Summary
Humanforce Demand Planning is a new view available in the Employee Roster to help users manage staffing levels based on demand. Demand figures are uploaded to the system and a formula is created to determine how many staff are required throughout the day. This is a great way to ensure the business has the right people working at the right time.
Over and under staffing issues are easy to spot with the red and orange cells, whilst blue shows the rostering user where there is the chance for additional demand before another employee is required.
It is important to note that this feature is currently only available in the Humanforce Employee Roster Gantt view.
Setup and Configuration
Access Levels and Permissions
The below access level permissions are required to both configure and view demand planning in Humanforce. All setup screens can be found under the 'View Administration Section' heading, whilst all the roster related views can be found under 'Rostering Screen'.
Admin Setup Screens
After the above permission have been allocated, there are three additional admin screens available under Admin > System Config.
- Demand Plan Feed Setup
- Demand Plan Feed Upload
- Demand Plan Rules
Demand Plan Feed Setup
The Demand Plan Feed setup screen allows for the setup of the raw data feed. It is important to be specific with your naming conventions when importing data for multiple areas of the business.
The defined export code is used as the reference point when importing data from an external system.
The 'Numeric Format' field defines the numerical format the demand plan feed will be displayed in on the roster screen. For example:
0.##
0.####
0.00###
0.0000
$0.00
The field can also be left blank.
Demand Plan Input Feed Data Upload
The Demand Plan Input Feed Data Upload screen allows you to upload demand into the system, which can then be referenced in a configured rule to calculate required staffing.
The CSV file should contain the following fields:
| Column Name | Data Type | Mandatory | Remarks |
| Feed | String | Yes | The Name or Export Code of an existing input feed. |
| DateStart | DateTime | Yes | The date and time of the value being imported. Various formats are supported. Recommended format is ISO (e.g. 2019-01-30T14:30:00 ) |
| DateEnd | DateTime | No | For spanned feeds only. This field holds the end date and time of the spanned feed value. It is ignored for unspanned feeds. Various formats are supported. Recommended format is ISO (e.g. 2019-01-30T14:30:00 ) |
| Value | Numeric | Yes | The numeric value of the feed data. Integer or floating-point values are allowed. |
Demand Plan Rules
Demand Plan Rules are used to calculate the required headcount for the defined area of the business. The rules can be setup for any combination of Location, Department, Role, Area, Event or Function. Please see the table below for a full description of all fields.
Additionally, there is the ability to display a qualification headcount. This option at the bottom of the Demand Plan Rules setup screen gives the user the ability to display how many employees are rostered during the day with relevant qualifications.
| Demand Rule Definition | |
| Field | Description |
| Rule Name | Name of Demand Rule |
| Display Name | Display name of Demand Rule in roster screen |
| Minimum Headcount | A warning is shown when the number of rostered staff is below this count |
| Maximum Headcount | A warning is shown when the number of rostered staff is above this count |
| Location | The Location to which this rule applies |
| Department | The Department to which this rule applies |
| Role | The Role to which this rule applies |
| Area | The Area to which this rule applies |
| Event | The Event to which this rule applies |
| Function | The Function to which this rule applies |
| Demand Data Input Feed | |
| Field | Description |
| Demand Data Input Feed | The demand data input feed used as input to this demand rule. |
| Interpolation Mode | The method by which the system derives input values from the feed for data points that do not exist in precisely the same time increments as the roster Gantt view time scale. |
| Interpolation range (minutes) | Defines the largest gap in the raw input data with which the system is allowed to interpolate to derive intermediate values. |
| Overlapped Spans Aggregation | When spanned input data is provided to the system, it is possible that spans may overlap on the timeline. Where overlaps occur, this setting defines how to resolve them by using an aggregation function. |
| Interval Consolidation | This setting defines which aggregation function to use when consolidating multiple input data values that exist in a given time range. E.g. if the roster zoom level is set to show demand data in one-hour blocks, but the input feed is provided at a resolution of 15 minutes, the data must be aggregated in order to display a single value for each block. |
| Rounding | Once the system has derived an input value for a portion of time according to the zoom level, the value may be rounded using one of these modes prior to being used in the demand formula. |
| Rounding Significance | When using a rounding mode, this value defines the granularity of the rounding function. To round to whole numbers, use a value of 1. A value of 5 will result in only increments of 5 being used (e.g. 0, 5, 10, 15, etc). Numbers smaller than 1 are also legal. |
| Demand Formula | |
| Field | Description |
| X | To calculate required staff headcount, the system takes the X and Y figures as a ratio (X:Y) and multiplies it by the input data feed value for a given point in time. E.g. if the data feed is providing the number of expected patrons, and the business requires 1 employee for every 4 patrons, then X = 1 and Y = 4. If the feed has a value of 20 patrons, then the required headcount is 1 / 4 * 20 = 5. |
| Y | (see above) |
| Offset | After applying the ratio above, this offset is applied to raise or lower the result by a fixed amount. |
| Required staff rounding | Used to apply rounding to the headcount value that is derived from the above settings. |
| Required staff rounding significance | This value defines the granularity of the rounding function. To round to whole numbers, use a value of 1. A value of 5 will result in only increments of 5 being used (e.g. 0, 5, 10, 15, etc). Numbers smaller than 1 are also legal. |
| Show Qualification Headcount | |
| Field | Description |
| All available | Lists all available qualifications in the system. |
| Show | Lists all selected qualifications that will be displayed on the roster underneath the demand plan table. |
Employee Roster Demand Planning View
Once the demand plan feed and rules have been created, a new bar will be available in the Employee Roster > Gantt view to highlight;
If there are not enough staff on to meet demand.
If there are more staff rostered than required.
If there is an opportunity to handle additional demand with current rostered employees.
Hovering over a dot will show the relevant filter. Clicking on the pop up window will update the current roster filter to match.
Once the roster filter has been updated, an expanded view of the demand values will be available, including overall headcount, demand feed value, required staffing, staffing +/- and capacity +/-.
As you build out your roster, the table is dynamically updated.
There is an option to include or exclude unassigned shifts in the required staffing numbers. If you click the 'Include unassigned' button, the unassigned shift panel will be moved above the Demand Planning line.