Blue Pumpkin Software Announces First Comprehensive Scheduling Solution For Global Contact Centers With Complex Work Rules.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

Call Center 2000

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2000

PrimeTime Enterprise 2.0 Allows Businesses To Optimize Customer

Service Levels While Meeting Labor Regulations

Blue Pumpkin Software, a leading provider of workforce management solutions, today announced the availability of PrimeTime Enterprise 2.0, the latest release of the company's premier solution for enterprise-wide customer contact center workforce management. Introduced at the Call Center 2000 tradeshow being held in Dallas, TX, this week, PrimeTime Enterprise 2.0 automates some of the most difficult tasks faced in complex scheduling environments worldwide, including fairness guidelines, labor laws and government regulations which dictate how and when agents can be scheduled.

&uot;Because work rule requirements vary dramatically from center to center on a global basis, the challenge was to create a solution that was easy to use and flexible enough to adapt easily in even the most complex environments,&uot; said Chief Technical Officer for Blue Pumpkin, Dr. Ofer Matan. &uot;By taking a unique and creative approach, we've created a product that can be used worldwide, no matter what the requirements.&uot;

The new Assignment Rules feature in PrimeTime 2.0 has been designed to allow contact center managers to use simple sentences to define any number of complex work rules and automatically ensures they are met on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.

Many countries and unions have complex regulatory environments that govern how and when an agent can be scheduled. For example, union-negotiated contracts and rules add to the complexity of scheduling a contact center workforce. Previously, a scheduler might spend hours setting up a schedule to meet these regulations. Now, the new Assignment Rules feature quickly and easily handles that task and meets customer service level goals, whether a center needs to:

--   fairly distribute unpopular shifts or days of the week
--   guarantee weekly, monthly and annual hours are met
--   a certain amount of time between shifts
--   schedule a certain number of days on or off
--   manage individual agent needs and contracts
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&uot;This solves one of the most challenging and complex issues involved in workforce management -- trying to manage and build the best schedules to meet customer service needs while complying with regulations and agent requirements,&uot; said Paul Stockford, Principal Analyst, Saddletree Research. &uot;With the addition of Assignment Rules, Blue Pumpkin is the first to successfully merge these two concepts.&uot;

Pricing and Availability

PrimeTime Enterprise 2.0 is available now with pricing based on the number of agents being scheduled. Multi-site and multi-seat discounts are available. Japanese, French and German versions are scheduled for completion this year.

Blue Pumpkin PrimeTime

Blue Pumpkin PrimeTime products are robust workforce management software packages designed to optimize the forecasting and scheduling of agents in customer contact centers by ensuring the right agents with the right skills are in the right place at the right time. Recently awarded a HotPick 2000 Award by Call Center News Service and Product of the Year and Editor's Choice honors from Call Center, Call Center Solutions and CTI magazines, the PrimeTime family of products provide powerful &uot;what-if&uot; analyses to predict how call volume and staffing changes will affect customer contact center operations. Blue Pumpkin PrimeTime products are network-enabled, and users are able to designate any Windows 95 or NT PC as a server. With PrimeTime, customer contact centers reduce overstaffing costs and increase revenues by capturing previously lost sales.

About Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc.

Blue Pumpkin Software is a market-leading provider of workforce management solutions for multimedia customer contact centers. Blue Pumpkin develops, markets, and supports the award-winning PrimeTime suite of products designed to help companies guarantee superior customer service across a variety of contact media, including phone and email. Blue Pumpkin provides the tools necessary to efficiently schedule and manage contact center personnel, ensuring that the right person with the right skills handles customers interactions.

Blue Pumpkin Software is headquartered in Silicon Valley, with offices around the world. Global leaders in the financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications, and retail goods &services industries depend on Blue Pumpkin solutions. Current customers include ADP, eToys, Airborne Express, Apple Computer, AT&, Verio, KitchenAid, Drugstore.com, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and PeopleSoft. For more information about Blue Pumpkin and its products, please visit http://www.blue-pumpkin.com or call 650-429-6300.