The Company requires an automated performance management solution that will provide all resources within call center operations with a balanced daily view of individual and team performance (when appropriate). The solution must integrate with multiple call center systems (ACD, WFM, Quality, IVR, CRM) in order to deliver concrete performance metrics, balanced against defined targets, on a daily basis. Additionally, the system must integrate with the Company’s appraisal, incentive, training and personal development processes and initiatives.
1. Solution Overview and System Functionality
1.1. Performance Management Product/Solution Overview – Provide an overview of the functionality of your proposed performance management solution.
1.2. The system must integrate with a variety of data sources. In addition to the ACD, the system must have a proven track record of integrating with Workforce Management, quality monitoring, CRM, IVR, and other call center technologies. The company requires a system that uses the data from these various sources to automatically retrieve and calculate individuals’ performance. Describe how your solution meets this requirement.
1.3. The solution must be able provide all call center employees with their performance management scorecard, linked to the overall goals of the operation. Please describe how your system provides a tailored performance management solution for each of the following roles within the call center operation:
1.3.1. Agent/CSR
1.3.2. Team Leader/Supervisor
1.3.3. Team Coach
1.3.4. Manager
1.3.5. Site/Call Center Director
1.3.6. Executive Level Managers
1.3.7. Training & Development
1.3.8. Resource Management and other support functions
1.4. The Company requires a solution that utilizes best-practice performance management techniques. Please detail if and how your solution will enable the company to implement the techniques of:
1.4.1. Setting concrete targets
1.4.2. Implementing targets that are tailored to individual groups/functions
1.4.3. Linking targets to employee state. E.g tenure, disciplinary action, management track
1.4.4. Developing Tiered Targets – including stretch goals and percentage improvement targets
1.4.5. Comparing employee performance against peer groups
1.4.6. Linking objectives and targets to formal appraisal processes
1.4.7. Linking objectives and targets to incentive/reward and recognition programs
1.4.8. Weighting objectives to highlight and drive the most critical behaviors
1.5. The system must include tools to help individual contributors and managers identify strengths and deficiencies, illustrate performance trends, and drive performance improvement. Describe how the proposed solution delivers on this requirement – specifically in relation to:
1.5.1. Trend analysis
1.5.2. Route cause analysis
1.5.3. Target setting
1.5.4. Historical view of personal performance
1.6. Supervisors and Managers require a solution that enables them to personally manage the performance of their team members. Describe if/how your solution enables managers to:
1.6.1. Manually change results in the system
1.6.2. Manually change automated performance ratings
1.6.3. Input notes and comments into the system as a record of performance patterns and/or anomalies
1.7. Please describe the solution’s capabilities in the following areas of Manager/Supervisor performance management:
1.7.1. Managers/Supervisors must have an automated ‘rolled-up’ view of team performance objectives
1.7.2. Rolled-up objectives must be linked to the supervisor/manager’s individual performance
1.7.3. Managers/Supervisors will also be required to have additional personal objectives that are independent of team performance.
1.8. Describe the solution’s user interface. In what format is information presented to the end-user? Are any desktop applications required to operate the solution?
1.9. The solution must be flexible to meet the continuously changing demands of the organization. What is the process for ongoing maintenance and development of objectives within the system? Specifically in the areas of:
1.9.1. Adding/Modifying metrics (objectives)
1.9.2. Changing targets
1.9.3. Modifying the weighting of objective groupings
2. Appraisal Process Management
The Company requires a solution to assist in the automation of the current employee appraisal process. The solution must integrate with daily/weekly/monthly performance management processes and systems.
2.1. Appraisal Management Solution Overview – Provide an overview of the functionality of your proposed appraisal automation/management solution.
2.2. The appraisal management solution must be tightly integrated with the performance management system. Describe how these solutions interface, including:
2.2.1. Automated linking of individual objectives (daily/weekly/monthly) to formal appraisal and review
2.2.2. Inclusion of non-measured appraisal criteria – e.g. corporate values, key attributes, success criteria, etc.
2.2.3. Inclusion of Management notes and analysis for the appraisal period
3. Agent Training & Development
The system should facilitate the creation of individual training and development plans. These plans should allow individual users and their managers to track and manage training and performance improvements over time.
3.1. Training & Development Solution Overview – Provide an overview of the functionality of your proposed training and development automation/management solution.
3.2. The training and development solution must be integrated with the automated performance management system. Describe how your solution interfaces with the proposed performance management processes and system.
3.3. Describe how the system accomplishes the following:
3.3.1. Tracking an individual’s training requirements, including courses scheduled and completed
3.3.2. Linking specific areas of skill development (e.g. deficient skills) to the overall training and development process
3.3.3. Development of personalized, informal personal development plans for employees, including skill development areas, personal stretch goals and targets, etc.
4. Employee Reward & Incentive Automation
In order to continuously drive performance improvement, the Company requires an automated rewards and incentive solution for call center employees. This solution must be integrated with the performance management solution, and must be designed to reinforce the performance management, appraisal, coaching and development processes of the operation.
4.1. Reward & Incentive Solution Overview – Provide an overview of the functionality of your proposed reward and incentive solution.
4.2. Describe how your proposed solution links daily employee performance to reward and incentive schemes.
4.3. The solution must be flexible to enable call center management to implement new/changing reward and recognition campaigns, as demanded by group performance and/or changing business needs. Outline how your solution supports this requirement; including the administrative effort needed to update/modify the incentive program.
4.4. Does the system allow minimum criteria to be set for users’ participation in an incentive program? Please describe how the solution supports this process.
5. Architecture
The solution must be a distributed platform compatible with the Company’s established guidelines for software development and data storage. The system’s data structure must be based on open database connectivity (ODBC) and must be highly scalable.
5.1. Please provide an overview of your solution’s technical architecture.
5.2. Is the system 100% software based, or is there an element of hardware that the responder must supply?
5.3. If there are any software components that make up the system that are not authored by the responder, please name the author of the software.
5.4. Please indicate what external systems you have integrated with in order to retrieve data and calculate performance. Provide examples for the following types of systems:
5.4.1. ACDs
5.4.2. Workforce Management Systems
5.4.3. Quality Monitoring Tools
5.4.4. IVR & CTI Systems
5.4.5. Business Applications, such as CRM and Billing systems
5.5. Describe your system’s ability to incorporate data from the following:
5.5.1. Non-ODBC-compliant data sources, such as flat files and data exports
5.5.2. Third party, call center outsourcing vendors
5.6. The design of the system must allow for expansion on an as-needed basis without extensive redesign or systems interruption. Please describe your solution’s expansion capabilities and indicate limitations of scope or scale (eg. maximum number of users, maximum number of data sources, etc.)
5.7. Describe the standard hardware and software requirements for this solution, including descriptions of supported databases (eg. Oracle, SQL Server, etc.) and operating systems (NT, UNIX, etc.).
5.8. Please describe what measures are in place to ensure data integrity in the event of a failure – for both the system itself and related data sources.
6. Implementation, Training and Support
It is important that the Company understand the implementation procedures for your solution as well recommended end-user training, administration and support processes.
6.1. Please provide an overview of the methodology and process used for implementing this system. Include descriptions for each of the following:
6.1.1. Current state analysis and best-practice benchmarking
6.1.2. System Design
6.1.3. Configuration and/or Customization
6.1.4. Testing and Validation
6.2. Describe the training requirements and recommendations for implementing this system within a large-scale contact center environment. Include, if applicable, details for training various functions across the organization, such as:
6.2.1. Executive-Level Managers
6.2.2. Call Center Directors/Managers
6.2.3. Team Leader/Supervisor
6.2.4. Agents/CSRs
6.2.5. Systems Administrators
6.3. The solution should require minimal administration on a day-to-day basis, aside from the addition and subtraction of users. Please describe the day-to-day administration requirements of this system.
6.4. In the event that the Company does require enhancements to be made to the system, it should be possible to do so with minimal disruption to users. Please describe how your solution allows for ongoing changes and enhancements to be made while users maintain daily interactions with the system.
6.5. It is anticipated that the responder will provide a maintenance contract for the day-to-day support of the system. Describe the support provisions of your solution, including days and hours of coverage, escalation procedures and provider details (eg. your organization or a third party service provider.)
6.6. Please describe the upgrade policy for this system. Include details for upgrade scheduling, frequency and related implementation procedures.
7. Reference Sites
Please provide a list of three reference sites in which the proposed solution has been implemented. Where possible, identify the performance improvement, implementation timescale and actual return on investment attributed to your solution.
8. Pricing
Please provide a detailed overview of the pricing and cost structures of this solution. Include in your description itemized costs for all Application Software, Implementation Services, Maintenance and Support.