Ideal Staffing
Ideal staffing requirements represent the ideal number of staff that should be
available to satisfy demand for customer service, or process other measures of
work, by quarter hour by scheduling area or function.
Ideal staffing requirements serve as input to the Planning/Budgeting process and
the Dynamic Scheduling process. They also provide the basis for evaluating the
quality of schedules, either manually entered or system generated.
The QServ Ideal Staffing engine considers the following factors when calculating ideal staffing
requirements:
- Forecast demand by quarter hour.
- Event Calendar.
- Productivity standards and rules.
- Minimum and maximum staffing limits.
- Budgeted hours or cost.
Forecast Demand by Quarter Hour
Forecast demand by quarter hour drives the process of setting ideal staffing
requirements. Daily forecasts are converted into forecasts by quarter hour using
customer traffic patterns derived from POS data or customer counting
devices.
Event Calendar
The Event Calendar provides information about non-standard hours of
operation associated with promotional events.
Productivity
Productivity standards are used to convert the forecast demand (sales, customers
or other drivers) into staffing requirements for each quarter hour.
User definable rules can be applied to provide a non-linear response to forecast
demand. For example, retailers have often referred to "reach productivity"
as a productivity rate that justifies increasing staffing by an additional
person. In fact, queuing theory supports the premise that as demand
increases a constant level of customer service (as measured by wait time or line
length) can be achieved with increasing productivity.
Don't be put off by the perception that an expensive time and motion study will
be needed to develop productivity standards. In most cases, readily
available, empirical data can be used to set initial productivity standards.
Performance tracking reports available from QServ can then be used to refine the
standards.
Staffing Limits
Critical to the process of setting ideal staffing requirements are the minimum
and maximum staffing limits for each scheduling area or group of scheduling
areas. Minimum staffing requirements ensure that security minimums
are satisfied to reduce shrinkage. Maximum staffing limits reflect
operational considerations like the number of available checkout stations.
The ideal staffing resulting from the productivity calculations for each quarter
hour are compared to staffing limits and are adjusted accordingly.
Budgeted Hours or Cost
When calculating ideal staffing to drive scheduling QServ considers the budgeted
hours or cost for the week. If the ideal staffing requirements do not
match the budget then staffing levels are adjusted up or down until they match
the budget. Note that this step can be disabled if the user prefers to
compare scheduled/actual coverage against raw ideal staffing requirements.