Workforce Data Definitions Framework
Workforce Data Definitions Framework is the hub for the data discipline beneath a workforce capacity model: the ledger in which every paid minute of an agent's day lands in exactly one bucket, the definition card and source-of-truth row that every number in a model carries, the measurement of handling time and production on each channel, the mathematics by which each channel's requirement is computed and combined, and the audit and workshop by which a function finds and closes its gaps. It matters because a multichannel operation on a mixed estate typically measures one channel well and infers the others: telephony platforms stamp every state change, so voice handle time and shrinkage are measured, while email and other asynchronous work often has no in-work state, no unit of production tied to a time stamp, and is performed inside a voice availability state where it inflates availability and contaminates occupancy. A capacity model built on such inputs is precise about the wrong number. The framework is the sister of Process Standardization and extends The Definitions Register, which already holds the six core definitions a function signs; it is the fifth of the six standardizations in Standardize Before You Automate.
The framework has four layers, read in order: the ledger, the registers, the channels, and the practices that keep them true.[1]
The ledger
| Page | What it defines |
|---|---|
| Agent Time Accounting Model | paid → scheduled → logged-in → state → productive → in-work time by channel; the closure identity and the published residual |
| Agent State Taxonomy and Activity Codes | the three state systems (telephony, scheduled activity, work item) and the one mapping into ledger buckets |
| Workload Units and the Roll-Up to FTE | contacts → items → handling minutes → productive hours → scheduled hours → paid hours → FTE, each conversion graded and sourced |
| Reconciliation Tests for Time Accounting | sum-to-paid, state coverage, orphan time, cross-system double count, item-count versus time, availability bleed |
The registers
| Page | What it defines |
|---|---|
| The Definitions Register | RG-nnn: the definition, its instrument, resolution, pairing, owner, signatories and carry rule |
| The Data Definition Card | the RG row extended with formula, unit, source row, validation rule and lineage |
| Source of Truth Register | ST-nnn: one system of record per metric, its extraction path, refresh, owner and source grade |
| Data Lineage Card for Planning Models | input → transform → model → output per model; the weakest-input grade rule |
| Data Quality Gates for Planning Inputs | what a number must carry to enter a model; quarantine of ungraded numbers |
| GP-606 Definitions and Source-of-Truth Change Control | propose → review → version → adopt forward-only, shared by both registers |
The channels
| Page | What it defines |
|---|---|
| Workload Model for Asynchronous Channels | the work-item lifecycle, handling time as the sum of touches, elapsed versus handling, backlog and ageing, the requirement with a time-to-close goal |
| Email Handle Time Measurement | the five measurement methods, their biases, and the recommended standard of transaction-level capture reconciled to the ledger |
| Chat Concurrency and Handle Time | focus time versus session time, effective handle time, capacity under concurrency, concurrency as a measured parameter |
| Production Accounting for Blended Agents | asynchronous work performed inside a voice availability state: detection, separation and interim reporting |
| Multichannel Capacity Model Assembly | interval-based and workload-based requirements assembled into one plan; blended versus dedicated; where double counting enters |
| Service Level Mathematics for Voice, Chat and Email | the model per channel and their combination for a blended, multi-skilled workforce, with the ledger row each input comes from |
The practices
| Page | What it defines |
|---|---|
| GP-605 Time and Production Accounting Audit | the top-to-bottom audit of every capture point per channel and system; the gap register: not collected, partially collected, collected but misallocated |
| Capacity Standards Workshop for Time Accounting | the sessions that turn the audit's findings into signed definition cards, source rows, lineage cards and an amended capacity planning standard |
| GP-102 Monthly Capacity Planning Cycle | the process the framework serves; its requirement stage consumes the registers |
Reading order for a function starting cold
- Read the ledger page and the state taxonomy, and draw the function's own mapping of codes to buckets.
- Run the audit (GP-605) once, channel by channel, system by system. Expect the voice column to be mostly measured and the asynchronous columns to be mostly inferred or missing.
- Hold the workshop. Sign one definition card and one source-of-truth row per number the capacity model consumes; refuse any number that cannot carry both.
- Rebuild the requirement per channel with the model its page names, from inputs the registers now source, and reconcile the result to the ledger with the tests.
- Hand the amended standard to the monthly cycle and put the registers under change control.
A function that skips the audit and goes straight to the mathematics produces a model that is internally consistent and externally wrong, because the mathematics is only as good as the handling time it is given, and the handling time for an asynchronous channel is the number the estate is least likely to have measured.[2]
Packs
Wiki:Packs carries two packs for this framework: one that produces definition cards, source-of-truth rows, lineage cards and reconciliation tests for any number a user brings, and one that runs the audit and the workshop. Both are listed under CP-WFM-023 and CP-WFM-024.
Maturity Model Position
Four scales on this wiki use the word level; the launch page states which is which. On the WFM Labs Maturity Model™ a function whose numbers carry a signed definition and a named source is at Level 2; one whose ledger closes and whose channel requirements reconcile to it is at Level 3, because only then can an automation rule be released on inputs whose catch rate can be published per Human Gates and Number Grades; one whose registers are machine-readable and read directly by its planning agents is at Level 4. The data quality literature's point that quality is fitness for a stated use is the reason the framework starts from the capacity model's needs rather than from the systems' outputs.[3]
See Also
- Process Standardization — the sister hub: the processes that consume these definitions
- WFM Data Governance and Quality — governance roles and quality dimensions
- WFM Data Infrastructure and Integration Architecture — the warehouse and integration layer the registers describe
- The Interim Data Layer — what to do before the integration layer exists
- Data Synthesis Before Decision — assembling numbers of mixed grade into one decision
- Headcount Reconciliation in Service Operations — the supply-side reconciliation the ledger extends
- Multi-Channel and Blended Operations — the operating context
- Capacity Planning Methods — the requirement arithmetic the channel pages specialize
References
- ↑ DAMA International (2017). DAMA-DMBOK: Data Management Body of Knowledge (2nd ed.). Technics Publications. Chapters on data governance, metadata and data quality.
- ↑ Gans, N., Koole, G., & Mandelbaum, A. (2003). "Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review, and Research Prospects". Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 5(2), 79–141. doi:10.1287/msom.5.2.79.16071.
- ↑ International Organization for Standardization. ISO 8000-61:2016 Data quality — Part 61: Data quality management: Process reference model. iso.org.
