Optimized Scheduling

How can supervisors adequately evaluate demand signals, corporate tasks, governmental and union regulations, and employee skills and preferences to create an optimal workforce schedule? What is more, why would you want them to waste their valuable time trying?

Workload balancing
An important benefit of scheduling is the ability to balance workload in order to match peak and slack times while reducing the need for overtime or temporary employees.

Employees are typically your most expensive resource, so it doesn’t make sense to use them inefficiently. Similarly, managers’ time is too valuable to waste sitting in the back office trying to figure out who to schedule when while trying to comply with labor laws and union rules. The costs of schedule inaccuracy and non-compliance are just too great.

RedPrairie’s Scheduling application solves this dilemma by automating the scheduling process to free up managers’ time while improving workforce utilization and compliance.

Scheduling starts with the most accurate demand forecast from RedPrairie’s integrated forecasting module, because it’s impossible to create a good schedule with a bad forecast. The forecast is compared with predefined labor standards to compute workforce demand by category for a given timeframe such as peak hours, a shift, a day or a week.

The system then evaluates this workforce demand against employee skill sets, availability and preferences, as well as labor regulations, union rules and company policies, to arrive at an optimal schedule down to 15 minute increments.

Managers can view the tentative schedule on graphical dashboards and make adjustments with a simple drag & drop visual editor. Visual cues are displayed for type of task, peak hours and over or under utilization. Managers can use this information to balance workloads, reduce overtime, adjust for special events, and easily accommodate last minute requests. Employees can access their schedules online and can enter requests for future shifts or time off.

By helping managers maximize schedule accuracy, balance and compliance while freeing up their time to be on the floor, RedPrairie’s Scheduling helps make your workforce more productive, lowering unit labor costs, and better able to serve your customers. And its consideration of employee preferences and self-service capabilities lead to a more satisfied, loyal workforce.