Workforce Asset Management Book of Knowledge

CHAPTER TEN

Scheduling Drivers and Design1

IN THIS CHAPTER, THE FUNDAMENTALS of workforce scheduling are explored, including types of schedules, how schedules are created, and how that translates into WFM scheduling system design and deployment. Historically, the science of scheduling has not been studied, taught, or institutionalized in many organizations. Scheduling methods are often individual art forms, designed around interpersonal relationships, and frequently executed with little consideration of the resulting labor costs. Today's WFM systems enable organizations to incorporate the key business drivers into the process of forming and adjusting schedules in real time. The right WFM scheduling application depends on the highly specialized schedule demands and constraints of the organization which determine how the workload can be assigned.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Chapter 10, you should be able to:

• Explain the concepts of workforce scheduling.
• Explain the scheduling process and its breakdown.
• Select the appropriate scheduling process for different business types.
• Interpret business operations to identify key elements that influence a schedule.
• Select the appropriate key performance indicators (KPI) that support scheduling decisions.
• Collect and document key scheduling requirements for a scheduling software targeting different business types.

Workforce scheduling is a complex process that assigns working hours to the workforce. Although scheduling is crucial ...