Scheduling: Publication
Objective. Publish an optimised draft as the single live schedule after confirming forecast version, cleared violations and notice - understanding that a draft is not live until published and a published schedule is still subject to real-world change.
Publication answers: how does a draft become the one live, committed schedule? It is the line between a plan and a commitment, and the moment where the forecast version, violations and notice must be confirmed. This is the third step of the spine.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
A Sales or CSM person opens publication to answer: how do we turn the optimised draft into the single live schedule employees act on, with a notice period and an audit trail? It is step three of the three-step story and the point where a plan becomes a commitment.
The task
Publish the optimised W42 draft. Before publishing, confirm the draft is built on the live forecast version, that rule violations are cleared, and that it goes out with enough notice (a fairness and attrition driver). After publishing, the version is live, the audit trail records it, and portal acknowledgment opens.
How to read it
Publication is the line between a draft and a commitment. A draft - however well optimised - is not live until it is published. Once published it is the single version employees see; any later edit creates change that must be owned and re-acknowledged. And a published schedule is a commitment, but still subject to real-world change - absences, demand swings - which is why Intraday Management and RTA exist. The misread to avoid: treating publication as the end of the story.
Honest limits
Publishing commits a specific draft on a specific forecast; it does not guarantee the day runs to plan, nor does it fix a stale forecast or uncleared violation you published anyway. Confirm with product who may publish, the notice policy and the republication controls for a customer; the demo uses seeded data.
Interpretation check
Publishing commits a specific draft on a specific forecast - a draft is not live until published, and a published schedule is a commitment that is still subject to real-world change.
In the field
A contact centre publishing the week with 10 days' notice: the CSM teaches the pre-publication checklist so a stale-forecast draft is never committed, and names a single owner for republications.
Practical task
On the demo, publish one optimised draft and write the three pre-publication checks you made (forecast version, cleared violations, notice) plus who should own publication.
Self-check
A manager wants to publish a fully-covered draft. What do you confirm first?
That the draft is on the live forecast version, that violations are cleared, and that it goes out with enough notice. A clean-looking draft on a stale forecast fails current demand.
Is a well-optimised draft the same as a live schedule?
No. It is live only once published. Until then employees are not acting on it and it carries no commitment.
Once published, is the schedule fixed?
It is a commitment but still subject to real-world change - absences and demand swings. Managing the live day is the job of Intraday Management and RTA.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at /#/publish; exact controls, labels and figures are SME-validation-pending.