Capacity Planning: Volume forecast
Objective. Read projected arriving work volume by period and keep it separate from effort, from staffing and from actuals.
The volume forecast answers: how much work - contacts, claims, cases - will arrive, by period? It is the raw demand signal before any conversion into people.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
The customer question is: what is the projected volume of incoming work by period and work type. Both roles use it as the first link in the chain from demand to headcount.
The task
Scope to the queue or work type and the period you want, then read the projected volume curve. The job is to read demand cleanly, before it is turned into effort or FTE on later screens.
How to read it
This is projected arriving volume. It is not handled or completed work, and it is not effort - volume becomes required capacity only after handling standards and shrinkage are applied. It carries the forecast's error bars. The classic misread is to read volume as the staffing answer ('that many cases, so that many people') or to read it as actuals. Volume is the input; the requirement is several assumptions downstream.
Honest limits
The volume source and the forecasting method must be confirmed with product. Volume alone says nothing about which skills are needed or in which intervals - a large volume of one work type may need a scarce skill. Confirm the work-type breakdown against the customer's real mix.
Interpretation check
Projected volume is arriving demand, not effort and not staffing; it becomes a requirement only after standards and shrinkage are applied.
Practical task
Scope to one work type and period, read the projected volume, and write the chain of assumptions (standards, shrinkage) that would have to be applied before it becomes a headcount number.
Self-check
A customer reads the volume line as the number of people needed. What is wrong?
Volume is arriving work, not effort or FTE. It becomes required capacity only after handling standards and shrinkage convert and discount it.
Is the volume forecast showing actual handled work?
No. It is projected arriving volume with error bars - not actuals and not completed work.
Why does work-type mix matter here, not just total volume?
Different work types need different skills, so the mix drives which skills and intervals are short - the total alone hides that.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at /#/demand; exact controls and figures are SME-validation-pending.