Detailed explanation of the best formulas, methods and recommendations for the contact center computing service level

In fact, calculating the service level of a contact center is straightforward, but there's often confusion about how exactly to measure it. The formula for service level is as follows:

This gives you a service level expressed as a percentage. It's actually quite simple. For example, if a company aims to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds, the service level threshold is 20 seconds. Let’s take an example. The data used in these calculations can be pulled from the Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system of the contact center, or from Call Detail Records (CDRs) if the ACD fails to capture the data. Here are some sample numbers: - Number of calls answered within the service level threshold = 136 - Total number of calls offered during the service level period = 170

Each new reporting cycle should recalculate the service level. If not done in real time, most contact centers perform this calculation every half hour. This helps them monitor whether they have the right number of agents to handle call volume throughout the day. Now, what about calls that were abandoned within five seconds? In some systems, these are excluded from the calculation. Dave Appleby, an experienced resource planner, explains that people might dial the wrong number and hang up quickly. This is often considered acceptable, as these calls don’t last long enough to even go through a full ring cycle.

This is because people may have dialed the wrong number in error and then hung up. This can be set on many ACD systems.

This is usually considered okay.

Experienced resource planner Dave Appleby said, “The duration of these calls is not even as long as a ringing cycle. Some ACDs may not even send it to the queue, even if the customer hears it ring.”

Therefore, excluding short-term abandonments, the revised formula becomes:

But should all abandoned calls be excluded? The answer is no. An abandoned call is one that was presented to the system, meaning there was a chance to answer it. However, the so-called "abandonment rate" can vary depending on the type of call. The chart below illustrates this.

Since all types seem to hover around 80%, it’s no surprise that this has become the industry standard. Time usually starts after the IVR selection. Generally, service level timing begins after the IVR process. The service level measures, “How many of the calls you can answer are answered within X seconds?” Dave Appleby adds, “I haven't encountered this before. The service level is based on the number of calls you can answer, and how many have been answered in X seconds.” However, it’s still important to track abandoned calls separately, as this provides insight into the effectiveness of the calculated service levels. Carefully use ACD statistics. On some ACD systems, the service level displayed on the wall panel can be misleading. For instance, if you set a goal of 80% service level within 20 seconds, the 100% figure shown in your ACD doesn’t necessarily mean that 100% of calls were answered within 20 seconds. It could mean that 100% of calls met the target (i.e., 100% of 80% of calls were answered in time). Similarly, an 80% service level might only mean 64% of calls were answered on time. This can confuse many people. In such cases, it’s safer to display only the percentage of calls answered within the target time. Do you have to adhere to industry-standard service levels? As mentioned earlier, most contact centers follow the industry standard of answering 80% of calls within 20 seconds. However, there are signs that contact centers are beginning to relax these standards. According to our white paper, “Contact Center is Doing What It Is Doing Now,” professionals believe that service levels have dropped from 70.0% to 62.7% in just 12 months. Those who think this way may question the impact of service levels on customer satisfaction (CSat), arguing that focusing more on first call resolution (FCR) rather than meeting specific service levels leads to higher customer satisfaction.

The above table is taken from our article: “Is there a correlation between queue time and customer satisfaction?” It shows that as long as the call problem is resolved, the queue time does not significantly affect customer satisfaction.

While this is a good example, not counting time-based metrics, computing service levels remains an essential part of many contact center workforce management (WFM) strategies. How do people manipulate service levels? As with any metric, once people see an indicator that matters, they start to manipulate the results. Here are three common ways service levels are manipulated: 1. **Excluding abandoned calls** – One of the easiest ways is to exclude the number of abandoned calls from the calculation. For example, Cisco Contact Center software allows for three different methods of computing service levels. Abandoned calls can negatively, neutrally, or positively affect the service level, depending on how the system is configured. 2. **Changing the goal temporarily** – Some supervisors change the service level goals mid-cycle to make the results look better. For example, a supervisor might switch from 90% within 15 seconds to 80% within 20 seconds, making it easier to meet the target. 3. **Using a phone screening team** – Some companies create a telephone screening or classification team, similar to an enterprise switch, which answers calls quickly before transferring them to the appropriate department. While this doesn’t speed up resolution, it can make service level metrics look better. In the past, regulators in the UK required companies to answer 90% of calls within 30 seconds. However, some companies found ways to circumvent this by using screening teams. As a result, in 2005, regulators replaced the single service level measurement with a broader set of metrics to provide a more comprehensive view of telephone processing.

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