Scheduling: Coverage
Objective. Read coverage by interval for a team and period, and identify a peak interval that breaks even when the daily total looks sufficient.
Coverage answers the question that daily headcounts hide: is demand actually covered at every interval, especially the peak? The classic misread is trusting a healthy daily total while a single peak interval is short.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
A Sales or CSM person opens coverage to answer: does the schedule meet demand interval by interval, not just as a daily total? This is where you prove that the peak - not the average - is where service succeeds or fails, and it is the sharpest screen for showing a shortage window in a demo.
The task
Scope to the team and period. Read coverage across the day's intervals and find where scheduled staffing drops below required - typically a peak. Contrast that with the daily total, which may look fully staffed. Note both understaffed peaks (service misses) and overstaffed troughs (avoidable cost).
How to read it
Coverage here is planned coverage against the forecast, not achieved service. A healthy interval means the draft matches forecast demand at that interval - it does not mean the work got done or people adhered. The core misread: a sufficient daily headcount can still miss the 2pm peak. Read the interval curve, not the day total. And remember the whole curve is only as right as the forecast version it is measured against.
Honest limits
Coverage shows the plan against the forecast; it cannot confirm actual attendance, adherence or output - those are Real-Time Adherence and Work Output questions. A green coverage view on a stale forecast is still wrong. Confirm the forecast version and the interval granularity the customer needs with product.
Interpretation check
A sufficient daily headcount can still miss the peak interval - read coverage by interval, and remember it is planned coverage versus forecast, not actual delivery.
In the field
A utility contact centre whose daily staffing looked adequate but missed the morning billing-query peak: interval coverage makes that gap visible before publication, not after the SLA miss.
Practical task
On the demo coverage view, scope a team and day, and produce a reading that names one peak interval that is short even though the daily total looks sufficient, plus one overstaffed trough.
Self-check
The daily total shows enough staff. Why is that not reassurance?
Because demand is not flat. A full daily total can still leave a peak interval short, which is exactly where service breaks. Read coverage by interval.
Does a green coverage interval mean the work got done?
No. It means the draft matches forecast demand at that interval. Whether people adhered and the work was completed is measured in RTA and Work Output, not here.
Two coverage views of the same week disagree. What is the first thing to check?
Which forecast version each is measured against. Coverage is planned against a forecast; a different or stale forecast changes the entire curve.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at /#/coverage; exact controls, labels and figures are SME-validation-pending.