Capacity Planning: Forecast overview
Objective. Read the demand forecast as a projection with a confidence range over a horizon, not as a point commitment.
The forecast overview answers: what demand are we planning to, over what horizon, and how confident should we be? Everything downstream - the requirement, the hiring plan - rests on this.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
The customer question is: what is the expected demand across the planning horizon and how much should we trust it. A rep uses it to anchor the planning story; a CSM uses it to check the forecast is credible before any plan built on it is trusted.
The task
Set the horizon and the scope (queue, skill group or work type), then read the forecast curve together with whatever confidence or accuracy context the screen shows. Read the shape and the range, not just the single line.
How to read it
The forecast is a projection with error bars. The point line is the mid-estimate, not a promise, and the band around it is where reality is likely to fall. The classic misread is to plan to the point forecast as if it were certain and ignore the range - that is how operations end up exactly staffed for a demand level that never arrives. The accuracy context tells you how much weight the point line can bear.
Honest limits
The forecasting method and the volume source must be confirmed with product - the demo runs a model on seeded data. The forecast feeds the requirement but does not set headcount by itself; standards, shrinkage and service goals do that. A forecast is never executed - it is the input to a plan.
Interpretation check
The forecast is a projection with error bars; the point line is a mid-estimate, not a commitment, so plan to the range, not just the line.
Practical task
For a chosen horizon and scope, read the forecast and write one line stating the mid-estimate direction and the uncertainty around it - then say how that range should change the staffing posture.
Self-check
Why not staff exactly to the forecast point line?
It is the mid-estimate of a projection with error bars. Reality falls across a range, so staffing to the point alone ignores the uncertainty the band is telling you about.
What does the accuracy or confidence context on this screen tell you?
How much weight the point forecast can bear - how well past forecasts matched reality - so you know how tightly to plan to it.
Does the forecast set headcount?
No. It feeds required capacity, but standards, shrinkage and service goals convert it into FTE. And it is an input, never an executed action.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at /#/forecast; exact controls and figures are SME-validation-pending.