O

Occupancy. Also referred to as agent utilization. The percentage of time agents handle calls versus wait for calls to arrive. For a half-hour, the calculation is: (call volume x average handling time in seconds) / (number of agents x 1800 seconds). See Adherence to Schedule.

Occupancy Rate (Occ) The percentage of their signed-in time that your staff is occupied by calls or post-call work. The total time they are unavailable for another call. The total amount of time they are not idle (i.e. not waiting for another call) divided by the total time they are logged into the telephone.

Off The Shelf. Hardware or software programs that are commercially available and ready for use "as is."

Offered Calls. All of the attempts callers make to reach the call center. There are three possibilities for offered calls: 1) they can get busy signals, 2) they can be answered by the system, but hang up before reaching a rep, 3) they can be answered by a rep. Offered call reports in ACDs usually refer only to the calls that the system receives.

Off-Peak. Periods of time other than the call center's busiest periods. Also a term to describe periods of time when long distance carriers provide lower rates.

Open Ticket. A customer contact (transaction) that has not yet been completed or resolved (closed).

Out Call Ratio (OCR). In an inbound call center, the rate at which outbound calls are made in relation to the number of inbound calls handled. Arrived at by dividing NOC by NCH. If I make 17 outbound calls for every 100 calls I handle, my OCR would be 17%.

Outgoing Calls (Trunk). The total number of calls outgoing on this route. These are non-ACD calls, but could include outgoing calls made from the DN keys of the ACD agent positions.

Outgoing Non-ACD Calls. The number of outgoing calls from an agent position using extension (DN), conference, or transfer keys.

Outsourcing. Contracting some or all call center services to an outside company.

Overflow. Calls that flow from one group or site to another. More specifically, Intraflow happens when calls flow between agent groups and Interflow is when calls flow out of the ACD to another site.

Overlay. See Rostered Staff Factor.