How to Read the Advanced Forecasting Report in VICIdial

The Advanced Forecasting Report does everything the basic Inbound Forecasting Report does, then adds two things: it can run Erlang C math for wait times, and it lets you fold in cost and revenue so the output reads in dollars, not just agent counts. If you have already met the basic version, this post focuses on what is new.

For where this sits among the other reports, the VICIdial reports guide has the full layout.

Choosing the report type: B or C

The first new choice is report type B or C. A B run shows GoS, the probability a call is dropped, the same as the basic report. A C run instead shows Queue Prob, the probability a call is queued, plus Average Answer, the average speed of answer or wait time. So B answers how many calls do I lose, and C answers how long do callers wait.

One caveat the C math carries: the wait-time and queue-probability figures are only valid when the number of agents is greater than the Erlang load. If agents are fewer than the Erlangs, the Call queue never clears and the formulas do not apply. In practice that means the Average Answer figure is trustworthy only when you are staffed above the traffic level, which is exactly the range you want to plan in anyway.

The cost analysis inputs

Everything else carries over from the basic report: the hourly Calls, Total Time, Average Time, Blocking, Erlangs, Rec Agents, and Est Agents columns all behave the same way. The advanced report just gives you the C-model wait stats and the money math on top.

The second new piece is an optional cost analysis section. These are inputs you type in:

• Actual agents: if you know the real headcount, enter it so the report stops estimating.
• Hourly pay per agent: the average wage, used to build cost.
• Revenue per sale: what one sale is worth.
• Chance of sale: your estimated Conversion rate; the report also reports the actual figure once it runs.
• Retry rate: the share of dropped callers who try again.

The extra output columns

Feed in the cost inputs and the report adds money columns to the usual forecasting ones. Rev/Call is the average revenue per call. Rev/Agent is revenue per agent. Total Rev is sales times revenue per sale. Total Cost is the agent pay times the agent count. Margin is simply total revenue minus total cost. Now each staffing scenario shows not just whether you hit your Service level but whether it pays.

flowchart TD
  A[Call activity] --> B[Erlangs]
  C[Report type B or C] --> D{B or C}
  B --> D
  D -->|B| E[GoS drop probability]
  D -->|C| F[Queue Prob and Average Answer]
  G[Cost inputs] --> H[Rev and Cost and Margin]
  E --> H
  F --> H

When to reach for it

Use the basic report when you only need a head count. Reach for the advanced one when you are weighing a staffing decision against budget, or when wait time matters more than raw drops. Pair it with a live revenue view such as the All Campaigns Summary report to keep the projection honest.

One outbound note worth knowing: VICIdial does not log which outbound calls were queued, so on a C-type run the estimated agent figure for outbound work falls back to the outbound drop rate using the B-style formula. For pure inbound queues with real hold time, the C math behaves as you would expect. Keep that in mind before reading too much into a C report on outbound campaigns.

Estimates here are only as good as the wages and revenue figures you enter, so use real numbers. For a hosted VICIdial with the advanced report ready to run, see VICIfast pricing.