Running a Forecast could not be any easier than one click! Select the Workstream and Tymeshift will start crunching the numbers and will display future contact volumes and staffing needs.

Note: No more than 10 Workstreams can be visible on the chart at the same time.

Note: it may take a moment to see the Forecast for the Workstreams as it depends on how much historical ticket data you have.
In some cases, we may not have enough data collected yet to show the Forecast and instead, we will show you a Fauxcast. The Fauxcast simply repeats the actual forecast, for example, if you have 3 months of data, we simply repeat the 3-month pattern for the remainder of the year. You may want to reach out to support@tymeshift.com so we can initiate a manual historical ticket data collection.

• Organize Workstreams
• Inbound volume
• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) count
• Select Historical Analysis Period

Organize Workstreams

When you are on the Forecast page, you will first need to create Workstreams and they will appear on the left side. You can create any additional Workstreams or even modify the current ones. Get more information about that here.

Here are some additional functions you can do with Workstreams on your Forecast page: 

• You can hide/show a Workstream on your main trends chart by selecting to show the Workstream in the Forecast or to hide it.
• Workstreams with additional volume adjustments will have a  icon added next to them for easier identification.
• You can recalculate a Forecast at any time by selecting the option when you hover over the Workstream and click on the  icon.
• To change the color of the Workstream, you don't need to go to the Workstreams page. Instead, just hover over the Workstream and click on the option under the  icon.
• You can also group them in one folder in case you want to see a combined Forecast for multiple Workstreams. Simply click on the  to create a folder and drag and drop your Workstreams there. To remove the folder, select Ungroup from the menu. 

Inbound volume

Once your Forecast is available, it will be displayed on the Inbound volume chart and the color will represent the color of the Workstream. You will be able to see historical data and future volume estimations. On the inbound volume chart, you'll be able to select daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly views of the incoming workload. 

Note: Inbound volume chart will contain a dot that marks where the historical data ends and the Forecast begins. Every time you recalculate the Forecast, the mark will move accordingly. Each value on the line marked as historical value is the amount registered until the last recalculation. If we don’t have the full value for that time period (either not a full day or a full week) we will display the values tracked so far. This can be presented as a sudden drop in this case because they are only partial volumes.

Hovering over the chart intervals will show you the values of expected volumes for the selected Workstreams. 

Right under the chart, you also have the option to see a Table view of the estimated incoming volumes and the values for each Workstream shown based on the selected interval option. You can easily export table data by clicking on the CSV icon on the top right of the table (the file will be saved in your downloads folder).

The Forecast gives you the ability to adjust your expected volumes based on unique events (marketing campaigns, feature sunset, etc.). We cover all of that information in the Edit Forecast section.

Do note that tymeshift calculates the inbound volume every time the ticket changes workstreams. 

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) count

Based on the Forecast, Tymeshift will also show you the staff count needed to handle the expected workload in the FTE count chart. Colors will represent the selected Workstream and you'll see the values of FTE required once you hover over the chart. Just like with the Forecast, you also have the option to see FTE count in a Table view when you select that option under the chart and you can easily export FTE table data by clicking on the CSV icon on the top right of the table (the file will be saved in your downloads folder).

Note: we show the projected FTE count for the upcoming dates and do not store historical FTE calculations.

With Tymeshift Forecast, you can also modify your FTE parameters. Again, we cover all of that information in the Edit Forecast section.

Note: When Tymeshift calculates FTE, Zendesk business hours are not taken into account. Instead, it will show you the staff requirement based on the historical times of incoming volumes, so you can consider business hours adjustments if needed. On each view greater than the daily view, the Staffing Requirements value reflects the maximum FTE value attained on that time interval and not the FTE sum or average.

Select Historical Analysis Period

With the Historical Analysis Period selection feature, you can choose to omit previous date data from your forecast calculation. To do this,

1. Go to forecast.
2. Click on the 3 dots to the left of the workstream you want to use. 
3. Click "Select Zendesk historical data" under the Historical volume option.
4. Once selected, a pop up will populate. You can either leave the toggle on to use all data or if you would like to ignore data from before a certain date you can toggle it off and choose the date you would like to ignore prior to the date chosen. 
5. Click Apply and generate the forecast. The forecast will recalculate based on the data from the date entered.

Important: There has to be a minimum of of 1 month worth of data to forecast. If you enter a date with less than 1 month of data, the forecast will not generate. Additionally, there is a maximum of 2 years of data used. Any data further out than 2 years will not be used by default and will not change the forecast.