Labor Standards

1. Go to Administration > Application Setup > Forecaster Setup > Labor Standards and click New.
2. Perform one of the following steps:
   • To create a new labor standard, click New.
   • To duplicate an existing labor standard, select it and then click Duplicate. A new labor standard is created with the name Copy of existing_labor_standard_name name. Proceed with steps 5-8.
3. Enter a Name and an optional Description.
4. Select the category Type.
   1. To assign the labor standard to a department with the same name in all stores, select Generic.
   2. To assign the labor standard to a specific store, select Store Specific. Click the arrow and select the store from the Business Structure.

Note: If you copied a pre-existing labor standard, steps 5 and 6 are optional as these fields are pre-populated.

5. Select the Generic Department.

6. Version Effective Dates defaults to Beginning of time - forever. After the labor standard is created, you can
   • Copy the labor standard — Select Create a New Version Effective and select an effective date.

   Note: Edit the labor standard — Select Update this version.

About negative values for time scale
In this section, for both Fixed and Scaled time values, you can also enter a negative value provided you have the appropriate access permissions. The system uses negative values in a labor standard to reduce the hours forecasted for a particular department or job. This process is ideal for when hours generated for one job need to be allocated to another job. For example, store managers are scheduled to work 40 hours a week. During this time, they are expected to work 8 of those hours in the associate job. The hours for the associate job are based solely on variable labor standards and in UKG Pro Workforce Management™ there is no way to take the 8 hours away from the associate job. Using a negative standard, the labor forecast engine will be able to deduct these hours from the associate job.
1. Select either Fixed or Scaled time value.
2. Fixed type does not vary based on volume. For example, it always takes 20 minutes to wash down the deli counters, or it always takes 1.5 seconds to scan an item.
3. Scaled type varies depending on changes in volume. For example, stacking apples is 1.5 seconds per item as long as there are 150 or less. When there are more than 150 items, it takes 2.5 seconds per item because the pile is harder to manage.
2. If you selected Fixed:
   1. Enter the Time the action takes. You can enter up to two decimal places.
   2. Select the unit of time.
   3. Go to Step 3: Labor Driver tab
3. If you selected Scaled, in Volume Data select either Based on a single volume For example, customers per day. or Based on two volumes For example, sales per customer per day..
4. Depending on your selection in step 3, select one or two Drivers and the Intervals in which to collect the volume data.
5. Select the Generic Category where the volume data is collected.
6. In Time Scale, enter the volume thresholds and time values, in minutes, for each threshold. Depending on your access permissions, you may be able to enter a negative value to reduce the labor hours forecasted for a particular department or job.
   Click the Add Row icon to add another row.
Example

The table shows a time scale example:

When Volume is greater or equal	Time Value in minutes
0	0.50
101	0.75
201	1.00

7. To associate up to five adjustment drivers with this labor standard so that it uses store specific values in the labor forecast calculation, select Use Labor Standard Adjustment.

8. When the labor forecast engine runs, the labor from the existing time value and volume is calculated and the operation is carried out against the Adjustment Driver value for the site. When used with scaled labor standards, the total daily labor is calculated first and then the Adjustment Driver operation is performed. Then, the labor is distributed.

8. Configure the Labor Standard Adjustment:
9. Note: The system performs the selected operations according to the order they appear in the table.
   1. From Operation, select an operation method. The operation indicates to the system how the calculation should be carried out against the Adjustment Driver value for the site.
      • Addition
      • Subtraction
      • Multiplication
      • Division
   2. From Adjustment Driver, select a driver. This selection associates specific Adjustment Drivers with this labor standard. The same Adjustment Driver can be selected only once.
   3. To indicate whether the system should process the Adjustment Driver value as zero, select Treat blank value as zero? If you do not select this option, the Adjustment value is not included in the calculation.
   4. To configure additional Adjustment Drivers, click and repeat steps 8a–8c. To delete a row, click .

Select a labor driver type: Variable or Fixed.

Variable Driver Examples

Volume Driver
The Time Value entered on the Time Value tab applies to every 10 items scanned at the register:
• Number = 10
• Number of business days to look back for volume = 2
• Driver = Items
• Generic Category = Register
Custom Driver

The Time Value entered on the Time Value tab applies to the amount of time it takes to train one employee:

• Number = 1
• Number of calendar days to look back for volume = 0
• Driver = Training

Note: The user must enter the number of employees to train before running the Labor Forecast.

Fixed Driver Examples

Fixed frequency
• Number = 1
• The Time Value entered on the Time Value tab is the time to print a report once a day:
• Number of times = 1
• Per Interval = Day
Fixed Frequency by Daily Volume %
This labor standard depends on a volume driver, but the task occurs only at specific times during the week. The system:
• Computes the volume driver value for the week
• Calculates the amount of labor required for each 15-minute interval specified
• Pro-rates the labor accordingly
In this case, high-volume periods get more labor than lower volume periods. For example, if the time period for clean-up is an hour (four 15-minute intervals) on Monday and two hours (eight 15-minute intervals) on Wednesday, the system allocates
• .04 (four intervals) x weekly volume = amount of labor for clean-up on Monday
• .08 x weekly volume = labor required for Wednesday

Example

• For the clean-up example, enter

  • Number of times = 2 per Week
  • Driver = customers
  • Generic Category = Site
Static

The Time Value entered on the Time Value tab is the time to sweep 25,000 square feet of floor, which is scheduled to be done 3 times a day:

• Number of times = 3

• Per Interval = Day

• Number = 25000

• Driver = Sweep Floor

1. In the Labor Period area, select the way that the labor is distributed throughout the day.

   Options

   Allow manager override of labor period — To allow managers to override labor periods in this labor standard configuration, select Allow manager override of labor period.

   Absolute Hours — Labor period times are specific; for example, trucks are unloaded Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:00 A.M. to 5:00 A.M.

   Hours of Operation — Labor period is defined by the hours of operation for the department or site; for example, the manager works from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., which is the entire time that the store is open.

   Any offset amount is relative to the hours of operation and, if the hours of operation change, then the offset automatically changes accordingly.

   After Open Hours — Start labor after the store opens; for example, start at 10:00 A.M., which is two hours after the store opens, and work for six hours until 4:00 P.M.

   Enter the Day, the amount of time of the Offset (e.g., 2 hours), and the Duration (e.g., 6 hours) of the labor period. The labor period is defined from the offset time through the duration.

   After Close Hours — Start labor after the store closes; for example,, start at 7:00 P.M., which is two hours after the store closes, and work for six hours until 1:00 A.M.

   Enter the Day, the amount of time of the Offset (e.g., 2 hours), and the Duration (e.g., 6 hours) of the labor period. The labor period is defined from the offset time through the duration.

   If the task is not done every day, but you want driver data from previous days included in the labor calculation, select Add volume across days ...

   Example

   Pet food is restocked on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If this check box is selected, the volume from Saturday and Sunday is added to the data from Monday, data from Tuesday is added to Wednesday, and data from Thursday is added to Friday.

2. In the Labor Distribution area, select options for how to distribute labor across the traffic pattern.

   Distribute Evenly

   Distributes the remaining labor one of the following ways:

   Note: To spread the remaining labor to the left or right, you cannot select Distribute by Traffic Pattern, and you must have selected a fixed time value, a fixed frequency labor driver, and an absolute labor period.

   Apply Rounding — Use the standard labor distribution algorithm

   Spread Remainder Left — Spread remaining labor to the left

   Spread Remainder Right — Spread remaining labor to the right

   Distribute by Traffic Pattern / Volume Forecast Details

   Distributes the labor evenly throughout the labor period

   • Select the Volume Driver from which to derive the traffic pattern
   • Select the Generic Category from which the volume data comes
   When Traffic Pattern Hours > Labor Period Hours

   If traffic Occurs after the store closes; for example, some customers are still in line:

   Compress traffic pattern — Force all traffic inside the store hours

   Truncate traffic pattern — Spread remaining labor to the right

3. In the Labor Distribution Offset area, select options for distributing labor in relation to the defined labor period:

   Options

   Same as selected labor period — Keep all labor in the labor period.

   Start before labor period — Start the selected Amount of time before the labor period. For example, if you select 0:15, the labor begins 15 minutes before the labor period.

   Start after labor period — Start the selected Amount of time after the labor period. For example, if you select 1:15, labor is extended one hour and fifteen minutes after the labor period.

4. Click Save.

You cannot delete a labor standard if it has been used to forecast labor. You can inactivate a labor standard so that it cannot be assigned to a new job. However, an inactive labor standard is used to forecast labor requirements for jobs that already have it assigned to them.

If you do not want the labor standard used for future forecasts, unassign it from the tasks to which it is assigned.

The labor forecast engine uses defined labor standards, among other information, to create labor forecasts for each job at 15-minute intervals. Visibility into the intermediate calculations at the labor standard level can be valuable for managers to understand the contribution of each task's labor standards to the total labor hours that were generated. This can help them troubleshoot situations when labor hours are higher or lower than expected. it can also be a configuration aid: for instance, when a labor standard is added or changed.

There are several mechanisms for enabling the display of labor standard calculation details for jobs and their tasks in Forecast Planner and assigning access to users.:

• Global access is enabled via the system setting site.forecasting.labor.enableSaveLaborStandardForecast​, which is set to False by default.​

• When this parameter is set to True, labor diagnostic data is generated for all existing and newly created labor forecast batch events
• Batch parameter: /D true or /D false​
• Adding the /D true parameter to an existing labor forecast batch task will generate labor standard detail for that task. Use the /D false parameter to disable the generation of labor standard detail if the global system setting is set to true.

• Access control point. Controls the ability to generate and view labor standard detail:

  Manager – Department Manager > Forecasting-> Labor Forecast Analyzer when running a labor forecast from Forecast Planner​

The following table illustrates how the combination of these options impacts the generation of detailed job information.

Note: Labor standards that are associated with tasks that are configured to be time-independent are calculated and displayed based on the configuration of the labor standard. However, that does not necessarily indicate how the calculated labor is applied to the labor forecast.