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Glossary · Call centre operations

What is Wrap-up time?

  • Also called: after-call work, ACW

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

Wrap-up time, or after-call work, is the period an agent spends completing tasks after a call ends (notes, CRM updates, follow-up tasks) before becoming available again. It is part of handle time and a direct input to dialler pacing.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how wrap-up time behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, wrap-up time included.

In practice

How wrap-up time actually works

It is the most compressible metric in the centre. Automatic transcription, summaries, and one-key dispositions routinely cut it by more than half.

Pacing engines must account for it. Treating an agent as available the moment a call ends produces abandoned calls on the very next dial.

Wrap is also where reporting quality is decided. A rep with 20 seconds of wrap is not writing notes, and a rep with two minutes is retyping something the system already knows. Both produce bad data, and the fix in each case is automation rather than a target.

Worked example

A rep handling 45 calls a day at 55 seconds of wrap spends 41 minutes typing. Automating the disposition write-back and the follow-up task usually returns 25 of those minutes without touching the conversation.

Wrap-up time: common questions

What is a reasonable wrap-up time?
Thirty to sixty seconds for straightforward sales or service calls, longer where notes feed a regulated record. Consistently long wrap usually means the system is making people retype what it already knows.
Does wrap-up time count towards occupancy?
Yes. Talk plus wrap is handling time, and excluding wrap makes occupancy look healthier than it is while quietly understaffing the queue.
How do you reduce wrap-up time without losing the notes?
Automate the parts that are mechanical: disposition codes that write back to the CRM, transcripts that attach themselves, follow-up tasks created by the disposition rather than typed. What remains is the judgement, which is the part worth paying for.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See wrap-up time in the product

Call analytics turns raw call records into the numbers a manager can act on: volume by hour, connect and answer rates, talk time, dispositions, service level, abandonment and the per-number reputation behind all of it. Reporting on activity, as distinct from attributing calls to campaigns.

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