial, Subscriptions, Warranty
    Amy Alberts	Subscriptions	Commercial, Repair	Warranty, Residential
    Anita Montero	Commercial	Warranty, Residential	Repair, subscriptions
    Benjamin Mcphee	Subscriptions	Commercial, Repair	Warranty, Residential
    David Mallory	Warranty	Residential	Commercial, Repair, Subscriptions
    Molly Clark	Repair, Residential	Commercial, Subscriptions, Warranty
    Nancy Warner	Subscriptions	Commercial, Repair	Warranty, Residential
    Renee Lo	Warranty	Residential	Commercial, Repair, Subscriptions
    Spencer Low	Repair, Residential	Commercial, Subscriptions, Warranty

===

Task 05: Create time-off request types

Introduction

High turnover and burnout are often driven by inflexible scheduling, so Contoso needs a consistent way for agents to request time off within the same system used for staffing.

Description

In this task, you'll create time-off request types (Vacation, PTO, Unpaid, Sick Leave) so agents can submit requests and supervisors can manage coverage impacts.

Success criteria

• Time-off request types are created and available for agents to use in self-service workflows.

####Key steps

1. In Copilot Service admin center, in the left pane, select Workforce Management.

   

2. In the Time management section, select View.

3. In the Time management group, locate Time-off request types and select Manage.

   

4. On the command bar, select + New.

   

5. Configure the Time-off Activity type as follows:

   • Name: Vacation
   • Description: Represents Vacation time
   • Color: #51db84
   • Dark theme Color: #51db84

   

6. On the command bar, select Save and Close.

   

7. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 to add the following time-off types:

   Name	Description	Color	Dark Color
   PTO	Represents Paid time Off	#7451db	#7451db
   Unpaid	Represents unpaid time off	#db51c2	#db51c2
   Sick Leave	Represents extended sick leave	#db9651	#db9651

===

Task 06: Configure queues

Introduction

To align staffing with demand in real time, Contoso needs routing that respects who is scheduled, skilled, available, and actively working.

Description

In this task, you'll create a queue and configure shift-based routing rules so incoming work can be assigned to agents based on skills, presence, capacity, and calendar schedule.

Success criteria

A queue and shift-based routing ruleset are configured so work can be routed to scheduled, qualified, available agents.

###Key steps

1. Open Copilot Service admin center.

2. In the left pane, in the Customer support section, select Queues.

   

3. Locate Advanced Queues and then select Manage.

   

4. On the command bar, select + New queue.

   

5. Configure the queue as follows and then select Create:

   • Name: Shift Based Routing
   • Type: Messaging
   • Queue Priority: 10

   [!knowledge] Unified routing prioritizes a queue with a smaller number over a queue with a larger number.

   

6. On the Shift Based Routing page, on the Add Users to this Queue tile, select + Add users.

   

7. Select the following users and then select Add:

   • Alan Steiner
   • Alex Baker
   • Alicia Thomber
   • Amy Alberts
   • Anita Montero
   • Benjamin Mcphee
   • David Mallory
   • Molly Clark
   • Nancy Warner
   • Renee Lo
   • Spencer Low

8. On the Shift Based Routing page, on the Assignment method tile, select See more.

   

9. Select Create new.

   

10. In the Create work assignment dialog, in the Name field, enter Shift routing and then select Create.

    

11. On the Assignment rulesets tile, select Create Ruleset.

    

12. Select + New Ruleset.

13. In the Ruleset name field, enter Route reps and then select Create.

    

14. On the Decision List tile, select Create Rule.

    

15. In the Rule Name field, enter Shift routing demo.

16. Configure the conditions as follows:

    • User skills > Exact match > All skills

    • Presence status > Equals > Dynamic Match > Conversation . Workstream . Allowed Presences

    

    • Available capacity > Is greater than > Dynamic Match > Conversation . Workstream . Capacity

    

    • Calendar schedule > is working

    [!Note] Remove any additional conditions (ex. User Languages - User Regions)

17. In the Order by field, select Least Active.

    

18. Select Create.

===

Exercise 02: Create capacity plans

Introduction

Forecasts tell Contoso what demand is coming; capacity plans translate that demand into staffing requirements while accounting for real-world constraints like shrinkage, service-level targets, and answer-time goals. This is where Contoso begins to quantify the workforce needed to reduce wait times, control overtime, and avoid burnout. In this exercise, you'll create capacity plans aligned to your forecasts so Contoso can understand required staffing levels across both short-term and long-term horizons.

===

Task 01: Create capacity plans

Introduction

Forecasts help Contoso predict demand, but they still need a clear staffing plan that accounts for service-level goals, shrinkage, and workload patterns across channels. Capacity plans translate forecasted volume into required staffing so Contoso can reduce wait times, control overtime, and avoid burnout.

Description

In this task, you'll create long-term and short-term capacity plans for both conversations and cases by selecting the appropriate forecast scenarios, configuring the run schedule, and setting key planning parameters such as service level, shrinkage, target answer time, and concurrency.

Success criteria

• Long-term and short-term capacity plans for conversations and cases are created and saved using the correct forecast scenarios and planning parameters.

###Key steps

[!Alert] The capacity plans that you create here rely on the forecasts that you created in the prerequisites lab. You will not be able to select entries for the Forecast Scenario field if the forecasts were not created.

---

####01: Create a long-term capacity plan for conversations

1. Open the Copilot Service workspace app (not Copilot Service admin center).

   

2. In the left pane, in the Workforce Management section, select Capacity Planning.

   

3. Select + New and then select Long-Term Capacity Plan.

   

4. Configure the plan as follows:

   • Details tile

     • Name: Capacity Long term - Conversation
     • Forecast Scenario: Sept Long Term - Conversation
     • Interval: Long term

   • Forecast run schedule tile

     • Auto-extension: Yes
     • Day of the week: Sunday
     • Recurrence time slot: 12 AM - 3 AM
     • Recurrence time zone: Select your time zone

   

   • Configuration parameters tile

     • Service level (%): 80
     • Shrinkage: 20
     • Target answer time: 60
     • Concurrency: 1

   

5. Select Save and Close.

---

####02: Create a long-term capacity plan for cases

1. Select + New and then select Long-Term Capacity Plan.

   

2. Configure the plan as follows:

   • Details tile

     • Name: Capacity Long term - Case
     • Forecast Scenario: Sept Long-term - Case
     • Interval: Long term

   • Forecast run schedule tile

     • Auto-extension: Yes
     • Day of the week: Sunday
     • Recurrence time slot: 12 AM - 3 AM
     • Recurrence time zone: Select your time zone

     

   • Configuration parameters tile

     • Service level (%): 80
     • Shrinkage: 20
     • Target answer time: 60
     • Concurrency: 1

     

3. Select Save and Close.

---

####03: Create a short-term capacity plan for conversations

1. Select + New and then select Short-Term Capacity Plan.

2. Configure the plan as follows:

   • Details tile

     • Name: Capacity Short term - Conversation
     • Forecast Scenario: Sept Short Term - Conversation
     • Interval: Short term

   • Forecast run schedule tile

     • Auto-extension: Yes
     • Recurrence time slot: 12 AM - 3 AM
     • Recurrence time zone: Select your time zone

   

   • Configuration parameters tile

     • Service level (%): 80
     • Shrinkage: 20
     • Target answer time: 60
     • Concurrency: 1

   

3. Select Save and Close.

---

####04: Create a short-term capacity plan for cases

1. Select + New and then select Short-Term Capacity Plan.

2. Configure the plan as follows:

   • Details tile

     • Name: Capacity Short term - Case
     • Forecast Scenario: Sept Short Term - Case
     • Interval: Short Term

   • Forecast run schedule tile

     • Auto-extension: Yes
     • Recurrence time slot: 12 AM - 3 AM
     • Recurrence time zone: Select your time zone

   • Configuration parameters tile

     • Service level (%): 80
     • Shrinkage: 20
     • Target answer time: 60
     • Concurrency: 1

   • Select Save and Close.

3. Your completed capacity plans should resemble the image below:

   

===

Exercise 04: Implement shift planning and scheduling

Introduction

With demand and capacity requirements defined, Contoso needs to operationalize staffing through consistent shift plans and schedules that align agent availability and skills to workload. This directly addresses the issues created by manual scheduling: missed shifts, uneven coverage across time zones, and limited flexibility for agents. In this exercise, you'll create a shift plan, schedule representatives, manage exceptions with extra bookings, make edits, publish the plan, and finalize bookings, building a repeatable scheduling process that supports both efficiency and agent experience.

===

Task 01: Create a shift plan

Introduction

Contoso needs a repeatable "shift blueprint" that reflects real work patterns across the day, instead of relying on ad-hoc manual schedules that miss breaks, training, and channel coverage needs.

Description

In this task, you'll create a shift plan tied to a capacity plan, define the date range and working hours, and build an activity itinerary that includes support activities, breaks, and training.

Success criteria

• A shift plan is created and saved with the correct date range, hours, capacity plan, and activity itinerary.

###Key steps

1. Open the Copilot Service workspace app (not Copilot Service admin center).

   

2. In the left pane, in the Workforce Management section, select Shift Planning.

   

3. On the command bar, select + New and then select Schedule with capacity plan.

   

4. Configure the Plan Details tile by using the following information:

   [!alert]Once you save the shift plan, you can't change the start time, end time, or time zone.

   • Shift Plan Name: "Current Month Name" Shifts - Ex. Sept Shifts
   • Start Date: 1st day of the current month - Ex. 9/1/2025
   • End Date: Last day of the current month - Ex. 9/30/2025
   • Capacity Plan: Capacity Short Term Conversation
   • Weekly Recurrence: Sunday - Saturday (select all days)
   • Start time: 9:00 AM
   • End time: 5:00 PM
   • Time zone: Select your time zone.

   

5. Select Save.

6. On the Activity Itinerary panel in the middle of the screen, select Add Activity.

7. From the menu that appears, select Chat Customer Support 1 (hr) 30 (min).

8. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 to add the following activities:

   [!alert] It is important that you add the activities in the order listed.

   • Email Customer Support 1 (hr) 30 (min)
   • Voice Customer Support 1 (hr) 30 (min)
   • Break 30 (min)
   • Training 30 (min)
   • Break 30 (min)

   

9. After the 30 min break, select Add Activity. From the menu that appears, select Voice Customer Support.

   

10. Change the duration two hours.

11. Your completed shift plan should resemble the image below.

    

12. Select Save.

13. Leave the shift plan open. ===

Task 02: Schedule customer service representatives

Introduction

Once the shift plan exists, Contoso must assign the correct people to the plan so coverage matches demand and schedules become actionable for supervisors and agents.

Description

In this task, you'll manually schedule customer service representatives into the shift plan, using both full-plan assignments and date-range assignments to reflect different availability windows.

Success criteria

• Representatives are successfully scheduled into the shift plan and bookings appear on the schedule board as expected.

###Key steps

1. On the shift plan page, on the command bar, select Schedule people.

   

2. On the command bar that appears at the bottom of the page, select All.

   

3. Select your administrative account.

   

4. Select Add.

5. Set Add to entire shift plan to On.

6. Select Save. After a short period of time, your new bookings will appear in the shift plan.

   

7. On the shift plan page, on the command bar, select Schedule people.

   

8. On the command bar that appears at the bottom of the page, select All.

   

9. Select Enrico Cattaneo and then select Add.

10. Set Add to entire shift plan to Off.

11. Configure the fields as follows:

    • Start date: 9/15/2025
    • End date: 9/26/2025

    

12. Select Save. After a short period of time, your new bookings will appear in the shift plan.

    

===

Task 03: Add extra bookings

Introduction

Unexpected demand spikes and operational changes require quick schedule adjustments without rebuilding the entire plan.

Description

In this task, you'll add an extra shift booking for a representative by inserting additional scheduled activities on a specific date and time.

Success criteria

• Additional shift bookings are created for the selected representative and display correctly on the schedule board.

###Key steps

1. Open the Sept Shift plan calendar.

2. At the top of the Calendar, select the Date selector.

   

3. Select the 29th.

4. Go to the 10: AM time slot for Enrico.

5. Right-click the time slot and then select Add Shift Booking.

   

6. Configure the fields as follows:

   • Staff member: Enrico (Or Similar)
   • Date: The 29th of the current month - Ex. 9.29.2025
   • Type: Chat Customer Support
   • Start Time: 10:00 AM
   • End time: 11:30 AM

   

7. Select Save.

8. Go to the 12:00 PM time slot for Enrico.

9. Right-click the time slot and then select Add Shift Booking.

   

10. Configure the fields as follows:

    • Staff member: Enrico
    • Date: 9.29.2025
    • Type: Training
    • Start Time: 12:00 PM
    • End time: 12:30 PM

11. Select Save.

===

Task 04: Edit and delete existing shift bookings

Introduction

Supervisors need the ability to correct scheduling changes quickly, whether it's moving an activity window or removing it entirely.

Description

In this task, you'll edit an existing shift booking to update its time and then delete a booking to demonstrate schedule maintenance.

Success criteria

• A shift booking is successfully edited and then deleted, with the schedule board reflecting both changes

###Key steps

1. On the schedule board, right-click the Training booking you just created.

2. Select Edit Shift booking.

3. Edit the fields as follows:

   • Staff member: Enrico
   • Date: the 29th of the current month - Ex: 9.29.2025
   • Type: Training
   • Start Time: 12:30 PM
   • End time: 1:00 PM

   

4. Select Save.

5. To delete the Training booking, right-click the booking and then select Delete.

===

Task 05: Publish a shift plan

Introduction

Publishing is the point where planned schedules become visible and actionable, enabling Contoso to move from planning to execution.

Description

In this task, you'll publish the shift plan so bookings are released for downstream use in calendars and agent experiences.

Success criteria

The shift plan is published successfully, and the bookings are available as published schedule items.

###Key steps

1. On the schedule board for the shift plan, select Publish.

   [!note] NOTE: If you have items that span multiple months, you'll be asked to provide the month that you want to publish.

2. Select Continue.

   [!Note] You'll need to repeat this step for each month for the shift plan.

===

Task 06: Accept bookings

Introduction

To ensure schedules appear promptly and consistently for agents, Contoso may need to bulk-confirm bookings so they reflect as accepted on calendars.

Description

In this task, you'll filter shift bookings for a specific resource, bulk edit them and update the booking status to Accepted.

Success criteria

• Shift bookings for the selected resource are updated to Accepted in bulk and reflect the new status.

###Key steps

1. In Copilot Service workspace, in the left pane, in the Workforce management group, select Shift Bookings.

   

2. Select the Resource column and then select Filter by.

   

3. Enter the name of your administrative account and then select Apply.

4. Select all shift bookings.

5. On the command bar, select Edit.

6. In the Booking Status field, select Accepted.

   

7. Select Save.

===

Exercise 05: Demonstrate Workforce Management features to a customer

Introduction

Contoso's story is familiar: rapid growth, complex customer needs, and a contact center stretched thin. With over 2,000 agents, manual scheduling and outdated ServiceNow and Genesys Engage solutions have led to inefficiencies, long wait times, and agent burnout.

The business impact? Customer satisfaction has dropped, costs are rising, and agents are overwhelmed with basic requests that could be handled more smartly. Supervisors are buried in manual shift swaps and compliance headaches, while managers struggle to plan capacity with only historical data and gut instinct.

Business Value Statements:

These represent some example themes that should be part of your narrative. As you demo the functionality to your customer you should come back to these themes and reiterate them throughout you demo.

Here are some example business value statements you can use for your Dynamics 365 Contact Centers Workforce Management demo, tailored to the Contoso Coffee scenario:

Business Value Statements:

• Dynamics 365 enables Contoso to optimize agent schedules in real time, reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction.

• Automated shift management minimizes manual errors, ensures compliance, and boosts agent morale by making scheduling simple and transparent.

• AI-driven capacity planning helps Contoso match staffing levels to actual demand, cutting operational costs and eliminating overstaffing during slow periods.

• Unified workforce management tools empower supervisors to coordinate shift swaps, breaks, and overtime efficiently, freeing up time for higher-value tasks.

• Embedded analytics provide actionable insights, allowing Contoso to proactively address service bottlenecks and improve first-contact resolution rates.

• Modern cloud-based solutions replace outdated systems, streamlining operations and supporting seamless omnichannel customer experiences.

• Enhanced agent productivity leads to faster issue resolution, higher CSAT scores, and improved employee retention.

Items to highlight as you are demonstrating:

• Refer to our AI-Driven Scheduling & Shift Management which can:

  • Automatically match agent schedules to real-time demand. reducing overstaffing during slow periods and understaffing during peak times.

  • Streamline shift swaps, breaks, and overtime requests, minimizing manual errors and compliance risks.

• Speak to our predictive capacity planning

  • Uses real-time analytics and forecasting to anticipate seasonal spikes and business growth, enabling proactive staffing decisions instead of reactive guesswork.

• Because of the complexities of their current solution call out our Unified Agent Experience which:

  • Provides a single pane of glass for agents and supervisors, eliminating tool overload and reducing time spent switching between platforms.

  • Integrates seamlessly with omnichannel support (phone, email, chat), improving agent productivity and customer experience.

• Refer to our Cloud-Based Scalability & Security which:

• Supports secure remote access and compliance with privacy regulations, while scaling easily to meet Contoso's rapid growth and expanding customer base.

Demo flow:

• Walk them through what the user interface looks like.
• Show the forecast builder and explain how historical data is used.
• Walk through the schedule creation and highlight optimization.
• Switch to the agent view and demonstrate shift bidding and time-off requests.
• Open the real-time adherence dashboard and show how supervisors can act quickly.

===

Task 01: Showcase the user interface

Take customers on a tour of the user interface. Call out the available features.

===

Task 02: Demo forecasting

---

View forecast reports

For each scenario, the following details are displayed; Name, Current Status, Interval, Duration, Target entity, Last Run On, Recurrence time slot, Recurrence time zone

1. Open the Copilot Service workspace app.

2. Using the navigation on the left, select Forecast scenarios under Workforce Management.

3. Select the Reports tab.

[!Note] When you first access the dashboard, any scenarios you configured appear in Draft status until the first trigger occurs. After that, the scenario shows as In progress until it completes. You should make sure that you have done this first.

---

Data visualization

Walk customers through the forecasting reports. Walk them through the Trend chart and talk about how it shows the actual historical volumes from the past to the predicted volume in the future. The forecast is based on actual case and conversation records created in the past.

Detailed view: You can filter the data in the following ways:

• All: Displays the actual and forecasted numbers across all channels and queues.
• Channel: Displays the actual and forecasted numbers, sliced by each channel.
• Queue: Displays the actual and forecasted numbers, sliced by each queue.

===

Task 03: Demo capacity planning features

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View capacity plans

1. Open Copilot Service workspace

2. Using the navigation on the left, select Capacity planning under Workforce Management..

3. Select the plan you want to view from the list, and then select the Reports tab.

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Showcase data filters and visualizations

When you open a report, the following filters and visualizations are available:

• Duration: Allows you to enter the date range or use the sliders to set the dates.
• Intervals: Select the Daily, Weekly, or Monthly view.
• Channel: Select one or more channels for which you want data displayed.
• Queue: Select one or more queues for which you want data displayed.

In the Capacity Plan Output section, Detailed view, you can filter the data in the following ways:

• All: Displays the capacity numbers across all channels and queues.
• Channel: Displays the capacity numbers, sliced by each channel.
• Queue: Displays the capacity numbers, sliced by each queue.

You can use the drill up and down buttons to drill to specific levels in the hierarchy.

For all the filters, you can use the drill up and down buttons to drill to specific levels in the hierarchy.

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Task 04: Demo scheduling features

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View the calendar

1. In the Copilot Service workspace app, schedule Calendar under Workforce Management.

2. Use the top-right menu to change the view to Agenda, Day, Week, or Month.

3. Show the Calendar view of a service representative's schedule with the menu to change views expanded.

   

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Use auto scheduling

1. Using the navigation on the left, select Shift planning under Workforce Management.

2. Select the shift plan you want to use to book the representatives, and then select Schedule people on the task bar. The shift scheduler board appears.

3. Select the Schedule dropdown menu, and then select Auto-Schedule. The Auto-Schedule Criteria pane appears.

4. For Duration, select the start and end dates for the activity.

5. Set the filters for Agent availability, Match Skills, and Match Queue as required.

6. Set the availability order to either Most Available to Least or Least Available to Most.

7. Select Schedule. The schedule board updates and populates the activities for the agents in the activity itinerary.

8. Select Publish.

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Use shift bidding

1. In the site map of Copilot Service workspace, select Request Management under Workforce Management.

2. Select New, and then select Shift Bid.

3. On the Shift Plan To Bid card, select the shift plan you want to bid on.

4. Review the bid request details, and then select Save.

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Create a shift swap request

1. In the site map of Copilot Service workspace, select Request Management under Workforce Management.

2. Select New, and then select Shift Swap from the dropdown menu. The New WEM Request page appears.

3. On the Select shift card, enter the details as follows:

   • Date: Select the date for the shift you want to swap.

   • Shift Plan: Select the name of the plan you want to use for the swap.

   • Full shift day: If you want the entire shift to be included in the swap, set Full shift day to Yes.

   • Booking: For a shift swap that doesn't include the entire shift, select the activity to swap. The form populates the Start Time and End Time for the booking and calculates the hours.

   • Note: Type a note if desired.

4. On the Select shift to swap card, then enter your Availability date and Preferred time range so that others know when you're available to swap a shift.

5. If you want the system to notify all representatives who meet your availability criteria, toggle on Public Post. If the setting is off, the system lists other representatives' available bookings that can be swapped, and then you can select the shift you want to use and complete the swap.

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