Dialpad WFM’s coverage bar gives you a clear, color-coded overview of how well staffed you are across every hour or day. It compares target vs. actual staffing to highlight any coverage gaps, helping you make quick adjustments to meet service goals and boost efficiency. Every time you edit or update the schedule, the coverage bar will update, giving you visibility into the latest staffing.
The coverage bar is available in the Shift and Activities Schedule, providing tailored views to aid your planning, depending on your goals.
Let’s dive into the details.
Who can use this
Dialpad WFM is available to all Dialpad users.
Contact your Customer Success Manager to discuss adding Dialpad WFM to your plan.
Shift Schedule
There are two coverage options in the Shift Schedule.
Shift tally provides a clear tally of how many agents are scheduled on each shift type, or have time off.
Each shift or time off type is listed alongside a tally of the number of agents scheduled on each type.
The color scale indicates which shift or time off type has the most number of agents scheduled.
Shift coverage provides a graph comparing the forecasted coverage requirement to the scheduled staffing levels.
Red bars indicate the required level of staffing
Purple bars indicate the actual level of staffing
Blue bars indicate periods of over-staffing
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Activity Schedule
The activity coverage bar compares the number of agents scheduled with the number of agents required according to the forecast or your activity plan.
Intervals are color-coded to indicate how well staffed they are:
There are two views available:
Queue coverage: compares the number of agents scheduled against the forecasted coverage requirement for each queue.
A blank cell means the time is outside the queue’s operating hours, so no staffing is needed for that interval.
Activity Plan coverage: compares the number of agents scheduled against the ‘fixed staffing’ rule requirement for each activity in a selected Activity Plan.
A blank cell means the fixed staffing rule doesn’t apply to that time for the activity, so no staffing is needed for that interval.
Tip
Click the three lines next to the Activity Plan to open Plan coverage settings and select Scheduled Coverage or Coverage Gap.
Scheduled coverage (default): shows the number of agents scheduled, for example, 5.
Coverage gap: shows the difference between required and scheduled agents, for example, -3.
Press Shift (⇧) while in the activity schedule to jump between views anytime.
How to read the coverage bar
The coverage bar in the activity schedule is now split into 15-minute intervals (previously, it was 30 minutes).
The coverage bar uses shades of red to show staffing levels. The darker the red, the more understaffed that time interval is.
In this example, I am viewing Activity Plan coverage for the Activity Plan called ‘Tier 1 plan’. I know this by the label shown in the control bar.
In the Activity Schedule, they need to be scheduled for at least 8 minutes out of a 15-minute interval.
In the Insights Report, they need at least 30 minutes in a 60-minute interval.
An agent will only count toward coverage as '1' if they are scheduled for more than half of the interval.
Hover over any time interval to see a detailed breakdown of the coverage calculation. It’ll show you the interval time, how many agents are needed (based on what you're viewing), how many are scheduled (as long as they're covering at least half the interval), and the gap between the two.
Link to Queue
Link activities to a queue to track staffing and view forecast data within the schedule.
To link an activity to a queue, go to the Schedule tab.
Select Activities
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Select the pencil icon beside an activity
Toggle on Link to queue
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Select the queues you want to link to the activity
Select Done
Select Save
You can then switch between Queue and Activity plan coverage to view your staffing needs.
Coverage bar settings
There are a number of settings available to personalize the coverage bar for your needs.
You can access the controls for the coverage bar from the top of the agent column in the Shift or Activities view of the schedule, or from inside the Activity Plan builder.
Tip
Need to show or hide the coverage bar? Just tap the eye button!
To switch between the Queue or Activity Plan coverage:
Navigate to Schedule
Select Activities
Select the coverage label to open the menu
Select Queue coverage or Activity Plan coverage
When selecting an Activity Plan, you’ll see a list of all Activity Plans applied to that day
Select a plan to view the coverage for it (you can only view the plan you are creating)
To switch between shift tally or shift coverage:
Navigate to Schedule
Select Activities
Select the coverage label to open the menu
Select shift tally or shift coverage
To choose how coverage is counted:
You have the option to choose how coverage is counted in the schedule, giving you more flexibility and visibility over data.
All agents: Count staffing across all teams.
Filtered agents: Only count staffing for agents filtered in the schedule.
Agents in this plan: Only count staffing for agents included in selected Activity Plan.
This option is only available for Activity Plan coverage.
The default option for all views is ‘filtered agents’. You can change this option at any time by clicking the settings button and opening the Coverage count menu.
To choose which queues to view:
When viewing queue coverage or shift coverage, you also have the option to select which queues you want to view. You can access this filter by clicking the settings button and opening the ‘queues’ menu.
To choose which shifts to view:
When viewing the shift tally, you can select which shifts or time off types you want to view. You can access this filter by clicking the settings button and opening the ‘shift and time off’ menu.
Frequently asked questions
I’ve select an Activity Plan but no rows are showing in the coverage bar
The Activity Plan coverage bar will only show rows the activities scheduled using a ‘Fixed Staffing’ rule. If your Activity Plan does not contain any of these rules, then there will be no coverage to show. We recommend using the queue coverage view instead.
I’ve selected an Activity Plan but it’s not showing when I go to other days
Activity Plan coverage will only show on days that the Activity Plan has been added to. If you navigate to another date where the selected Activity Plan has not been added, then the coverage bar will be hidden. We recommend switching to queue coverage or selecting a different Activity Plan.
Why can’t I select any Activity Plans to view?
Activity Plan coverage is only available if an Activity Plan has been added to that date. If the option is disabled (grayed out), then an Activity Plan has not been added.
Why do my queues look unstaffed?
To track staffing on queues, you need to link them to activities. To link an activity to a queue:
Navigate to Schedule
Select Activities
Open the toolbar and select the relevant activity
Enable the link to queue toggle
Select the queue you wish to link to the activity
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Why is the coverage bar undercounting?
If the coverage bar appears to be undercounting, review the ‘Staffing count’ setting being used. The default option is ‘filtered agents’
All agents: Count staffing across all teams.
Filtered agents: Only count staffing for agents filtered in the schedule.
Agents in this plan: Only count staffing for agents included in selected Activity Plan.
This option is only available for Activity Plan coverage.
Are interval lengths changing anywhere else in the app?
Nope! Shift coverage and the Insights heatmap will stay hourly. Agents only count if they’re scheduled for over half the interval (8 minutes for 15 mins, 30 minutes for hourly).
How often does the coverage bar update?
The numerator (scheduled agents) updates every time staffing changes, e.g. you edit or add a new activity to an agent’s schedule.
In the queue coverage view, the denominator updates whenever the forecast is updated. This includes when a forecast adjustment is added.
In the Activity Plan coverage view, the denominator updates whenever the fixed staffing rules in your Activity Plan are updated.