Capacity and Scheduling

Once activities of people have been analyzed and standard work created, this standard work can be used to create schedules based on the amount of work required for each standard work activity.

This is accomplished through the Capacity and Scheduling function which is accessed by selecting the Implementation tab and then clicking on the Capacity and Scheduling button.

Upon entering the Capacity and Scheduling function the first time, there will only be a “Default” schedule indicated by the highlighted tab below. As schedules are created, they will show as individual tabs to the right of the (Default) tab.

Summarizing the data entry sequence, a schedule must first be created (Configure Schedules) before the Time Management Blocks can be entered. After Time Management Blocks are created for each schedule, the Work Required can be entered. This will determine how many people are required for each Time Management Block. Meanwhile, people can be entered and assigned to the schedules and their cross-training of activities and skills tracked via the Cross-Training feature. The buttons are numbered above for each of the functions that follow.

If the work required for activities varies such as from weekday to weekends or different work classifications are performing the work, you will want to create separate schedules for each.

Update Name – To update the name of an existing schedule, first select the schedule whose name you wish to update in the Existing Schedules pull down, then type in the new name for the schedule in the Schedule Name field and click Update Name.

Delete – To delete an existing schedule, first select the schedule you wish to delete in the Existing Schedules pull down and then click Delete. A dialogue box will then open asking you to confirm the deletion. Click Yes and the schedule and associated data will be permanently deleted.

Duplicate Existing – If you have several schedules to create that are similar, you can duplicate an existing schedule by first selecting the schedule to be duplicated in the Existing Schedules pull down. Then enter a name for the duplicated schedule in the Schedule Name field, finally click Duplicate Existing.

Note that when you duplicate a schedule all of the information added for that schedule up to that point will be duplicated. This includes the Time Management Blocks, Work Required and Activity Analyses selected as part of that schedule. By planning around what is common across different schedules, data entry can be minimized.

First select the schedule for which you wish to add Time Management Blocks by clicking on its tab at the top of the Capacity and Scheduling screen as shown above for the “Training Schedule.”

Then click on the Time Management Blocks button highlighted below which will open the Edit Time Management Blocks dialogue box.

Time Management Blocks are used to break the day into time blocks. These blocks are used for entering demand data and establishing the start and end time of shifts.

Once Time Management Blocks are entered and released they can not be changed so it is important to plan ahead before creating the blocks of time. If you wish to change the Time Management Blocks for a schedule after being released, you will need to delete the schedule and create a new one.

It is recommended that the day be broken down by at least every hour, but keep in mind that if a shift is to start on the half hour, it must be configured here. Also note that the more Time Management Blocks you have, the more Work Required data entry will be required.

Blocks do not have to be of equal length so the day may be by the hour except in those hours when you want to start or stop shifts on the half hour.

1. Add Default Blocks – If you wish the day to be broken into 24 blocks each starting on the hour, select the Add Default Blocks button at the bottom left of the Edit Time Management Blocks dialogue box. This will automatically create the blocks shown below.

2. The second method of creating Time Management Blocks is to enter the End Time of each block in sequence. The system will calculate the Block Duration from 00:00:00 (midnight) or the previous block end time. For example, if you wish to create a day by 48 half hour blocks, begin by entering “003000” (12:30 AM) into the End Time field then clicking the Add Block Button.

Once complete, click the Release Blocks button. The Time Management Blocks for the selected schedule would then look like:

If you have a need for a Time Management Blocks other than the default, configure a schedule that is just for those blocks which can be replicated later. For example create a schedule called “Half Hour Blocks”, then enter the Time Management Blocks as outlined above. This schedule can then be duplicated so that the Time Management Blocks will not have to be entered again.

There are two additional data entry fields found in the Edit Time Management Blocks dialogue box which are Actual Minutes and Percent Absent.

These fields can be entered when the block is created by entering the desired data in the fields shown below before clicking the Add Block button.

After the blocks have been entered, these fields can be edited at any time and are used to make adjustments to the actual working minutes in any given block and to the calculated staffing based on absenteeism.

Actual Minutes – You can use this field to adjust the actual minutes available for standard work completion in any block. For example if the day was set-up with hour long blocks and lunch is from 11:30 AM until Noon, the 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon block highlighted in green below could be modified by changing the Actual Minutes to 30. To do this after the block has been added, click in the desired field, backspace over any existing data and then type in the updated information.

The system will then use the updated information when calculating staffing for that block. For example if there were 120 minutes of work in the 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon block before adjusting the Actual Minutes, the system would have calculated that two people would be required to complete the 120 minutes of work in one hour (120 minutes work/60 minutes = 2 people). However, after adjusting the Actual Minutes to 30, the system will calculate the need for 4 people to complete the same 120 minutes of work now required to be completed in only 30 minutes of actual work time (120 minutes/30 minutes = 4 people).

Percent Absent – The Percent Absent is used to determine how many people are required to be scheduled given that a known number will be absent any given day. To use, either enter in the Percent Absent field when entering Time Management Blocks or edit the field in the same manner outlined for the Actual Minutes field.

Be cautious of using the Percent Absent field based on how your organization does scheduling. By using this field, the system will increase the number of required people by the Percent Absent. The system is assuming that not all people will be present based on the Percent Absent entered. If you want to see the number of people you need on-site to complete a given amount of work, do not enter a Percent Absent.

If you wish to enter the same data in multiple fields of either the Actual Minutes or Percent Absent, simply select the fields and begin typing. The same data will be entered in all of the selected fields. Note – this same feature is available at other data entry points as well.

After a schedule has been created and the time management blocks for that schedule entered, the activities to be accomplished and how frequently they occur can be entered in the Work Required section. To access first select the schedule by clicking on the tab at the top of the screen to which you wish to add the Work Required (“Default” in the example below). Then click on the Work Required button in the same Capacity and Scheduling screen shown below.

This will cause another window to open for selecting the activities and entering the frequency of those activities called the Work Required screen. There are three main sections.

1. Schedule Activity Analyses – This window will show those activities you have selected to be completed as part of the selected schedule.

2. All Activity Analyses – This will be a listing of all the Activity Analyses that you have created in the current project database (.cna file).

3. Units of Work Required During Time Block for <selected schedule> - This is where you will enter how frequently each of the selected Activity Analyses occurs by the block of time you configure in the Time Management Blocks.

To use, first select one of the activities you want to add to the schedule by clicking on the activity once in the All Activity Analyses box (2) then add it to the schedule by clicking the << button as shown below.

Once selected the activity analysis will show in the Schedule Activity Analyses box (1) and its name will appear at the top of a column in the Units of Work Required During Time Block for schedule area (3) as shown below.

Continue one at a time to select all the Activity Analyses that are associated with the current schedule. If you need to remove one of the Activity Analyses from the schedule, click on its title once in the Schedule Activity Analyses box (1) and click the >> button.

Once completed, the Work Required screen will look similar to that shown below. Notice that as additional items are selected, scroll bars will appear in each area.

The final step is to enter the Units of Work Required. In the example that follows, data was mined from various sources to determine how frequently each piece of standard work was performed by each half hour of the day.

When dissecting the Work Required data you mined, you will want to not only look at averages but also mode and maximum in order to determine the proper Work Required data to enter based on your needs. Remember this will be used to determine staffing requirements.

When creating your standard work Activity Analyses and mining the Work Required data, you need to pay attention to the units of work to ensure they match.

When complete, click the OK button which will close the Work Required screen and return you to the Capacity and Scheduling screen. You will notice that the Capacity and Scheduling screen now shows the amount of work required for each Time Management Block as shown below.

The system calculates the Work Required (Minutes) by multiplying the units of work required you entered for each Activity Analysis selected as part of the schedule by how long each piece of standard work takes shown on each of your Activity Analysis.

The system will use the sum of the “New Time (sec)” column from your Activity Analysis. If no “New Time (sec)” is found it will default to the “Net Time (sec)”

The Total Needed (Minutes) column is calculated by taking the Work Required (Minutes) from above and adjusting for the % Absent entered in the Edit Time Management Blocks screen.

After analyzing the Persons Required information above, you can determine the shifts needed to best meet the required staffing. To create these shifts, first select the schedule to which you want to create shifts by clicking on its tab at the top of the Capacity and Scheduling screen. Next click on the Configure Shifts button which will open the Configure Shifts screen as shown below.

As mentioned previously, the available shift Start and End times are a function of the Time Management Blocks created for the schedule to which you are now adding shifts.

Update – To update an existing shift, first select the shift you wish to Update by clicking on that shift in the Existing Shifts area. Then edit the information you wish to change using the same data entry fields at the top used to add a shift. Finally click the Update button when complete.

Delete – To Delete and existing shift, first select the shift to be deleted in the Existing Shifts area then click Delete.

When finished adding, updating or deleting shifts, click the OK button at the lower right to close the Configure Shifts screen and return to the Capacity and Scheduling screen.

You will now see the shifts you added appear on the main Capacity and Scheduling screen in the green shaded area as shown below.

At any time in the process you can add people that will later be assigned to the shifts created above. To access this feature click on the Configure People button from the Capacity and Scheduling screen which will open the Configure People screen as shown below.

Note that people are not specific to a particular schedule but rather will be accessible to assign to any schedule once added to the project database.

To add people, enter their name in the Name field. Next, type in Notes that may be helpful when assigning the person to work a shift within a schedule. This could include such items as days of the week they work, work restrictions or classification and labor grade information.

To speed data entry, once a Note has been typed it will appear as an option in the pull down menu available for subsequently added people.

Update - To update a person’s information, first use the Existing People pull down to select that person. Then update their information as needed in the Name and Notes fields. When complete click the Update button.

Delete – To delete a person from the database, first select that person from the Existing People pull down then click Delete. Click Yes in the confirmation dialogue box that will appear and the person will be deleted.

If there are skills you require of your people for which standard work (Activity Analyses) have not been created, the Configure Skills option lets you add skills that you want to show on the cross-training matrix.

Note that you can also manually enter an Activity Analysis with no operations for this purpose as well. The difference is that all schedules will check for cross training of all skills. Cross-training warnings will only be checked for those Activity Analyses selected for a given schedule.

From the Capacity and Scheduling screen, click on the Configure Skills button which will open the Configure Skills screen as shown below.

Update Skill Name – To update the name of a previously added skill, first select the skill using the Existing Skills pull down. Type the new name for the skill in the Skill Name field and click Update Name when complete.

Deleting a Skill – To delete a skill from the database, first select the skill using the Existing Skills pull down then click the Delete button. Click Yes in the confirmation dialogue box that will appear and the skill will be deleted.

The Cross-Training feature allows you to track competency levels of all the people entered previously. There is a single cross training matrix per database that will show all people versus all Activity Analyses and all Skills in the database.

To access the Cross-Training matrix, click on the Cross-Training button in the Capacity and Scheduling Screen as shown below.

This will open the Cross-Training screen as shown below. The people will show in the left hand column while the title of all Activity Analyses and Skills in the database will show across the top. Use the scroll bars to navigate as needed.

The red highlighted fields represent people that have been assigned to a shift within a schedule that have not yet had their competency scored or have been scored 2 or lower. Only those Activity Analyses selected as part of the required work for the schedule where the person has been assigned to a shift will highlight in red. All skills entered will be highlighted in red for all people unless scored a 3 or higher. The assignment of people to shifts will be discussed later in this help topic.

To use the Cross-Training matrix, go to the intersection of the desired person and Activity Analysis or Skill and enter a rating from 1-5 based on the following.

4 = Fully proficient in the activity, follows standard work meeting and occasionally exceeding (less than) the standard time

5 = Fully proficient with the activity, follows standard work meeting and exceeding standard time and can train others in the activity and work methods

As can be seen in the example below, once the person (Allen, Bill) has achieved a rating of 3 or higher the shading will disappear.

If a person has not yet achieved a rating of 3 or higher, this will also generate a warning message when assigning people to shifts.

After a schedule has been created, time management blocks assigned, the activities and their frequency entered in the work required section, people added and cross-training information entered, people can be assigned to the shifts created to meet the demand.

We will return to the Configure Shifts screen to perform this task. First, select the schedule using the tabs at the top of the Capacity and Scheduling screen to which you want to add staffing. Then click on the Configure Shifts button at the bottom of the same screen as shown below. This will open the Configure Shifts screen.

The shifts were previously added in Section 4 – Configure Shifts and the people added in Section 5 – Configure People. You can reference the Person Required column of the Capacity and Scheduling screen to determine the number of people to add to each shift.

To assign people to shifts, first select the shift to which you want to add people in the Existing Shifts area by clicking on that shift. Once selected it will appear with the blue shading as shown below.

Next select a person to add to the shift by clicking on their name once in the Unassigned (Notes) area. Their name will then be shaded in blue as shown below.

Then click on the << button next to either the Direct Labor or Indirect Labor area depending on where the person should be added. The person will then be removed from the Unassigned to the Direct or Indirect Labor as selected.

Notice that the Notes you added when adding people as outlined in Section 5 – Configuring People show in parenthesis after the persons name to simplify the assignment process.

If you add people that have not been sufficiently trained as outlined in Section 7 – Cross-Training, a warning will appear at the bottom of the Configure Shifts screen in the Warnings area as shown above.

Continue selecting and adding (<<) people as needed to meet the staffing requirements of the shift. Once one shift is complete, select the next shift and continue until all shifts have been staffed in the selected schedule. Once complete click the OK button in the lower right of the Configure Shifts screen to close and return to the Capacity and Scheduling screen as shown below.

You will now see the number of people you assigned to each shift (green shaded area above) as well as the total number of people assigned for each time management block shown in the Persons Assigned column. The %Staffed column shows how closely your staff assignments match the number of people calculated in the Persons Required column. Finally, the Warning column shows whether you have assigned people to the schedule that have not been sufficiently trained in the activities required.

There are two standard reports accessible from the Capacity and Scheduling screen. First select the schedule from the tabs at the top of the screen that you wish to view.

Once selected this will open an .html file that shows the shifts for the selected schedule, their start and end time, and who has been assigned to work that shift. This can then be used on your Process Control Board or other communication tools for posting work schedules.

The second report is accessed by first selecting the schedule information desired from the tabs at the top of the Capacity and Scheduling screen.

The Export to a Spreadsheet dialogue box will then open as shown below. Navigate to where you want to save the file, enter the desired file name in the File name box and then click Save.

After opening the file you just saved, you can format and manipulate the data as needed. An example of this report is shown below.

After you have finished with the Capacity and Scheduling screen, click on the Close button in the lower right corner to return to the main Catena-Project Panel screen.