Setting wait time calculations for live agent requests

The Estimated Wait Time displayed in the Self Service Portal is calculated by the system based on historical data and the user's position in the chat queue: the time between each update in the queue. The administrator cannot fix the Estimated Wait Time to a particular value. 

For example, if a user is 10th in the queue and the chat queue changes on two-minute intervals, then the wait time is displayed as 20 minutes. Previously, the wait time was calculated based on the length of previous chat sessions. With the new calculation, the wait time changes when the queue updates, and it more accurately reflects how often support agents pick up chat requests. 

If no recent requests are within the time period set, then the system uses 1 minute for the expected wait time.

To set the wait time calculation

1. From the Virtual Agent Administration Console, select General Settings > Notification Settings. 
2. In the Live Agent Request Wait Time Calculations area, modify the following settings.
   • Most Recent Requests—The number of live agent requests to average.  Valid settings are 1-20.
   • Not Older Than—The oldest of requests to average. 
3. Click OK. 

Example of how wait time is calculated

• Most Recent Requests—the average number of live agent requests is 20.
• Not Older Than—the time to include live agent requests for calculating the average is 144 minutes.

Based on these settings, the system calculates the actual recorded wait time for the Most Recent Requests (20 chat sessions). It then checks the Not Older Than value (144 minutes) to see if any of those 20 chat sessions occurred more than 144 minutes ago. The Estimated Wait Time reported in the following conditions is explained below::

• If none of the 20 chat sessions occurred 144 minutes ago, it would report the Estimated Wait Time as the actual recorded average wait time for those 20 char sessions. 
• If 5 of those 20 chat sessions occurred more than 144 minutes ago, those 5 sessions are excluded from the calculations and the Estimated Wait Time is reported as the average wait time for those 15 chat sessions that occurred within 144 minutes.