Set the hours of operation and timezone for a queue

The first thing you need to do when you set up a queue is to specify the hours of operation and timezone. The hours may be referenced in flows. For example, when routing contacts to agents, you might use the Check hours of operation block first, and then route the contact to the appropriate queue.

How many hours of operation can I create? To view your quota of Hours of operation per instance, open the Service Quotas console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/servicequotas/.

To set the hours of operation and timezone for a queue

1. On the navigation menu, choose Routing, Hours of operation.

2. To create a template, choose Add new set of hours and enter a name and a description.

3. Choose Time zone and select a value.

4. Choose Settings to set new hours.

5. Optionally, in the Tags section, add tags to identify, organize, search for, or filter who can access this hours of operation record. For more information, see Tag resources in Amazon Connect.

6. Choose Save.

7. Now you can specify these the hours of operation when you create a queue, and check them in the Check hours of operation block.

How to specify midnight

To specify midnight, enter 12:00AM.

For example, if you want to set your hours to 10:00AM to midnight, you would enter: 10:00AM to 12:00AM. Your call center would be open for 14 hours. Here's the math:

• 10:00AM-12:00PM = 2 hours

• 12:00PM-12:00AM = 12 hours

• Total = 14 hours

Examples

Schedule for 24x7

Schedule for Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Remove Sunday and Saturday from the schedule.

Add lunch and other breaks

If your entire contact center were to close for lunch from 12-1, for example, then you'd enter hours to specify that, as in the following image:

In most contact centers breaks are staggered. While some agents are at lunch, for example, others are still available to handle contacts. Instead of specifying this in the hours of operation, you add custom agent statuses that appear in the agent's Contact Control Panel (CCP).

For example, you might create a custom status named Lunch. When the agent goes to lunch, they change their status in the CCP from Available to Lunch. During this time, no contacts are routed to them. When they return from lunch and are ready to take contacts again, they change their status back to Available.

Supervisors can change an agent's status using the real-time metrics report.

For more information, see these topics:

• Add custom agent status

• About agent status

• Change the "Agent activity" status in a real-time metrics report

What happens during daylight saving time

Amazon Connect uses the timezone to determine whether daylight saving time is in effect for the queues, and adjusts automatically for all timezones that observe daylight saving time. When a contact comes in, Amazon Connect looks at the hours and timezone of your contact center to determine whether the contact can be routed to the given queue.

Important

Amazon Connect provides options for EST5EDT, PST8PDT, CST6CDT, and more. For example, EST5EDT is defined as:

Eastern Standard Time (EST) is used when observing standard time. It is five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is used when observing daylight saving time. It is four hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

We recommend researching your choice of timezone to ensure you understand it.

Example

1. A person initiates a call or chat with your contact center.

2. Amazon Connect looks at the hours of operation for your call center right now.

   • The contact is from timezone A.

   • Your call center's hours are 9 AM - 5 PM in timezone B.

   • If the current time in timezone B is 2 PM then the call or chat is queued.

   • If the current time in timezone B is 7 AM then the call or chat is not queued.

Use the Check Hours of Operation block

At the start of your flows, use the Check hours of operation block to determine whether your contact center is open, and to branch accordingly.