The Labor Workspace

Run a labor forecast

• The labor forecast contains the required labor hours per job per day for a forecast week.

• Note: The labor forecast can be run from the Forecast Planner or it can be scheduled to run during off-periods in a batch process.

Work with the generated labor forecast at a department level or higher

• View the required labor hours total per day and totals per job for each day for a forecast week
• Make adjustments to the volume forecast amounts to improve the quality of the forecast

View and edit labor forecast values and edit headcounts

• Add or modify labor drivers to account for required labor that is not driven by volumes
• Edit the labor forecast head count requirements by job, for every 15-minute period in the week
• Compare budgeted, forecasted, system-generated, and system-adjusted labor on a daily or weekly basis
• Compare the imported labor budget values to the forecasted values (% of budget)
• Examine the impact of volume changes on headcounts

Run the labor constraint engine

• The labor constraint contains rules that adjust a labor forecast up or down to fit such purposes as budget or resource availability.

Add an adjustment driver value

• An adjustment driver is a labor driver that provides external data that is used in a constraint calculation for a labor target.

Use this workspace to generate, view, and edit the labor forecast for a category and time period. You can also set up, view, and edit the labor drivers and volume drivers and include them in the display as forecast factors; see Forecast Factors.

You can access the two workspaces and switch back and forth between them in one of two ways, depending on how your environment is configured:

• On the Main Menu , select Workforce Planning. The choices on this menu are named during system configuration and may include separate forecast planners for volume and labor. Click Tap any forecast planner on the menu. In the upper left region of the workspace under the main menu icon, a label indicates the type of workspace you have chosen:
  • The Volume Forecast
  • The Volume Workspace
  • Forecast Home
• Also on the Main Menu , the Workforce Planning sub-menu may include a forecast planner that provides access to both volume and labor workspaces. In this case, the forecast planner has a menu at the upper left, which indicates the currently displayed workspace, either Volume or Labor . Click Tap the menu and choose the workspace you want.

Labor Forecast table

The Labor Forecast table contains labor data for the selected category or categories and time period. The labor forecast table displays a row for each forecast factor included, and a column for each day in the forecast week.

You cannot edit labor values in the Labor Forecast area. To edit the labor forecast, display labor details (see Edit a labor forecast).

To set up a labor forecast for viewing, running or editing, you must define a location, a forecast week and forecast factors.

Select a location

• To see a list of currently selected locations, click Locations Selected. Select any level of any location path that appears to display that location.
• To select all locations in the displayed portion of the Business Structure, check the Select All checkbox in the Select Locations window. To deselect all locations, uncheck the Select All checkbox.
• To select a previously saved location or set of locations, select it on the Select Favorite menu.
• To load all locations within one of the business structure levels listed in the left or right columns below, select its check box and click Apply.
• To list the breakdown of locations within one of the business structure levels listed, click its right arrow . The breakdown displays in a list to the right.
  • If you see the level you want to load in the right column, select its check box and click Apply.
  • If you want to list the breakdown of any location that appears on the right, click its right arrow . The breakdown appears in a new list in the right column.
  • Select the check box of any level of the business structure to load that location and all its sub-levels.
  • If no right arrow appears, there is no further breakdown possible on that branch of the business structure.

Select the forecast week

• Previous Forecast Week - The forecast week before the current forecast week
• Current Forecast Week - The forecast week that contains today
• Next Forecast Week - The forecast week after the current forecast week
• Next Forecast Week + 1 - The week that is 2 weeks after the current forecast week.
• Next Forecast Week + 2 - The week that is 3 weeks after the current forecast week.
• Same Week Last Year - The week that is 52 weeks before the current forecast week

Note: The week that is 52 weeks before the current week may appear quite different from the current week. For example, April 15 may be part of the week April 15-22 this year, but it may have been part of the week April 8-15 last year.

• Select Forecast Week - You can select any week. Ensure that data is imported for the selected week
• Click Select Forecast Week.The current month appears.
• If the desired forecast week is in the current month click any day in that week
• If the desired forecast week is not in the current month navigate to the month as follows, then click any day in the desired forecast week:
• To navigate by month into the past or the future click the or , respectively
• To navigate to a month in any year in the past or the future, click the month name, then click the or , respectively. When the desired year is shown, click the desired month,

Specify the forecast factors of interest

See Forecast Factors

Add, edit, or delete custom labor drivers

Before you run a labor forecast, make sure that values for labor drivers have been entered for all departments that you want to include in the forecast.

Custom drivers already assigned to a day in the Forecast Planner display as three vertical dots in the date header. You can click on the icon to see the values defined for that date.

Custom labor drivers allow you to add labor that is unrelated to volume, such as recurring tasks that differ from location to location. Create these tasks in Administration > Application Setup > Forecaster Setup > Labor Drivers, and define their labor values for the location in the Labor workspace.

1. Click Add Labor Driver. The Add Labor Drivers panel opens.

2. Note: To display a custom labor driver data already assigned to the labor forecast, click on the custom driver icon in the date header.

2. Do one of the following:
   • To delete a labor driver from a location, click Delete next to the location path and click Save.
   • To edit an existing labor driver at a location click Edit next to the location path modify any value or setting in the following steps.
   • To create the first Labor Driver at a displayed location or locations, select a department location and continue with the next step.
   • To create an additional Labor driver at a displayed location or locations, click Add More Drivers and select a displayed department location.
3. Select a displayed department location.
4. Select one of the following:
   • Apply to Whole Week - adds the specified value to each day
   • View Individual Days - allows you to specify a different value to different days
5. Enter the custom driver hours to include in the forecast.
6. Click Save.

The Add Labor Periods panel allows you to edit the labor periods associated with specific tasks. The Add Labor Period panel is divided into the following sections:

• Tasks without Overrides — Displays the Department and Tasks.
• Tasks with Overrides — Displays the Department, Task and Status.

Use the search field to filter all results within the panel. As you enter search criteria, the results for Tasks and Departments are filtered. Statuses are not used as a filter criteria.

Edit a task’s labor period

1. To add or edit a task, click Add Labor Periods.
2. Expand the task headers to select the appropriate task and view details related to each task.

Task with no override

1. From Type, select the appropriate override type.
2. For the selected override type, select a Day.
   • After selecting a day, click Add a Day to configure additional days for the task.
   • To delete days, click Delete a Day
3. After selecting a day, configure each override type:

   Override types

   • Absolute Hours — Enter a Start Time and End Time.
   • Hours of Operation — No additional configuration necessary.
   • After Open — Enter an Offset and Duration.
   • After Close — Enter an Offset and Duration.
4. Click Save.

Task with Override

1. Do one of the following:
   • Click Edit to edit the existing override. Go to step 2.
   • Click to delete the existing override.
2. From Day, select a day and then do one of the following:
   • Click Add a Day to configure additional days for the task.
   • To delete days, click Delete a Day
3. After selecting a day, configure each override type:

   Override types

   • Absolute Hours — Enter a Start Time and End Time.
   • Hours of Operation — No additional configuration necessary.
   • After Open — Enter an Offset and Duration.
   • After Close — Enter an Offset and Duration.
4. Click Save.

1. Click Run Labor. The Run Labor panel opens.
2. Select the loaded location you want to run. The location must be a site or a department and you must have already have run a labor forecast for the location.
3. Note that any metrics that are used in the constraint are evaluated at run time for the current forecast week.
4. Click Run.
5. To check the progress of the volume run, click Tools > Engine Status. The Engine Status panel opens showing active engine runs and their status. To update the engine status, click Refresh .
6. When the run is over, click OK.

To edit headcount for any 15-minute period for jobs in a department in greater detail, do this after a Labor run:

1. Select a department location path. (See Select Location
2. Select a forecast week. (See Select a Forecast Week.)
3. Select a favorite factor view that includes labor hours, jobs, or both.
4. To view or edit the breakdown values for a forecast factor, do one of the following:
   • In the Forecast Factors column, double-click a cell labeled Labor Hours - Forecasted - (any week) to view or edit the forecasted headcounts for all the jobs in that department.
   • In the Forecast Factors column, double-click a Job (any job) to view or edit the forecasted headcount and additional details for that job.
   • In the date header, double-click the date to open a view of all the jobs in the department.
5. See View and Edit the Labor Forecast Details for details.
5. Click Calculate Totals to incorporate your changes in the adjusted totals in the Total Labor Hours section. Each increment increases the adjusted value (for the job and the total) by 0.25 because 15 minutes is 25% of a labor hour.

Note: Clicking Calculate Totals does not save the change, it only updates related values on the screen. This gives you the opportunity to examine the overall effect of the changes you have made before saving them. If the effect is not what you expected, click Refresh. If the effect is satisfactory, click Save.

6. Do one of the following:
   • To save your changes, click Save
   • To delete your changes for the session, click Refresh .

The system saves only the most recent labor forecast. If you edit and save a labor forecast, the system retains only the saved forecast. Old forecast data is not retrievable.

If you are working with labor forecast data and you want to discard your edits, click Refresh . This discards your current edits and restores the workspace with the last saved data.

Labor constraints help stores achieve their financial targets by providing a mechanism to

• Increase the labor forecast so that it uses the entire labor budget up to the allowed maximum
• Decrease the labor forecast to the minimum weekly labor budget

Labor constraints also provide the ability to control how these budget adjustments are applied. For example, if the labor forecast is being increased, retailers can indicate that the increased hours should be applied to the high traffic days. On the other hand, if the labor forecast is being decreased, retailers can indicate that the reduction in hours should not occur or should have less impact on high traffic days. They can also control how budget adjustments impact special events.

The labor constraints feature involves the following objects:

• Labor constraints
• Adjustment drivers.

Run the labor constraint engine

A labor constraint contains rules for how to adjust the labor forecast – for example, how to determine the target and how to distribute hours by day and within a day. They are assigned to groups of jobs in a generic department.

The labor constraint engine can be run from the Forecast Planner or it can be scheduled to run during off-periods in a batch process.

Sufficiently privileged managers can run a labor constraint from the Labor workspace. To do so:

1. Click Run Labor Constraint The Run Labor Constraint panel opens.
2. Select the location on which to run the constraint. The location must be a selected store or a department on which you have already run a labor forecast.
3. Note that any metrics that are used in the constraint are evaluated at run time for the current forecast week.
4. Click Run.
5. To check the progress of the volume run, click Tools > Engine Status. The Engine Status panel opens showing active engine runs and their status. To update the engine status, click Refresh .
6. When the run is over, click OK.

Add an adjustment driver value

An adjustment driver is a labor driver that provides external data that is used in a constraint calculation for a labor target. The driver is used in a labor constraint to represent a numeric value that can change from week to week. The constraint engine evaluates the adjustment driver at run-time in order to pick up the value for a specific week.

Sufficiently privileged managers can add adjustment driver values directly in the Labor workspace. To do so:

1. Click Add Labor Adjuster. The Add Labor Adjuster panel opens.
2. Select a Location to which the driver has been assigned.
3. Specify the name of the adjustment driver in the Driver Type field.
4. Specify a Weekly Amount. The amount value must be an integer greater than 0 (zero).
5. You can then also add the adjustment driver as a forecast factor so that its weekly value can be seen in the Forecast Planner.