Intraday Management: Staffing
Objective. Read the interval-by-interval gap or surplus between required and available staff by skill, and understand why an overall balance does not mean every interval and skill is covered.
Staffing turns the reforecast into a resourcing picture: how many people are needed versus available, broken down by interval and skill, so the manager can see exactly where the shortage or surplus sits.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
'Given where today is heading, where exactly am I short or over, and in which skill?' After seeing drift on forecast vs actual, the manager comes here to locate the resourcing problem precisely - which intervals, which skill groups - so any corrective action is aimed at the real gap rather than the whole floor.
The task
Scope to the operation and today, then read required versus available by interval and by skill. Identify the specific windows and skills where the gap is largest and most service-critical. Note surpluses too - they are the raw material for a fix, because a skill move or a break shift often means redeploying a surplus into a shortage. Carry the precise gap into the what-if rather than reacting to the headline number.
How to read it
The dangerous misread is netting. An operation can look balanced overall - total required roughly equals total available - while a specific interval or skill is badly short and another is idle. Totals hide interval and skill mismatches, which are exactly what break service. Required is itself derived from the reforecast, so it inherits those assumptions; and available depends on the staffing feed being current. Read the gap at interval and skill level, never as a single net figure.
Honest limits
This screen shows the gap; it does not close it. Required is a projection from the reforecast, not a fixed truth, and available is only right if the staffing picture is fresh and skills are accurately mapped - confirm both with the customer's setup and with product. Exact skill definitions, how 'available' is calculated, and demo figures are SME-validation-pending.
Interpretation check
An overall staffing balance does not mean the day is covered - a net-zero total can hide a severe interval or skill shortage sitting next to an idle surplus. Always read the gap by interval and skill.
In the field
OVO (contact centre): a net-balanced afternoon can still fail because a specialist skill is short at 2pm while generalists sit idle - the interval-and-skill view is what exposes it.
Practical task
On the demo, locate the single interval-and-skill combination with the largest service-critical shortage, note any surplus that could feed it, and write one line defining the precise gap you would take into a what-if.
Self-check
Total required equals total available for the shift. Is the day covered?
Not necessarily. Netting hides interval and skill mismatches - one window or skill can be badly short while another is idle. Coverage must be read interval by interval and skill by skill.
Where does the 'required' figure on this screen come from, and why does that matter?
From the reforecast, so it carries the reforecast's assumptions. If arrivals or handling differ from those assumptions the required number shifts - it is a projection, not a fixed demand.
What makes a surplus interval useful rather than just waste?
It is the raw material for a fix - a surplus skill or window can often be redeployed into a shortage via a skill move or break shift, which you then test in the what-if.
What two inputs must be trustworthy for the available side to be correct?
A fresh staffing picture and accurate skill mapping. If either is stale or wrong, 'available' misstates who can actually take the work.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at /#/staffing; exact skill definitions, the calculation of 'available', and figures are SME-validation-pending.