Bucket intervals allow you to track data for calls abandoned or answered within specific time increments (for example, between 0 and 8 seconds, or under 60 seconds).
Bucket intervals are associated with the following:
- Call types
- Skill groups
- Precision queues
They can be set for the system as a whole and for individual call types, skill groups, and precision queues. Settings for individual entities override those set at the system level.
Service level tells you what percentage of calls are being answered within a certain time, but does not tell you how closely to the service level calls are being answered or abandoned. Bucket intervals provide additional insight into how long callers are waiting before their calls are answered or before they abandon.
For example, if your service level is two minutes, you might want to set up intervals for 30 seconds, one minute, 90 seconds, 120 seconds, 180 seconds, 210 seconds, and 240 seconds. Using these intervals, you can see whether calls are being answered in the thirty seconds after the service level threshold of 180 seconds or if most are waiting a full minute longer to be answered.
The intervals also give you insight into how long callers are willing to wait before abandoning. Perhaps many callers do not abandon until two minutes past the service level. This might indicate that your service level goal can be modified.
To avoid reporting inconsistencies, modify bucket interval settings only at specific time boundaries (that is, end of day, week, or month). Ensure that no one is running reports for the intervals that you are changing when you modify the boundaries."
