In Scheduling, the term Schedule Inflexibility or Schedule Inflex is used as a measure of efficiency of the scheduling process and it seems to be always tricky to understand.
In this article, I will try my best to explain what is Schedule Inflex and how to calculate it.
So, what is Schedule Inflex?
Schedule Inflex sometimes also known as Shift Inflex or Schedule Wastage is a measure of additional staffing scheduled above the requirements due to certain constraints.
Note: The term Inflex stands for inflexibility and it should not be replaced with the word influx.
Let's say, the FTE requirement at 9:00am is 25 and the requirement at 9:30am is 30. We have a batch of agents whose shift starts at 9:00am.
To meet the requirement at 9:30 interval, we will schedule 30 people at 9:00am. This will result in having 5 excess FTE at 9:00am interval.
The excess FTE is technically wastage and unfortunately it can't be avoided due to the above constraint. This wastage is known as "Schedule Inflex".
There are various aspects or constraints which contributes to the increase in Schedule Inflex and some of them are mentioned below
- Call Arrival Pattern
Call Arrival Pattern is the major reason for Schedule inflex due to uneven arrival of the call in the intervals. Let's say we are dealing with two different arrival patterns i.e. Normal Bell Curve and a M-Curve.
Though the volume and AHT remains the same for the day, we will have more inflex in the M-Curve comparative to the bell curve. This is due to the excess staff which will be in those intervals between the two curves. This is better shown using the image below
- Labour law
Though this category may not contribute much to the schedule inflex, it is still considered as a constraint.
The best example would be the part timers. In the above M-Curve, if we had options to include part timers, the inflex may have been reduced. However in some countries, the concept of part timers is still not implemented which will create wastage.
- Team based scheduling
In some companies, the scheduling are built team wise instead of agent wise, this may create excess staffing in some intervals which will lead to wastage.
- Consecutive Week offs
This is yet another approach of certain companies to have a good employee satisfaction. While improving the employee satisfaction is good, it may result in having excess headcount in some intervals
- Transport Constraints
In those companies, where the transport is provided by them, the shifts are predefined due to the transport. This leads in having excess headcount.
Now lets come to the major question. How to measure Schedule Inflex?
There are various methods to calculate the schedule inflex, however in this article we are going to look at most simplest yet very effective method to calculate the schedule inflex.
I have attached a excel file at the end which contains the calculation, please make sure to see that
The process of calculation is broken into steps for better understanding
- Step 1 - The weekly call volume should be divided into Day wise and Interval wise using the past interval wise pattern.
- Step 2 - Once we have the interval wise calls, we should use the Erlang Function to calculate the Interval wise requirements.
- Step 3 - Against the interval wise requirement, the FTEs have to be scheduled and further divided into interval wise to compare the over/under.
- Step 4 - Now, just by dividing the total FTEs scheduled and the Required FTE, the final Schedule Inflexibility is calculated.
From the excel file attached, the Schedule Inflex is computed as 118.32%(i.e. 22/19 = 118.32%). This Inflex can be used for future forecasted volume to find out the FTEs to be scheduled without actually doing a Scheduling simulation.
Here is how it can be done. Let's say the weekly call volume is now 8000 instead of 7000(volume considered in the excel file). With the same AHT, the new Required FTE would be 21.
For us to calculate the FTE to be scheduled, simply multiply the previously calculated Schedule Inflex with the new requirement i.e. 21*118.32% = 25(rounded). This way schedule inflex can be used in the planning process.
Hopefully, with the above explanation, the Schedule Inflexibility now seems to be not so tricky😝
Thank you for reading and stay tuned😊
Schedule Inflexibility Calculation Sheet
Disclaimer: This article is purely my personal view and understanding, this doesn't depict any organisation's data
