There are no items in your cart
Add More
Add More
Item Details | Price |
---|
Tue May 21, 2024
When WFM professionals hear the word capacity planning, they automatically feel proud about their job. That is the power of Capacity Planning!!
Many analysts aspire to become a capacity planner one day, because of the challenge, fun and satisfaction the planning activity provides. It feels like control of the main resources of the entire project is in our hands which makes us feel superior about WFM and the planning.
So, what is Capacity Planning?
The term is self-explanatory which says that we are going to plan the capacity. Capacity is in terms of FTE Requirement, Call Handling Capacity etc.
The word planning indicates future. Therefore “Capacity Planning” is a process of making plans of requirements for the future.
Why is it so important?
There is a famous quote which says “An hour of planning can save 10 hours of doing”. The future of business should be foreseen to prepare for all the possible causes which may affect the smooth operation of the business.
This includes the number of staffs required, what will be our call handling capacity in the future etc.
Depending upon the planning, the management will take necessary actions to solve any requirement deficit. For e.g. we may hire a batch of new agents to handle to higher call volume anticipated on third month from now.
The hiring decision taken will change the planning of many departments such as Hiring, Training etc. and hence becomes highly important.
On the other hand, the cost will increase as more people are added which will also be of Finance Department’s interest.
In short, the WFM’s execution of accurate capacity planner is very important as the major business decisions lie on it which in turn affects the decisions of other departments too and also impacts the profitability of a business. This adds a lot of weightage on the WFM department and it is viewed as most required skill by many organizations.
We hope now you can see, why WFM professionals feel proud about Capacity Planning!!
Let’s look at the steps for Capacity Planning Process below
The first step in Capacity Planning is to find out the future FTE requirements. The forecasted volume and AHT along with shrinkage, attrition and other factors are used to find out how many people are required in the future.
Post that, we will find out how many people are currently present in the process and by comparing both required Headcount and Present Headcount, the decisions will be taken whether or not to hire new people. Sometimes we may have deficit just for one week which can be managed by Over Time.
Next, we will look into the factors required to build a capacity planner along with their uses
Capacity planner becomes good and precise only if it is worked along with operations team, training and hiring team. They may have some constraint in terms of training, hiring etc. which needs to be considered by WFM while building the planner. Basis all those, we have to look at the requirements and recommend necessary action to be taken by the operations team.
Finally, don’t forget to track the actual performance
It is very important to track the actual performance and compare it against what was planned to find out the gap and why it happened. These answers can help us understand the changes which needs to be done for the future planning for better anticipation of the future requirements
Vinay Vasudevan
Sr. Manager - Accounts & Finance at Sagility